Reading Romans at Ground Level: A Contemporary Rural African Perspective

Date added: 02/04/2017

Reading Romans at Ground Level: A Contemporary Rural African Perspective (Global Perspective Series)

by Jonathan D Groves

Published: February 2015

Published by: Langham Global Library

ISBN-10: 178368920X

ISBN-13: 978-1783689200

Many pastors in the provincial towns and rural villages of Malawi struggle to find practical relevance in the letter to the Romans. While the majority of church leaders have received little or no formal Bible and ministry training, they often face formidable challenges from African traditional practices, folk Islam, poverty and poor education - creating barriers to authentic Christian discipleship.

Reading Romans at Ground Level uses field research to characterize pastoral ministry in provincial-rural Malawi. By examining current preaching practice, it shows that Malawian pastors mostly use individual verses from Paul's letter within inductive needs-driven sermons or gospel calls for conversion. In this book, a three-horizon contextual approach is used to investigate how the letter might be applied biblically to address contemporary African socio-cultural and pastoral issues. It demonstrates surprisingly rich parallels between the way Romans might have been heard by its original recipients in the slums of Ancient Rome, and its potential meaning for Christians living in poverty in rural Africa today.

Jonathan D. Groves, is a founding trustee and the Mission Director of The Kerusso Trust, a UK-based mission charity that supports Christian education in rural Malawi. Dr Groves also serves under The Kerusso Trust as a part-time training consultant and missionary Bible teacher in Malawi.

 “Dedicated and determined teachers and preachers will benefit hugely from this highly signi cant and exciting study of the one Pauline letter that we all thought we knew inside out! Dr Derek Newton Former MTh Programme leader International Christian College, Scotland This is a pioneering and important contribution to our understanding both of the Book of Romans and of grassroots biblical hermeneutics in the African context.”

(Kenneth R. Ross Formerly Professor of Theology University of Malawi)