African Initiated Churches Research Articles

Religion, water and climate change: Are theologies of African Initiated Churches in Zimbabwe adaptable?

An eco-theological analysis of African Initiated Churches (AICs) has revealed that most of these churches use water for a myriad of rituals ranging from baptism to consecratory rites. Their affinity with water even qualifies them to be dubbed water-based churches; yet, the world is faced with an imminent scarcity of this natural resource. The United Nations echoed that access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene are the most basic human needs for health and well-being; but it has observed that unless the water situation improves, by 2030, billions of people will lack access to these services because of climate change. Given this reality, there is a genuine need to examine the possibility of having the eco-theologies of AICs adapted to suit these emerging realities. The paper explores how water is used in the religiosity of the AICs in an effort to elucidate the possible challenges to be encountered because of climate change. It then examines the possibility of realigning the water uses to the current climatic trajectory. The article is largely based on desktop research which utilises secondary sources.Contribution: This article makes a critical contribution to the body of knowledge by making an analysis of the adaptability of AICs’ conceptualisation and use of water in a climate change context. An eco-theological analysis is crucial as it enables the nuancing of AICs’ theologies so that they conform to a world in a climate crisis.

The Perception of Christians on the Doctrine of Trinity in Selected African Initiated Churches in Niger Delta

The question about the reality, nature and function of the Trinity in Christianity has evolved subjective theological and philosophical perspectives and debates among researchers, and more so is the issue of adapting the doctrine into African-initiated churches. The issue as it affects African Christianity in the Niger Delta has not been adequately addressed empirically. Thus, this study investigates and analyses the perceptions of Christians about the Trinity among selected African Initiated Churches. Quantitative research approach was adopted using a purposive sampling technique to explore the perceptions of selected church leaders about the concept of Trinity. Data were collected through the use of questionnaires from 50 selected church leaders from Celestial Church of Christ and the Apostolic Church in Niger Delta. The findings show that while most Christians understand the Trinity in terms of unity in diversity, some believe it is just mere normal church doctrine; whereas they all accept that there is timeless mystery of the Trinity beyond the mental construct of man from both churches. The study concluded that there is no consensus in the theological interpretation and conceptualisation of Trinity among African-initiated churches in the Niger Delta. Hence, the study recommends proper theological education as a means of addressing the problem wrong perception about the Trinity.

River baptism and climate change among African-Initiated Churches: An eco-theological critique

River baptism has biblical and historical significance in the Christian tradition. Many established mainline churches have baptismal pools where they safely conduct baptism. However, some African-Initiated Churches have been practicing river baptism because of their beliefs, theology and at times a lack of resources. While African-Initiated Churches have a theological basis for practicing river baptism, the challenge is that during rainy seasons, river baptism among African-Initiated Churches becomes hazardous because congregants can get swept away by water during the baptism ritual. This study uses an eco-theological critique to assess the relevance of river baptism amid climate change. This is a conceptual study that opted for content analysis as the research methodology. The study recommends that African-Initiated Churches that still practice river baptism must take extra caution in ensuring the safety of their congregants. If possible, life savers can be included in the baptismal programme of such churches as a way of ensuring the safety of their members. Most importantly, the African-Initiated Churches will have to rethink their theology of practicing river baptism amid climate change and other environmental crises. Such a theology should find a balance between the beliefs in river baptism and the safety of the believers.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The theological concept of baptism is discussed within the environmental science challenge of climate change. The article proposes solutions to contemporary challenges of river baptism in African-Initiated Churches through an eco-theological critique.

Corrigendum: African-initiated churches and environmental care in Limpopo, South Africa: A missional enquiry

No abstract available.

Allan Anderson’s African Pentecostalism theology and the ‘othering’

Allan Heaton Anderson is one of the few white South Africans who succeeded in getting out of the entrapment of racial prejudices when it came to the written history of African-initiated churches. He became aware of the fact that an authentic theology can only be examined within context, and thus his theological analysis of African independent churches (AICs) reflects his status in the margins. Anderson not only conducted research among the poor and the downtrodden, where he challenged assumptions made by his white contemporaries, but he also identified with the ‘othering’, those who were powerless and marginalised – contributing immensely to African theology of inclusivity. This article comprised three sections: firstly, it traced Anderson’s journey within and his contribution to the theology of African Pentecostalism; secondly, it explored the notion of typology of AICs using the lens of ‘othering’; and thirdly, it concluded with recent trends in neo-Pentecostalism. Following the philosophical axiom of critical theory, the article was involved in dialogue with Anderson, interrogated European missionary typologies of African-initiated churches and, finally, critiqued the convergence of ‘progressive Pentecostals’ and ‘globalisation’ in shaping a new mission paradigm.Contribution: This article paid closer attention to intersectionality of historiography and hybrid theological subjects such as practical theology and African theology. The contribution of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research by white African scholars on African theology was appraised. The article further appreciated the contribution by a white theologian who had mastered African epistemology of being and living by critiquing the theory of paternalistic ‘othering’.

The Routledge Handbook of African Theology

The Routledge Handbook of African Theology

Denominationalism and African Christian Identity

African culture was affected by the propagation of the gospel. Pre-colonial Africans easily identified as Africans as informed by their highly religious cultures but the coming of Christianity and the subsequent notion of conversion together with denominationalism affected this obvious identification. Based on available literature, this paper has two main purposes; to highlight the role of culture and to locate the position of denominationalism in the affirmation of ‘African’ identity among African Christians. It suggests that denominations have a role to play in dislodging dual identity among African Christians. It recommends further investigation on the contribution of African Initiated Churches (AICs) to improving African Christian identity.

African-initiated churches and environmental care in Limpopo, South Africa: A missional enquiry

Climate change in South Africa is increasingly threatening the most vulnerable populations in rural areas of the country, such as the Limpopo province. Religious communities could be important actors in South Africa, and their role in sustainable development could be critical. Research on the capacities of religious communities for climate change adaptation is vital for reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 13, 14 and 15. This article drew on empirical research focusing on adaptive practices to climate change. It asked the following question: how do African Independent and Pentecostal churches located in the province of Limpopo relate to climate change in their communal and individual activities? To answer this question, qualitative semistructured individual interviews, group interviews and results from focus groups were used for data collection. The research learned that eco-theology is not the most prominent topic in the majority of the participants’ congregations and their communal activities. However, all the participants had noticed the effects of climate change in their immediate surroundings. As a consequence, these individuals took care of their surrounding environments. Focus groups were formed with the hope of consolidating individual efforts into a collective toolkit. This article concluded that the majority of the research participants are not knowledgeable about climate change as a concept. However, they are cognisant of the impact climate change has on them.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article was practical theology research. It was strengthened by research findings from agricultural sciences, ecology, development sciences, missiology and intercultural theology to propose an eco-theology from below based on individual adaptive measures to climate change.

Johane Masowe Chishanu Church Theology and Spirituality: A Transition from the Written Bible to Holy Spirit Utterances

This article was written at a time when decoloniality was generating a heated debate at most African universities. The point of departure of the debate is that, since Africans were born into a valid and legitimate religious knowledge system that predates the arrival of Western missionaries on the land, can African Initiated Churches (AICs) acknowledge these valid and legitimate indigenous knowledge systems and still retain the tag “African Christian churches?” These legitimate indigenous religious knowledge systems include, but are not limited to, Africans’ way of accessing the divine through oral transmission without reading books and by shunning temples, as they appropriate African traditional shrines for worship. This is so because the dawn and unfolding of Eurocentric modernity, through colonialism and European missionaries, introduced particular ways of accessing the divine through the reading of books (the Bible) and temple gatherings. These, among other factors, gave rise to the emergence of the Johane Masowe Chishanu Church (JMC Church) in Zimbabwe. Since its emergence in the 1930s, the JMC Church has developed a theology that tries to liberate Africans from colonial hegemony by distancing its theology from White missionary inventions such as worshipping in temples and the reading of the Bible in church, as this church prefers open space worship and the utterances of the Holy Spirit (tsanangudzo dzewmeya), among other things. Thus, the JMC Church, like many other AICs, is a reactionary movement that questioned the White man’s innovation, Western epistemologies and European cultural imperialism in a bid to romanticise the past. Accordingly, this article discusses the JMC Church as disregarding the Bible with regard to its spirituality in an attempt to free its theology from Eurocentric hegemony. Thus, the main question raised in this article is: Does the written Scripture matter for theology within AICs in the post-colonial period? Or, does this movement retain the tag “an African Christian church” after disregarding the Bible for theology?

Pioneers of African Initiated Churches (AIC) as actors of development: A case of Paulos Matsea Mureri of the United African Apostolic Church (UAAC) and community development

The role of Africans, those associated with African Initiated Churches (AIC), in spreading the gospel, which contributed to human development, has not been fully recognized even in the current political dispensation in South Africa. Most literature has given specific focus to the western missionaries and their approach to the gospel has been widely accepted as the way of the gospel. The establishment of AICs such as the United African Apostolic Church (UAAC) initiated by Matsea Paulos Mureri display an unignorable phenomenon in terms of the contribution he made as a gospel crusader and actor of development within and outside his community. Through the seed that Matsea Paulos Mureri planted, the church has grown to over a million members internationally. He comes from a generation that experienced the emergence of the Pentecostal movements which shaped the African Initiated Pentecostal Churches (AIPC) and they have survived a century of various marginalization. Unlike Evangelical and Pentecostal movements, their contribution to human development has been recognized through their contribution to education and health sectors. However, human development concept is much broader. In terms of Paulos story, important questions are asked in reflection of some of the challenges which continue to confront the AICs particularly in the area of succession. Like most of the AICs, the UAAC has not been spared from disputes and splits which have confronted most AICs since their inception. Some of the imperative questions asked is whether the leadership conflicts and disputes which surround the AIC’s are real leadership disputes or are polygamous conflicts which are disguised under church leadership battles. Secondly, a question is raised about the contestation of two opposing cultures i.e. the African unwritten law versus the western written law on the rights and privileges of adopted children in terms of succession. Although the two question may sum up the kind of legacy that Matsea Paulos Mureri left in his quest to be a gospel distributor, it does not erode his contribution to human development.

African Initiated Churches as interlocutors of African spirituality of liberation against colonial spirituality of the empire

Prof. Vuyani Vellem was a scholar of Black Theology of Liberation. However, he placed the African Initiated Churches (AICs) at the centre of his heart as a basis for African spirituality of liberation. He believed that the whole of African life is infiltrated by spirituality which is based on African religiosity. He mentioned African religiosity as an alternative to what he expressed as ‘authoritative salvationist dispensation of Western religiosity’. The AICs present a formidable platform for ‘un-thinking’ colonial religiosity. He extended the notion of ‘un-thinking’ the West beyond the cognitive space and embraced spirituality, hence cognitive spirituality. This article, therefore, argues that the AICs are the protagonists in the interlocution project of African spirituality of liberation. They are formidable giants in unshackling African spirituality from Western Christian spirituality and its expansionism that attempts to unseat the liberation paradigm of African spirituality. The author’s approach will, therefore, be to identify and analyse selected areas in the ministry praxis of AICs in their quest for African spirituality of liberation. In order to reach this objective, the author will examine the subject of African spirituality, by discussing colonial spirituality of the empire that gave rise to the AICs and find out the liberating spirituality of the AICs. At the end of this discourse, the author will conclude that the AICs succeeded to not only preserve, but also to construct, contextualise, protect and promote African spirituality of liberation against the antics of the empire. Contribution: Based on the thoughts of the late Prof. Vuyani Vellem about the role of AICs within the space of African spirituality of liberation, this article not only provides insights and better understanding, but also highlights the ministry praxis of the AICs on this subject against the imperial spirituality. This study, therefore, combines the notions of multi and transdisciplinary religious elements of the focus of this journal.

‘Art is different from life’: Doctrine and agency in Thokozile Philda Majozi’s insights and imagery

Established in apartheid South Africa, the tapestry-weaving venture at the Evangelical Lutheran Church Art and Craft Centre, Rorke’s Drift, was situated in a complex mission environment, on the junction between evangelised and unevangelised isiZulu-speaking communities. Although local women who worked at this centre in the 1960s and early 1970s were trained in creative strategies by Swedish artists, their lives were constrained by missionary strictures, inherited customs and apartheid laws. Little has been written on the tapestries made by these marginalised women, whose experiences were discounted in the socio-political milieu. Yet even as they were subordinated by political and social hierarchies, some found ways to assert their individualities. One of the most prolific was Thokozile Philda Majozi. As this study demonstrates, her woven iconographies, as well as her personal insights on those of others, provide a lens through which local Lutheran agendas and prejudicial social practices may be read. Some works anticipate the mission’s eventual change of heart on inherited customs and African-initiated churches. Majozi’s discussion also reveals how weavers often ignored Lutheran restrictions in the interests of artistic experience, despite the systems of control that defined their lives. Yet Christian weavers such as Majozi also complicated their representations of mission life, deploying images of un-evangelised women that articulated their own ambivalence towards them.

‘Middle-class’ Africans in Australia: choosing Hillsong as a global home

ABSTRACT Much of the literature on Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity (Pc/C) and African diasporas in the Global North has focused upon African-Majority or -Initiated churches that are either branches of African churches or were created in the diaspora. This focus often frames the appeal of Pc/C to African migrants in terms of: a) its emphasis upon the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ offering a path not only to salvation, but also to earthly riches; b) its opportunities for achieving status among church hierarchies, which is attractive to socially marginalised groups, and; c) the practical assistance it provides to support settlement. However, African diasporas have diverse histories of migration, and settlement experiences. This article considers the appeal of Pc/C to a group of professional African migrants in Australia, who self-identify as ‘middle-class’. It argues that professional African migrants have consciously favoured the Australian megachurch Hillsong over Australia’s African-Initiated churches. They have done so in pursuit of a process of an imagined class-mobility, and as a result, their choice of church can be understood as largely strategic.

African Pentecostalism and the 1918 influenza pandemic: The supernatural amid the fearful and implications for the COVID-19 pandemic

Infectious outbreaks that lead to epidemics and pandemics are dreaded because of the adverse health, economic, and social effects. The 1918 pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza virus killed about 40 million people worldwide. Like the case of COVID-19, the pandemic of 1918 kept Christians, as well as people of other faiths, from worshipping together. However, African indigenous Pentecostal movements and groups emerged in various parts of the continent around the same time. This period was the time of huge Pneumatic experience and spiritual awakening. Pentecostals devoted themselves to building their faith and praying ceaselessly during that time, and this has become the foundation of the doctrine and theological instruction of most African-initiated churches (AICs). Because there have been no studies that consider the 1918 flu pandemic and Pentecostal response in Africa, this study was undertaken. The time of the 1918 pandemic appeared to be a good opportunity for spiritual awakening. Intense prayer prevailed during those times, and teaching and exposition about prayer formed the core of the theology of most AICs. Pandemics often bring devastation but could also be an opportunity for spiritual awakening through prayer, love in action, social justice, compassion, and care.

‘Be fruitful and multiply’: Examining Genesis 1:28 as a basis for the adoption of polygamy as a solution to childlessness amongst Nigerian Christians

In spite of Christianity and western civilisation, polygamy remains a major issue in Christian marriage in Africa. In Nigeria, most of the mainline churches officially adopt monogamy, whilst many of the African Initiated Churches (AICs) practise polygamy. Because Africans consider procreation as the primary purpose of marriage, some childless Nigerian Christians engage in polygamy in order to have children. But apart from the factor of traditional passion for children, some engage in polygamy to have children because they take the phrase ‘Be fruitful and multiply’ in Genesis 1:28 as a divine command to everyone to produce children. Therefore, this article examines the text with a view to ascertain whether it is appropriate to exploit the passage as a basis for the adoption of polygamy as a solution to infertility. The target population is those Nigerian Christian men and women who engage in this practice. The article employs descriptive and exegetical methods. It found that, although couched as an imperative, the phrase ‘Be fruitful and multiply’, rather than being a command to procreate, should be simply understood as a saying that God blessed the humankind with offspring, just as he did the fish that are not expected to obey or disobey (Gn 1:22). It therefore does not provide a basis for adoption of polygamy as a solution to infertility. The article recommends that apart from assisting childless Nigerian Christians to realise their dream of childbearing, the church should make them understand the biblical position that every individual and couple need not have children.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This research involves the disciplines of the Old Testament and Christian Ethics. It examines Genesis 1:28 with regard to the adoption of polygamy as a solution to infertility amongst Nigerian Christians. The article postulates that the passage is not a command for procreation but is simply a saying that God blessed the humankind with offspring; hence, it does not provide a basis for the adoption of polygamy to solve the problem of infertility.

WE WANT TO SPEAK FOR OURSELVES…!”, THE AGENDA OF AFRICAN INITIATED CHURCHES ON DECOLONISED AND TRANSFORMATIVE THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

The noise is very loud around what could be a relevant decolonized education in Africa, South Africa in particular. We saw protested matches at tertiary institutions crying out loud against what is called a colonized education and curriculum. There was a need for a decolonized education based on a relevant curriculum as a solution to the problem at hand. Theological education is not immune to this problem because it is also a product of the apartheid and colonial project. The answer to the question as to what is a relevant theological education today, that is decolonized based on a ‘peoples’ curriculum still stands unanswered. This article seeks to present a contribution of the ignored or rather despised voice on this debate, the African Initiated Churches (AICs). It proposes a solution from the AICs perspective where they speak by themselves, hence the title of this articles; “We want to speak for ourselves…!” I will approach this project by investigating who the AICs are, their ecclesiology and ecumenical mission praxis, their position on social justice as a means of understanding the strength behind their anti-colonial drive. At the end, a relevant theological education curriculum will be proposed.

Prophecy, Divination and Gender Justice in the Lumpa Church in Zambia

This article examines the role of Prophecy and divination in the success of the Lumpa Church of Alice Mulenga Lenshina in Zambia. Concurring with James Amanze (2013), the article argues that the rapid growth of Christianity in Africa is to a large extent due to its engagement with prophecy and divination. Strong growth in African Christianity takes place mainly in the African Initiated Churches (AICs) which are Pentecostal-charismatic in their outlook. In these Churches the emphasis is on the prophetic ministry of the Church, evident in the performance of divination, healing and in predictions of the future. A good example is the Lumpa Church of Lenshina. Taking this Church as a case study, the article argues that Lenshina’s success and that of her Church are based on the fact that divination, prophecy and a search for gender justice were taken seriously.

Distinctive Identity in the Worship Music of the Zion Christian Church within the Category of African Initiated Churches

While the mapping of continuities and differences between mainline and African Initiated Churches (AICs) has been carried out at national level, more work still has to be done on the Zion Christian Church (ZCC). In this article, I argue that an initially homogenising, determinist approach seeing a uniform rupture in all AICs from the Apostolic Faith Mission imported from Illinois in 1908 delayed adequate individual analyses of the AICs. I extend research on the ZCC specifically, by comparing and contrasting its recorded worship songs with those of other dominant AICs operating in its geographical vicinity. I intend to demonstrate that by juxtaposing this aspect of the ZCC with a similar phenomenon in the other ambient AICs in a geographical area, better determinate contours of existing knowledge about the ZCC will be achieved. While the Nazareth Baptist Church founded by Isaiah Shembe remains the first and among the biggest AICs, I exclude it from my comparison. First, I do so because adherents of this Church are most massively concentrated in KwaZulu-Natal Province (not the focus of this study), and not in the part of Limpopo Province that I focused on. Second, my view is that the AIC has received relatively adequate attention due to its earlier birth. Furthermore, my intention is not to conduct the study on a national scale, hence my inclusion of selected AICs due to their sharing of space with the ZCC in a specific place.

HISTORICISING PENTECOSTAL CHRISTIANITY IN ZIMBABWE

This paper is a first attempt to systematically present a history of Pentecostal Christianity in Zimbabwe. The paper first discusses the introduction of the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) in Zimbabwe before moving on to discuss some of the Pentecostal churches born out of the AFM. This is followed by a discussion of the 1980s and 1990s explosion of American type Pentecostal churches and the current Pentecostal charismatic churches that seem to be sweeping the Christian landscape in the country. The paper acknowledges the difficulty of writing a history of Pentecostalism in the country due to a lack of sources. It identifies AFM as the mother church of Pentecostal movements in Zimbabwe, but also acknowledges the existence and influence of other earlier movements. It has shown that the current picture of Zimbabwean Christianity is heavily influenced by Pentecostalism in mainline churches, African Initiated Churches (AICs) and the various Pentecostal movements.

Women in polygynous marriages and African Initiated Churches: Selected narratives in Greater Tzaneen, South Africa

abstractPolygynous marriage is practised in some African Initiated Churches (AICs). The article reflects on the stories of women in polygynous marriages within selected AICs in Greater Tzaneen in the Limpopo province. Conversations were held with 25 purposely selected married female believers. The women’s perceptions and status in the church and at their respective family homes are discussed and analysed. The presentation of these conversations is an attempt to fill a gap in research on AICs and gender. The research conducted sought to explore how faith traditions and religious identities determine social constructs of sexuality and gender in the context of women’s rights and gender equality. Oral research methods were used in this qualitative research study. Twenty five anecdotes relayed by women who had been married in polygynous marriages for the past 20 years were studied. The data was analysed through the Creswell method of analysing qualitative data. The research found that the women the authors engaged with have strong opinions about their status within the church and family. They realised that the church and their family life situations favour their husbands. What was evident was the resilience that was required of the respondents in the face of the insecurities that they face in polygynous marriage.