Wanjiru M. Gitau

Ministering in Patronage Cultures

Evangelism & Missions

“The African world, like the Middle Eastern and Asian contexts from which Jayson writes, is fraught with major social paradoxes. People often ask, Why is this country so corrupt if there are so many Christians? Intractable contradictions such as corruption, ethnocentrism, clientelism, and related social pathologies are often cited to condescend Christian witness. While Jayson neither essentializes (stereotypes) nor flattens out (generalizes) these issues any more than African and Asian Christians condone them, cultivating an understanding of the causations and correlations between such problems and patronage reduces the particular stigmas often ascribed to whole societies. As Christian ministers, if we can understand collocations and convergences of cultural tendencies that we find deeply distressing, we are better placed to discern redemptive opportunities to engage in transformative action. Jayson is leading us toward that redemptive discernment.”