The Independent Churches in Africa

An independent church as defined by Assa Okoth is any movement  or organisation  whose inspiration Was originally  Christian  which either afterwards  broke away from missionary churches or formed independently.  Independent  churches  in Africa were all under African control.
According  to Bishop  Sundler,  they were of three  categories   of independent  churches  in Africa   i.e. the  European   churches  which  claim  to have  inherited   from  what  had  been promised to Ethiopia in the Old Testament  book of Psalms  68:31. The second one was the Zionist church which broke off from the American  Pentecostal  missionaries  and the third I3S  the Messianic  church  whose belief was that Jesus  Christ  was a Messiah  for the Jews end Europeans  and that it had no significance  for Africans.  The major causes behind the
formation of the independent  churches  include:
Conflict of African leadership  in Christian churches:-
Particularly   in  West  Africa,   the  whites  were  not  willing   to  transfer   the  top  catholic churches  to Africans.  The ordination  of the African clergymen  in theological  institutions I3S  often  postponed   on unserious   grounds  which  cost  Africans   a number  of years  to become priests. In Nigeria,  for example, Bishop Samuel Ajayi spent abnormal years trying
to  become   a  Bishop   and  afterwards   due  to  his  excellent   performance    as  a  bishop accompanied by his popularity  among Africans made Europeans  force him out of office in fav our of a European  bishop.  This  led to the rise of the United  Native African Church  in
• -igeria.  Similary  in central  Africa  Nyasaland,   the  Livingstonia   Mission  forced  Elliot Kamwana,   Charles   Domingo   form  their  native   churches   because   of  this  leadership segregation.   In  Ethiopia   still  a  similar  reason   worked   to  explain   the  emergence   of cdependent   churches.
Some missionaries  in Africa  were  racists  and quite  segregative  in nature. Good cases in ooint are missionaries  who worked  in Zulu-land  in South  Africa.  The Zulu people  were being  exploited  and  were  undergoing   intense  racial  white  segregation.   This  led to the farmation  of independent   church  movement  in areas  that  were  already  affected  by this European  pressure   e.g.  Natal.  Therefore,   an  attempt   to  recreate   a pure  Zulu  society enlminated into the formation  of independent  Churches.
3.      Missionaries  destructive  approach  to [he African cultures and traditions:
The missionaries  attitude  towards  African  culture  was quiet negative.  They,  for example, condemned   polygamy,   taking  alcohol   In A fncan  daily  life.  They  condemned   African dances and drama and above all they rejected  African  names for Baptism.  For this matter Africans   responded   by  forming   their  churches   purposely   to  keep  the  dying   African traditions   in practice.  This  led to the  rise  of the Zionist  church  In South  Africa  and the United Native Afncan  Church In Nigena.
4.       Change  in colonial  master:-
It should be noted that evangelism  in Cameroon  before  1884 was carried  out by the British Baptist  mission    However,   following   the  colonisation   of the  area  in the  same  year  by Germany,   Evangelism   in Cameroon  was  taken  over by the German  missionaries.   Some Africans  resented  this change  and refused  to cooperate  with  the new  missionaries  hence leading  to the formation of their native baptist churches.
5.         Protestant  churches  in Africa were independent  of state control
African  independent   churches  split  from  protestant   missions  because  they  were  not  in dose   supervision    with  British  protectorate   government   in Africa,  Unlike  the  catholic religion  which  was close to the French  colonialist  in Africa like in West  African states e.g. Senegal   Gambia  and Ivory  coast  catholic  religion  was  controlled  by the state  thus there was no chance  of Africans  to break  away from the parent catholic  churches.  Lack of state control  was a serious reason  for the rise of Independent  churches  in territories  e.g. Malawi, Natal,  and Nigeria.
6.       Segregation  In the distribution  of missionary  services  in Africa-
In some villages,  schools, health  centers  and roads were established  by missionaries  while some  other  villages  were  ignored   almost   in  all  regions  of  Africa  where  missionaries operated.  The  villages  which  were  left out of these  missionary  privileges   complained  of neglect   by  European   missionaries    and  the  solution   was  to  break   away   from  these controlled   Christian   churches  in Central  Africa.  Nyasa-land,   the  Livmgstonia   Mission
.   created  such a frustration which  made some societies to break way from these churches.
7.       Enactment  of contractory  missionary»-
It was noted that by 1910 African converts  in Nyasaland  had become  frustrated  because of conflicting  policies  out of different  Christian  missionary  groups e.g. by 1908 evagelisation in  Malawi  had been  successfully  carried  out and there  were more  thousands  of Africans waiting   for  baptism.   However,   the  coming   of  the  Livingstonia   Mission   created   hard conditions   to satisfy  before  one could  become  a Christian.   e.g. the  good  character   of a person  before being converted  was considered,  attendance  of religions  training institutions for a lengthened  period  of time and to become  a convert  one had to have paid the church levies  as a test of sincerity to the Christian  faith. This was a source  of great frustration  of Africans  that  made  many  of  them join  Elliot  Kamwana,   Charles  Domingo   and  Joseph Booth in the formation of independent  churches.
8.    Lack  of trustworthiness    in church  particularly   in the  leadership   also  led to the  rise  of independent    churches.   The  missionary's    primary   aim  was  to  evangelize,   civilise   and educate  the  Africans  beyond  this  the  Africans  never  thought  of missionaries   to go any
further. It was however  learnt  that their major aim was  to prepare  a ground for European colonial  rule, a situation  that would make Africans  lose their political  independence.  As a result  they lost confidence  in the missionary  societies  and their churches  hence leading  to the formation  of separate  church  movements  as an indirect  sign of protesting  against  the Europeans.
9.    The rise  of people  with  special  gifts  e.g.  healing,  preaching   which  could  not  be found among the leaders  of the mother  European  churches.  As a result  such people  decided  to form their  own churches.  Their  summons  had a strong  touch  and they managed  to pull a large group  among  the  Africans  hence  leading  to the formation  of independent  churches and messianic  churches.
10.    In some parts of Africa  like in South Africa,  Africans  rejected  Christian  teachings.  They argued  that  Jesus  was  a  messiah   for  the  Jews  and  Europeans   only  and  therefore   not significant   for  the  Africans.   Others   like  Charles   Damingo,   a  prominent   independent African  church  leader  in Malawi  interpreted  the  new  Jerusalem   bible  different  from  the African point of view. This led to the rise of the messianic  and Zionist churches  in Africa.
1 1.   The  rise   of  independent     evangelists    who  were   concerned    with   the  mistreatment, discrimination    and  segregation   of Africans  by European   church  leaders  also  decided  to form the independent  church.  For example,  Joseph Booth  who was a source of inspiration for  the  rise   of  independent     churches    in  Malawi.    He  was   a  European    evangelist, independent  of any European  missionary   group.  He had  worked  as a farmer  in England and New  Zealand  but  later  acquired  a religious  vision.  His  activities   were  centered   in Malawi.  He preached  against  European  missionaries   especially   on their rough  treatment for the poor. He advocated  for the betterment  of African  peoples  who were being  ignored by the Europeans.  It was because  of such sympathetic  ideas  that won him a large number of followers  among the Africans.
In conclusion  therefore  the rise  of independent  churches  in Africa  was due to the racism and  lack  of  charity   on  the  part  of  the  European   missionaries    as  advanced   by  bishop Sundler  and Barret.  They  were  a reaction  to Christian   style  by Africans  indirectly   and simply showed their discontent  to the European missionaries   and colonialists.