The African Theological Fellowship (ATF), as a network of African Christian theologians, mission practitioners and Christian intellectuals of evangelical persuasion, is committed to serving the Churches in Africa and the nations of which they are a part, through excellence in Christian scholarship and research, through rigorous intellectual engagement with the socio-political, cultural and religious realities of the African context, and through concerted effort to apply the fruits of Christian learning in the life of the Christian community and beyond, for the benefit of all.
The ATF, as a network of Africans, is committed to Africa by encouraging its members to live and work in the African context, and to develop the intellectual and spiritual tools to engage with African realities.
The ATF, as an academic network, is committed to interacting with African religious, intellectual and socio-cultural currents of thought, in order to strengthen the capacity of the Christian community to address these with the Christian Gospel.
The ATF, as a network of Christian scholars, seeks to serve the African Christian community by addressing, through biblical, historical and other theological disciplines, a broad range of concerns. It seeks to equip Christian leaders, both lay and ordained, for more effective ministry in the wider social context of Africa.
The ATF, as a network of evangelical scholars, seeks to take seriously the evangelical tradition, both in its concern for Scripture as the Word of God, and its emphasis on personal encounter with the living Christ through the Holy Spirit. It seeks to be rigorous in its search for truth, in the humble awareness that our knowledge of truth is always partial, but in the confident assurance that we are called to know the truth as revealed in Jesus Christ.
The ATF, as a partner network of a wider international network, The International Fellowship for Mission as Transformation (INFEMIT), seeks to enhance African participation in global Christian witness, by equipping member theologians and theological students with the requisite intellectual and spiritual tools by which to enter into, and participate in, the heritage of the 20 centuries of Christian witness in the world, and to understand Africa’s place in that history, both for the present and the future