2010 ABLI Forum: Rev. Michael Cassidy from ABLI Forum on Vimeo.

About the Speaker: Michael Cassidy is the Founder of African Enterprise (AE), and has been involved in evangelism, teaching and leadership ministries since 1962, the year he launched AE with a mission to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Since then, he has led numerous missions to cities throughout Africa, including reconciliation work in South Africa after the fall of Apartheid, as well as in other parts of the world.

2010 ABLI Forum: Prof. Wilfred Mlay from ABLI Forum on Vimeo.

Professor Wilfred Mlay talks about the Biblical Response to Poverty and Social Exclusion at the 2010 African Biblical Leadership Initiative Forum held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from January 29-30, 2010.

About the Speaker: Wilfred Mlay was born on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. He was educated at the University of Dar-es-
Salaam and the University of London. A former professor and academic dean in Tanzania, Professor Mlay is currently Regional Vice President for Africa with World Vision International. Prior to holding this position he was Regional Director for East Africa with the International Bible Society. He claims the Bible and poverty alleviation as two of his greatest passions in life.

THE ABLI FORUM DECLARATION, 2010
We are a gathering of leaders, women and men, from across Africa and its Diaspora, called to positions of leadership in the church, business and politics. From the South and North, from the East and West, from across the great confessions and denominations of Christian tradition, we have been drawn together in Addis Ababa by our love for Jesus Christ and the revelation of His life, His wisdom and His Good News of salvation given us in the Holy Bible.

We have gathered to meditate on the Scriptures as they relate to the great opportunities and challenges of leadership in Africa in 2010. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God which contains the resources of wisdom and truth that above all else guide humankind to fruitful, abundant and righteous living. We believe in the ultimate authority of Jesus Christ, our Servant King, whose life is revealed in Scripture, a life that provides a vision of the common good that is founded on truth, built on justice and animated by love.

Yet, we confess that in Africa, the Holy Bible has not always been used for the common good. At times, the Bible has been misinterpreted in order to facilitate and justify exploitative behaviour and attitudes based on one group’s superiority over another. At times also, the Bible has been wielded by those who seek to present an outward image of righteousness, whilst in reality behaving unjustly and lacking grace or mercy.

However, we recognize also that the Bible and its message of personal spiritual transformation has been central to the positive development of Africa. In education, in poverty alleviation, in reconciliation, in the development of democracy and good governance, the Bible and the God it reveals has brought transformation to entire nations. We believe that the life and teachings of Jesus Christ – as revealed in Scripture, in which he embraced all, including those deemed outcasts and judged by many as sinners, giving hope to all – is as relevant to Africa today as it has been at any time in history.

We prayerfully affirm both the significance and the authority of the democratic institutions now taking root in Africa and the role and responsibilities of those called to lead them. We acknowledge our responsibilities in this respect, and commit ourselves to the challenge of transforming Africa for the common good and in ways that affirm God’s glory and love for all his children.

Therefore, our belief in the ultimate authority of Scripture and the transforming power of Jesus Christ, leads us to the following conclusions in three areas of particular focus:

Poverty and Social Exclusion
God’s original purpose for His creation and people does not include poverty. Poverty is an affront to God’s purpose for the world. Therefore, we are committed to the alleviation of poverty by the dual channels of sharing God’s word and fulfilling our responsibility to act directly on behalf of the poor. He created us equal, but injustice has divided us. Therefore, we recognize our calling to partner with the poor, and with institutions, particularly governmental bodies and civil society, to create just and equitable societies.

Good Governance
When the fathers of African liberation met at the pan-African Manchester Congress in 1945, their declaration identified the spiritual realm as an essential ingredient to justice and good governance. As the Bible calls us to, we confess and repent of our failures to embody transparency, accountability, and integrity in the face of the moral and social death that corruption produces. Rather than pointing fingers, we commit to reforming our ways as churches and to seek the renewal of the family, public leadership, and society through the strengthening of transparency, accountability and integrity within the church, civil service, the private sector, and public offices.

Leadership and Reconciliation
Cognizant of the overwhelming percentage of young people in Africa, we reject the marginalization of children and youth, their ideas and their leadership abilities. In the context of respect for elders, we commit to a mentoring of young leaders that springs from deep-rooted values. Moreover, given the examples of the Scriptures, we note that key elements of leadership include personal moral integrity, moral discernment and the proper stewardship of people and resources. God has commissioned us to be agents of reconciliation in Africa – agents responsive to cultural differences. Our proclamation is this: that by prayer and love, we will nurture relationships of understanding among antagonists. We believe in the healing power of God for the nations. We believe in the restoration of harmony within and across borders and among ethnic groups.

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• Videos of the presentations given at the 2010 ABLI Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

• Original articles that tackle discuss strategic issues related to Biblical leadership and African society.

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Warmly Yours,
The ABLI Forum Committee

“Political and national leaders from across Africa will be meeting for a unique conference this weekend (29-30 January) which raises the profile of the Bible in the public square.

Up to 150 leaders will be joining the forum, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to attend seminars, debates and talks on what the Bible has to say about poverty, good governance, conflict and reconciliation…”

To read the full article, click HERE.

Keep checking this page for up-to-date media coverage of The ABLI Forum and Prayer Breakfast.

Historically, Christians have not interpreted or used the Bible as a magic book or powerful charm, unlike many other holy books. Within the Christian faith, the mere quoting of biblical verses is not what the Bible itself asks for and certainly not what this conference is aiming to promote. As we shall see in the pages below, the Bible itself sharply critiques the empty use of religious language and, instead, proposes a profound ethical challenge for a transformed way of life in the world.

In other words, the passion of Scripture and the passion of this conference is to explore, articulate, and take up a biblical imagination of public life, such that this imagination would shape leadership, policy, and our public life together. Again, our goal is not the proliferation of biblical quotations throughout public life in Africa (this is already taking place with little or no effect) but the inculcation of a biblical vision and imagination for what it means to flourish as humans made in the image of God who share many complex forms of community with one another throughout the continent of Africa.

Matthew 5:1-10: Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount has been historically understood as Jesus’ “ethics of the Kingdom”, that is, a compact articulation of the upside-down values of the Kingdom of God such as a thirst for justice, mercifulness, and peacemaking. Matthew tells us that Jesus gave this sermon in public in front of a large audience, a group of people like Jesus who knew all-too-well the oppression and poverty of living under a colonial empire. Nevertheless, Jesus presents to this alternative community or “parallel polis” a radical vision of non-violence and active peacemaking. This vision more now than ever must shape the public imagination of African societies.

Mark 9:33-37: Jesus taught in a time when Jewish political nationalism and religious fundamentalism were accepted by the vast majority of his listeners as the orthodox way of being faithful to God and being God’s people in the world. But Jesus subverted and replaced this vision: he declared that the first must be last and that the leader must be “the servant of all.” Moreover, in a culture in which children were seen as less-than-human and disposable, Jesus insists that the way to embrace him and God himself is to welcome children. In other words, Jesus declared total servanthood and active embrace of the most vulnerable members of society to be the marks of a genuine disciple and leader. The speaker may also refer to Luke 7:26-29.

John 3:16ff and I Corinthians 5:17ff: We live in an age of heightened “reflexivity”, where boundaries are becoming more porous and groups of all kinds (e.g., religious, ethnic, political, sexual) are being tempted to harden and radicalize their identities in opposition to others. This has given rise to the notions of “fundamentalism” and “identity politics” in contemporary culture and politics, which operate on an ingrained logic of self-preservation. By contrast, we see an entirely different approach to conflict in the reconciling identity of God revealed in the life of Jesus. The “world”, which has declared the uselessness of God, excluded God, and even violently opposed God’s ways, is declared to be “loved” by God, to not be “condemned” by God, to be “saved” by God. Paul, moreover, declares that the heart of what God was doing in Jesus was “reconciling the world to himself”. Stated clearly, rather than perpetuating a logic of self-preservation, God demonstrates the way of self-sacrifice in Jesus; rather than perpetuating an orientation of us/them (conflict) God draws near and reconciles the world to himself. Profoundly, then, Paul declares that it is precisely this “ministry of reconciliation” that God has given to us as our chief responsibility: crossing a seemingly unbridgeable distance, embracing a seemingly irreconcilable difference to make peace in the name of Jesus.

Mark 12:28-34: When an attempt is made to corner Jesus in a religious dispute with the aim of creating fragmentation and conflict, Jesus unambiguously announces that love is what God desires – love for God and love for people. This teaching is powerfully subversive for at least two reasons: first, Jesus does not qualify or give conditions for who is to be loved – he simply gives the command to love one’s neighbor. Second, Jesus goes so far as to say that this orientation of love is more important to God than our religious attempts at “worshiping” God. Said differently, Jesus’ theological economy gives greater priority to peace than “piety”.

Luke 10:25-37: Jesus had a remarkable way of answering straightforward questions in surprising and often subversive ways. For example, in this passage Jesus answers the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” by telling a story about human compassion that crossed entrenched ethnic boundaries of social exclusion. In other words, he answered an explicitly religious question by talking about ethnicity and culture. Many of our societies are torn apart by these very same ethnic and cultural tribalisms, and yet many of us attend church, talk about God, and use religion as part of our platform. Jesus’ teaching about “eternal life” and “tribe” is urgently needed as we seek to shape the values and vision of public life in Africa. The speaker should also refer to Galatians 3:26-28 and Ephesians 2:11-18.

Genesis 1:28-31; 2:19-20; Romans 8:18-27: In the task of peace-making, it is important to realize that climate change results in scarcity of resources and the displacement of peoples, which leads to new and intensified conflict. Accordingly, God’s original vocation given to humanity of caring for the creation must be interpreted as a crucial form of conflict-resolution and reconciliation in our own day. Thus, it is no surprise that Paul says in Romans 8:18-27 that one of the ultimate responsibilities of the renewed people of God is to reflect God’s image into the world, which is a cosmic witness to the restoration of creation when humanity is finally resurrected. Conservation and sustainability are fundamental forms of peacemaking.

Deuteronomy 17:14-20: In biblical law, the national leader(ship) is explicitly commanded to resist the lure of horses and chariots (the primacy of military force and conflict), many wives (the temptation of lust and personal gratification), and silver and gold (the lure of greed for defining leadership and national life). Moreover, the leader is “not to consider himself better than his brothers”, i.e., (s)he is to embody and enact a culture of servant-leadership where the authority is not above the law or accountability. See also Proverbs 16:12 and 29:4 and Zechariah 9:9-10.

II Chronicles 36:15-21: Israel’s experience of exile and national devastation is explained to be the result of her leaders’ failure to “give the lands its Sabbaths.” This is biblical shorthand for the leaderships’ failure to abide by the God-given policies in Deuteronomy to prioritize the poor and to ensure the ecological sustainability of the land. As countries and cultures wrestle with economic crises and environmental devastation, this very sobering biblical passage should be kept close to the governing body’s heart.

Nehemiah 5:6-12: In a moment of volatile cultural and political transition, Nehemiah condemns the new leadership’s ironic act of copying the old practices of their former oppressors, a common problem in African leadership today. After 70 years of having been enslaved, the new leaders were now themselves practicing political favoritism, exploitation, and bribery. Nehemiah models the courage to break the silence and publically call this behavior out, condemn it, and demand restorative justice toward the exploited. For a specific legal condemnation of bribery, see Exodus 23:6-9.

Micah 6:8: Much like in Micah’s day, we are living in a time of economic upheaval, political volatility, and moral-cultural ambiguity. Globalization in all of its forms is calling into question old boundaries, established categories, and traditional values, especially in the African continent. In this kind of deeply ambiguous time, many preachers and churches claim esoteric revelations to guide the way, but the prophetic voice offers a much weightier and clarifying call to this global moment: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” As a prophet standing in between God’s promise of salvation and the final inauguration of that salvation for the world, Micah declares clarity in the midst of religious, cultural, moral, and political ambiguity: God is looking for justice, mercy, and humility. The speaker should also refer to Amos 5:15, 24 and Matthew 24:31-46.

James 2:12-13: In this passage discussing law, James very curiously and challengingly refers to “the law that gives freedom” and goes on to claim the primacy of mercy over judgment. We live in an age of ever-expanding law books and codes, where disputes are often solved in courts and where political transformation often happens through “judicial activism.” James offers us a crucial insight into the foundational intent and authority of law: to bring freedom and to promote mercy. As we inhabit and interact with legal culture in public life, we should bear this teaching in mind.

Proverbs 31:8-9: This text speaks for itself because of its challenging simplicity and directness: “Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” The speaker should also refer to Isaiah 1:16-20, which gives another unambiguous list of what God expects and desires of those in positions of governance.

Isaiah 10:1-4: A common word associate with “power” in political life is “impunity”, the notion that those in positions of authority are exempt from punishment and/or free from the consequences of their actions. The prophet Isaiah unambiguously denounces this idea of political impunity and declares that those in positions of power will come under God’s ultimate judgment and punishment. The public theology of the Bible insists that no human power ever becomes self-justifying and that no lawmaking body ever becomes a law unto itself. In short, God’s righteous judgment breaks up the finite claim to limitless power and stands over it in judgment. This is the theological justification for the peaceful overthrow of tyrannical power, based on the notion that a king may “unking” himself when his rule is in defiance of God-given natural law. For Christians, this prophetic condemnation of impunity and the principle of “the right of resistance” should not be forgotten when people speak exclusively of the “divine right of kings” interpreted from Romans 13, especially in Africa where leaders are given an almost godlike reverence at times. The speaker should also see Amos 8:2-8 for a critique of treating the poor with impunity.