University students in Africa are responding to the gospel. David Zac Niringiye is a regional secretary for the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students and is responsible for 27 English and Portuguese-speaking countries. John Benton caught up with Zac at Word Alive, and interviewed him for EN.
EN: When and how did you become a Christian?
DZN: Both my parents were committed Christians - my father was also a lay evangelist. So I grew up within the church, but when I was 15 I strayed and became heavily influenced by drink. I tried to deceive my parents and bought some Scripture Union Bible reading notes, to pretend that things were not so bad with me. Through the notes I read the Bible seriously and was struck by its impact. One Sunday in June 1972, when I was suffering from a hangover, I went to a small-group discussion run for Christians on the subject of doubts in the Christian faith. I realised then that the only reason I doubted the reality of my faith was because I wasn't there yet, and so I turned to the Lord.
Uganda under Amin
EN: Your teenage years were spent during the brutal regime of Idi Amin. Did that affect you personally?
DZN: I was still at school when Idi took over through a coup; he was popular then because he represented a change from the previous oppressive regime, and was also supported by the West (the UK was the first Western country to recognise him officially). When he came to power he dealt first with his political enemies, which included army officers in a barracks close to my school. The officers were shot - I knew some of their children who were in my school. Then, in 1972, Ugandan rebels invaded from Tanzania, which led to more reprisals by Idi. A very strong state intelligence network was established (called State Research), which developed advanced means of torture and killing.
Because he soon lost support from the West, Idi started to play the Islam card to gain support from the Arab nations: hence he became the champion of the anti-Zionist cause in Africa. He also turned against the church, but only insofar as it contained political enemies: so he killed - possibly personally - Archbishop Janani Luwon, because of his opposition. Later he also restricted access to and from Western nations, which affected the church. I was personally affected by him in another way too: when I was at university in 1976, there was a student uprising, of which I was a ringleader. We broke up the lectures and had a rally on the campus. Idi's soldiers shot bullets into the air to intimidate us, and later that evening they went round the campus torturing students.
EN: Your life has been taken up with Christian work among students. How did you reach your present position as Regional Secretary for IFES in Africa?
DZN: I have always had a vision and zeal for evangelism. When I was 18 I committed myself to God's work for life, and after I completed my first degree in physics I was invited to become the first full-time Secretary to the National Committee of the Fellowship of Christian Unions in Uganda. But I wanted to complete a Masters degree before taking up the post - really it was because I felt insecure about starting full-time Christian service. Then an IFES worker who was visiting the country at that time challenged me with the words of the apostle Paul: 'I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me' (Acts 20:24). So I quitted my Masters course and joined IFES in 1980.
After five years I did a Masters in Theology at Wheaton Graduate School, and since 1987 I have been Regional Secretary for IFES in all of the 27 English and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. In most of these countries, 10-15% of all students are members of IFES-affiliated organisations, but in the Portuguese-speaking countries, where Catholicism has had much influence, the figure is as low as 1%.
Doing the job
EN: What responsibilities does your job entail?
DZN: Firstly I provide pastoral oversight for the team leaders within the national staffs - that's done mostly through conferences. Then I head the pioneering initiatives in the seven countries, especially Eritrea, Gambia and Namibia, which do not yet have a national student Christian organisation (our aim in IFES is to provide Christian witness in every campus and to form national organisations). My third responsibility is to organise training and provide oversight over the regional projects, such as publishing Bible study guides and other books: we especially want to publish the experiences of people, so that they can be shared with other Christians. Lastly I visit the workers, which means I'm away from my family more than I would like.
EN: How would you describe African Christianity - is it all shallow and superficial?
DZN: In general it is broad and very rich, in terms of experience of God's grace and life in remarkable ways. It is weak in some spheres (as it can be anywhere in the world); disciplining the mind to understand the biblical text is the most vital thing we need. Related to this is the problem of literacy - a 40-50% literacy rate is average in Africa. We also need to walk more closely with Christ.
Unreached people
EN: In the West we think of the present Africa as a 'continent in crisis': is that an accurate description?
DZN: Yes, especially in the social and economic aspects, and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where the poorest nations of the world are. These areas were vandalised by Europe and North America in the past - our present backwardness in industrialisation stems from the colonialist mismanagement of resources then - and even now there is a net outflow of resources from Africa to the West.
Socially, the infrastructure is very poor, worse than it was even a decade after independence came to many countries in the 1960s. A downturn came in the '70s and '80s which was not due to Western exploitation, because Africa was by and large still closely united with her old Western colonisers, especially in their opposition to Communism. Those really responsible for the disintegration after independence were the despots within Africa, such as Idi Amin. In the '90s governments have been taking seriously their responsibility to bring Africa out of the pit, and so we're seeing an upturn in trends. The real answer to our social and economic crisis is to nurture African leadership.
EN: Where in Africa are the unreached people to be found?
DZN: There are three major groups: the poor, Muslims and the urban population. Poverty is a prison: 50% of school-age children cannot go to school because of poverty, and this is obviously not helping the literacy rates. And it is hard to give the gospel to the poor; I remember someone saying, 'A hungry body has no ears to hear, only a mouth to feed.'
The need for evangelism among Muslims is more significant with the resurgence of the Islamic evangelistic crusade; in Uganda alone there are two Muslim universities. But I see Muslims not as a 'power bloc' but as a people for whom Christ died: we should steal the gun from Muslims by loving them. I personally have Muslim relatives; in Africa, Muslims are our brothers, sisters and cousins, which helps us to see Muslims as people first and foremost, rather than as a power. So I think Christians in Africa will be crucial in evangelising the Islamic world. But as more contact is made with Muslims, and as more are converted, this will change the face and culture of Christianity in Africa: at the moment it has a very Western 'dress', which often hinders the progress of the gospel there.
EN: And the urban population?
DZN: So far, our churches have a rural orientation; in my home city there are only two Anglican churches. 60% of most cities, I would guess, consist of slums - these are social realities in Africa. The slum-dwellers sometimes form a local church (the gospel always goes ahead of us!), but we still need to gear more churches towards urban populations of all sorts. Few local churches have a ministry towards, for example, prostitutes or street children; we need to tailor our ministry, to 'speak the urban language'.
EN: Presumably the AIDS crisis is another field of evangelistic concern?
DZN: Certainly. The African church quickly moved from an attitude of condemnation to a realisation that it was our problem, that we had to deal with it; once people in the church died, the church woke up. AIDS care is good, but the future does not bode well. The statistics for AIDS cases in India are appalling, but Africa may be far worse. The challenge of AIDS is actually the challenge of understanding the gospel: Jesus died for sinners, and he has removed the sting of death.
EN: Finally, then, how is the African church to be mobilised for mission?
DZN: Christians in the West should be asking how they can help the African church, and should withdraw from direct involvement in mission in some areas. I think, for example there should be a moratorium on church-planting by Western missionaries throughout sub-Saharan Africa - instead, give the African Christians a chance to do it, as the cultural barriers are reduced. There is still a role for Western missionaries in Africa, inasmuch as there is still a role for African Christians in the West, who can inject life and fire into the Western church. The model should be that of cross-pollination. That also speaks of gospel unity, and the church is richer for it.
