Reuben Kigame on Music that Expresses the Full Gospel

Reuben Kigame is a household name in Kenya because of his interdisciplinary reputation as a scholar, author, theologian, well-known gospel and country musician, religious broadcaster, and political activist. He released his thirtieth music album, Asante, in April 2024. His most recent book, Essays in African Christianity and Theology, is an anthology that draws from his scholarly and artistic experiences to define Christianity as a global religion that was present in Africa before European colonizers arrived. In this edited conversation, Kigame explores why congregations in Africa and elsewhere rarely include social justice songs in worship. 

What is the common thread in all your interests and roles? 

Everything I do and all that I am revolves around a strong desire and commitment to be a witness for Jesus Christ and his transforming resurrection power. Whether I teach a class, mix a song at my studio, lead singing at church, sit before a radio studio microphone for a talk show, publish a book or journal article, or march with Gen Zers along Nairobi streets to demonstrate in pursuit of accountability and integrity in government, I just want to be the clearest and most powerful kingdom voice where God has put me. 

In Acts 1:8, Jesus says his disciples would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, and they would be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. When the Holy Spirit comes upon someone (like he did me), he comes with a big bag of diverse gifts (as seen in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 and Romans 12) and spiritual fruit (as seen in Galatians 5:22-23). God uses all these to strengthen and build the church and bless the world.  

What life experiences influenced you to care so much about diversity in global Christianity and music? 

When I was about ten years old, my father bought our first transistor radio, which came with medium wave (MW) and short wave (SW). This little box globalized me with regard to current affairs, music genres, languages, and cultures. From that early age I was consuming news from BBC, VOA, Radio South Africa, Radio Moscow, Radio DW, and more. I also got exposed to Christian stations and worldviews through Feba Radio and Trans World Radio.  

Traveling to Europe as a college freshman equally exposed me firsthand to the church history I was now well versed in, including visiting the Wittenberg Cathedral, where Martin Luther pinned his 95 Theses. My visit to Berlin exposed me to the East-West divide, which left me with many questions and prayers, especially for the wall to come down. I remember pinning a piece of paper on the wall at the Berlin Cathedral with a prayer request for the wall to come down. It fell about one year later, in November 1989.  

Perhaps one of the greatest influences on my interest in global Christianity in particular was the trilogy by Thomas C. Oden: How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind, Early Libyan Christianity, and The African Memory of Mark. I corroborated a lot of what Oden was saying with my studies in African history, especially as taught by my professor Bethwell Allan Ogot. This drove me to apply to study world Christianity at the Africa International University in Nairobi, Kenya. 

Who have been influential musicians for you? 

My life, theology, thinking, and advocacy have been shaped by many different musicians and genres. Through radio I grew up listening to American musicians like Kenny Rogers, Caribbean musician Bob Marley, and the European group ABBA. I listened to many African bands and solo artists like Miriam Makeba, an advocate against apartheid in South Africa; Fela Kuti, the principal innovator of Afrobeat; Congolese musicians Franco, Verckys, and Madilu System; Les Mangelepa, a Kenyan group; and more.  

From the Christian side of things, I listened to Maranatha, Evie, don Francisco, Andre Crouch, Barry McGuire, Keith Green, Sandi Patty, Amy Grant, Rich Mullins, and Cece Winans. On the social justice side, I must confess I have been greatly influenced by secular artists like Michael Jackson in his songs “We Are the World” and “Heal the World.”  

Many Christian social justice artists made an impact on me, such as Garth Hewitt, Mahalia Jackson, Julius “Juliani” Owino, and Kizito Mihigo, a Rwandan Catholic musician who very likely lost his life for daring to challenge the government’s official narrative of post-genocide peace. Silverwind, an ABBA-influenced Christian pop band from the US, influenced me so much to think about social justice through songs like “Elya,” “Ode to a Lost Innocence,” and “Cinderella’s Dream.”  

Have you written social justice songs? 

My “Give Them Freedom” was influenced by the soundtrack of the 1987 film Cry Freedom about apartheid in South Africa. The song pairs the desire for freedom with the real love for humanity shown by Jesus. I’ve written many protest songs about specific events or topics: “Who Will Help the Refugees?” about collapse in Somalia and Eastern Europe; “Cry the Pain” about the 1998 US embassy bombing in Nairobi, Kenya; “When I Wake Up” to protest unrest, government mismanagement, and financial collapse; and “Home for Christmas” about child abuse and child labor. Many of these are in a country music style. Since the 1980s, many Kenyans have identified with country genre themes of faith, family, the land, and working-class life. 

However, my social justice songs are not noticed or celebrated the way my other songs are. My “Huniachi,” a Kiswahili song about God never leaving us, has 23 million views. “Enda Nasi,” which acknowledges that our life journeys are meaningless unless God walks with us, has 8.8 million views. Even newer songs like “Asante” get more views in six months than my protest songs get in years or decades. “Asante” thanks God in many African languages. 

Do you know of other Christian musicians whose social justice songs get many views or are included in church worship? 

About five years ago, I started Christian Music Africa on WhatsApp to discuss and promote Christian music on the continent. This brings together musicians from about ten countries. When I asked them, I found only three musicians who had written a social justice song or two. This does not mean there are not more, but the search continues. I recently asked Garth Hewitt whether he could recall social justice music in Anglican worship over his half-century of songwriting. He replied, “Sadly not.” 

Why is that? 

That’s something I am researching while writing my doctoral dissertation on the nexus of music and social justice. We know that Christian music can be used to promote solidarity amid turmoil, such as Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” In Kenya and elsewhere, most of the songs that politicians pick up for their campaigns are Christian songs turned around. We know from the 1985 hit single “We Are the World” that celebrity musicians can come together to raise millions of dollars for relief programs in Africa. 

In 2024 I did a residency at the Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, so I could research three case studies of Christian social justice musicians: Garth Hewitt, a UK Anglican canon who has been singing about injustice since the early 1970s; the late American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson; and Julius “Juliani” Owino, a Christian hip-hop gospel rapper from Nairobi. I also had a chance to visit Kenyan Christian communities throughout the US, and my social justice songs were very well received, especially “Who Will Help the Refugees” and “Home for Christmas.” 

What have you learned so far? 

I think we need to redefine what social justice and gospel really mean. John MacArthur, a prominent American pastor, says that the idea of social justice is not biblical and is not an essential part of the gospel. Many people agreed with him in the 2018 Statement on Social Justice & the Gospel, also known as the Dallas Statement. They say that the gospel is only about being saved from personal sin. And since the 1970s, Christianity in Kenya and in all of Africa, has been greatly influenced by this view as well as by charismatic, Pentecostal, and prosperity theology. 

But you can’t read the psalms without running into social justice. Read Amos, Isaiah, and James. Look how Jesus announces his ministry in Luke. Notice how his parable of the sheep and the goats links righteousness with caring for “the least of these.” All these biblical passages point to social justice as a major value in Christian living. And I think Scripture should take preeminence in deciding what is social justice. The Bible shows us that God cares about the poor, refugees, good governance, violence, and exploitation. In Luke 4:16-20, Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:1-2 to explain what makes the gospel good news. 

And how might this insight apply to music? 

In Kenya, gospel music simply means Christian music. In the US, it’s seen more as a musical genre with subgenres, such as traditional, Southern, and urban. Theologian James Cone put gospel music between spirituals and the blues. Mahalia Jackson sang Thomas A. Dorsey’s “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” as gospel blues. It’s important to differentiate between gospel content and gospel music genres. I think of some hymns and evangelical songs as gospel by content. But Christian social justice music would be the most appropriate description of gospel music because it brings to life Isaiah 61 and Luke 4 in the way that Jesus described the good news. 

Christian social justice music would be the most appropriate description of gospel music because it brings to life Isaiah 61 and Luke 4 in the way that Jesus described the good news. 

What do you hope your case studies of Garth Hewitt, Mahalia Jackson, and Juliani will do? 

I hope that we can revisit and clarify concepts such as gospel, sacred, and secular music—and even terms such as transcendent—so that bad definitions do not contribute to the obscuring the beauty and power that the church can harness when music and social justice kiss. 

I hope people will see that gospel music as I’ve defined it can take the form of many genres. Hewitt’s “My Name Is Palestine” and “Oscar Romero,” Mahalia Jackson’s “It Don’t Cost Very Much” or renditions of “We Shall Overcome,” and Juliani’s “Utawala,” about the need for good governance, sound very different but are all gospel music. This gospel music could greatly grow the church’s outreach. 

I hope that Christian media platforms will begin to play more Christian social justice music, because the more we hear it, the more we will answer God’s call to push back against injustice. I hope more Christian musicians will write about the good news Jesus proclaims. I hope that when Christians gather for Sunday or midweek worship or prayer meetings, they will include at least one or two songs about the gospel as Jesus defined it. And I hope that my study can contribute to the bridging of music and social justice so that the two are viewed as friends and not foes.