FACT OR OPINION: #NoPoverty2030 is #MissionPossible (John 14:14)
Africa
includes 20% of the Catholics of the entire planet and is characterized by a
highly dynamic spread of the Catholic Church. The number of Catholics increased
from 272 million in 2022 to 281 million in 2023, with a relative variation of
+3.31%. The Democratic Republic of Congo confirms its first-place position for
the number of baptized Catholics, with almost 55 million, followed by Nigeria
with 35 million; Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya also register significant figures. Photo Clubs of Mozambique
By Eric Stradford, U.S.
Marine Corps, Retired
#ThePentecostProject
April 14, 2026 (1516 days to June 9, 2030), Alkebulan -- Pope Leo XIV is the
first pope of documented African descent to visit “The Birthplace of Humankind”
while serving as pope. His historic Apostolic
Journey, a term used by the Roman Catholic Church, structures the “Holy
Father’s” visit outside Vatican City for pastoral, diplomatic, and missionary
purposes. But, for the first U.S. born
Bishop of Rome, this four-nation #LearningJourney may signal reality of the
future church as well as the Global Village.
“You
must be born again.”
The Gospel truth about Alkebulan navigates a circular path
from the words, “IN
THE BEGINNING” to a modern-day, logical choice, “CHAOS OR COMMUNITY?” Most modern scholars place the church’s
beginning around AD 33, based on the timeline of Jesus’ life and ministry. Before the church became the church, the
Romans used “Africa” to name their first North African province, Africa
Proconsularis, after defeating Carthage in 146 BCE. At that time, Rome was
pagan; the Catholic Church and the papacy did not yet exist in an institutional
sense.
Ancestral Intelligence (AI) has not yet confirmed the
existence of a pope who is clearly documented as “Black” in the modern racial
sense. The pope most often referred to as the first Black pope is Pope Victor I
(reigned c. 189–199 CE), because he was African-born, making him the first
African pope in history. But, Pope Leo’s
footsteps among the ruins of Hippo Regius will ultimately rediscover his
spiritual father, Saint Augustine of Hippo if not the reality of #Pentecost in
the Holy Spirit of #BlackJesus.
Good morning! As-salamu alaykum!
#ThePentecostProject, in the spirit of the Free African
Society, is a Spirit-led, community-rooted movement of self-determination,
mutual care, moral formation, and public witness—organized by the people most
affected, not imposed from above.
1. The Free African Society (1793): the spiritual DNA
The Free African Society (FAS)—founded
by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones in Philadelphia—was:
·
Voluntary: free Black people organizing
themselves
·
Mutual-aid centered: care for the sick, burial
of the dead, aid for widows and orphans
·
Spiritually grounded: Christian faith expressed
through action
·
Self-governing: refusal to be controlled by
institutions that demeaned Black dignity
·
Publicly accountable: moral authority rooted in
service during crisis (e.g., the 1793 Yellow Fever epidemic)
Key principle: Faith
becomes credible when oppressed people organize their own care, voice, and
witness. This is the lens through which to read #ThePentecostProject.
2. Pentecost (Acts 2): the theological parallel
Pentecost is not hierarchy descending—it is community
ignited:
·
The Spirit falls on ordinary people
·
Many languages are spoken without being erased
·
Authority comes from witness, not office
·
The result is sharing, care, and common life
In Acts
2:42–47, the marks of Spirit-filled life mirror the FAS:
·
Mutual aid
·
Shared resources
·
Public trust
·
Growth rooted in justice and joy
3. What #ThePentecostProject means in this spirit
Seen through the Free African Society, #ThePentecostProject
is not a campaign; it is a method of liberation by communion.
A. Community-first, not institution-first
Like the FAS, this Pentecost vision:
·
Begins with people organizing themselves
·
Honors lived experience as theological data
·
Treats mutual care as sacred work
·
Pentecost is measured by whether people eat,
heal, bury, teach, and protect one another.
B. Self-determination with spiritual legitimacy
The FAS did not ask permission to exist.
Likewise, #ThePentecostProject (in this spirit) insists
that:
·
Communities may name their own needs
·
They can speak for themselves
·
Their faith does not require validation from
dominance structures
·
This is apostolic authority from below.
C. Storytelling as sacred witness
The FAS created institutions so Black lives could be seen,
valued, and remembered.
#ThePentecostProject does the same when it:
·
Centers marginalized voices
·
Treats testimony as theology
·
Shares “the mighty works of God” through lived
struggles
4. Africa and the African Diaspora as
Pentecostal teachers
In
FAS spirit, Africa is not a recipient—it is a teacher.
Africa and the diaspora understand faith as:
·
Communal
·
Embodied
·
Rhythmic
·
Resilient under domination
That is why this Pentecost framing:
·
Resists respectability politics
·
Honors joy amid suffering
·
Treats survival and care as spiritual genius
·
Much like the FAS, the community becomes the
catechism.
5. Organizational ethics: what this Pentecost avoids
In the Free African Society spirit, #ThePentecostProject
refuses:
·
Top-down “empowerment” without power-sharing
·
Visibility without material care
·
Spiritual language divorced from justice
·
Inclusion that demands assimilation
Pentecost without liberation is Babel in religious dress.
6. What this calls forth today
·
Practically, #ThePentecostProject (in the FAS
spirit) looks like:
·
Mutual-aid networks with spiritual grounding
·
Faith communities organizing their own schools,
funds, care circles
·
Lay authority rooted in service
·
Multilingual, multi-cultural worship without
hierarchy of worth
·
Public moral witness during crisis (health,
migration, violence, climate)
Not slogans—structures of care.
Final integration
The Free African Society teaches us how Pentecost behaves
under oppression.
It does not wait. It organizes. It cares. It testifies. It becomes church.
