Session 4: What Do Animists Believe?

In this session of Secret Church 16, Pastor David Platt teaches Christians how to think about Animism in light of the gospel. Although many people think of animists as uneducated tribal peoples in remote villages, animism is influential across the world. Often animism exists in syncretistic forms where it mixes with a variety of other religions.

Animists believe that God is too remote to be known, and yet the physical world is subject to impersonal spiritual forces and personal spiritual beings. While animism lacks certain characteristics of a formal religion—like sacred written texts—and has a variety of different expressions, there are some common beliefs that many animists share. For instance, ancestor worship is common, as is an emphasis on everyday needs as opposed to ultimate truth. For animists, views on God, sin, and the afterlife, are shaped by the belief in spiritual forces and spiritual beings that must be appeased, assuaged, and/or avoided. In this session, David Platt offers suggestions for sharing the gospel with animists, including questions to ask in order to transition into a gospel conversation.