On Dec. 5, the world lost a unique leader who was almost
universally admired when we said good bye to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.
Mandela's story is too familiar to repeat here. A black nationalist leader and
campaigner against apartheid (the practice of not only discriminating
against but physically separating different races), he was imprisoned for 27
years and was released in 1990. After four years of negotiations with the white
leaders of South Africa, Mandela was elected president - the first president
elected by a true majority in South Africa's history.
What is almost never noted about Mandela's story is the debt
he and other African nationalists owed to the Christian missionary movement.
Like other African nationalist leaders (for example Julius Nyerere of Tanzania
and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana), Mandela was educated at a school founded by
missionaries. Mandela's early education was at the Healdtown Comprehensive
School, founded by Methodist missionaries in 1845. In 1999, Mandela said,
"Without the church, without religious institutions, I would never have
been here today..."
There have been four great periods of missionary activity in
the history of the Christian faith: The first was from the crucifixion and
resurrection of Jesus around 34 AD and lasted until the middle of the second
century. In this period, the Christian faith spread southward as far as
Ethiopia, eastward as far as India (or perhaps even China), and westward to the
British Isles. The second occurred in the sixth and seventh centuries when the
evangelization of Europe was completed. The third took place in the 15th
century during the age of European exploration of the western and southern
hemispheres when Roman Catholic missionaries accompanied the European
explorers.
The fourth period of Christian missions was inspired by the
evangelical movements of the 18th and even more the 19th centuries. The
evangelical movement led to the explosive growth of the Methodist and Baptist
denominations. Methodist, Baptist, and (to a much smaller degree) Anglican
missionaries went throughout China, India, and Africa in the 19th century
founding churches, schools, and hospitals. And wherever they went nationalist
movements sprang up. They inspired not only Mandela and his fellow African
nationalists but also the Chinese nationalist leader Sun Yat Sen.
Although Mandela was a Methodist throughout his life, he
flirted with Marxism in his youth. But when he was a prisoner at Robben Island,
he prayed regularly with a group of ministers who visited him there. However,
as Mandela himself often said, he was no saint.
Mandela was extremely discreet about his religious beliefs
and preferred not to speak about them publicly. He avoided public
pronouncements about religion because he wanted to unite all the people of
South Africa - Protestant, Catholic, Jew, Muslim, and animist. Indeed, our own
leaders in the United States would do well to heed Mandela's example and avoid
using religion as a tool to advance their own narrow interests. But there is no
doubt about his Christian convictions. At a Christian conference in 1994,
Mandela said, "The good news was borne by our risen Messiah, who chose not
one race, who chose not one country, who chose not one language, who
chose not one tribe, who chose all of humankind."
It is difficult not to see the Christian inspiration of
Mandela's principles. Emerging from prison after 27 years, Mandela advocated
not revenge toward his oppressors but reconciliation of the oppressed with
their oppressors. He also avoided the mistakes of other African nationalists
and advocated a parliamentary democracy and free markets.
Mandela is sometimes referred to as the "George
Washington of South Africa," and I think the comparison is an apt one.
Like Washington, Mandela could have been president for life, but he stepped
down from office after only one term.
Britain's The Economist magazine says, "For all
the humiliation he suffered at the hands of white racists before he was
released in 1990, he was never animated by a desire for revenge. He was himself
utterly without prejudice, which is why he became a symbol of tolerance and
justice across the globe."
And The Economist concludes, "He was, quite
simply, a wonderful man."
