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This episode has been edited for clarity and space.
Master Obi
This is Dr. Master Oboleetswe Matlhaope, otherwise known as Dr. Master or Dr. Obi. I am a citizen of the world, so I prefer people to choose among those names, which one is easier for them. You can call me Master. You can call me Obi. I was called Obi from childhood, so I resonate with all those names.
David Capes
Dr. Master Obi. Good to see you. Welcome to “The Stone Chapel Podcast.”
Master Obi
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
David Capes
You’re here, studying for a month or more, working on some writing projects.
Master Obi
Yes, it’s a fantastic place. Quite an experience. I had not known about this place until I came here. I heard about it when I was scouting around, choosing the best place to do some research and writing. Langham Partnership recommended this place, and there’s no regret for coming here.
David Capes
Langham is a good friend of ours and a good partner in ministry. There’s a lot of folks who don’t know you. So for people who don’t know who you are, tell us a little bit about you.
Master Obi
I come from Botswana, that is a country right in the center of southern Africa. I come from a town called Ghanzi. It’s in the southwest part of the country. In that region, specifically, I come from a village, it’s a small village, but the best place on the planet.
David Capes
What is Botswana known for? Is there a particular export or is there a particular thing that people would say, oh, that’s Botswana.
Master Obi
Botswana is well known for diamonds. If you Google it, some of the biggest diamonds were discovered in Botswana, and the other thing that we are well known for is beef. We pride ourselves on beef. I spoke less about beef when I tasted Texas beef!
David Capes
Oh, okay, did you like it?
Master Obi
I did.
David Capes
You did like it. Okay, good, good. So do you have a family?
Master Obi
Yes, first, I’m married to a beautiful lady called Boipuso. And the Lord was very generous. God partnered with Boipuso, and they gave me the best children. Prince is my first born, David is my second born, and Abigail is my third born, and my friend, my closest friend.
David Capes
And now today, you don’t live in Botswana. You live in Kenya.
Master Obi
Yes, by assignment, I live in Kenya, Nairobi. The headquarters of the organization, which I will introduce is in Nairobi, Kenya.
David Capes
Tell us a little bit about that organization that you’re working with. You’re the head of that organization.
Master Obi
Yes, I am the Secretary General of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa, AEA. This is an umbrella organization for all Evangelicals and Pentecostals in the continent of Africa, all together at a continental level.
David Capes
Now this is a voluntary association, right? People connect because they want to connect.
Master Obi
It is a voluntary association, but it’s an umbrella association, meaning we are in 51 of the 54 countries of Africa. And in each country, you have an umbrella body. Now in that particular country, Evangelicals and Pentecostals come together under that alliance of fellowship. And then at the continental level, those alliances are called the Association of Evangelicals in Africa. Besides the umbrella national alliances, we also house para church organizations like World Vision, Compassion International, Wycliffe, Africa Enterprise and many other associate members.
David Capes
What is the job of the Secretary General?
Master Obi
The Association of Evangelicals is structured under a board, but the members of this board are in different countries. Because the board is interspersed like that, the board appoints a Secretary General to run the organization in the interim between board meetings. The Secretary General then reports to the board.
David Capes
How often does the board gather to meet?
Master Obi
The constitution provides that the board meets once a year.
David Capes
Is that in Kenya, or is that some other place?
Master Obi
The board meets anywhere, and they dispose of the mandate of the board, as per the Constitution. And then from there, they go back to their countries. The Secretary General runs the organization, makes decisions, forms partnerships, creates programs. Then they get reports together for a board update once a year.
David Capes
So do you also run the board as the Secretary General. Or is there somebody else who runs the board.
Master Obi
In terms of governance, the board is under the Chair of the Board.
David Capes
Oh, I see. People don’t realize how large Africa is. It’s a large continent, and I describe it by saying you could put three United States in Africa and still have room left over. And there’s a billion people in Africa. How many of those would be Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians? Do you have a sense of that number?
Master Obi
Yes, the commonly held statistic will put the number of Christians over 700 million. In terms of our constituency, the common statistics says there are 182 million evangelicals, and 202 million Pentecostals.
David Capes
So, Pentecostalism is very strong in Africa?
Master Obi
If you add 182 million, plus 202 million, that’s the Association of Evangelicals. That’s 380 million, so it’s quite a big chunk of the Christian body in Africa.
David Capes
You guys need to send missionaries to North America. You need to send some people over to help us over here, because you’ve got a lot more Christians over there than we do.
Master Obi
Yes, true. But before we do that, we have a bit of work that we need to do. Because the understanding of mission needs to be deconstructed and reconstructed in our context. Because what we are seeing when Africans go elsewhere in the name of missions, they go after fellow Africans. So, you see Africans in the United States, and you look at the membership of their churches, it’s Africans. And they go back and they say, we are missionaries. We are in missions. So that’s why I say we need to reconstruct the understanding of missions.
When Western missionaries went to Africa, for me, I see purity of missions. Here are people of a different color going to people of another color, and they are so focused in reaching these people, even though they have no commonalities, no language, no cultural commonality. But they did everything it took to reach these people. The Africans who are doing missions outside Africa, need to understand missions and that it is not an easy task.
They need to therefore be properly equipped mentally and spiritually to know what they are going to do, so that they go and reach America. And America is diverse. It is Hispanic, it’s black, it’s white. You can’t have a missionary church in America which is only black. That’s why I think we need a bit of work in Africa for our missionaries to understand that as Africans now we are tasked by our Lord to reach the world.
