Encounterological competence: an effective missiological tool for Christian participation in Nigerian politics

Abstract

The call for Nigerian Christians to be actively involved in politics has gained momentum recently. Unfortunately, there is little focus on how Christians can appropriately engage their political space as Christ's witnesses. Encounterology is the interactions or encounters of the Christian faith, as witness, with other faiths. The writer argued that Christian politicians must be encounterologically competent to be the light amid the darkness of Nigeria's political space. Considering three perspectives of Christian relationships in a pluralistic context like Nigeria – isolation, assimilation and engagement, he presented engagement as a practical option for Christian politician to maintain their identity and remain effective in their holistic mission of bringing shalom to the world. As a Missiological tool, encounterology guides the Christian to have effective face-to-face, shoulder-to-shoulder, and back-to-back faith encounters with people of religious other who possibly have divergent ideas about politics and governance. He leveraged J. N. J. Kritzinger's seven dimensions of faith-to-faith encounter – personal agency, context analysis, ecclesial analysis, theology of religion, spirituality, practical project, and reflectivity, to explicate encounterological competence in the political space. Suggesting that politics is not for baby or weak Christians, he advocated that the leadership of churches and denominations must encourage and equip their members in this regard. He also advocated that theological schools must establish specific curriculums in this regard so that take theology beyond professional academy to the public arena.