Conversions in context: Insights from an autobiographical narrative of a Congolese-born missionary at Stinkwater

Indigenous African missionaries are increasingly becoming involved in various mission \ninterests in their contexts. Assumptions made by many mission institutions are that when \nthey call indigenous Africans, they would be easily accepted and integrated into the \ncommunity and get on with mission duties. However, these assumptions do not hold for \nindigenous Africans who are not native to the land where they serve. In relation to the latter \nthis article, based on an autobiographical narrative of a Congolese-born missionary at \nStinkwater, highlights four ‘conversion episodes’ that the missionary went through before \nhe begun to ‘weave together’ the story of the good news of Jesus with stories of people \nin this particular context. All these episodes have had profound implications towards \nreshaping and reviving his theology of mission and praxis at Stinkwater. Insights from this \nautobiographical narrative could be useful in the preparation of indigenous workers who \nintend to work in context where they are not native to the land.