Prosperity Gospel

SOUNDS MEGA Musical Discourse in Black Majority Churches in London PAULINE E. MUIR Thesis submitted to Birkbeck College for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON July 2018 1 DECLARATION I thereby declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own and that upon which I expected to be examined for the degree of PhD. Pauline E. Muir Birkbeck College University of London 2 ABSTRACT This thesis explores congregational singing through the lens of the local and global in Black Majority Churches (BMCs) in the Royal London Borough of Greenwich, UK. The phenomenal growth of modern-day Pentecostalism is its ability to negotiate the local and the global, and a number of scholars agree that up-tempo, lively music is integral to the Black religious experience. However, there is a paucity of literature in the UK that analyses this area in a detailed and systematic manner. Methodologically, Nattiez’s model of musical discourse is employed within a framework of critical discourse analysis to interrogate his ‘esthesic’, ‘immanent’ and ‘poietic’ elements, - that is the experience by the receivers, the music itself and the perspective of the producers - at New Wine Church, (NWC), Woolwich as the primary case study. The perspective of a multimodal analysis has uncovered multiple meaning-making processes within the context of a neo- Pentecostal megachurch with an emphasis on prosperity gospel. Firstly, the esthesic perspective found that the songs popular in the global Christian music industry fulfilled their role as Pentecostal liturgy, whilst simultaneously supporting and reinforcing the tenets of a prosperity gospel. Secondly, the immanent (musicological) analysis revealed simple, easy songs that had been altered through a process of African American ‘Blackenizing’. Thirdly, the poietic, from the point of view of the producers, told the story of music in the church, signalling a shift in the musical identity. Further fieldwork confirmed the findings at NWC and similar processes in regard to an undermining and a silencing of African and Caribbean musical identities. The research concludes that the global Christian music industry and its supporting systems are not reflective of UK BMC congregations although these sounds dominated both the large and small churches in the research. These findings make problematic an understanding of the local and the global in congregational singing in BMCs and the privileging of white music forms with its concomitant economic benefits. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION 2 ABSTRACT 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 10 DEDICATION 11 GLOSSARY 12 TABLES 13 FIGURES 14 CD 15 CHAPTER ONE 16 INTRODUCTION 16 Motivation for the Study 24 Purpose of Study 26 Research Questions 28 Rationale for the Choice of Church 28 Use of Terms 29 Black Majority Church 29 African Pentecostal 31 Contribution to the Literature 33 Black Majority Church 33 Congregational Music 35 Praise and Worship 36 4 Music Discourse Nattiez’s Model 38 Multimodal Analysis 40 Structure of the thesis 41 CHAPTER TWO 45 LITERATURE REVIEW 45 African American Context 47 Music in Pentecostal Literature 51 Music in Caribbean Churches 54 African Churches in Europe 59 Critique of African Christianity/Pentecostalism 63 What makes African Christianity African? 64 Music in African Churches 67 Visual Theorisations in African Pentecostalism 68 Prosperity Gospel 72 Pentecostalism and Globalisation 77 Contemporary Christian Music 78 Criticisms of Praise and Worship 83 Global and Local in Praise and Worship 87 Racialisation of CCM 89 CHAPTER THREE 93 METHODOLOGY 93 Warm - up 93 5 Playing outside 95 Trans(positionality) 102 Harmony 103 Ethnography 105 A Sound Ethnography 107 Theoretical Ideas 118 Critical Discourse Analysis 121 Multimodal Analysis 123 CHAPTER FOUR 126 PROSPERITY IN WOOLWICH 126 The Broad Context 126 The Specific Context 129 Background to NWC 130 Church Structure and Activities 132 Theological Affiliations 134 Hard Prosperity as Evidenced by Visiting Speakers and Multimedia Broadcasts 139 CHAPTER FIVE 147 AN EXPLORATION OF THE SOUNDS IN THEIR CONTEXT AND THE ESTHESIC ANALYSIS 147 Vignette 1 – West African Pentecostalism in Woolwich 148 Visual Signs of Dominance and Marginality 151 Vignette 2 – Entering NWC Church 159 Vignette 3 – ‘Good Music’ - the burden of signification 163 6 Vignette 4 - Positioning the Worship - Performativity 164 Positional and Visual Arrangements 165 Vignette 5 – Participating in the Worship - Access to Ritual and Symbol 166 The Esthesic – Pentecostal Ritual Experience 173 Pleasure 175 Pentecostal Identity 177 The Esthesic CCLI 177 The Dominance of the Recorded Text 182 Other Spaces 183 CHAPTER SIX 188 THE IMMANENT ANALYSIS – THE MUSIC ITSELF 188 A Graphic Chart 189 Melody 203 Use of the Major 205 Rhythm 206 Harmony 207 Lyrics 211 Content Analysis - Repetition 216 Call and Response 218 Typology of Songs 219 Use of Language 220 CHAPTER SEVEN 223 7 THE POIETIC ANALYSIS – NAVIGATING THE POLE OF PROSPERITY 223 Soft Prosperity as evidenced by members of the Praise and Worship team 224 Professional Backgrounds 225 Empowerment 226 Self-Description and Aspiration 227 Professionalism of the Music 230 Changing the discourse 232 Role of the Image 233 An International Worship Centre 234 Comfort as a Perennial Leitmotif 237 Recorded Sector 237 CHAPTER EIGHT 242 THE ESTHESIC IN CHRISMA, ANCHOR AND CHRIST FAITH TABERNACLE 242 Denominational Contexts 244 Chrisma – Location and History 245 Anchor – Location and History 248 Christ Faith Tabernacle – Location and History 250 Theological Emphasis 252 Multimodal Analysis 255 CCM/Praise and Worship - Globalised Worship Music 259 UK ‘Worship Wars’ 259 UK Seeker Services 261 8 Hymns 267 Accessibility 269 CCLI 272 Analysis of the CCLI 274 CHAPTER NINE 281 CONCLUSION - REMEMBER AFRICA 281 Methodological Contributions to the Field 282 Limitations of the Research 284 Significance of the Findings 285 Further Research 290 BIBLIOGRAPHY 292 APPENDIX 324 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Undertaking a PhD is an onerous task and is not possible without the help and encouragement from many quarters. Firstly, many thanks to the various supervisors that I have had over the years, especially Dr William Ackah and Dr Ugba Abel. Your critical judgements, rigorous feedback and supportive encouragement has given me the energy and motivation needed to complete the work. Thanks, are also due to Dr Robert Beckford for your inspirational words and political insights. I am grateful to the leadership of New Wine Church, Chrisma, Christ Faith Tabernacle, and Anchor and all of my respondents who freely volunteered their time to contribute to this project. I would also like to pay tribute to the scores of people with whom I engaged in conversations about Black Majority Churches and their music. I acknowledge my colleagues at London South Bank University who made it possible for me to make changes to my employment arrangements in order to facilitate the completion of the work. I also acknowledge the love, support and prayers from my church family at Oasis Waterloo. Special thanks to Shirley for your friendship and companionship in our hours together at the British Library. Much love and appreciation is given to my ‘Orange Room' posse – Rachel, Julien, Reya, Josiah, Nathaniel, Kemi, James, Samara, Solomon, Judy, Safiyyah, Mya and Adeola. Your love and belief in me has been unfaltering. Thanks Judy, for your help in formatting, and thank you Jules for the discussions about drumming and rhythm. Shani and Rasheeda, my greatest cheerleaders, your constant insistence that I was more than able has made the journey a little less arduous. Thank you, David, my soulmate for your love, care and commitment to me and to this enterprise. This journey would not have been impossible without your ongoing support, encouragement and many books over the years. Finally, thank you to the Spirit with whom all things are made possible. 10 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to David, Shani, Rasheeda, my Dad, Reginald Page and in loving memory to my Mum, Phyllis Aveline Page (1935 – 1972) 11 GLOSSARY A.A. African American A.T.R. African Traditional Religion B.M.C. Black Majority Church C.C.M. Contemporary Christian Music C.C.L.I. Christian Copyright Licensing International C.D.A. Critical Discourse Analysis C.F.T. Christ Faith Tabernacle C.W.M. Contemporary Worship Music F.G.B.F. Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship K.I.C.C. Kingsway International Christian Centre L.C.G.C. London Community Gospel Choir N.T.C.G. New Testament Church of God N.W.C. New Wine Church R.C.C.G. Redeemed Christian Church of God S.D.A. Seventh Day Adventist W.L. Worship Leader 12 TABLES Table 1 Data Collection Grid NWC ................................................................................ 109 Table 2: Data Collection Grid Other Churches .............................................................. 117 Table 3: Colour Coding by Genre .................................................................................. 179 Table 4: Songs sung at NWC described in ethnographic vignette 5 .............................. 181 Table 5: Songs sung at NWC over a four-week period .................................................. 181 Table 6: Songs sung in recorded service and over four-week period ............................ 182 Table 7: Key for Graphic Chart ...................................................................................... 191 Table 8: Let it Rise ........................................................................................................ 192 Table 9: Bless the Lord

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