Freedom's Distant Shores: American Protestants and Post-Colonial Alliances with Africa

Chapter 8 American Pentecostalism and the Growth of Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements in Nigeria

155 American Pentecostalism and the Growth of Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements in Nigeria Introduction In a leading article on the new phase of African Christianity, Paul Gifford has argued that the doctrinal emphasis on prosperity within the emerging Pentecostal and Charismatic movements in Africa derived its doctrinal and ideological roots from the North American Pentecostal churches and organizations .1 Elsewhere, Gifford further strengthened his argument about strong ideological, financial, and organizational links between African Pentecostal movements and their U.S. counterparts.2 Other scholars similarly affirmed, though with little evidence, the American impact on African Pentecostalism.3 Among historical links used to justify this conclusion is that of an early holiness-Pentecostal minister in Illinois, John Alexander Dowie of the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion, who has sometimes been noted for influencing the formation of Pentecostalism in South Africa. Allan Anderson, however, states that “after about 1910 . . . North American Pentecostalism had no further direct influence on the progress of Pentecostalism in South Africa.”4 In addition, Ogbu Kalu argues that Nigerian Pentecostalism “is not an offshoot of Azusa Street revival . . . or an extension of American electronic church or a creation of televangelists. It has a certain uniqueness which Matthews A. Ojo Chapter 8 156 American Pentecostalism could best be understood from its fit in African primal worldview. . . . Its problems and idioms are sourced from the interior of African spirituality.”5 This assertion supports what I have argued elsewhere, mainly that the interconnections between American Pentecostalism and Nigerian Pentecostalism do not necessarily result in what could be considered as an ideological or a doctrinal imposition within the Nigerian context, given that Christianity as a world religion shares certain features in common across cultures and boundaries.6 In the contemporary global world, these increased interconnections between religious groups may be self-initiated, direct contacts between religious groups or may be facilitated vicariously through the media. Global Pentecostalism thus falls into the realm of what Karla Poewe has described as a form of global culture.7 America-centric scholars have sometimes adopted a Western anthropological approach that suggests external influences account for the vibrancy of contemporary Pentecostals in Africa. In this way they imply that influence merely flows one way—from the United States to Africa—while ruling out other possible directionalities. It is important, therefore, to move from a superficial analysis of African Pentecostalism as a derivative of American capitalist and corporate culture and examine, instead, the internal dynamics of the African Pentecostal movements. There is a need, then, to critically examine the roots of Pentecostal revival in many African countries, especially since the 1970s, before generalizing about the influence of American Pentecostalism on other Pentecostal movements in the world. This essay outlines interconnections between American Pentecostalism and the growing Pentecostal and Charismatic movements in Nigeria from a historical perspective. Such a historical analysis provides evidence of the nature of the changing relationship between American Christianity and various forms of Christian expressions in Africa. It is argued here that dynamic local religious and social environments have enabled the Nigerian movements to look to more than one source for appropriating elements that have proved helpful to them in their spirituality. Although American Pentecostalism has been a source of inspiration, creativity, and entrepreneurship for Nigerian churches, American Pentecostalism has had little political impact within Nigeria because Nigerian Pentecostals have not seen it as an ideological matrix but mainly as a religious matrix—a source of confirmation of certain passages and prophecies in the Bible. Although Nigerian Pentecostalism has had its peculiar indigenous origin, in the course of its growth it has bene fited from Pentecostal movements in other countries. Pentecostalism in South Korea provided Nigerians in the early 1980s with the concept and practice of house churches and mega churches, and Great Britain provided examples of a healthy blending of Pentecostalism with the mainline Protestant churches. Matthews A. Ojo 157 The Beginnings of Pentecostalism in Nigeria Christian mission agencies, mainly from Europe, were responsible for the planting of Christianity in Nigeria in the 1840s. Although some missionaries of the Church of Scotland Mission came from the West Indies, these men and women had little contact with American Christianity and, hence, did not convey any uniquely American features in their mission work. Nineteenthand early twentieth-century Baptist work, nevertheless, was overwhelming an American initiative inaugurated by the Foreign Mission Board (now the International Missions Board...