VICE PRESIDENT
5.8 Reasons Given by Pentecostals for Their Attraction to the Movement
Pentecostals, interviewed during fieldwork, were asked: What is it that attracts you to Pentecostalism? All respondents agreed that they liked the emphasis on faith and the worship style, the insistence on personal confession or acceptance of Christ as one‟s saviour, and the promise of deliverance from forces of evil and human wickedness by the Pentecostals. Also mentioned were the experience of the power of the Holy Spirit and the leadership style in Pentecostal churches. Despite the recent tendency among Pentecostal preachers to highlight
319 Results of research conducted in Adamawa State, Nigeria, 2005.
material prosperity as a sign of God‟s blessing, the respondents refrained (perhaps deliberately?) from mentioning this aspect as a reason for their attraction to the movement.
The Pentecostal respondents expressed criticism of mainline churches and gave various reasons as to why people move away from the mainliners to join the Pentecostals.
Dominant arguments were:
i. mainline churches are dead;
ii. mainline churches do not express spiritual gifts;
iii. Mainline churches are too strict and rigid on doctrine and liturgy and do not accept changes;
iv. Mainline churches do not allow preaching on prosperity;
v. the power of the Holy Spirit is not allowed to work in the mainline churches;
vi. the promise of God is not appropriated within the traditional churches, neither are the spiritual needs of the members being met;
vii. the members of mainline churches are not free to express thankfulness to God;
viii. the mainline churches are too dogmatic and denominational.320
In answer to the same question one respondent remarked, “I saw no visible spiritual training and development that suit my needs. Ironically, the knowledge of spirituality is deficient and the application of biblical principles to life style is not practiced in the mainline churches due to doctrinal beliefs…” Another said he was dissatisfied and had been living in sin, “…free to do as I wish, with no fear of God, when I was in my former church.” A third respondent said: “I deserved to grow spiritually so it was time for me to leave and become a Pentecostal.”321
Allan Anderson writes about growing Pentecostalism in Africa that:
One of the reasons for the growth of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches may be that they have succeeded where western founded churches have often failed to provide a contextualized Christianity in Africa. They are essentially of African origin (even when founded by western Pentecostal missionaries) and fulfill African aspirations, with roots in a marginalized and underprivileged society struggling to find dignity and identity in the face of brutal colonialism and oppression. In some parts of Africa, Pentecostalism expanded initially among people who were neglected, misunderstood and deprived of anything but token leadership by their white ecclesiastical masters. But despite these important social and historical factors, fundamentally it is the ability of African Pentecostalism to adapt to and fulfill religious aspirations that continues to be in main strength. An African style of worship, a liturgy and a holistic Christianity that offers tangible help in this world as well as in the next together form a uniquely African contextualization of Christianity.
320 Results of field work done in Adamawa State, Nigeria, January 2005.
321 Extracts from various interviews. in Adamawa State, Nigeria, January 2005.
This contextual Christianity meets needs more substantially than the often sterile Christianity imported from Europe. If older churches fail to address and remedy these shortcomings, they may continue to minister to decreasing membership content either to practice Christianity side by side with African traditional religions or to succumb to a secular society and disappear.322
The „African contextualization of Christianity‟, as suggested by Anderson is a major factor in the growth of Pentecostalism in Nigeria in general and particularly in Adamawa. In the early1970s Christians in Adamawa, both young and old, saw nothing wrong in using traditional African musical instruments like drums, gongs and xylophones in worship, in the same way as pianos and organs were used. Some [mainline] churches introduced the talking- drum which is a common instrument of the Hausa people (who are Muslims) in Christian worship.
Some of the most serious Pentecostal concerns with regard to the mainline churches is that, while mainline clergymen are educated and knowledgeable, they do not let people get to know God personally, in spirit and in truth. Therefore Pentecostals feel that the mainline churches need reformation and revival, that they ought to take spiritual training and development seriously and to improve on the following-up on needs of their members.323 It is noteworthy that most of the growth in the last two decades in the Christian church generally, and the Pentecostal churches in particular, happened through migration of the younger generation. At Pentecostal meetings of the PFN, it is obvious that most of the pastors are under forty years of age. Similarly, attending services in many of the living churches in Nigeria and West Africa, one finds that most of the congregation is much younger than followers of church services in the West. Also, the Pentecostal congregations consist of people from different backgrounds and ethnic groups, whereas mainline churches tend historically to have links with particular ethnic groups. 324
The promise of prosperity as preached by Pentecostals is commonly considered to be one of the factors that make them attractive, especially in view of the socio-economic crisis in which Nigeria finds itself. Pentecostal church leaders and prominent members, some of whom have amassed wealth and high social status and therewith, considerable power in their congregations and in society in general provide the less successful believers with role models.
Bishop Ibrahim Markus Amfani of the Anglican Diocese of Yola believes that tradition is another important factor contributing to the growth of Pentecostalism. The African, he says, believes in the worship of idols and is therein encouraged by African
322 Anderson, A. 2010. An Introduction to Pentecostalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.122.
323 Various interviews in Adamawa State, Nigeria in January 2005.
324 McCain, D. 2000. “The Church in Africa in the Twenty-First Century: Characteristics, Challenges and Opportunities” www.iics.com/church_in_africa.html. Accessed February 2005.
traditional religion. This worship is being translated into Pentecostal fervour. The promise of prosperity, he argued, further enhances Pentecostal popularity because people are hungry and look for easy answers from the Gospel.325
The attraction to Pentecostalism is more or less a global trend, the late Bishop Abba of the Catholic Diocese of Yola said. He observed that “…the younger people want to have their way. They think the older churches are traditional and liberal. Therefore, there is need for a change. Some just want their own way so they give excuses.”326 The Pentecostals feel that older people dominate leadership in the mainline churches, making them “dead”
churches. The young believe that older people resist or fear change. They also suggested that pastors, trained by the mission, tend to imitate white missionaries in their behaviour. Thus, they get to be viewed as an extension of western tradition in worship and leadership styles.
Older people who are not Christians are by the Pentecostals considered as demonic and pagan in their ways.
The newer Pentecostals in Adamawa are particularly opposed to African traditional religion. During this research it was observed that in Farai, the village where the main shrine of the Bwatiye people is located, two Pentecostal churches have acquired property along the route, used by the traditional priests of Nzeanzo for ritual dances as they go to and from the shrine. When asked about the acquisition of property nearby the traditional shrine, a pastor of one of the churches concerned said that Pentecostal presence there was deliberate, in the hope that “one day we will be able to wipe out the worship of the demi-god Nzeanzo”. The young Bwatiye Pentecostals want the worship of idols in their region to be brought to a total halt.
But, simultaneously and inadvertently, they also believe in the existence of evil spirits or demons that enter and possess people who eventually will need deliverance. The fear of the priests of the traditional religions is high among Pentecostals. The younger people believe they needed protection from the spirits and the powers of the idols therefore they turn to Pentecostalism because the Pentecostalist message claims it actually offers deliverance.
Bishop Mayo Jinga of the Pentecostal group Life Spring Chapel International states:
People are attracted to Pentecostalism for obvious reasons and as a good leader I sought to know why Christians leave their churches to become Pentecostals or why brother ‟A‟ leaves church „A‟ to come to church „B‟. For some, it is because they had to run away from church discipline, and [for] some [others] because they are not known [i.e. understood or recognized] in their churches so they move to us.327
325 Bishop Ibrahim, M. A., interviewed at Yola, Adamawa State. 10th July, 2006.
326 Bishop Abba, C., interviewed at Yola, Adamawa State. 5th August, 2006.
327 Bishop Mayo, J., Interviewed at Yola, Adamawa State. 5th September, 2007.
The Pentecostals themselves are not insulated against the membership drain either. In the year 2008, a Pentecostal church in Jimeta experienced a split because of financial matters.
The bishop of the group was said to have demanded for huge sums to settle his hotel bills whenever he traveled out of town. This did not go down well with his pastors and church council members. As a result two pastors left the Pentecostal group taking with them a substantial number of the membership and started the House of Refuge Ministries at a distance of just 500 metres from the group they broke from.
For some people issues of spirituality are central. The mainline churches are regarded as not being spiritual enough, while for others it is the dress codes of the mainline churches that are too strict. They see the mainline churches as archaic and not „born again.‟ They point out that mainline churches worship Mary and other idols, have confession, and do not allow speaking in tongues. One prominent Pentecostal felt that, since he has joined the Pentecostals, he is more successful in life, his prayer life has become more effective and he is a blessing to others.328