Transform: A Journal of Biblical, Theological and Practical Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition

Editor’s Introduction

Transform, Second Edition

A very warm welcome to this second edition of Transform, a journal drawing together contributors and readers from around the African continent and reaching out to the rest of the globe. We are highly delighted that writers are still responding with both articles and book reviews.

As we noted in our first edition, one of our principal aims is to highlight the impact of Wesleyan theology, history and practical life within Africa. We are confident as we progress that, this will be clearly evident. At any rate, we are delighted to present a great line-up of three articles for this second edition, as well as several helpful book reviews.

Rev. Michael Blythe, in our first article, gives an intriguing examination of two often overlooked themes in the Book of Genesis – greed and generosity. He starts with the fateful greed of Adam and Eve in the creation narrative and proceeds through the huge scope of history in Genesis 1 – 11 and the Jewish patriarchs in the rest of the book. Repeatedly the themes of greed and generosity appear. He draws significant inspiration from the scholarship of Walter Brueggemann and concludes with suggestions for theological synthesis and further research. 

Our second article is Gucha Vincent Pascal’s A Biblical Response to Witchcraft and Economic Prosperity in Africa: A Case Study of the Luo Community in Masara Area, Mogori County, Kenya. Here we see a stark example – even if within a very circumscribed geographic setting – of the clash between traditional African convictions about occult economic empowerment and biblical mandates. The Luo community of Masara, Kenya, is seemingly inextricably engrossed in witchcraft as a necessary tool for acquiring wealth in gold mining. The resulting struggle to maintain faithfulness to biblical teachings on the part of local churches provides a good study in understanding similar struggles elsewhere in Africa.

Paul Ekal Lokol’s article moves in another direction, examining one of the larger Wesleyan denominations in Africa – the Africa Gospel Church of Kenya. Pastors’ Transformational Leadership Training and Congregational Health: The Case of Africa Gospel Church, Kenya, is a summary of the survey of a cross-section of AGC pastors, Local Church Council (LCC) members, and general members. Lokol’s aim is to ascertain the effectiveness of transformational leadership training and to note deficiencies where it was absent. What is revealed is what is apparently a continent-wide problem of lack of adequate leadership training.

God continued to bless Transform with a great team of multi-talented editors and managers. Once again, we owe special gratitude to Dr Russ Frazier, senior lecturer at Africa Nazarene University, Nairobi, who spawned the earliest dreams and continues to see us through to this point. In addition, we must mention the assistance of our team of editors: Drs C. Fyne Nsofor, Felicia Priest, Daniel Mwailu, Billy Coppedge, Danny McCain, Gift Mtukwa, and Tosin Awolalu. Providing invaluable assistance in the production were the following persons: LeCrecia Ali, Thom Cahill, and Ben van Vuuren.  

The word about Transform is getting out gradually. We are warmly welcoming and urgently inviting contributions of both articles and book reviews. We pray that God will use our collective efforts to ‘spread scriptural holiness’ throughout Africa over the coming months and years. Again, welcome to this new edition of Transform!

Professor Gary S. Maxey

General Editor

ISSN: 2790-9360 (Online)