(RNS) — The Western church’s powerful shaping of Christianity for the past four centuries is being challenged in ways that may hold the keys to its revitalization.

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) A call for greater acceptance of gays and lesbians has put African and Western churches on a collision course, as some African clerics liken mounting criticism from the U.S. and Europe to a new wave of colonization by the West.