The 'Great Move of God' in an African Community: A Retrospect of the 1930s Indigenous Pentecostal Revival in Nigeria and Its Impact on Nigerian Pentecostalism

Abstract

AbstractThe paper examines the 1930s Pentecostal revival in Nigeria that brought Nigerian Pentecostalism onto the global scene. The study is approached from a socio-historical perspective, drawing data from archival search, oral interview and bibliographical search. Among other things, the research brings to the fore the remote and immediate impact of the revival on the Nigerian Church and State. More importantly, the paper locates the rapid growth of Pentecostalism in Nigeria (particularly the much proliferation of churches in the southwest) in the aftermath effects of the 1930s' indigenous Pentecostal revival. That notwithstanding, the paper denounces the undue emphasis on material prosperity which forms the nucleus of Pentecostal crusades/revival in contemporary time and calls on all stake holders to go back to the 'rock from which they were hewn' and purify Pentecostalism in Nigeria of all questionable characteristics.