“Arise, Walk through the Length and Breadth of the Land”: Missionary Concepts and Strategies of African Independent Churches Thomas A. Oduro

espite the phenomenal growth and spread of African Every Christian is a missionary. Many AICs do not emphasize DIndependent Churches (AICs), they are rarely under- the selection and identification of some of their members as stood as missional churches.1 Nor do the AICs often speak of “missionaries” but insist, rather, that mission is a lifestyle. themselves as missional churches. Those who might be termed Amos Swelindawo, a Zionist bishop (many AICs in southern missionaries are simply regarded as evangelists, and the word Africa are called Zionist), states unambiguously, “We Zion- “mission” is hardly heard in AIC preaching and teaching. Perhaps ists do not draw people to our churches through mission this self-perception stems from the oft-misconstrued image of a committees as the mainline churches do. Instead, our mis- missionary as a white expatriate. sionary power lies in the witness of our everyday lives.”5 Unlike churches founded by Western missions, few AICs Very few AICs follow the missionary paradigm common conform to mainstream missionary categories and dynamics. among Western churches, and those that do, consider that Many have no mission theological institutions or professors of missions and no access to published material on missions. There are no “mission weeks” or even “mission Sundays” in AICs disagree with the their liturgical calendars. They do not have mission boards that examine those who claim to be called to be missionaries, and popular notion that they do not send missionaries. They do not organize mission specific Christians must be conferences, where they might stress the importance of doing mission or supporting missionaries, and they do not have mis- identified, trained, and sent sion budgets. as missionaries. Yet there are AIC congregations on almost every continent. Many AICs minister cross-culturally. Following the framework provided by the missionary outreach plan that Jesus Christ paradigm to be a complement to their deep conviction that gave to the early church in Acts 1:8, other AICs have spread out every Christian is a missionary. AICs assert that the Great beyond the borders of the countries where they originated.2 AICs Commission and other parting words of Jesus Christ, as in began doing mission by the mid-twentieth century. The Church Acts 1:8, were directed not simply to all the apostles but to all of the Lord (Aladura), for instance, founded in Nigeria, planted believers in Jesus Christ. The whole church, not just selected congregations in Sierra Leone and Liberia in 1947 and in Ghana individuals, is called to missionize. in 1953. The Church of Jesus Christ on Earth, popularly known Support for the concept that every Christian is a mission- as the Kimbanguist Church, which was established through ary is found in the account of Pentecost, when every member of Prophet Simon Kimbangu in 1921 in what was then the Belgian the early congregation of believers was equipped for mission. Congo, now has congregations in thirty countries, including Though much attention in the initial missionary work of the early Portugal, France, Spain, Belgium, England, Switzerland, the church was focused on Peter, John, and Stephen, as recorded in United States, and Canada.3 The Celestial Church of Christ, the first twelve chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles founded in 1947 in what is now Benin, has eighty congregations did not exclude members of the early church from doing mis- in twenty U.S. states.4 sion. When the early church was persecuted after the stoning of Stephen, the mission of the church was not jeopardized, for as AIC Missionary Concepts Acts 8:4 records, “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (NIV). AICs recognize that the Holy AICs see little need to document their missionary nature for they Spirit set apart Barnabas and Saul to do mission; nevertheless, understand doing mission as the mandate of the church and they insist that doing mission in the early church was not the therefore do not design and document missionary models. My sole responsibility of those two men. observations over the past four decades, either as a member of While the AICs have no serious reservations about the send- an AIC or when working closely with AIC leaders and members, ing of missionaries, they disagree with the popular notion that have enabled me to discern four particular concepts that shape specific Christians must be identified, trained, and sent. To the AIC mission. AICs, sending is incorporated in the mandate by Jesus Christ and is therefore applicable to all. As a result, AIC leaders reject any excuse by their members for not doing mission. Everybody Thomas A. Oduro is President of Good News Theo- is encouraged to do mission wherever they may be. Mother logical College and Seminary, Accra, Ghana, which Marie Cooper, a member of the Church of the Lord (Aladura) primarily serves AICs. He is an executive member in Liberia who established the first congregation of the church of the Organisation of African Instituted Churches in the Bronx, New York City, had not been sent by the church. (OAIC), a continental ecumenical body for AICs; Rather, she decided to plant a church after paying many visits pastor of Christ Holy Church International; and 6 chair of the West African Association of Theological to her daughter, who was then a student in New York City. Institutions. —[email protected] The phenomenal growth of the AICs cannot be attributed to the

86 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 38, No. 2 prowess of individual missionaries; most of their congregations provision for money and excessive clothing (Matt. 10:9–10). were planted by the laity. After planting the first congregation of the Church of the Lord (Aladura) in the Bronx, Mother Marie Cooper worked hard as a Training of missionaries is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit. AICs seamstress to support herself.13 The AICs clearly demonstrate to depend on the Holy Spirit to such an extent that they are pejora- the wider church that “God’s mission can be done well without tively called “spiritual churches” in many parts of Africa.7 They a single Western dollar, pound or euro. If the only contribution believe that the training of missionaries is the responsibility of the AICs ever made to world-wide Christianity was to make the Holy Spirit. Unlike Pentecostals or evangelicals, the AICs this plain, it would be of great importance.”14 follow neither Luke nor Paul when considering the missionary activities of the Holy Spirit.8 Their small number of theological Missionary Strategies institutions and the lack of mission emphasis in the AICs’ ethos must not be misconstrued as an absence of interest in the train- Peter Wagner defines missionary strategy as “the way the body ing of missionaries. AICs believe that the missionary Holy Spirit of Christ goes about obeying the Lord and accomplishing the knows the intricate challenges of the mission field and has various objectives He lays down.”15 Jesus Christ is known as the greatest ways of training and equipping their members on the job, as the missionary strategist, whom Christians emulate, and the early example of the early church illustrates. apostles of Jesus Christ adopted missionary strategies that are In addition to pointing to biblical examples of God’s using well documented in the Bible.16 AICs emulate Jesus Christ and “untrained” missionaries in the early church, leaders of AICs have the apostles with approaches to mission that can be innovative many local examples to buttress their approach to missionary and contextual. training. They point to William Wadé Harris, who was not tutored by any apostle, yet whose success in missionizing Liberia, Ivory Every Sunday morning, thousands of AICs have services in nature, in the rural areas as well as in and around cities. At the Coast, and western parts of Ghana has yet to be equaled.9 Moses side of a river or lake, on the beach, in the open field, under a Orimolade Tunolase and Agnes Okoh were neither taught in an large tree, on a hill or mountain. . . . And where open air services educational institution nor mentored by Christians, but they were equipped by the Holy Spirit to do mission. Orimolade, a cripple at birth, could barely walk, so people had to carry him on their shoulders; nonetheless, he preached the Gospel across Nigeria.10 AICs do not depend on Okoh did not know that Matthew is a book in the Bible, yet God statistical data to determine used her to do mission in eastern Nigeria. She was recorded as being able to quote the Bible accurately, though she could not where they should read any language on earth.11 missionize. Rather, they

Christians allow the Holy Spirit to direct the church to areas that are to move to mission fields be missionized. AICs do not depend on statistical data to determine when convinced that the where they should missionize. Rather, they move to mission Holy Spirit has clearly fields when convinced that the Holy Spirit has clearly directed them. In 1963, following agitation from some of the members of directed them. the Christ Holy Church of Nigeria to undertake mission to other African countries, Agnes Okoh, leader of the church, began to pray and fast to seek the direction of the Holy Spirit. She told are held, with singing, drumming and dancing, outsiders are members of the church of a missionary timetable revealed to her sure to gather, even if they are only keen to know what is going on. It is then that they can hear somebody preaching the Gospel. by the Holy Spirit: the first missionary post would be Ghana, then This is an important part of mission.17 Africa, and then the whole world. Musicians in the church wrote the content of Okoh’s claim as a song; they sang that song and The most popular AIC missionary strategy, particularly in waited for the Holy Spirit’s direction for thirty-four years. Two a cross-cultural setting, is the establishment of a mono-ethnic years after the death of Okoh, by divine providence a Ghanaian church. AICs begin ministering to people from their own ethnic who was unaware of the prophecy invited leaders of the church to group before reaching out to other ethnic groups. In the case of the consider establishing congregations in Ghana.12 Leaders of Christ Celestial Christian Church, for instance, Afe Adogame observes, Holy Church of Nigeria perceived the invitation as a fulfillment of the Holy Spirit’s timetable and therefore began a mission to It is mainly within a Yoruba/Egun context that the church had Ghana immediately. The church, which is now known as Christ spread in its early years. This can be attributed largely to its Holy Church International, currently has congregations in Benin, peculiar Yoruba aspects and traits. Services and rituals were conducted in Yoruba language and many of the leaders were Togo, Ghana, Liberia, and Kenya. Yoruba indigenes or Yoruba-speaking. A historical survey of most indigenous or charismatic religious movements in Africa Lack of money should not impede mission. AICs are typically poor; and elsewhere reveals that many emerge within one ethnic or their pastors live on the benevolence of their members. AIC tribal people.18 missionaries are not supported by a sending agency or mother church. They step out in faith, believing that God will provide the This strategy follows Jesus’ instruction to the first group necessary financial support. Seth Adofo, primate of the Church of witnesses he sent on a mission, whom he commanded to go of the Lord (Brotherhood), an AIC that has congregations in not to the Gentiles but to the Jews only (Matt. 10:1–8a). Later Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Belgium, France, and Jesus asked his apostles to extend the mission beyond geo- the United Kingdom, does not see any difference between this ethnic boundaries (Matt. 28:18–20; Acts 1:8). The mono-ethnic AIC concept and Jesus’ command to his disciples not to make church strategy of doing mission was replicated by the apostles,

April 2014 87 particularly Paul, during the missionary activities of the early those whose needs have been answered through prayer to tell church, as can been seen in Acts 17:2. AICs emulate this strat- people with similar needs so as to invite them to Christ. Many egy of Jesus and the apostles; “as their membership increases, AICs, both in Africa and beyond, began as prayer groups, then the group becomes interethnic and international in outlook.”19 metamorphosed into full-fledged congregations.23 A second missionary strategy of the AICs is called Gather the Finally, the establishment of what I refer to as an Afrikan Scattered. Many Africans, for various reasons, lose their Christian ekklesia in the West has been one of the most successful mission- fervor and commitment when they emigrate to the West. Some ary strategies of AICs. An Afrikan ekklesia is a church where AIC leaders therefore take the initiative to gather all the scat- the activities of the Holy Spirit are not constrained; where the tered members of the church in a particular city, bringing them liturgy is not regimented but vibrant and participatory; where together to form the nucleus of the church. The Kimbanguist the goodness and mercy of God are joyfully celebrated in Church used this strategy of gathering Kimbanguist students diverse ways; where members are not inhibited but can express in France in establishing the denomination’s first congregation their exuberance in a language they can speak fluently and in in Europe, which was, so Kimbanguists claim, the first African a choreography that is common to the worshipers; where reli- gious ingenuity is not stifled by bureaucracy; where the tenets of the Bible are upheld uncompromisingly; where the reality of demons and their activities is neither denied nor rational- Prayer is perceived by ized but counteracted; where sin and its effects are denounced AICs not just as a liturgical unequivocally; where African spirituality is integrated with activity but also as a tool biblical spirituality; and where people are ushered into a wider Christian family—a family where pragmatic Christian for doing mission. care and empathy are emphasized and practiced. When AIC members migrate to the West, they find it difficult to find an Afrikan ekklesia in which to worship—and so they establish church in France.20 Scattered AIC members are not necessarily one of their own. gathered into imposing worship centers. They usually begin by The viability of establishing an Afrikan ekklesia as a mis- meeting in living rooms, garages, or basements of the houses sionary strategy in the West is underscored by Aurélien Mokoko of patrons, replicating the house-church model of the New with reference to the Kimbanguists in Europe: “The Kimbanguist Testament. As the group grows, it either relocates to rented students living in Europe were suffering from spiritual dearth, facilities or arranges to share a church building with another worshipping in mainline Protestant or Roman Catholic churches church. The success of the Gather the Scattered strategy has next to elderly people rather than youngsters, listening to sermons been phenomenal in doing mission in the West. in which pastors and priests seemed to go out of their way to Prayer, the third missionary strategy of the AICs, is avoid addressing key issues of Christian morals, such as sexual perceived not just as a liturgical activity but also as a tool freedom, which for the Kimbanguists was literally a taboo.”24 for doing mission. African Christians believe in the efficacy The establishment of an Afrikan ekklesia seeks to address of prayer. Like Jacob the patriarch, they prevail with God to these ecclesiastical challenges, in addition to solving other social, answer their prayers.21 They believe that Jesus Christ is not economic, and legal challenges that African immigrants in the only a Savior but also a prayer-answering God who provides West encounter. The services AICs provide—for those who have for the needs of those who call on him. Using the promises in migrated to big cities; for undocumented immigrants in the West; the Bible, AICs dare God to answer their prayers as a means and for those encountering marital contentions, spiritual and of proving his faithfulness. They pray expectantly and relent- psychological disorientation, and cosmopolitan challenges— lessly, believing that God will answer their petitions. Therefore enable the churches of the Afrikan ekklesia to serve as “reorien- they invite people to come to Jesus with their needs. Healing tation centers”: an ekklesia that satisfies the immigrants’ “quest through prayer is a pivotal missionary tool of the AICs, as for belonging.”25 The Afrikan ekklesia is therefore not only a Bishop Swelindawo describes: “Outsiders are attracted to place where the triune God is worshipped and celebrated; it is services because they have heard that it is possible that they also perceived as a citadel where spiritual, social, and physical might be healed there. The signs of Zionist healing—such as problems are solved, as well as being a meeting place for people the healing of illness, childlessness, madness and possession with common interests, aspirations, and challenges. by demons or spirits—become known among people and draw newcomers to our church. In their turn, these people give Obeying the divine commandment to Abraham, the AICs are thanks for their healing by telling others about it.”22 As AICs walking through the length and breadth of the land, spreading pray and petitions are answered, they counsel the petitioners to African Christianity, doing mission in an African way, and mis- look to Jesus Christ for salvation. Additionally, they admonish sionizing the unsaved. Notes 1. The typologies and nomenclatures of AICs are their own challenge. the AICs and African Pentecostal/Charismatic churches, the AICs I define AICs generically as “congregations and or denominations are distinct from the African Pentecostal/Charismatic churches. planted, led, administered, supported, propagated, motivated, and 2. On the establishment of the Church of the Lord (Aladura) in Sierra funded by Africans for the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel of Leone and Liberia, see H. W. Turner, History of an African Inde- Jesus Christ and worshipping the Triune God in the context and pendent Church, vol. 1, The Church of the Lord (Aladura) (Oxford: worldview of Africa and Africans” (Thomas Oduro, Christ Holy Clarendon Press, 1967), 110–57, and Lamin Sanneh, West African Church: The Story of an African Independent Church [Lagos: Greater Christianity: The Religious Impact (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, Heights Publishers, 2007], 17). Although in their Pentecostal, pro- 1983), 198–205. phetic, and charismatic character there are resemblances between 3. See www.kimbanguisme.net.

88 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 38, No. 2 . 4 See “Parishes,” www.celestialchurch.com. The church has numer- 12. Ibid., 93, 94. ous other congregations in the United Kingdom, Republic of 13. Gornik, Word Made Global, 81. Ireland, Central Europe, Canada, Benin, Ghana, and other African 14. Oduro et al., Mission in an African Way, 167. countries. Other Nigerian AICs, such as the Church of the Lord 15. C. Peter Wagner, “The Fourth Dimension of Missions: Strategy,” in (Aladura) and the Cherubim and Seraphim group of churches, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, ed. Ralph D. have congregations in many African countries, the United States, Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne (Pasadena, Calif.: William Carey Canada, Europe, and Asia. Library, 1981), 574. 5. Thomas Oduro, Hennie Pretorius, Stan Nussbaum, and Bryan Born, 16. Missionary strategies of Jesus Christ are recorded in Matt. 10:5–6; Mission in an African Way: A Practical Introduction to African Instituted 11:19; Luke 5:30–32; 10:1; 15:1–2; and Acts 1:6–8. Missionary strate- Churches and Their Sense of Mission (Wellington, S.Af.: Christian gies adopted by the apostle Paul and his team included spreading Literature Fund, 2008), 108. the Gospel in cities, preaching the Gospel first in Jewish synagogues 6. See Mark R. Gornik, Word Made Global: Stories of African Christianity (Acts 17:2), reaching out to Gentiles (Gal. 2:7–8), and writing letters in New York City (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011), 56–61. to believing communities. 7. David A. Shank, “What Western Christians Can Learn from African- 17. Oduro et al., Mission in an African Way, 110. Initiated Churches,” in Mission from the Margins: Selected Writings 18. Afeosemime U. Adogame, Celestial Church of Christ: The Politics of from the Life and Ministry of David A. Shank, ed. James R. Krabill Cultural Identity in a West African Prophetic Charismatic Movement (Elkhart, Ind.: Institute of Mennonite Studies, 2010), 220. See also (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1999), 49. M. L. Daneel, Quest for Belonging: Introduction to a Study of African 19. Ibid., 41. Independent Churches (Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1987), 20. Aurélien Mokoko Gampiot, “Kimbanguism as a Migrant’s Reli- 53–59. gion in Europe,” in Christianity in Africa and the African Diaspora: 8. Julie C. Ma and Wonsuk Ma stress the pneumatological emphasis The Appropriation of a Scattered Heritage, ed. Afe Adogame, Roswith of the Pentecostals and the evangelicals in Mission in the Spirit: Gerloff, and Klaus Hock (London: Continuum International, Towards a Pentecostal/Charismatic Missiology (Oxford: Regnum 2008), 309. Books, 2010), 41. 21. In Ghana, AICs are derisively called “Pray for Me Churches.” In 9. See David A. Shank, Prophet Harris, the “Black Elijah” of West Africa Nigeria, among the Yorubas, they are called “Aladura,” which means (Leiden: Brill, 1994), and also David A. Shank, “Wadé Harris, Wil- praying people. liam,” www.dacb.org/stories/liberia/legacy_harris.html. 22. Oduro et al., Mission in an African Way, 108. 10. For more information on Moses Orimolade Tunolase, see J. Akinyele 23. The Celestial Church of Christ used prayer as a means of establish- Omoyajowo, Cherubim and Seraphim (New York: NOK Publishers ing their congregations in Europe. See Adogame, Celestial Church of International, 1982), and Elijah Olu Akinwumi, “Orimolade Tuno- Christ, 41–49. lase, Moses,” www.dacb.org/stories/nigeria/orimolade_moses.html. 24. Mokoko Gampiot, “Kimbanguism,” 309. 11. See Thomas Oduro, Christ Holy Church International: The Story of an 25. The phrases “reorientation centers” and “quest for belonging” come African Independent Church (Minneapolis: Lutheran Univ. Press, from from Daneel, Quest for Belonging, 134. 2007), 71–98.

April 2014 89