Africa as a continent has currently 54 nations and is acknowledged as the most densely inhabited continent. Its status also includes a couple of countries at war, massive unemployment, poverty including problems linked with low development elsewhere in this world. However its inhabitants being very religious due to years of evangelism activity reflected in the large number of Clerical African Ministries in the continent that play huge roles in solving some of the said problems.
There are two broad types of ministries in Africa, government and church ministries for example the Presbyterian Mission Agency among other denominational based agencies. Both have the chief role of offering service to the people. They are both seen to work hand in hand in the community and in so doing supplement each other in different areas where the other is inadequate.
The two categories of ministries vary in a few ways. These variances include for instance a drift in leadership structure in that church ministry normally have clergy men as leaders while government ones are run by elected heads. Moreover in the case of the structure employed by church ministry there is direct engagement of the society as in government ministry its structure is seemingly incoherent with the community. Individually the two perform unique roles.
Government holy orders play defined roles contained in various legislative acts but lie in executive arms of an administration. The roles played include distribution of resources equitably, supervising development projects, provision of security and quality health services as well as ensuring fairness in service provision. Theirs are pretty defined and standard everywhere.
Church ministry has various diverse roles assigned to each depending on the aim of the church. The common ones include offering a voice for the community to be heard, partnering with international donors, and financial administration of aid to local groups in addition to assisting in development of regions. The activities however consider the law of the land.
The current kinds of religious agencies differ and most often based geographically. Northern Africa being primarily Islamic has few Christian based ministries as they operate a lot on Islam based laws while the eastern as well as the western regions of the continent have both protestant and catholic ministries as is the case in the south. They all tend to provide different services in their areas of operation depending on the available needs.
Work done by religious organizations to transform lives of a community can be religious based or development based. Religiously they involve spreading Christianity to new areas, offering prayers and hope to the sick and also training local religious leaders. Development wise they construct schools, mission hospitals, housing complexes and offering bursary opportunities to kids. They assist in areas where the governments fail to reach.
A couple of challenges hinder activities of both kinds of holy orders in service to locals. Problems present include persistent warfare and conflicts in some regions creating constant fear, traditions and cultures intolerant to change and outsiders, language barriers, inaccessibility of regions due to poor infrastructure and misuse of funds by corrupt leaders. However, with a will there is always a way and evangelism will always find a way of providing services to people in need.
There are two broad types of ministries in Africa, government and church ministries for example the Presbyterian Mission Agency among other denominational based agencies. Both have the chief role of offering service to the people. They are both seen to work hand in hand in the community and in so doing supplement each other in different areas where the other is inadequate.
The two categories of ministries vary in a few ways. These variances include for instance a drift in leadership structure in that church ministry normally have clergy men as leaders while government ones are run by elected heads. Moreover in the case of the structure employed by church ministry there is direct engagement of the society as in government ministry its structure is seemingly incoherent with the community. Individually the two perform unique roles.
Government holy orders play defined roles contained in various legislative acts but lie in executive arms of an administration. The roles played include distribution of resources equitably, supervising development projects, provision of security and quality health services as well as ensuring fairness in service provision. Theirs are pretty defined and standard everywhere.
Church ministry has various diverse roles assigned to each depending on the aim of the church. The common ones include offering a voice for the community to be heard, partnering with international donors, and financial administration of aid to local groups in addition to assisting in development of regions. The activities however consider the law of the land.
The current kinds of religious agencies differ and most often based geographically. Northern Africa being primarily Islamic has few Christian based ministries as they operate a lot on Islam based laws while the eastern as well as the western regions of the continent have both protestant and catholic ministries as is the case in the south. They all tend to provide different services in their areas of operation depending on the available needs.
Work done by religious organizations to transform lives of a community can be religious based or development based. Religiously they involve spreading Christianity to new areas, offering prayers and hope to the sick and also training local religious leaders. Development wise they construct schools, mission hospitals, housing complexes and offering bursary opportunities to kids. They assist in areas where the governments fail to reach.
A couple of challenges hinder activities of both kinds of holy orders in service to locals. Problems present include persistent warfare and conflicts in some regions creating constant fear, traditions and cultures intolerant to change and outsiders, language barriers, inaccessibility of regions due to poor infrastructure and misuse of funds by corrupt leaders. However, with a will there is always a way and evangelism will always find a way of providing services to people in need.
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