African Pentecostalism and World Christianity. Группа авторов
the gods, demons, sorcery, and witchcraft are taught as real and powerful. They can destroy people’s lives and destinies. Yet, on the other hand, God is taught as almighty, and His power supersedes those of the devil and the gods. Those who worshipped the gods, practiced traditional religion, got involved in witchcraft and sorcery are invited to denounce them and come to Jesus. The power of God can be given to anybody who believes and accepts His Son Jesus. To receive Him is to be born again. The fullness of His power is received through the baptism of the Holy Spirit with emphasis on speaking in tongues. This is considered a powerful weapon for evangelism. Healing and exorcism are to accompany those who are baptized in the Spirit in their evangelistic efforts.43
With these teachings about the power and presence of God, the early Pentecostals were addressing the basic problems of Africans. These problems had also been presented to the missionaries, but the missionaries had failed to respond adequately. Because it connected with the people, Pentecostalism swept over the continent by winning many converts and drawing members from the mainline churches. Such members from the mainline churches were asked to receive Jesus again and be re-baptized by immersion.44
Contribution of Para-Church Organizations to Pentecostalization
In the 1980s, the parade of members from the mainline churches to the Pentecostal churches was boosted by those who had experienced new life in various parachurch organizations in Africa, especially those in tertiary institutions. The Fellowship of Christian Union (FOCUS) in Kenya facilitated the expansion of the Pentecostal renewal in the neighboring countries. In Ghana, the members of the Scripture Union (SU) and University Christian Union who had Pentecostal backgrounds spread the experience among their colleagues. Some Nigerians who did their language study in the francophone countries in West Africa (Togo, Benin, Guinea, and Cote d’Ivoire) also spread the experience.45
The Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship (FGBMF), which was created in the US in 1951, spread throughout the continent in the 1980s. It contributed to the Pentecostal experience immensely through its breakfast meetings. The female counterpart of the FGBMF was the Women’s Aglow. These groups invited businessmen and women to their meetings. Through the sharing of testimonies, many people were won to Christ and were encouraged to seek for the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.46 Many people who joined the student movements and the business fellowships crossed over from the mainline churches to join the Pentecostal churches.
Response of Mainline Churches
As they lost members to the Pentecostal churches, the mainline churches soon raised an alarm. In Ghana, some of them established committees to investigate and make recommendations as to why people were leaving their fold to join the African-initiated Churches.47 Eventually, because of the spreading of the Pentecostal faith, and, in a way, as a response to the finding of such committees, renewal groups were organized within the mainline churches. Currently, the prayer meetings of such renewal groups follow the practices of their Pentecostal counterparts. Often it is difficult to notice a difference between a Pentecostal/Charismatic church and a renewal movement in a mainline church. Sometimes, after a mainline church has finished its liturgy, it will shift to the informal Pentecostal way of worship, which includes singing choruses, drumming, clapping hands, dancing, and simultaneous congregational prayer. This is the type of Christianity in Africa now. This is what some pastors and theologians see as the “Pentecostalization” of Christianity in Africa.48 It has changed the theology and form of Christianity in Africa, and it reveals a supernatural, active, victorious God.
Pentecostal Spirituality and the Resultant Proliferation of Churches
Pentecostalism depends greatly on charisma with no requisite of theological training. Based on 1 Peter 2:9–10, the priesthood of all believers is promoted. A major feature of Pentecostal spirituality is spontaneity, demonstrated in orality. Worship does not depend upon a scripted, written-and-taught liturgy. Therefore, preaching does not demand hermeneutical accuracy. The hermeneutics of Pentecostals is action based, with experience and Scripture handled in partnership. The Holy Spirit is believed to uphold the truth in life experience. Thus, priority is placed on experience, emotions, relations, and the freedom to interpret and appropriate the multiple meanings of biblical texts.
The preference is on narrative—or story—texts. Pastors read them eschatologically as the intrusion of the kingdom of God into the present and as empowerment for living out its promises. The sermon is presented in a transformative way so that the hearers must respond. Pentecostal Christians come to churches with their Bibles, iPads (or notebooks), smartphones, and pens to take notes. Many of the churches record the messages and sell CDs, DVDs, books, and magazines for congregational consumption. In addition to such traditional media, Pentecostals are active with new media (websites, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) as tools for ministry. Considering how some Pentecostals and Charismatics touch the TV and the radio during preaching and prayer, Asamoah-Gyadu rightly asserts, “For contemporary Pentecostals, mass resources tend to be seen . . . as possessing a certain sacramental value.”49
One of the main challenges that accompanies Pentecostal spirituality is its liberty. A Nigerian Church historian, Ogbu Kalu, rightly observes, “Leadership thus becomes dependent upon proved worth and charisma and not upon inherent right. As soon as some detect a fault, a weakening of charisma or autocratic exercise of power, a split occurs.”50 With this freedom, new churches spring up daily. Many churches have arisen from renewal groups within the mainline churches and even the classical Pentecostal churches. There are many new Charismatic churches on the continent—and more are added regularly. Six or more churches can worship in one school block, each one in a different classroom. In many African cities, churches are found at every corner and in every vacant space. Their names are all different, and they tell of the excitement inside.
African Initiatives Enriched by Western Pentecostal Preachers
The ministries of some Western Pentecostal preachers fueled the efforts of Africans to change the face of Christianity on the continent. This began in the 1970s when African ministers eagerly read the books and listened to the cassettes of the Western Pentecostal preachers in order to enhance their ministries. In addition, many of them—such as T. L. Osborn, Reinhard Bonnke (Germany), and Morris Cerullo—were invited to hold crusades on the continent.
In Africa, however, was the special role of Archbishop Benson Andrew Idahosa (1938–1998) of Nigeria, who was perhaps the most significant person in the history of Nigerian and Ghanaian Pentecostalism. (He also influenced other African countries.) Idahosa was greatly influenced by many North American Pentecostal preachers. He studied at the Christ for All Nations in the US, which was started by Gordon Lindsay. Afterward, he established the Church of God Mission International and a Bible School in Benin City, Nigeria, where he offered scholarships for people to study. Idahosa received many invitations from Pentecostals and Charismatics across the globe to speak and conduct healing services at their programs. Idahosa’s message was centered on faith and healing, and he was not labeled as a “Prosperity Gospel” preacher as such. However, his “flashy” lifestyle challenged ministers of the gospel to shed the poverty mentality and embrace prosperity as integral aspect of Christian living. He can rightly be labeled as a precursor to the Prosperity Gospel preaching in Africa.
Spiritual Warfare
Following this, in the early part of the 1980s, was the beginnings of the spiritual warfare movement and the associated books and cassettes (both video and audio) that increased people’s awareness of demons and how to exorcize them.51 In the latter part of the 1980s and early 1990s came an intensification of how to deal with these powers through deliverance, breaking generational curses, and exorcisms. Then, in the latter part of the twentieth century, the movement altered from demon possession to levels of “spiritual warfare.” Two levels were explained. Charles Kraft championed the “ground-level,” while Peter Wagner was concerned about “cosmic level,” which he called “strategic-level warfare.” Ground-level warfare is supposed to deal with evil spirits that inhabit people, while strategic-level warfare is supposed to deal with territorial spirits (Dan 10:13, 21), intuitional spirits, spirits assigned to supervise and promote special functions and vices, spirits assigned to spaces, as well as nonmaterial entities and