Building a Christian Civilization in a Multipolar World

The era of a single, globalized culture is fading, replaced by a multipolar reality where distinct civilizations—each rooted in their own ancient traditions and philosophies—are asserting their identity. As believers in Southern Africa, where the majority of our neighbors confess Christ, we must ask ourselves:

What is our contribution to this new world order?

The Manifesto of a New World Order

To understand our mission, we must return to the moment Jesus Christ announced His earthly ministry. Standing in the synagogue of Nazareth, He unrolled the scroll of Isaiah and declared:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the captives and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord.”
— Luke 4:18–19

I come from a Pentecostal tradition that says "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me...." and from there we have a whole theology of the power of the gifts of the Spirit, of preaching the Gospel with signs and wonders following. All this rightly so to fulfil the Matthew 28 and Mark 16 commandments to go into all the world and preach the gospel and "these signs shall follow them that believe".

I remember April 2017, a million South Africans gathered at the call of bro. Angus Buchan for a holy convocation, for a time to confess our sins so that God can heal our land. It is almost 9 years later and our land is in worse condition now than April 2017. What happened? Did God not hear our prayer from 2 Chronicles 7:14?

No He heard but we did not do all He commanded us to do from that scripture.
He said also "if you turn from your wicked ways"
The "way" a nation is run is its civilization. This is who we are and these are our values and these are our "ways".

But our "ways" in South Africa are not His ways. We have to decide if we are going to be a Christian civilization. A people and nation that reflects the "ways of the Lord". Psalm 103 says "my acts have I showed Israel, but my ways have I shown Moses". Israel saw great miracles, the acts of God. But they did not want to follow the ways of the Lord as to how their nation was to be run through the ways of the Lord revealed to Moses.

When Jesus stood in the synagogue at Nazareth and read those words, he was not offering a private spiritual meditation or a vague moral uplift. He was announcing a revolution. The ways of the Lord". This was not merely a list of charitable acts; it was a revolutionary manifesto for a new world order. Jesus was announcing the arrival of the Kingdom of God—a reality that invades our broken world to restore, heal, and recalibrate everything according to the heart of the Father...and His ways.

As followers of Christ, we are not called to be a quiet subculture waiting for an exit strategy. We are called to embody the "Year of the Lord" which is the Leviticus 25 Jubilee here and now. In Southern Africa, our majority status is not a mandate for political dominance, but a heavy responsibility for stewardship and service. We are called to build a civilization that reflects the restorative power of the Gospel...and implement God's Jubilee mandate!

Today, Christians often find themselves torn between nostalgia for a fading Western order, a world that used to be, accommodation to secular modernity, or fascination with political alternatives. In the process, we have forgotten that Scripture itself offers a comprehensive vision for life together—what the Bible calls the Way of the Lord. It is about faithfully embodying a different kind of civilization in the midst of a weary world.

Every Civilization has its "the way of....." meaning these are the foundational truths of our civilization and they define how we build our society, our nation.

The Way of the Lord: Scripture’s Civilizational Framework

Throughout the Bible, “the Way of the Lord” is not a metaphor for private spirituality alone. It is a dynamic, lived pattern of justice, worship, mercy, truth, and communal life. Abraham is chosen so that he may “keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice.” And teach his children the same. Israel is formed as a people whose laws, festivals, economics, and social structures are meant to reflect God’s character as a witness to the nations of the Ways of the Lord in a nation. The prophets cry out not merely against individual sin but against distorted systems—markets that crush the poor, courts that favor the powerful, rulers who forget their calling.

The early Church was not initially called "Christianity"; it was known simply as "The Way". This identity signalled a comprehensive lifestyle and a worldview that touched every area of existence.

Scripture reveals that "the Way of the Lord" is the revealed pattern for individual conduct, societal organization, and governance. Unlike human systems built on pragmatism, a Christian civilization must be built on Divine Character. As Psalm 103:7 tells us, God "made known his ways to Moses". These ways are characterized by compassion, grace, patience, and steadfast love an they touched on all areas of personal life and national life..

When Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God, he is not inventing something new from thin air. He is bringing the Way of the Lord to its fulfilment. His teaching, healings, table fellowship, and cross-shaped love together reveal what human life looks like when God’s reign is taken seriously in public as well as private.

This biblical vision refuses the modern habit of separating “religion” from “real life.” In Scripture, worship shapes economics. Justice shapes governance. Education is about wisdom and formation, not merely skill acquisition. Social structures are judged by how they treat the vulnerable. Civilization itself is a moral and spiritual project, whether acknowledged or not.

A Distinctive Vision in a Multipolar World

As we look across the global landscape, we see other civilizations rising, each with a distinct "Way."

The Eastern Vision: Many Oriental civilizations are built on cyclical cosmic orders, natural polarities (like Yin and Yang), and karmic causality. While these systems offer stability, they often lack the linear, redemptive hope found in the Gospel. Yet these traditions frequently struggle to ground individual worth securely or to sustain hope for genuine historical transformation. Time becomes cyclical. Salvation becomes escape or absorption. Injustice is endured rather than confronted with prophetic fire.

The Secular Western Vision: This model has increasingly moved toward radical individualism and a rejection of the transcendent, leading to a "hollowed-out" culture that struggles to provide meaning or moral cohesion.

Modern Western civilization has given the world extraordinary gifts: scientific inquiry, legal protections, technological innovation, and an emphasis on individual conscience. Yet severed from its Christian roots, it increasingly rests on thin foundations. Human dignity is affirmed rhetorically but redefined pragmatically. Freedom becomes untethered from virtue. Progress is measured by efficiency and consumption rather than by wisdom or moral depth. The result is a culture rich in tools but poor in meaning, powerful in capacity but confused about purpose.

In contrast, the Christian Vision presents a linear history centered on a personal God who enters into covenant relationship with humanity. We do not believe in a blind cycle of fate; we believe in a Redemptive Journey.

Our "Way" is not a philosophy; it is a Person. Jesus claimed, "I am the way and the truth and the life". This means a Christian civilization is not centered on a set of abstract rules, but on the person and teachings of Jesus Christ and the divinely inspired scriptures of His word. Our institutions must reflect His heart.

The Long-Term Strategy: Generational Building

Building a civilization is not the work of a single election cycle or a one-time revival. It requires a long-term, generational strategy. We must move beyond "reactionary" Christianity—which only responds to the crises of the day—and become "proactive" builders.

This means we must focus on creating new Christian institutions that can carry the weight of our vision into the next century. We need schools, businesses, and civic organizations that don't just "add a prayer" to secular methods, but are built from the ground up on biblical wisdom

A Christian civilization is like a cathedral: those who lay the foundation may not live to see the spires completed, but they work with the certainty that they are building something for eternity. We must invest in our children, teaching them that "The Way" is a comprehensive worldview affecting every area of life.

Applying the Way: From Economics to Education

What does this look like in practice? The "Way of the Lord" is remarkably practical, touching the very fabric of how a society functions:

1. Economic Ways

In economics, the Way of the Lord resists both exploitative capitalism and coercive collectivism. It affirms private property while insisting it is held in trust. It honors work as participation in God’s creativity, not merely a means of accumulation. It demands fair wages, honest scales, generosity toward the poor, and periodic interruption of endless production so that humans and land alike can rest.

A Christian civilization rejects both the greed of unrestrained capitalism and the coercion of state-controlled economies. Instead, it embraces Sabbath economics and Jubilee principles. This includes:

Care for the vulnerable: Prioritizing the needs of the widow, the orphan, and the poor (James 1:27).

Just weights and measures: Ensuring honesty and integrity in all transactions.

Generosity: Building systems like "gleaning laws" that allow for dignity and work for those in need.

2. Governmental Ways

In governance, Christian civilization rejects both tyranny and naive optimism about power. Authority exists to serve, not to dominate. Leaders are accountable, laws are meant to protect the vulnerable, and justice is measured by how the least powerful fare. Loyalty to God relativizes loyalty to the state, creating citizens who are engaged yet never idolatrous.

Our leaders should not be masters, but servants of the public good, recognizing that all authority ultimately comes from God (Romans 13:1-7).

3. Educational Ways

In education, formation matters more than information alone. Wisdom, character, and truth-seeking take precedence over mere credentialing. Students are taught not only how to do things, but why they should—or should not. Knowledge is pursued as a way of loving God and neighbor, not simply as a path to status or profit.

We must reclaim the "mind" of our civilization. Education in a Christian context is not just about job training; it is about the pursuit of truth. It is about understanding the "deeds" of God in history and the "ways" of God in the laws of nature and morality.

4. Social Ways

Our communities must be defined by neighbor-love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. In a region often scarred by past divisions, the Christian Way offers a unique power to heal through genuine community responsibility. In social life, the church becomes a living laboratory of reconciliation. Ethnic, economic, and cultural barriers are crossed not by force but by shared worship and shared life. Hospitality is practiced. Loneliness is resisted. Children, elders, singles, and families all find a place at the table.

As we advocate for a Christian civilization in Southern Africa, we must do so with a specific spirit. We do not seek "political power" for its own sake, nor do we wish to impose our faith through coercion.

Instead, our goal is to embody the Way. We want to build communities that are so full of life, so marked by justice, and so radiant with the love of Christ that they become a "city on a hill" that cannot be hidden.

We must remain humble, acknowledging our own failures, and gracious toward those who do not share our faith. Our "revolution" is one of the heart, overflowing into the structures of society.

A true Christian civilization will heal our land. Until then we continue our national social, economic and political collapse.

The world is watching. The multipolar age is here. Let us rise, Southern Africa, and show the world the beauty, the wisdom, and the transformative power of the Way of the Lord.

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