African Initiated Church Movement. Originally
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African Mission Boards and Societies African Initiated Church Movement. Originally World Council of Churches, as well as a member an unanticipated product of the modern mission- council of the All Africa Conference of Churches. ary movement in Africa, the African Independent Bibliocentric and christocentric throughout Churches (AICs) today number 55 million church their history, these churches are now producing members in some 10,000 distinct denominations radically new Christian theology and practice. A present in virtually all of Africa’s 60 countries. notable example is earthkeeping, a blend of theo- This title is the most frequent descriptive term in logical environmentalism or caring for God’s cre- the current literature of some 4,000 books and ar- ation, especially in relation to land, trees, plants, ticles describing it. However, because Western natural resources, and in fact the whole of God’s denominations and Western-mission related creation. churches in Africa regard themselves also as “in- DAVID B. BARRETT dependent,” African AIC members have since 1970 promulgated the terms African Instituted African Mission Boards and Societies. A study Churches, or African Indigenous Churches, or of the general landscape of African mission locally founded churches. Some Western scholars boards and societies reveals that the majority of still use the older terms African Separatist the work to date has taken place in the Anglo- Churches or NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. phone countries, particularly West Africa (Nige- These movements first began with a secession ria and Ghana). In Eastern and Central Africa, from Methodist missions in Sierre Leone in largely Christian churches seem to assume either 1817. Spreading rapidly across Africa by means that most people have already heard the gospel of virtually unrelated but similar schisms and se- or that Western missionaries are the only ones to cessions, by 1900 there were a hundred thousand tackle the job. For the Francophone church, Afri- members of these churches, by 1935 two million, can missionaries crossing international boundar- by 1968 six million, and by 1997 55 million. ies in large numbers remains a dream to be ful- Countries most heavily involved are, in order of filled in the future. number of members, South Africa, Congo- Perhaps most notable for zeal for internal Kinshasa, and Nigeria. The largest distinct de- cross-cultural evangelism is Zaire, a country nominations are: Zion Christian Church (12 mil- which could legitimately claim to be “too poor” lion in 10 countries), Church of Jesus Christ on to afford international missions. However, Chris- Earth through the Prophet SIMON KIMBANGU (8 tians not hindered with a vision of missions re- million), Cherubim and Seraphim (3 million), quiring a four-wheel-drive vehicle and a salary Deeper Life Bible Church (2 million in 40 coun- seem to be accomplishing the most for the king- tries worldwide). Earlier movements closely cop- dom, much of it undocumented. ied their parent bodies in name, polity, titles, As an outstanding example of an indigenous dogmas, liturgies, and ecclesiastical dress, and missionary movement, Nigeria’s Evangelical were frequently seen as merely Pentecostal imi- Churches of West Africa (ECWA) church and its tations. But from 1980 onward, newer bodies be- Evangelical Missionary Society (EMS, headed by came much more dynamic, postdenominational- PANYA BABA), is premier. A mighty mission force ist, charismatic, and apostolic, with a majority of with 541 couples and 15 single missionaries, their leaders being highly educated professionals EMS has been instrumental in the growth of the avoiding ecclesiastical dress and similar trap- church. One of the more successful campaigns of pings, often leading megachurches with thou- Muslim outreach is Uganda’s version of Here’s sands of enthusiastic young people as deeply Life, adapted from Campus Crusade for Christ in committed members. America. In Mozambique, the Deeper Life Chris- After decades of fruitlessly trying to join ecu- tian Ministry, led by Nigerians, has been espe- menical councils of churches, evangelical coun- cially successful. It works in thirty countries cils or alliances, or Western confessional bodies, across Africa. almost all of which rejected such applications, Chad deserves imitation for its successful im- the AICs began their own conciliar movement plementation of saturation mission. Association and today have over 100 AIC councils of of Evangelicals of Africa (AEA) Secretary for Mis- churches across the continent and in several sions and Evangelism Bayo Famonure reports cases even worldwide. In 1978 the major conti- that 24,000 Chadian Christians were mobilized to nent-wide body was formed, OAIC (Organization reach 2,193 villages in a six-day period, aiming to of African Independent Churches, later renamed plant a church in every village. Costs were virtu- Organization of African Instituted Churches), in ally limited to food and transport for the volun- collaboration with the Coptic Orthodox Church teers. of Egypt as the original African independent Most African mission boards are run separately church. By 1998, however, the sheer weight of from Western agencies. There seems to be space numbers, Christian commitment, and credibility to operate without the need to cooperate, though had become such that OAIC was invited to be- a few boards are experimenting with partnering come, and became, an associate council of the such as Timo Teams, jointly sponsored by Africa 1 Asian Mission Boards and Societies Inland Church (AIC) and AFRICA INLAND MISSION or ethnic and become broad-based churches. (AIM). Some boards are modeled after FAITH MIS- Their secular jobs support them, and they have SIONS with no guaranteed salary or retirement no professional missionary training apart from fund, no special schools for their children, and the modeling of healthy churches they have seen no work account funds. A few, like Sheepfold, while growing up in their home country. At this Kenya’s largest interdenominational board, pool time, economic translocation rather than the for- their income so that all missionaries get an equal mation of formal mission boards appears to be share of whatever comes into the mission that the most widespread and effective means of month. Others receive directly whatever comes in spreading the gospel currently practiced by the from their supporters. One trend can be seen ev- African church. erywhere: sinking local currencies have greatly SUE DEVRIES hurt development of the international element of the African missionary movement. Asian Mission Boards and Societies. General Generally speaking, accountability and super- Description. Though Asian missionary activity is vision structures in African mission societies are recorded as early as 1884, it was not until the loose. Financial support is typically low, erratic, 1970s that the rest of the Christian world began and often based on only one or two special offer- to notice this activity. In 1972, there were over ings a year. Fragmentation of efforts is the norm. 100 mission agencies in Asia. Growth continued Each denomination or group sets its goals with- so that out of the 1,541 NON-WESTERN MISSION out any overall plan or sometimes even aware- BOARDS AND SOCIETIES known in 1995, more than ness of where the unreached are, according to 825 were Asian. The most active countries are the AEA. Sometimes the dominant motivation India (with an estimated 281 agencies in 1995), seems to be the desire to plant a denominational Korea (113 agencies in 1994), Japan (63 agencies church in an urban center rather than to take the in 1995), and the Philippines (20 agencies in gospel to those who have not yet had an opportu- 1995). Well-known agencies include the Indian nity to hear. Mission Association, which in 1995 included 81 Language learning is often done informally at member mission boards with some 10,000 In- the destination, and with much less trauma and dian missionaries (with as many as 200 other In- fuss than for Western missionaries undergoing dian mission agencies not yet part of the Indian LANGUAGE SCHOOL. Children of missionaries are Mission Association). These numbers do not in- educated in the local schools until high school clude workers who operate independently within age, sometimes to their detriment educationally. their own country. In the Philippines alone, it is Some mission boards and missionary training estimated that 2,000 nationals serve in this ca- colleges belong to a particular denomination, pacity. such as the AIC Mission Board in East Africa or Characteristics. One important characteristic Nigeria’s ECWA-EMS. Some denominations once of Asian missions is the phenomenon of mission- had a missionary sending agency which has sub- aries crossing cultural boundaries within their sequently died out, such as the Church of the own country. Following CASTE divisions, some Province of Kenya (Anglican) Diocesan Mission estimate that India has at least three thousand Association. Others are interdenominational and PEOPLE GROUPS. The vast bulk of Indian mission- indigenous, such as Agape Missions, Calvary ary work is carried out within India. This is also Ministry (CAPRO, with over 300 full-time mis- seen in other major Asian missionary-sending sionaries), and Christian Missionary Fellowship countries such as Indonesia and Myanmar. (CMF). Together, these form the three largest in- A second characteristic is that Asian mission terdenominational mission agencies in Nigeria, boards cannot