Pneuma 27,2_f6_297-321III 11/8/05 6:26 PM Page 297 PNEUMA: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Volume 27, No. 2, Fall 2005 An African Pentecostal on Mission in Eastern Europe: The Church of the “Embassy of God” in the Ukraine J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu The crucial events of Christian history have often taken place through obscure people. —Andrew Walls1 “Ukraine is Choosing Jesus”; “There is a Way Out and it is Jesus”; “Jesus is the Answer to AIDS”; “Jesus is the Answer to Narcotics”; “God is Blessing Ukraine”; “Choosing Jesus will Protect Ukraine from AIDS.” These are a few of the proclamations made by the female cantor who led the 2004 annual “March for Life” organized by The Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for all Nations in Ukraine. This Church, also popularly referred to as “God’s Embassy” or “Embassy of God,” is an African-led charismatic church headquartered in the capital city of Ukraine, Kiev. The popular designation for such processions is, the “Jesus March.” Jesus marches are symbolic re-enactments of the biblical “Jericho March” undertaken by Israel under the leadership of Joshua to bring down the walls of the city (Joshua 6). Its modern day prototypes are meant to pull down what Pentecostal/Charismatic Christians refer to as “territorial strong- holds,” that is, invisible “walls” of social vices in communities perceived to be instigated by the devil, demons, and other territorial spirits. This essay, which focuses on the ministry of Nigerian-born Pastor Sunday Adelaja, founder of God’s Embassy, is a preliminary study of a new type of African-initiated Christianity in the Diaspora.2 I will discuss the significance of this ministry against the backdrop of the rising num- ber of African and African-led churches in the northern continents and the “mission in reverse” theory that the phenomenon has generated. Simply put, the “mission in reverse” theory states that the rise of African churches in the northern continents is a reversal of Christian mission because Africans, once the beneficiaries of the western Christian missionary enter- prise, are now evangelizing the former heartlands of Christianity. It must 1 Andrew F. Walls, The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2002), 53. 2 I am grateful to the International Study Commission on Media, Religion, and Culture for funding this phase of my research and for the Commission’s commitment to fund the second phase, which will be on the Media Ministry of Pastor Sunday Adelaja. © 2005 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden pp. 297–321 Pneuma 27,2_f6_297-321III 11/8/05 6:26 PM Page 298 PNEUMA: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Volume 27, No. 2, Fall 2005 be admitted that there are no significant colonial links between Eastern Europe and Africa; thus, migration from Africa to that part of the world is relatively recent and numbers are still very low. Nevertheless, a num- ber of Africans who were granted scholarships by Eastern European coun- tries failed to return home after their studies, and some of them settled in those countries. It is to this group of former beneficiaries of Eastern European scholarship holders that Pastor Sunday Adelaja belongs. The Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for all Nations is an African-initiated church founded by a Nigerian; but it is not an African church. It is one of two such mega-size African-led churches in the Ukrainian capital. The other is the Victory Church, led by a Zimbabwean, Henry Madaba. The two churches belong to the Charismatic stream of Pentecostal Christianity, but unlike the majority of African-initiated churches in the Diaspora, these are not predominantly African in membership.3 A combination of the perceived anointing of God upon his life and good human relations has turned Pastor Sunday Adelaja into a religious icon in the Ukraine. During my visit to Kiev in May 2004, I first heard about God’s Embassy from the taxi driver who took me to the Dynamo Kiev Stadium, where the Jesus March was to begin. The driver did not speak much English, he was not churched himself, but he knew about and highly respected a Pastor Sunday of whom he had heard so much. “He is doing great work in our country,” he told me. “So, what do you think about this church?” I asked. “Well, I don’t go [to] church myself, but looking at the many Ukrainians in it, it certainly must be something good; that [an] African pastor has become more popular than the politicians.” The “mission in reverse” theory has been invoked to explain the increas- ing number of African churches operating in the northern continents. Pastor Sunday Adelaja’s God’s Embassy is by no means the first African- initiated church in Europe. In almost all the cases so far documented, however, the churches have been in Western Europe and North America or Canada. Their memberships have also been predominantly African and black immigrants of different generations. In that respect God’s Embassy is a different type of African-initiated church. The Church celebrated its tenth anniversary in April 2004 and claims a membership upwards of 20,000 adults in the Ukraine alone. African religious movements in the Diaspora are many and variegated in nature. They include older African 3 For a bird’s eye view of African churches in the Diaspora, see Jacob K. Olupona, “Globalization and African Immigrant Religious Communities,” in Jennifer I.M. Reid ed., Religion and Global Culture (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2003), 83–96. 298.