History and Development of Pentecostalism — Unit 7: Africa: Prophets, Independent Churches, Classical Missions, and New Pentecostal Churches

Key Verse

"After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palms in their hands." (Revelation 7:9, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Name the four main streams of Pentecostal-type Christianity in Africa: prophet movements, African Initiated Churches, classical Pentecostal missions, and new Pentecostal and charismatic churches.

2. Describe the ministries of William Wadé Harris, Garrick Sokari Braide and Simon Kimbangu and say why historians study them.

3. Explain the origin of the Aladura churches in Nigeria, the Apostolic Faith Mission in South Africa, and the Church of Pentecost in Ghana.

4. Name several new Pentecostal churches in Nigeria and Ghana and the period in which they grew.

5. State the objections that African Pentecostalism is imported, mixed with African religion, or driven by prosperity teaching, and give the Pentecostal answers.

The Voice of This Unit

This unit is written from inside the classical Pentecostal tradition, for students who belong to it. Africa is now one of the great centers of the movement, and African churches are not a footnote to someone else's story. They have their own leaders and their own history. We believe the Spirit has been at work among the peoples of Africa. We also believe in testing every spirit by Scripture, as John commands: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). So we describe the work of God with joy, and we describe the problems with honesty.

A word of caution. Africa is a continent of many countries, languages and church traditions. In one unit we can only give a map of the main streams and a few examples. Many important churches and leaders cannot be named here. Local histories, such as those of your own church, are still being written.

Christianity in Africa Is Not New

Christianity came to Africa in the first centuries. The church in Egypt and North Africa is very old, and Ethiopia has been a Christian land for many centuries. The Bible itself mentions an Ethiopian official who believed in Christ and was baptized (Acts 8:26-39). Later, Western missionary societies brought Protestant and Catholic churches to many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and it is these mission churches that most of our story begins with. Many African believers valued the missionaries' schools and translations, but they also found that their own questions, such as sickness, spirits and the need for the power of God, were often not addressed.

Four Streams

Scholars such as Ogbu Kalu, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu and Allan Anderson describe Pentecostal-type Christianity in Africa as having several streams. A simple map, drawing on their work, has four.

1. Prophet movements in the early twentieth century, led by African prophets and preachers, mostly before the arrival of classical Pentecostal missions.

2. African Initiated Churches, also called African Independent or Instituted Churches, which were begun by Africans and are led by Africans. Some are called Aladura or Zionist churches.

3. Classical Pentecostal missions, from the denominations that grew from the Azusa Street era, such as the Apostolic Faith Mission, the Assemblies of God and the churches connected with the Apostolic Church of Great Britain.

4. New Pentecostal and charismatic churches, largely beginning in the 1970s and later, many led by Africans and urban, with large congregations, media ministries and universities.

These streams overlap, and scholars sometimes argue about which churches belong in which group. Our map is a help for thinking, not a final label.

Stream One: The Prophets

William Wadé Harris was a Liberian of the Grebo people. After a time in prison, he reported a vision that called him to preach. In 1913 and 1914 he traveled along the coast of what is now Côte d'Ivoire and into what was then the Gold Coast, and today is Ghana, carrying a Bible and a cross. He called people to burn their idols, to give up evil practices and to be baptized. Large numbers responded. He did not found a large church of his own at first. He urged people to join the churches of the missions, and the Methodist and other mission churches in the region grew greatly after his visit. Colonial authorities in Côte d'Ivoire arrested and expelled him in 1914. A church that looks to him as its founder, the Harrist Church, exists today.

Garrick Sokari Braide was an Anglican in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Beginning in about 1915 he preached repentance and prayed for the sick, and crowds followed him. The colonial government arrested him in 1916, and he died in 1918.

Simon Kimbangu was a believer in the Belgian Congo who had some connection with a Baptist mission. In 1921 he began praying for the sick, and large crowds came. The Belgian authorities arrested him after a few months, and he was imprisoned until his death in 1951. A church that follows him, the Church of Jesus Christ on Earth by the Prophet Simon Kimbangu, exists today.

Why we study the prophets

None of these men was a classical Pentecostal, and none of them received the message of Azusa Street. Yet their ministries share features that later Pentecostals would recognize: preaching of repentance, prayer for the sick, expectation of the power of God, and large public response. Historians such as Kalu treat them as part of the story of African Pentecostalism because they show that African hunger for the power of God did not wait for a missionary from North America. This supports what we saw in Unit 1, that the Spirit was moving in many places at once.

A fair caution. Not every teaching of every prophet movement was in line with Scripture, and we should not claim them as full Pentecostals. We honor what was good: the call to turn from idols and to trust Christ. We test what was uncertain.

Stream Two: African Initiated Churches

Nigeria: the Aladura churches

In Yoruba, aladura means "one who prays," and the churches are known as praying churches. In the 1920s, after an influenza epidemic in 1918 that killed many, small prayer groups arose in southwestern Nigeria. They stressed prayer, fasting, healing by faith and the gifts of the Spirit. Several well-known churches came from them:

• The Cherubim and Seraphim, begun in Lagos in about 1925 by Moses Orimolade Tunolase and Christianah Abiodun Akinsowon.

• The Christ Apostolic Church, which grew out of prayer groups and out of a great revival led by Joseph Ayo Babalola in Ilesha in 1930, when many were healed and turned to Christ. It became an independent church in the 1940s, after a period of connection with the Apostolic Church of Great Britain.

• The Church of the Lord (Aladura), founded by Josiah Olunowo Oshitelu in about 1930.

Southern Africa: Zionist churches

In South Africa, a different pattern appeared. The American healing ministry of John Alexander Dowie in Zion, Illinois, influenced early groups that came to be known as Zionist churches. These churches stress healing, baptism by immersion, prophecy and the use of symbols and special dress. One of the best known is the Zion Christian Church, founded by Engenas Lekganyane in the Transvaal in about 1924. It is one of the largest churches in southern Africa.

How we assess them

African Initiated Churches vary greatly. Some hold the doctrine of the Trinity clearly and are close to classical Pentecostalism. Others have mixed Christian teaching with older customs or have given the founder-prophet too great a place. Classical Pentecostals therefore cannot give one verdict on all of them. We examine each church by its own teaching and fruit, by the standard of Scripture and of Christ, "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).

Stream Three: Classical Pentecostal Missions

South Africa: the Apostolic Faith Mission

Missionaries from the American Pentecostal movement arrived in South Africa in 1908, John G. Lake and Thomas Hezmalhalch among them. The Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa was formed in the same year. Its early congregations included both Black and white members and were joined by South African leaders. Elias Letwaba, a Black evangelist who worked with Lake, planted many churches. In time, however, the mission was affected by the racial divisions of South African society, and separate Black and white structures developed. This is a sad parallel to the story we told in Unit 5. Another South African leader, the evangelist Nicholas Bhengu, was known from about 1950 for city-wide crusades that drew many to Christ, and he worked with the Assemblies of God.

Ghana: the Church of Pentecost

The Church of Pentecost in Ghana began with the work of James McKeown, an Irish missionary sent by the Apostolic Church of Great Britain. He arrived in the Gold Coast in 1937, at the invitation of a Ghanaian prayer-and-healing group led by Peter Anim. After disagreements in the following years, McKeown and the congregations that followed him separated in 1953 from the mission that had sent him, and in 1962 the Ghanaian body took the name Church of Pentecost. Under Ghanaian leaders it grew into one of the largest churches in Ghana, with missionaries going out to other nations. The story shows that foreign and local leaders both mattered, and that conflict about authority may occur even among faithful people.

Stream Four: New Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches

From the 1970s, a new kind of church appeared in the cities of West Africa. Many were founded by young Africans, often educated, and many were led by one gifted leader. They held large meetings, used print, radio and television, and spoke to the questions of young city dwellers. Some examples:

• Nigeria: The Redeemed Christian Church of God began in 1952 under Josiah Akindayomi as a small prayer group. It grew greatly under Enoch Adeboye, who became general overseer in 1981, and it now has congregations in many countries. The Deeper Life Bible Church began in 1973 as a Bible study led by William Kumuyi in Lagos, with a strong stress on holiness. David Oyedepo founded Winners' Chapel (Living Faith Church) in the early 1980s. Benson Idahosa of Benin City was an influential early leader in the 1960s and 1970s who held large crusades and trained many pastors.

• Ghana: Nicholas Duncan-Williams began Christian Action Faith Ministries in Accra in 1979, and Mensa Otabil began the International Central Gospel Church in 1984. Churches of this kind are often called charismatic, while the older Church of Pentecost and the Assemblies of God are called classical Pentecostal.

These churches have started schools and universities and have sent out missionaries, including to Europe and North America. Scholars call this the "reverse" direction of mission: Africans now evangelize the countries from which missionaries once came. We rejoice in this, in line with our key verse, which pictures believers from every nation and tongue before the throne.

Objections and Our Answers

Objection 1: African Pentecostalism is a Western import.

Some say it was brought by foreign missionaries and funded from abroad.

Our answer. The history shows otherwise. Harris, Braide, Kimbangu and the Aladura leaders worked before or apart from classical Pentecostal missions. Even in the missionary-founded churches, such as the Church of Pentecost and the Apostolic Faith Mission, Africans have been the main evangelists, pastors and leaders. The Spirit was poured out "on all flesh" (Acts 2:17), which includes the peoples of Africa.

Objection 2: It is African traditional religion in a Christian dress.

Some critics, inside and outside the church, fear that stress on healing, spirits and prophets blends older beliefs with Christianity. Scholars such as Kalu observed that the African view of a world full of spiritual powers made many people open to the Pentecostal message.

Our answer. This is a real risk, and pastors must be watchful. The African view of the world is not the problem in itself, since the Bible also speaks of spirits, angels, demons, healing and the power of God. But every practice must be tested by Scripture (1 John 4:1). Where a church puts a prophet above Christ, or uses charms, or requires payment for healing, we say that Scripture does not support it. The answer is not to reject the gifts of the Spirit but to teach the whole Word of God.

Objection 3: The new churches are about money and celebrity.

Some critics point to teaching that links faith with wealth and to leaders who live in great comfort while members are poor.

Our answer. Classical Pentecostal bodies have often made this same criticism. Paul warned that "those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare" (1 Timothy 6:9). Not all the new churches teach this, and many have carried out real work among the poor, in education, health and relief. We should judge each church by its teaching and its life and not by a label. We take up this subject again in Unit 10.

Pastoral Application

A pastor in a West African city leads a congregation of young adults. A group of them wants to attend a crusade held by a visiting preacher who promises that anyone who sows a large offering will be healed and made rich. Some elders say they should forbid it; others say the preacher is a man of God.

First, the pastor does not shame them. He knows they are hungry for God, and many are in hardship.

Second, he teaches from Scripture. He opens 1 John 4:1, 1 Timothy 6:5-10 and the account of Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8:18-23, where Peter refused payment for the gift of God.

Third, he gives them a method for testing: What does the preacher say about Jesus? Does he teach the whole Bible? What is the fruit in his life? Is the poor person's burden lightened or increased?

Fourth, he honors the real needs behind their interest. He prays for the sick in his own church, teaches that God provides, and helps them find work and training, so that they are not dependent on a stranger.

Summary

Pentecostal-type Christianity in Africa has four streams: prophet movements, African Initiated Churches, classical Pentecostal missions, and new Pentecostal and charismatic churches. In the early twentieth century, prophets such as William Wadé Harris (1913-14), Garrick Sokari Braide (from about 1915) and Simon Kimbangu (1921) preached repentance and prayed for the sick. In Nigeria the Aladura churches, including the Christ Apostolic Church after the 1930 Ilesha revival, grew from prayer groups, and in South Africa the Zionist churches such as the Zion Christian Church appeared. Classical missions include the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa from 1908 and the Church of Pentecost in Ghana, which grew from James McKeown's work beginning in 1937. From the 1970s, new churches such as the Redeemed Christian Church of God, the Deeper Life Bible Church and the International Central Gospel Church rose in the cities. We answer that African Pentecostalism is not simply imported, that it must be tested against mixing with older religion, and that teaching on wealth must be judged by Scripture.

Further Reading

• Ogbu Kalu, African Pentecostalism: An Introduction (2008).

• J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity (2013).

• Allan Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism (2nd ed., 2014).

• Burgess and van der Maas, eds., New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (2002), articles on African countries.

• Pew Forum, Spirit and Power (2006).

• The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles, 1906-1908), a primary source for early missionary reports.

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