Access to land in sub-Saharan Africa: the church as an unnoticed accomplice

Abstract

Access to land is still ideal for the majority of sub-Saharan Africans. The colonisers of Africa created the problem of access to land that indigenous Africans are still at pains with. The post-colonial African elite is still perpetuating this problem. The church benefited from the creation of this problem and sit at the table of privileged owners of vast pieces of land. This article is written from the perspective of someone who lives and serves in a sub-Saharan community of poverty. He is been observing local churches with vast pieces of land, limiting access to members only. In the meantime, the population around the church is confined in small spaces of land as family units. This article uses a biblical interpretive framework of Jerimiah 29:7 to stress about the role of the church as a peace agent that creates a shalom community around it. Such as community will be a hybrid between a Eurocentric view on land which value ownership with a title deed, and an Afrocentric view which values access of land to all without the need for individual ownership.