SMA Mission Statement
The Society of African Missions (SMA) is committed to preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ chiefly in Africa and to people of African origin.
We regard
- solidarity with the poor and the powerless,
- commitment to reading the signs of the times,
- activities for justice and peace,
- dedication to building a better world, including care for the environment,
as constitutive dimensions of witnessing to the Good News. We do this through education, health care, development projects and conscientisation for justice. We also help in caring for African immigrants in Europe and the USA and draw attention to those structures that oppress them and other people of the Third World.
Though the obstacles are many, the Society of African Missions is filled with hope, a hope that is rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. in the service of this Gospel, whose power we have witnessed in the birth of new Christian communities throughout Africa, we seek to give prophetic witness to the
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word that is truth,
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word that illumines and gives life,
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word that liberates and transforms
in fundamental continuity with the traditions of the Society and in imitation of the life and example of the Founder, the Society will continue to give joyful witness to the Gospel, chiefly among Africans and people of African origin. That witness springs from a vibrant missionary apostolic spirituality, which is grounded in a deep relationship with Jesus Christ. on this basis, the missionary apostolates of SMAs are undertaken in a spirit of collaboration and dialogue, continually highlight the link between faith and justice, and aim to promote the integrity of creation in all its aspects. Open to the Spirit of Christ, the Society remains open to undertake “new and bold initiatives” in obedience to the command of Christ, who has commissioned us to “go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation”(mk 16:15).
The apostolate of the Society of African Missions is of its nature specifically missionary. We are not “extra clergy” but missionaries engaged in the Church’s mission ad gentes. Called “to bear witness to the Risen Christ among the nations” (Redemptoris Missio, no 66), we reach out, not only across geographical barriers, but across social and cultural barriers, to those who are most abandoned and marginalised, to the victims of war and violence, to refugees in Africa and outside it, to women and children, and to all those who await the Gospel of hope.
SMA missionaries live and work in solidarity with our African brothers and sisters struggling for justice and peace in the midst of political turmoil and social disintegration: members are prepared to dedicate ourselves with courage to stand by the people in places like Liberia, Ivory Coast, Congo and other troubled regions of the continent of Africa.