Prophetic Message Of Amos And Its Relevance To The African Society

Abstract

This paper examines Amos’s prophetic witness and its relevant for today’s church in African countries for promoting social justice. There are three basic concerns that motivate this paper: First, there is growing corruption in African societies; second, there are glaring weaknesses of the church’s prophetic witness in African societies today; and third, there is a great need for the church in Africa to speak out against social injustices. Thus, the writer seeks an appropriate biblical response that could serves as viable response for the church in curtailing social injustices in African society. To achieve this, the writer investigated scholarly opinions on the prophetic roles of the church in promoting social justice while considering the argument for and against. Furthermore, the prophetic witness of Amos was examined and its relevance to the African church. It is therefore recommended based on the prophetic message of Amos, that the church should: (a) support those believers who speak out against the evils in our time: crimes and injustices within the socio-economic and political climate of our time; (b) address issues, such as substance abuse, eating disorders, sexual misconduct and AIDS from a Biblical stance; (c) make people aware of the needs of our time; (d) motivate people to get involved in the sustainable development of their environment, and in addressing issues such as unemployment and poor education; and (e) support those people who are still oppressed, maltreated, abused and belittled.