151 E. Ikenga-Metuh the REVIVAL of AFRICAN CHRISTIAN
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151 E. Ikenga-Metuh THE REVIVAL OF AFRICAN CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY: THE EXPERIENCE OF AFRICAN INDEPENDENT CHURCHES The spread of Christianity in Africa represents one of the most massive and variegated responses to the Christian faith in the history of Christian missions. From virtually zero in 1800, the Christian popu- lation grew to about 160 million in 1979. Equally phenomenal is the accompanying mushrooming of African indigenous churches, most of which are break-away groups from the established missionary . churches, founded by African converts. There are about 8000 such indigenous African churches with about 14 million adherents in 1979.1 These churches are called the African Independent Church Movement (AICM). The AICM is only a fraction of the thousands of renewal and revival movements which typify the vitality as well as the instability which characterize the nascent African Christianity. According to Barrett, within the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Churches in Africa, about 1000 popular religious movements of renewal, revival, protest or dissidence had crystallized sufficiently to possess distinct names and membership by 1967. Most of these were begun on African initiative, while others had missionary leadership with strong African backing, e.g. the Jamaa (family) movement within the Roman Catholic Church in Katanga had about 20,000 adult members by 1967. The Balokole (saved ones) movement within the Anglican Church had spread to about 70 tribes in East Africa, and the Fifonazal1a (those who have woken up) Revival had over 10,000 members of the Lutheran and other Protestant Churches.' The growing interest in and admiration for African Independent Churches stems from the fact that they appear to have developed a form of Christianity with a spirituality that is "truly Christian and truly African." For writes Barrett: "In varying degrees there are in virtually every movement, a central confession of Christ as Kyrios (using the traditional vernacular term for chiefship), a marked resurgence of traditional African custom and worldview, and a strong affirmation of their right to be fully Christian and fully African independent of foreign pressures."3 152 Not all writers, of course, share this view. Horton for example reflecting on Peel's work on the Aladura: A Religious Church Movement Among the Yoruba, thinks that Aladura beliefs are syncretistic, for "it would appear, then, that the beliefs and practices of the so-called world religions (Christianity and Islam) are only accepted where they happen to coincide with responses of traditional cosmology to other non-mis- sionary factors of the modern situation ... and having overcome this ordeal, they (the Aladura) are consciously and proudly doing their own African thing."4 However, both protagonists and critics of the AICM would sub- scribe to the fact that the spiritualities of this movement have a strong appeal for a large section of the African population. Thus the experience of the AICM, whatever its shortcomings, seems to demonstrate that the traditional African spirituality remains an essential ingredient for any effective revival of an African Christian spirituality. Or as E. Mveng so colorfully puts it: "Pour Fame africaine, il n'y a certes pas de route plus . sure d'aller a Jesus Christ que 1'humble cheminement par les voies providentielles que Dieu a preparees pour nous a travers notre patri- moine culturel."' This essay would want to determine the contributions which tradi- tional forms of African spirituality can make to the revival of the spirituality of African churches and African Christians. The experience of the African independent churches will be very useful in this exercise. We shall first examine how the African Independent Churches have tried to incorporate aspects of traditional forms of African spirituality into their systems. Finally, we shall go on to suggest guidelines for introducing these and other traditional forms of African spirituality to enrich the spirituality of churches in Africa and the Christian life of Africans in a way that will enable them to remain truly Christian and truly African. Before we go into these, we need first to examine the concept and implications of Christian spirituality. Spirituality The word spirituality in the words of Jeremy Taylor connotes "the rule and exercise of holy living." In the broadest sense spirituality could also be described as those attitudes, beliefs, and practices which animate people's lives and help them to reach out towards super-sensible reali- ties. In this sense, spirituality need not necessarily be Christian, i.e. .