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Africa
Up one levelPentecostal/Charismatic Christianity in Africa is over a hundred years old. Today the continent has one of the fastest growing and diverse forms of Pentecostalism in the world. Megachurches in West Africa, segregated churches in South Africa and enormous gatherings of hundreds of thousands of people are features of this phenomenon, but essentially some of the most fascinating features include Pentecostalism's ability to adapt to different contexts and its relationship with African governments. Pentecostalism is big business in Africa. Statistics are notoriously difficult to calculate and verify, and even more so in Africa. But the estimates we have for Christian affiliation at the beginning of the twenty-first century reveal some amazing trends that any casual observer of Christianity in Africa will not find so incredible. According to one estimate, 11% of Africa’s population (including the predominantly Muslim north) was ‘Charismatic’ in 2000. Even if this figure is only roughly approximate, the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements undoubtedly are fast becoming dominant forms of Christianity on the continent. This has been developing for over a century and Africa now has its own distinct contribution to make to the shape of global Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity.
Some prominent expressions of Christianity in the sub-Sahara may be called ‘African Pentecostal’ churches because of a particular emphasis that is common to churches that would otherwise be quite different. Divergent African churches that emphasize the working of the Spirit in the church, particularly with ecstatic phenomena like prophecy and speaking in tongues, healing and exorcism have been characteristic of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches throughout the world, and are widespread throughout Africa across a great variety of Christian churches. These include thousands of African initiated churches (AICs) known collectively as ‘prophet-healing’, ‘Spirit’ or ‘spiritual’ churches. Classical Pentecostals have been operating in Africa since 1907, when the first missionaries from Azusa Street arrived in Liberia and Angola.
- GloPent Research Project: Transnational Nigerian-initiated Pentecostal churches, networks and believers in three Northern countries by Kim Knibbe — last modified 2014-05-18 01:43
- Information regarding the first GloPent joint research project.
- Research Project: Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements in Ethiopia by Jörg Haustein — last modified 2011-12-10 21:32
- An overview of goals, methods, research interests and current state of a doctoral research project on Ethiopian Pentecostalism
- Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements in Ethiopia by Jörg Haustein — last modified 2013-12-13 23:41
- Though the beginnings of Ethiopian Pentecostalism are fairly recent (e.g. in comparison to neighbouring Kenya), a considerable spectrum of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches has developed there, that presently includes all major Protestant denominations. These pages introduce a recent PhD project by Jörg Haustein studying the Ethiopian Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.
- Research Project: Aladura Christianity by Michaiah Olaniyi — last modified 2006-06-27 00:39
- The Meaning of Religious Conversion in the Christ Apostolic Church of Nigeria: Towards the Incarnation of Christianity in Yorubaland
- Research Project: The Christ Apostolic Church in Yoruba Land by msepo — last modified 2011-02-09 14:21
- This is a description of my PhD thesis on "The leadership crisis of Christ Apostolic Church in Yoruba land 1989-2005: A historical and theological critique."
- Research Project: The Civil War Revival and its Pentecostal Progeny by Richard Hugh Burgess — last modified 2011-02-09 14:21
- This is an abstract of my PhD thesis "The Civil War Revival and its Pentecostal Progeny: A Religious Movement among the Igbo People of Eastern Nigeria (1967-2002)" University of Birmingham, 2004.
- Research Project: The Shaping of a New Form of Missionary Initiative from Africa by Daniel Walker — last modified 2011-02-09 14:21
- This is a description of my doctoral project on the History and Development of Mission in the Church of Pentecost
- Bibliography on Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa by webmaster — last modified 2013-10-11 22:14
- Edited by Marian Smit and Marlene van Doorn, African Studies Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands.
- Brief History of Pentecostalism in Ethiopia by Jörg Haustein — last modified 2008-07-25 20:20
- Pentecostal and charismatic movements are fairly young phenomenon in Ethiopia. With missionary beginnings in the 1950s, the movement first gathered momentum toward the end of the 1960s in the prayer meetings of university and High School students. Despite long periods of underground activity, especially during the Derg regime, it grew to be the main force in current Ethiopian Protestant Christianity, even reaching the Orthodox and the Catholic in small charismatic groups.
- Book Announcement: The Holy Spirit in African Christianity by Chigor Chike — last modified 2015-05-13 11:03
- New book published by Chigor Chike: The Holy Spirit in African Christianity: An Empirical Study. (Paternoster Biblical & Theological Monographs)
- Book Announcement: Mouvement Charismatique & Pentecotisme En Ethiopie: Identité & religion by Serge Dewel — last modified 2016-03-31 12:37
- A book about Pentecostalism in Ethiopia
- Book announcement: The Zionist Churches in Malawi by Ulf Strohbehn — last modified 2016-09-05 10:03
- Presence and Impact of Pentecostalism in Nigeria by Donatus Ukpong — last modified 2006-11-20 13:09
- Select Bibliography Pentecostalism Tanzania by Allan McKinnon — last modified 2016-07-28 00:18
- A few items which relate to Tanzania specifically.
- Charismatic Renewal, Denominational Tradition and the Transformation of Ethiopian Society by Jörg Haustein — last modified 2011-06-29 13:01
- This article contains a brief introduction to the rise of the Pentecostal movement in Ethiopia and the Development of the Charismatic Movement within the EECMY, ending with a theological outlook. It is based on a presentation given at a consultation of the German Church Development Service (EED) regarding Pentecostalism and development in Africa.
- Pentecostalism in Ethiopia by Jörg Haustein — last modified 2007-04-04 17:16
- A short bibliography on Ethiopian Pentecostal and Charismatic movements containing mainly monographes and PhD dissertations. (For viewing Amharic references make sure your browser uses an appropriate Unicode font.)
- Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in Tanzania by Katharina Davis — last modified 2006-01-16 15:52
- Pentecostalism and African Migration to Europe from Nigeria and Ghana by André Droogers — last modified 2007-04-30 11:45
- This is a bibliography on African Migrant Pentecostalism with a Focus on West African Migration (Nigeria and Ghana).
- Bibliography on Nigerian Pentecostalism by Richard Hugh Burgess — last modified 2011-02-09 14:21
- This is a concise database of resources on Nigerian Pentecostalism
- Mission in the Church of Pentecost: References by Daniel Walker — last modified 2011-02-09 14:21
- This a concise bibliography on the missiological praxis of the Church of Pentecost
