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AnAfrican-initiated church (AIC) is aChristian church independently started inAfrica by Africans rather than chiefly bymissionaries from another continent.
A variety of overlapping terms exist for these forms of Christianity:African-initiated churches,African independent churches,African indigenous churches, andAfrican-instituted churches.[a][2] The abbreviation "AIC" covers them all. The differences in names correspond to the aspect that a researcher wishes to emphasise. For instance, those who wish to point out that AICs exhibit African cultural forms, describe them asindigenous. These terms have largely been imposed upon such groups and may not be the way they would describe themselves.
The termAfrican refers to the fact that these Christian groupings formed in Africa, but AICs differ from one another. Not all African cultural systems are the same. Regional variations occur among West, East, North, Central, and Southern Africans, and the AICs will reflect these. AICs can now be found outside Africa.
African-initiated churches are found across Africa; they are particularly well-documented insouthern Africa andWest Africa. Pauw suggests that at least 36 per cent of the population of Africa belong to an African-initiated church.[3]
During the colonial era starting in the 1800s, when European powers took control ofmost of the African continent,Black converts to Christianity were unable fully to reconcile their beliefs with the teachings of their church leaders, and split from their parent churches. The reasons for these splits were usually either:
Some scholars argue that independent churches or religious movements demonstratesyncretism or partial integration between aspects ofChristian belief and African traditional religion. Often, these churches have resulted from a process ofacculturation between traditional African beliefs andProtestant Christianity and have split from their parent churches.[citation needed]Bengt Sundkler, one of the most prominent pioneers of research on African independent churches in South Africa, initially argued that AICs were bridges back to a pre-industrial culture.[4] Later, he recognized instead that AICs helped their affiliates to adapt to a modernizing world that was hostile to their cultural beliefs.[citation needed] In 1925, theCherubim and Seraphim (Nigerian church) was established as the first African-initiated church.[5]
There are thousands of African-initiated churches (more than 10,000 in South Africa alone), and each one has its own characteristics.Ecclesiologists,missiologists, sociologists, and others have tried to group them according to shared characteristics, though disagreements have arisen about which characteristics are most significant and which taxonomy is most accurate. Although it is possible to distinguish groups of denominations with common features, there is also much overlap, with some denominations sharing the characteristics of two or more groups.
Many AICs share traditions with Christians from other parts of theChristian world, which can also be used to classify them. There are AICs that share some beliefs or practices with Protestant churches[example needed].[6] Some areSabbatarian, some areZionist, and others neither.
Ethiopian churches generally retain theirmother church's Christiandoctrine in an unreformed state. Ethiopian African-initiated churches, which are recently-formed Protestant congregations mostly in southern Africa, arose from theEthiopian movement of the late nineteenth century, which taught that Black people should control African Christian churches. They should not be confused with theEthiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church orCoptic Orthodox Church, which have a much longer and distinct doctrinal histories. Some denominations that arose from theEthiopian movement have united with these earlier denominations.
Zionist churches, such as theZion Christian Church, trace their origins to theChrist Community Church, founded byJohn Alexander Dowie, with its headquarters inZion, Illinois. Zionist churches are found chiefly inSouthern Africa. In the early 1900s, Zionist Christianmissionaries went toSouth Africa from the United States and established congregations. They emphasiseddivine healing, abstention from pork, and wearing white robes.
The Zionist missionaries were followed byPentecostal ones, whose teaching concentrated onspiritual gifts andbaptism with the Holy Spirit, withglossolalia as the initial evidence of this. The predominantly whiteApostolic Faith Mission of South Africa arose out of this missionary effort and emphasised the Pentecostal teaching.
The Black Zionists retained much of the original Zionist tradition. The Zionists split into several different denominations, but the reason for this was the rapid growth of the movement rather than divisions.[citation needed] A split in the Zionist movement in the U.S. meant that after 1908, few missionaries came to southern Africa. The movement in southern Africa and its growth resulted from Black leadership and initiative[opinion]. As time passed, some Zionist groups began to mix aspects oftraditional African beliefs, such asveneration of the dead, with Christian doctrine. Many Zionists stressfaith healing andrevelation, and in many congregations, the leader is viewed as aprophet.
Some researchers[example needed] have described some AICs with strong leadership asmessianic, but opinions have also changed. The churches that have been called messianic focus on the power and sanctity of their leaders; often, the leaders are thought by their followers to possessJesus-like characteristics. Denominations described as messianic includeKimbanguism in theDemocratic Republic of the Congo; theNazareth Baptist Church ofIsaiah Shembe inKwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; theZion Christian Church ofEngenas Lekganyane with headquarters inLimpopo, South Africa; and the Ibandla Lenkosi Apostolic Church in Zion of South Africa andSwaziland.Kimbanguism is estimated to be the largest African-initiated church.[7]
TheAladura Pentecostal churches originated in Nigeria. They rely on thepower of prayer and baptism of the Holy Spirit. Today, such churches includeChrist Apostolic Church, theCherubim and Seraphim movement,Celestial Church of Christ, andChurch of the Lord (Aladura). The first Aladura movement was started in 1918 inIjebu Ode, now inOgun State, Nigeria, by Sophia Odunlami and Joseph Sadare. They both attended St. Saviour's Anglican Church. They rejectedinfant baptism and all forms of medicine, whether Western or traditional. Consequently, they initiated the "Prayer Band", popularly calledEgbe Aladura. Joseph Sadare was compelled to give up his post in the Synod[which?]; others were forced to resign their jobs and withdraw their children from the Anglican School. The Aladura began as aChristian revival in search of true spirituality.[opinion]
A revival took place during the1918 flu pandemic. This consolidated the formation of the prayer group, which was namedPrecious Stone and later theDiamond Society. By 1920, the Diamond Society had grown tremendously and started forming branches around the Western region of Nigeria. In particular, David Odubanjo went to start the Lagos branch. The group emphasised divine healing, holiness, and reliance on the divine—three cardinal beliefs of the Church today. For this reason, the group associated with Faith Tabernacle of Philadelphia changed its name toFaith Tabernacle of Nigeria.
The Nigerian revival started in 1930, and the leaders of the Cherubim & Seraphim, The Church of the Lord (Aladura), and the Faith Tabernacle played important roles. Adherents believed that the leaders—Joseph Sadare of "Egbe Aladura", David Odubanjo of "Diamond Society", Moses Orimolade of "Cherubim & Seraphim", and Josiah Ositelu of "The Church of the Lord (Aladura)"—performed several miracles. The revival started in Ibadan in the southwest of Nigeria and later spread to other parts of the country.
The group went through several name changes until, 24 years after formation, it adopted the nameChrist Apostolic Church (CAC) in 1942. Today, the CAC has spread worldwide and is the precursor of Aladura Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria. The church has established several educational institutions in Nigeria, includingJoseph Ayo Babalola University and primary and secondary schools.
These African responses to Christianity have been described variously as African initiatives in Christianity, African Independent, African Indigenous, African Initiated or African Instituted Churches.The term "African Independent" indicates that these churches have originated in Africa and have no foreign financial or ecclesiastical control. "African Initiated Churches" indicates that they were started as a result of African initiative in African countries but they may be affiliated to wider bodies that include non-African members. African indigenous indicates that they have retained an African ethos and that their ideology has a distinctive African flavour. "African Instituted Churches" hints that their establishment and growth have taken place on African soil, under the initiatives of Africans.[1]
