Christ Apostolic Church Research Articles

An Assessment of the Nature and Content of Premarital Counselling in the Bantama Assembly of Christ Apostolic Church International, Ghana

An Assessment of the Nature and Content of Premarital Counselling in the Bantama Assembly of Christ Apostolic Church International, Ghana

Centenary of Pentecostalism in Ghana (1917–2017): A case study of Christ Apostolic Church International

Centenary celebrations in every organisation are approached with joy and reflection of the past, present, impact on society and planning for the years ahead. The Christ Apostolic Church International (CACI), which is acknowledged by Ghanaian Pentecostals as the mother of Pentecostalism, celebrated its Centenary of Pentecostalism in 2017. Having come this far and being acknowledged as the pioneer of classical Pentecostalism in Ghana, it is very important that issues concerning the church, its leadership and impact on society are discussed and properly recorded for future reference. Although some Ghanaian Pentecostal scholars did their best to document some aspects of history of CACI, their focus was limited to the early history of the church and the ministry of Apostle Peter Newman Anim. This article contributes to the existing missional and historical literature on CACI by bringing on board some of the historical gaps. This article also discusses the miraculous dispensation in CACI, their leadership and administrative structure, their growth and challenges as well as their religio-social and economic impact in Ghana.

The theology and practice of Christ Apostolic Church on divine healing in the context of Pentecostal theology

The motivation for this study emanated from review of literature which led this researcher to the realization that not much critical study has been done on the theology and practice of divine healing in Christ Apostolic Church (CAC). The CAC which is an important Pentecostal church in Nigeria traces its root partly to Precious Stone Society, a prayer group that began in South-western Nigeria in 1918. This article identified the tenet of faith of the church on divine healing; located the tenet of CAC in the context of the global Pentecostal theology and compared the initial understanding of the concept in CAC with the way it is perceived today by the church members. Primary sources of data for the work comprised the Bible, editions of CAC constitutions, articles written by founders of the Church, questionnaire, and interviews. Secondary sources of data comprised Bible commentaries, books, journal articles, and Internet sources. Historical and phenomenological approaches were adopted for the work. The study found that CAC initially held to divine healing without the use of drugs. It revealed that the belief of the Church on divine healing located the CAC at the center of Pentecostal theology which researchers have identified as healing. The study further discovered that the view of divine healing, with or without the use of drugs, held by the Church today has changed from the one held by the progenitors of the Church which was healing without the use of drugs. The work provides theological relevance on divine healing for the study of Pentecostalism in Nigeria.Keywords: Divine healing, CAC, Use of drugs, Sanctified water, Anointing oil

Theology and practice of Christ Apostolic Church on Bible inspiration and its authority in the context of Evangelical theology

The motivation for this study originated from a review of literature which led the current researcher to the realisation that not much critical study has been performed on the theology and practice of Bible inspiration and its authority in Christ Apostolic Church (CAC). This article set out to identify the tenet of faith of the church on inspiration and authority of the Scriptures, locate this tenet in the context of Evangelical theology and compare the initial understanding of the concept of Bible inspiration in CAC with the way it is perceived by the church members today. Primary sources of data for the work comprised the Bible, editions of CAC constitution and structured interviews. Secondary sources of data comprised Bible commentaries, books, journal articles and the Internet. Data collected were analysed using Conservative Evangelical theological framework. The study discovered that CAC held to word-for-word inerrancy of the Scriptures, even of its vernacular translations, and its binding authority on Christians in all areas of their lives. The study revealed that the belief of CAC on Bible inspiration and its authority located CAC at the centre of Evangelical theology which researchers have identified as inerrancy. Finally, the study discovered that the initial position of CAC on the inspiration and authority of the Bible remained the same as held by contemporary members of the church. The work provides theological relevance for the study of one of the doctrines of Pentecostalism in Nigeria.

‘Dance Your Sorrow Away!’: Spirituality, Community and Wellbeing in Christ Apostolic Church, Dublin

Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) is a Pentecostal and African Initiated Church that emerged from the Yoruba Aladǔra movement of early twentieth-century Nigeria. In this article, I unpack the concept of ‘dancing away sorrow’, one of the distinctive rituals that members of CAC Dublin have brought with them from Nigeria. I explore members’ beliefs about wellbeing and its links with spirituality and community, and examine how music and dance help to facilitate connections with God and fellow worshippers. While the practice offers positive benefits to first generation migrants, it highlights the dissonance perceived by the second generation between Yoruba and Irish culture.

Pentecostal mission spirituality: a study of the classical Pentecostal Churches in Ghana

Mission is not just about proclaiming the gospel - it encompasses spiritual preparation of those involved in both mission activity and in converted souls. This approach is what is termed as mission spirituality in this article. Mission spirituality is the means by which churches and individual believers participate in the mission of God, through the way they live in and by the Holy Spirit, in order to know the will of God regarding what He is doing in their context and to follow His example. In view of the importance of mission spirituality in missionary activities of the church, this article explores the mission spirituality of the classical Pentecostal churches in Ghana (The church of Pentecost, Christ Apostolic Church International, The Apostolic Church Ghana and the Assemblies of God).

Prophets, evangelists, and missionaries: Trans-Atlantic interactions in the emergence of Nigerian Pentecostalism

This article historicizes the contemporary Pentecostal movement in Nigeria by examining relationships between Nigerian prophets, British missionaries, and American evangelists in the 1930s and 1940s. First, the article challenges assumptions about the genealogy and chronology of Nigerian Pentecostalism by taking a close look at the beginnings of the Christ Apostolic Church. Then, it discusses new evidence which reveals the surprising influence of a marginal American evangelist and renegade British missionary on the church's doctrine. Making use of a wide range of evidence from Nigerian, Welsh, and American archives, the article argues that while the Aladura movement may have had indigenous origins, its development made significant use of foreign support and did so much earlier than has been appreciated by previous studies. The larger significance of this argument is that it shows the mutual constitution of American, British, and Nigerian Pentecostalism; instead of emerging first in the US and UK and then being taken to Africa, Pentecostalism's development across the Atlantic was coeval.

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE CHURCH AND IN CHRIST APOSTOLIC CHURCH IN PARTICULAR

The Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) describes itself as a distinctly indigenous African Church and by its structure, belief and practices, it is an independent Pentecostal church. In reading through the origins of the CAC Worldwide (Nigeria) and the CAC International, this writer was struck by certain similarities to the beginnings of the evangelization of Christianity and the Apostle Paul. Starting with the histories of the two churches, this research will seek to examine the similarities, or the lack thereof, of the role women have played in advancing the visions and missions of the two Apostolic Churches as they also did for St. Paul and the Early Church. It will also look at the transnational significance it holds for the Diaspora where women’s issues are placed in the forefront on church issues.

The origin, development and a brief appraisal of the doctrine of the baptism in the Holy Spirit in Christ Apostolic Church, Nigeria

This article traces the development of the Christ Apostolic Church’s (CAC) doctrine of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, its current official stance and the church ministers’ interpretations of the doctrine. To gather data for this work, focus-group discussions were held with groups of CAC ministers in 1992 and 2012. Data gathered were analysed. Selected leaders of CAC were interviewed, and the data from the two sources were compared, interpreted and discussed in terms of related literature. A theological appraisal concluded the work. The findings are that, whilst CAC tenets appear to conform to the Classical Pentecostal model, the opinions of the church’s ministers are divided along Pentecostal and Evangelical lines. The official view of the CAC is that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is distinct from the initial work of salvation and that the visible signs of receiving this baptism are multiple, but there are significant disagreements amongst the church ministers to this. The appraisal reveals that the tenet of the church needs to be reworked to conform to the teaching of the Scripture.

Faith Tabernacle Congregation and the Emergence of Pentecostalism in Colonial Nigeria, 1910s-1941

Abstract Faith Tabernacle literature first spread into the Christian community in Lagos from Western Ghana in the 1910s. By at least 1917 Faith Tabernacle literature was being read in Lagos, and the first formal branch was established in Lagos in 1920. During the early 1920s Faith Tabernacle literature was being spread throughout Nigeria as Faith Tabernacle members traveled across the colony as labor migrants, leading to the rapid spread of the church, particularly in the major cities. By early 1929 Faith Tabernacle had established 61 branches in Nigeria with over 1,200 members. However, due to the schisms of 1925 and 1929, many Faith Tabernacle leaders, members, communicants, and entire congregations left the church to establish the first Pentecostal denominations in Nigeria, which were the Apostolic Faith (1928), the Apostolic Church (1931), the Assemblies of God (1939), and the Christ Apostolic Church (1941).

Christ Apostolic Church women in dialogue with 1 Corinthians 14:34�36

The command for women to be silent in church worship in 1 Corinthians 14 has generated much debate. After examining the controversies, this article has adopted the view that the sanction in verses 34�35 was a punishment for certain local offences of the female Christians in Corinth. The contention of the article is that interpretations of the text which criticise women �talking to the congregation� when under inspiration in worship services, and which universalise such local rules are unfair. The article attempts to correct the sexist interpretation of 1 Corinthians 14:34�36 by re-interpreting the text in the context of women founding new assemblies, preaching, teaching, and leading congregational prayers in the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), a Nigerian initiated Pentecostal denomination.

Depressed Antioxidant Status in Pregnant Women on Iron Supplements: Pathologic and Clinical Correlates

Iron (Fe) remains a commonly prescribed supplement in pregnancy. Its possible pathologic potential is either uncommonly considered or ignored. We determined the antioxidant status in pregnant women with and without Fe supplements. Fifty-eight apparently healthy pregnant women on Fe supplements were selected for the study from the antenatal clinic of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. Fifty-five aged matched pregnant women who were not on Fe from various parishes of the Christ Apostolic Church, Ibadan (non-drug using Christian sect) were randomly selected as controls. Both groups were classified according to the trimesters of pregnancy. The gestational age in both pregnant women on Fe supplements and non-supplement pregnant women was similar. Fruit and vegetables consumption was higher in the supplement than in the non-supplement group (57.2% vs. 37.3%). Anthropometric indices, weight, height, and BMI, were also similar. But while the weight of the Fe supplement group decreased by nearly 3% in the third trimester, it increased by over 10% (p < 0.00) in the non-supplement group in the same period. Serum Fe level was significantly higher in the supplement than the non-supplement group (p < 0.001). In contrast, the levels of the antioxidants, ascorbic acid, copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and bilirubin were all significantly decreased (p < 0.05, p < 0.001, p < 0.05, and p < 0.05, respectively). Uric acid level though also lower in the supplement group did not reach statistical significance (p > 0.05), while vitamin E was similar in both groups. There was relative stability of all antioxidants except uric acid, which declined from the first to the last trimester in the non-supplement group. The significantly higher Fe level in the second trimester was sustained in the third trimester though to a lesser degree (p < 0.05) and associated with significant decreases in the following antioxidant levels in the supplement group, ascorbic acid, bilirubin, Cu, and Zn (p < 0.02, p < 0.02, p < 0.02, and p < 0.001, respectively). Uric acid and vitamin E though lower in the supplement group were not significantly different. Remarkably, percentage changes between the first and third trimesters revealed that serum Fe increased by over 116% in the Fe supplement group, while it only increased by over 50% in the non-supplement group. This was associated with 23.50% decrease in ascorbate level (p < 0.003) in the supplement group, while it decreased by only 3.70% in the non-supplement group (p > 0.05). Again vitamin E decreased by 17.22% in the supplement group, while it decreased by only 7.30% in the non-supplement group during the period. Uric acid and bilirubin levels decreased by similar proportions during the period, while Zn decreased by 18.55% in the supplement group and by 14.86% in the non-supplement group. In contrast Cu increased by 7.20% in the supplement group, while it increased by only 2.96 in the non-supplement group. Additionally, all the antioxidants in the supplement group except vitamin E, viz, ascorbic acid, bilirubin, Cu, uric acid, and Zn, were significantly inversely correlated with serum Fe level (r - 0.299, p < 0.05, r - 0.278, p < 0.05, r - 0.383, p < 0.05, and r - 0.0369, p < 0.05). These data imply markedly depressed antioxidant status in the Fe supplement pregnant group with attendant oxidative stress (most probably pro-oxidant Fe-induced). This is associated with molecular and cellular damage as well as a number of pathologic and clinical correlates that underlie the exacerbation of morbidity and mortality in maternal and child populations, particularly in the developing countries. This appears to call for serious caution and prior evaluation of antioxidant and Fe status and during the use of Fe supplements in pregnancy for monitoring and prognostic purposes and to avert or ameliorate oxidative stress-induced pathologies in maternal and fetal systems.

Patriarchies, Prophets, and Procreation: Sources of Gender Practices in Three African Churches

AbstractThe Celestial Church of Christ, the Christ Apostolic Church, and the Church of the Lord (Aladura) are indigenous churches, which share the selective blending of Christian and Yoruba religious traditions; however, their gender practices, specifically female access to decision-making roles, vary dramatically. The Celestial Church's prohibition against the ordination of women is associated with ritual impurity. Christ Apostolic excludes women from ordination, but without an explicit ideology of impurity. The Church of the Lord (Aladura) ordains women but prohibits them from the sanctuary when they are menstruating. Do these institutionalised constraints derive from colonial or pre-colonial gender practices? What other factors might contribute to these gender patterns? This paper argues that these gender practices derive from intersecting ambiguities in Western and African gender practices, which both empower and disempower women. The paper also assesses the interplay of doctrine and institutional history on gender dynamics. Finally, it explores the interaction of cultural legacy and socio-environmental pressures on the ritualisation of the female body in this African setting.

Patriarchies, Prophets, and Procreation: Sources of Gender Practices in Three African Churches

The Celestial Church of Christ, the Christ Apostolic Church, and the Church of the Lord (Aladura) are indigenous churches, which share the selective blending of Christian and Yoruba religious traditions; however, their gender practices, specifically female access to decision-making roles, vary dramatically. The Celestial Church's prohibition against the ordination of women is associated with ritual impurity. Christ Apostolic excludes women from ordination, but without an explicit ideology of impurity. The Church of the Lord (Aladura) ordains women but prohibits them from the sanctuary when they are menstruating. Do these institutionalised constraints derive from colonial or pre-colonial gender practices? What other factors might contribute to these gender patterns? This paper argues that these gender practices derive from intersecting ambiguities in Western and African gender practices, which both empower and disempower women. The paper also assesses the interplay of doctrine and institutional history on gender dynamics. Finally, it explores the interaction of cultural legacy and socio-environmental pressures on the ritualisation of the female body in this African setting.

On Being First: Dogma, Disease and Domination in the Rise of an African Church

What might the early institutional history of an indigenous African Church reveal about the institutionalisation of religious innovation? What might findings suggest about the impact of both internal organisational processes and extra-institutional pressures on the routinization of charisma? This article addresses these questions by examining the rise of Christ Apostolic Church, an Aladura church of the Yoruba of Nigeria, and focusing on the interplay of first, the global propagation of Christianity; second, colonial domination; third, symbolic reformulation; and finally, the pursuit of well-being in the face of epidemic disease. This investigation provides a case study of how people negotiate social and natural obstacles while constructing enduring institutional structures. Furthermore, it is argued that, rather than obstructing this religious movement, epidemics, colonial domination and missionary opposition fuelled its transformation into an institutional church.

XII: The Christ Apostolic Church Its History, Beliefs and Organization

The Ecumenical ReviewVolume 28, Issue 4 p. 418-428 XII: The Christ Apostolic Church Its History, Beliefs and Organization First published: October 1976 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6623.1976.tb02440.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume28, Issue4October 1976Pages 418-428 RelatedInformation