BY: Rev. Dr. Kevin Muriithi Ndereba | October 6, 2025
The African continent is referred to as a young continent, with an overall median age of 19.3 years old according to some statistics. As of 2023, Niger, Uganda, Angola and Mali are the youngest African countries with median ages of 15.1, 16.1, 16.2 and 16.3 years respectively. Even the older countries like Malawi, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Rwanda and Togo have a median age of 20 years. However, it is this critical demographic that is adversely affected by mental health challenges. One in seven children and adolescents experience psychological disorders, and the mental health policy that would support appropriate interventions is stunted leading to a unique mental health burden among Africa’s youth. [1] Ninety percent of adolescents with these disorders never receive treatment. Part of the issue is the stigmatization of mental health disorders, or the over-spiritualization in view of African cosmology. [2][3][4]
The mental health burden can be attributed to the ‘triple pandemic’ of economic, socio-political and psycho-spiritual factors. However, not much research has been done within Christian congregations which are public communities of faith that run a diversity of youth programming. Further, mental health research in the African context must also grapple with the context of African spiritualities, epistemologies and religions. This may create a barrier for psychological research that tends to use scales and concepts developed within other global contexts.
This was a primary motivation for me applying to the psychology cross-training program for theologians hosted at the University of Birmingham and supported by the John Templeton foundation. The concern about mental health is shared by both psychology and theology. However, these disciplines and their scholarly guilds tend to operate in silos. As someone with a prior scientific background in Engineering and as a trained academic (practical) theologian, I have tended to hold together the importance of science and theology in research.
Theologies of mental health have been proposed by Watts (2018) and Swinton (2024) to follow two key lines of thinking: the moralistic framing which sees mental health as a result of sin, and second, the science-religion/theology framing, which notes the assumptions brought by the conflict and compatibilist approaches to the discussion. [5][6] I probe: might there be a third way, what I would call socio-cultural/contextual framing? Swinton makes the case that theologies of mental health must consider the social and systemic aspects of mental disorders, particularly in other global contexts beyond the Western and Anglo-American contexts. Summarizing Cross’ major argument and drawing from the Psalms, Switon says that “individual flourishing [is located] within the context of community flourishing.” i.e., what Kamwendo terms “decolonizing science-engaged theology.” [6][7][8]
Consequently, given that the emerging focus on science (or psychology) engaged theology is still skewed to the European and Global North context, there is therefore a need to incorporate voices and perspectives from the Global South. In this research that I framed as “Ubuntu Ecclesiology: Fostering Mental Health Resilience in Emerging Adulthood”, I made use of the African concept of hospitality to show how this can better frame mental health of young people and also lead to more holistic interventions in faith communities.
Africa Hospitality can be understood as:
- that extension of generosity, giving freely, without strings attached [9]
- an unconditional readiness to share [10]
- a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place [11]
- it is an offer, and it renders unconditional respect and awards an honour that empowers others as they certainly deserve the respect due to their dignity having been made in the likeness of God. [12]
African communal practices such as marital ceremonies usually involve exchange of gifts. This is central to these notions of generosity, sharing and widening space. A South African theologian, Daniel Louw observes that “hospitality and how one deals with the stranger or outsider could be viewed as one of the cornerstones of a praxis of caregiving in the Christian tradition of comfort and compassion.” [13] Old Testament perspectives of hospitality include concepts of provision and protection, usually expressed in terms of ‘greeting, welcoming, and invitation.’ [14] New Testament concepts include ‘eating, providing lodging, foot-washing, serving, equipping for further travels.’ [15]
This lens of hospitality therefore emerged through three dimensions in the life of this specific project:
- Inter-disciplinary hospitality – the project brought psychological science into conversation with theology. Specifically, the project contextualized a resilience scale to measure mental health resilience among 187 emerging adults in diverse Christian congregations by including open ended questions that noted the communal and spiritual practices inherent in the Kenyan context of the study. Theological reflection was used to further enrich the data analysis, much like this blogpost has done. Having Kevin Ladd, Professor of Psychology at Indiana University South Bend brought in additional inter-disciplinary perspective to work.
- Academic hospitality – the project also widened the space for four postgraduate students in my host university researching mental health among (1) young people, (2) widows, (3) retired evangelists and (4) an African mental health hermeneutic of the demoniac account in Mark 4. Not only has this created a mental health research group at St. Paul’s University, with Kenyan mentors across the theological sub-disciplines, but is contributing to knowledge creation and dissemination through publications that the students will produce as part of the Commission for University Education regulations for postgraduate programs in Kenya. Different aspects of this research has also been presented at the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology (ASET), International Academy of Practical Theology (IAPT) and the International Association for the Psychology of Religion (IAPR).
- Ecclesial hospitality – this project also generously included voices of young people in churches as well as their youth leaders. Thus, it was able to bridge the gap between the academy and faith communities.
The prevalence of mental health challenges among the 187 youth who participated in the research was discernible: anxiety disorders (22%), personality and mood disorders (13.5% each), substance use, and sleep disorders (12.8% each) were the key disorders affecting young people or their peers. The research also shows that resilience levels increase across the lifespan of emerging adulthood, which is supported by the rooting of identities as adolescents transition into adulthood. Lastly, stigma exists either due to knowledge gaps or misconceptions about mental health. In terms of ecclesial interventions, the African notion of hospitality in terms of mental health challenges means:
- Faith communities providing a safe space for youth to grapple with mental health challenges
- Protecting mental wellbeing of youth with the necessary/holistic care through both spiritual resources from church leaders and scientific interventions from healthcare workers
What this means is that intellectual hospitality requires that academic reflection tastes the sweetness of other knowledge systems and contexts which increase the flavour of psychology engaged theology. This notion of African hospitality was a central way in which this research lens widened my own tools to do practical theology in a way that is scientifically conscious yet contextually relevant within my research context.
[1] Brits, E. 2021. High Mental Health Burden for Africa’s Youth. Nature. Accessed from on 21st Aug 2025 from https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-021-00097-y
[2] Asamoah, M.K., Osafo, J. and Agyapong, I. 2014. The role of Pentecostal Clergy in Mental Health-Care Delivery in Ghana. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 17(6), pp. 601-614
[3] Ndlovu, H.L. 2016. African Beliefs Concerning People with Disabilities: Implications for Theological Education. Journal of Disability & Religion, 20(1-2), pp. 29-39. https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2016.1152942
[4] Hart, C. and Norris, S.A. 2024. Adolescent Mental Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: Crisis? What Crisis? Solution? What Solution?. Global Health Action, 17(1), pp. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2024.2437883
[5] Watts, F. 2018. Theology and Science of Mental Health and Well-being. Zygon, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 336-355
[6] Swinton, J. 2024. Theology and Mental Health: New Perspectives and Dialogues. Journal of Disability & Religion, pp.1-8.
[7] Cross, K. 2024. # ThoughtsandPrayers: A Theology of Social Media Crisis Interaction and Mental Health. Journal of Disability & Religion, pp.1-13
[8] Kamwendo, Z.T. 2024. Decolonizing Science-Engaged Theology. Teaching Theology and Religion (27), pp. 24-29. https://doi.org/10.1111/teth.12653
[9] Gathogo, J. 2008. African Philosophy as Expressed in the Concepts of Hospitality and Ubuntu. Journal of theology for Southern Africa, 13.
[10] Echema, A. 1995. Corporate Personality in Igbo Society and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Frankfurtam Main: Peter Lang.
[11] Hernandez, W. 2015. Mere Spirituality: The Spiritual Life According to Henri Nouwen. Woodstock, Vermont: Skylight Paths Publishing.
[12] Magezi, V. and Khlopa, C. 2021. The Tenet of Ubuntu in South (African) Ethics: Inclusive Hospitality and Christian Ethical Disposition of Effective Pastoral Care in Africa. Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 7(1), pp.1-32.
[13] Louw, D.J. 2014. Interculturality and Wholeness in African Spiritualties and Cosmologies. The Need for Communality (Ubuntu Philosophy) and Compassionate Co-Humanity (Utugi-Hospitality) in the Realm of Pastoral Caregiving. Reflective Practice: Formation and Supervision in Ministry, 34, pp.23-38.
[14] Martin, L.R. 2014. Old Testament Foundations for Christian Hospitality. Verbum et Ecclesia, 35(1), pp.1-9.
[15] Melton, B.N. 2023. An Invitation to a New Era of Biblical Theology: Towards an Old Testament Theology of Hospitality. Tyndale Bulletin, 74, pp.113-141.
