Igbo Traditional Communal Life and Mission Crisis: Lessons for Contemporary Missions

Challenges faced by and facing mission globally, especially in Africa are obvious and enormous. These challenges include ecology, health, poverty, security, and governance. Unfortunately, the church's endeavors have not been able to fully surmount these challenges. These, therefore, call for a creative collaboration of mission agencies and the church in various cultures of the world to proffer solutions that can be replicated elsewhere. Key to community building and fostering mission are in the Igbo values of cord of unity ( umunne), collaborative effort (ibu anyi ndanda), Furthermore, a crucial precedent in the Igbo traditional communal life that contributes to solving the problem of mission crisis is Onye aghala nwanne ya ( do not abandon your kinsman). The spirit of onye aghala nwanne ya was pivot to the survival of the Church during the Nigeria- Biafra war ( 1967-1970). It is missiological. It is ecumenical. It is embedded on biblical love when contextualized. This work, therefore, draws especially on a methodology of African Biblical Hermeneutics, which I have presented elsewhere as an African biblical communal approach. Whereas this approach is anchored on the African experience, it recognizes the value and need for a global interpretative perspective to studying the Christian experience. Using the case of the experience of the church in Igbo land, this study submits that Igbo communal life enhances biblical love and care, collaborative effort in tackling the menace of mission crisis, genuine unity and bridges denominational barriers while fostering ecumenism.