African Initiated Churches

- beginning late in the 19th C, there began to be splits and breakaways from mission churches to form separate, African led churches. Africans had become aware that such things were not unknown in Europe and N. America. — Why were there so many different churches and missionaries? Was there more than one God?

- missionaries had had to explain the origins of different churches. In fact, many Africans had witnessed the process when the Scottish presbyterians had split into 2 churches in the 1840s (Free Church of Scotland and United Presbyterian Church) and the mission in South Africa had been split. The two groups had cooperated a great deal and fully accepted each other’s members, but the example was there.

• hierarchical and autocratic—the Roman Catholic Church is the strongest example where power and decision-making is strongly concentrated at the top. It is less autocratic in other hierarchical churches, such as the Anglican church where major decisions (ordination of women, ordaining of gays, etc.) are made at church councils which nowadays includes lay people as well as clergy.
  
• centralized—major decisions are made at frequent (often annual) conferences; officials are elected for specific terms and have limited powers. The Wesleyan Methodist Church is an example.
  
• congregational—a great deal of decision-making is in the hands of the local congregations. There is a general body which defines church law, dogmas and statements of faith and ordains clergy. The local congregation handles almost all local affairs—discipline of members, hiring of clergy, property matters and ownership, etc. The general body has hardly any authority to interfere in congregational affairs.
  
• presbyterian—this is a modified congregational system. Congregations are organized into a regional presbytery of several congregations with representatives from each congregation. The presbytery serves as a court of appeal from congregational courts and governing bodies. It has some limited powers to intervene in individual congregations.
  

• in the census in the 1990s, close to 90% of Africans in South Africa declared themselves to be Christians and almost 50% were members of AICs. Because the AICs are growing faster, it is likely that members of AICs now outnumber Africans in the regular churches. AICs played a very large role in the transformation to Christianity during the 20th C.
  
• the role of these churches is not just religious and cosmological, but also social and sociological.
  
• from the moment Africans began to break away from the regular churches and mission societies and form their own churches, there began a debate about whether or not these actions involved a political goal and significance. That debate continues.
  

[However, in 1928 in Kenya, the Church of Scotland mission forbade the practice of ‘female circumcision’ (nowadays referred to as ‘female genital mutilation’) for its Kikuyu members. This prompted a large scale revolt among Kikuyu members which led to the formation of at least two AICs there as well as the formation of a separate school system. The issue was taken up by the newly formed Kikuyu Central Association (KCA) and thus fed into the African nationalist movement.]

[The term ‘Ethiopian’ has virtually nothing to do with modern Ethiopia. In the King James version of the Bible, Africans were always referred to as Ethiopians. As a result, people of African heritage, in North America as well as Africa, came to recognize the Biblical term as referring to them. Many churches came to have Ethiopia or Ethiopian in their names.]

• Ethiopian churches—these were not significantly different from most of the regular churches and missions in regard to theology, worship practices, etc. The key difference was that they were led and controlled entirely by Africans or Coloureds and that was the main raison d’etre—to achieve African leadership and control.
  
  
• Zionist churches—these were much more radical and different in the areas of theology, worship practices, etc. In a significant number of cases, they have ‘Zion’ or ‘Zionist’ in their names.
  
  - in West Africa, these churches are labelled as ‘aladura’ churches.
  
  - in some cases, these churches show significant syncretistic aspects (i.e., joining and merging elements from different religious backgrounds—traditional religion and Christianity). However, many scholars who know little or nothing about more radical practices in Christian sects historically or at the present day elsewhere in the world have frequently mislabeled and exaggerated this aspect. That is, many practices which they have labelled as ‘syncretistic’ have been or are practiced by Christians elsewhere; did these Christians borrow the practices from traditional African religion? It does not seem likely!
  
  - many of the pentecostal elements are similar to practices in traditional society; for example, faith healing has many features similar to traditional medicine, baptism by emersion can be compared to water purification rituals, etc.
  
  - a few of the preachers develop unique theological positions (e.g., that Jesus was a black man and the stories and pictures showing otherwise are lies; that in the next life, the roles of whites and blacks will be reversed, etc.).
  

1. Religion was one of the few areas where Africans could be masters of their own lives.
   - this was especially true in the apartheid era. Although there were many voices raised in the early period before the 1st World War urging suppression of separatist churches, except for the actions taken against Tile’s Thembu Church, for the most part they were not interfered with by the authorities. Even the National Party government did not interfere. One of the main reasons is that the separatist churches had little or no political orientation. However, we shall return to this point.
   
   
2. The churches were one of the few areas for Africans to exercise leadership and to acquire status.
   - this is especially true for those Africans with limited educational qualifications;
   
   - the struggle and competition for leadership is probably an important explanation for the many schisms. Although the ostensible issues in schisms often revolve around control of funds, theology and doctrine, etc., the competition for leadership is often an underlying (and even primary) factor.
   
   - most of the churches are small (a leader who gathers a small following—typically, the majority of followers are women—and maybe a few of his kin).
   
   - some of the leaders are illiterate or nearly so, which means that AICs provide leadership possibilities for people at all levels of education.
   

3. Social functions
   
   1. Mechanisms for transition
      - this area provides a big explanation for the great success of the movement; the churches facilitate at least 2 kinds of transition:
      
      
      • Rural traditional ===> urban & industrial life;
        
      • Social mobility over time and from generation to generation upward.
        
      - rural traditionalists were mostly illiterate and had few skills; they got unskilled jobs (low pay, high insecurity), faced great complexity of government regulations and had to deal with the over-whelming scale of the city.
      
      - those who were determined to remain the same and not to assimilate often regarded themselves as temporary sojourners (with wives and children left behind in the rural reserves). They had techniques for maintaining rural ties and behaviours.
      
      - however, those who are not so determined traditionalists usually felt a need to adapt and to assimilate; AICs provide one of the most important mechanisms for doing this. With a wide spectrum of churches, Africans can find some combination which fills their needs best.
      
      - as in other societies, the Christian churches form a social pecking order with the small syncretistic churches at the bottom and going up as one moves across the spectrum towards the Ethiopian churches. The regular churches are the top of this status hierarchy.
      
      - this provides social mobility; as families assimilate and get better education and/or jobs, there is a tendency to change churches and move up the social ladder.
      
      
   2. Other social functions?
      
      • Emotional and psychic release—ecstatic emotionalism may be cathartic for those undergoing the severe stresses of transition. New urban migrants tended to go to the most radical and most emotional churches.
        
      • Mutual support and assistance—helping each other to cope with the complexities of urban life (this was especially difficult in S. Africa).
        
        - sometimes members assist each other in time of illness, unemployment, etc. A few AICs even evolved social welfare and assistance programs, although these were exceptions rather than the rule. In most, help was given in a more informal fashion.
        
        - companionship and social contacts in a large, anonymous situation. The frequent church meetings provided social outlets and the small size of many churches provided a replacement for the close relationships and society of rural areas. The churches recreate small scale society in the midst of the over-whelming, over-powering scale of large urban centres.
        
        

4. Ideological and cosmological functions
   - to explain separatist churches, one needs to go beyond the economic and sociological aspects; many social scientists fall down on the job by failing to do this.
   
   - people need some sort of world view that makes their universe comprehensible—not only “Where am I?” but also “Where am I going?” and “How do I get there?” AICs provide that for some people.
   
   - also, people need a means for feeling worth and value; this is why religious movements among the people in lower strata of society tend to be ‘next worldly’ or ‘other worldly’.
   
   - one solution to the problem is to reject the inherent basis of existing society as being sinful and ultimately doomed; but in the next world, things will be different and a more just order will exist. In the next world, the righteous, the chosen, the saved will enjoy their rightful place and status; the purpose of this life, therefore, is to prepare for that next life.
   
   - in South Africa, this problem has been especially acute in view of the horrible degrading of status on the basis of skin colour (pigmentocracy). The clientele of the AICs tend to have lower status, even among Africans. I think that it is not surprising that most of the AICs seem to adopt this ‘other worldly’ solution.
   

“But what of the incidents of conflict with political authorities which have been frequently cited as evidence of the potential for revolutionary political action of religious separatism? Of course, the conflict may not have been initiated or intended by the separatists. Practising non-involvement or non-conformity can be interpreted as a political act of insubordination or even rebellion by governments. This happened in several cases of conflict in Bechuanaland involving both chiefs and colonial officials early in the twentieth century.¹ In the Bambatha Rebellion of 1906-8, a few separatists participated as did a few Christians from the regular churches but neither group was an instigator or a major factor in the disturbances; the assertion that they were was a myth rooted in white paranoia and hostility.²

“However, the two most frequently cited are the events leading to the Bulhoek massacre in Queenstown in 1921 and Wellington Buthelezi’s Garveyite movement in the Transkei in the 1920s. Enoch Mgijima had settled his group of ‘Israelites’ on municipal land at Bulhoek near Queenstown and had failed to comply with orders to move. Mgijima told the Israelites that the Old Testament God, who had ordered them to remain there, was about to destroy the world and deliver them. Also, reminiscent of nineteenth century Xhosa prophets, they need not fear the white man’s weapons. When a large contingent of armed police arrived to enforce the removal order, the Israelites attacked with homemade weapons and over 160 were killed by the police. However, the initiative and aggression arose mostly from the authorities. The occupation of the land was not part of a revolutionary assault on white political power and the resistance was dependent on external supernatural intervention—more in accord with premillennialism. Wellington Buthelezi’s Garveyism in the 1920s was in the same mould. In his case, the prospective outside intervention would be African-American liberators who would overthrow the white government—a myth that circulated, especially in the Transkei, following the first war. Although Buthelezi urged his followers to refuse to pay a new poll tax, challenging the government, he also attacked the ANC and ICU, instead preaching “a radical separatism” of non-involvement of any kind.³ Both movements lie outside the traditions of African nationalism and closer to the cattle-killing in their orientation. It is difficult to detect any significant contribution to the African nationalist struggle.

¹ Chirenje, Ethiopianism, pp. 94-7, 144-6; also,Chirenje, A History of Northern Botswana 1850-1910, (London: Associated University Presses, 1977), pp. 201-28.

² Shula Marks, Reluctant Rebellion (Oxford, 1970), pp. 326-36.

³ William Beinart, “Amafelandawonye (the Die-hards): Popular Protest and Women’s Movements in Herschel District in the 1920s,” in William Beinart and Colin Bundy, eds., Hidden Struggles in Rural South Africa (James Currey & Univ. of California Press, 1987), pp. 250-5. Other groups in the Transkei during the same period were urging that animals introduced by whites, especially pigs, should be slaughtered as a form of purification in preparing for the coming of the African-Americans.

“In regard to politics, a premillennial outlook usually involves some degree of quietism. With a few exceptions noted above, the majority of independent church leaders have displayed a disinclination (even aversion) to active participation in politics. Bengt Sundkler found that most separatist leaders agreed with sentiments expressed by one, “I tell my people, don’t take any interest in this colour bar. Forget about it, forget about politics.” He goes on to state that one does not usually find “radical or even the politically conscious” in the independent churches.

‘Broadly speaking, the politically awake and active, if subscribing still to ‘Christianity’ at all, are found in other Churches, and not among ‘the Native Separatists’. The Separatists go out of their way to state that they take no part in politics.⁴’

In accordance with a premillennial view, most leaders of independent churches have been much more interested in the spiritual and physical health of their followers and in the next life than in attempting change in the political order.⁵”

⁴ Bantu Prophets in South Africa, 2nd ed. (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1961), pp. 304-5.

⁵ See Wallace G. Mills, "The Fork in the Road: Religious Separatism versus African Nationalism in the Cape Colony, 1890-1910." Journal of Religion in Africa, 9 (1978): 51-61. I was perhaps too categorical and Chris Saunders raised some objections “African Nationalism and Religious Independency in Cape Colony: A Comment,” Journal of Religion in Africa, 9 (1978): 205-10. My “Rejoinder,” ibid., pp. 189-92. There were certainly exceptions, but the general thrust of my argument stands.

• to give up on the possibility of improvement and progress. Some Africans concluded that equality and justice were not likely to be achieved in this life either in the regular churches with whites or in general society. As a result, almost all hope was placed in the next life; energies were mostly devoted to preparation for that next life. Those adopting this option frequently withdrew from the regular churches and for the most part withdrew also from political action as well.
  
  
• to continue to believe in the possibility of improvement and of progress. With these Africans, their experience indicated that equality and justice could not be achieved either quickly or easily; they would have to be worked and struggled for, both in the regular churches with whites and in society at large. Thus, they needed to organise and become active. Most of the support and drive for African nationalism came from people who adopted this option.