What Don’t You Have?

The Violation of a Foundational Theological Principle in Africa’s Development Practices

Abstract

The quest for development for the African context has been largely elusive despite the application of numerous theories and strategies. Contemporary explanations do not sufficiently account for the root cause of the persistent underdevelopment. This article argues that the secular conception and approach to development defeats the process from the onset because it starts the process from the wrong question: ‘What don’t you have?’ strengthening contextual weaknesses. It proposes that development should start from God’s contextual endowment and strengths determined through the right biblical question: ‘What do you have?’ The purpose of this article is to challenge the sacred-secular dichotomisation that consigns development to secular public spaces while limiting theology and the church’s functions around people’s private and spiritual life aspects. We recommend theological participation, indeed leadership in the conception and approach to development because development is by nature theological business.