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Pentecostal Theology, Volume 24, No. 2, Fall 2002
Crisis and Renewal:
Civil War Revival and the New Pentecostal
Churches in Nigeria’ s Igboland
Richard Burgess
Introduction
Paul Gifford has described the new wave of Pentecostalism that has swept across Africa since independence as “ Africa’ s new Christianity” and “ undoubtedly the salient sector of African Christianity today.”1 Ogbu Kalu calls it the “ third response” to white cultural dominance within the Christian community, the earlier two being Ethiopianism and the Aladura or Zionist churches.
2
Recently a number of scholars have recognized the importance of this movement for the church in Nigeria.
3
Its origins can be traced to a religious awakening that owed from two sources in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Ž rst of these was the ending of the Biafran war; the second was the rise of the Nigerian university system. Most research has focused on the development of the movement in Western Nigeria, with its roots in the university campuses and the work of the Scripture Union. My focus will be the origins and early progress of the movement among the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria.
4
During the Civil War what happened in the east was different from the west. In Western Nigeria the renewal arose in the cities and began ini- tially among students at Ibadan University toward the end of the war. After the war it spread to other university campuses, colleges, and secondary
1
2
Paul Gifford, African Christianity: Its Public Role (London: Hurst, 1998, 333), 33.
Ogbu U. Kalu, “ The Third Response: Pentecostalism and the Reconstruction of Christian Experience in Africa, 1970-1995,” Journal of African Christian Thought 1, no. 2 (1998): 3 3.
See, e.g., Ogbu U. Kalu, The Embattled Gods: Christianization of Igboland 1841-1991 (Lagos and London: Minaj Publishers, 1996); Ruth Marshall, “ Pentecostalism in Southern Nigeria: An overview,” in Paul Gifford, ed., New Dimensions in African Christianity (Nairobi: AACC, 1992), 7-32; Rosalind I. J. Hackett, “ Enigma Variations: The New Religious Movements in Nigeria today,” in A. F. Walls and Wilbert R. Shenk, eds., Exploring New Religious Movements. Essays in Honour of Harold W. Turner (Elkhart, IN: Mission Focus Publications, 1990), 131-42; Matthews Ojo, “ The Contextual SigniŽ cance of the Charismatic Movements 4 in Independent Nigeria,” Africa 58, no. 2 (1988): 175-92.
The three main ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Yoruba in the west, the Igbo in the east, and the Hausa-Fulani in the north.
© 2002 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden
pp. 205– 224
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schools in predominantly urban areas. By the mid-1970s it had penetrated into the wider society.
5
In the east, most participants in the revival had no college education because schools and tertiary institutions were closed. Furthermore, although it began in the town of Umuahia, the movement soon spread to the villages and affected the church at grassroots level. Access to the cities was severely restricted because they were the main focus of the con ict, and so it was only after the war that the revival spread to the urban areas.
Gifford has asserted that externality continued as an important factor in African Christianity after independence, and that in the case of the newer Pentecostal churches links with America proved particularly in uen- tial.6 This paper will show that the new wave of Pentecostalism that swept through Eastern Nigeria in the early 1970s was not a North American import but a response to local concerns, and must be understood against the backdrop of the insecurities engendered by the Civil War crisis.
7
It began as an evangelical revival associated with the Scripture Union but quickly acquired a Pentecostal spirituality as participants sought for prac- tical answers to their current dilemmas. It was not long before new Pentecostal churches began to emerge, but it was only in the late 1970s that these churches established links with certain sectors of the Pentecostal community in America.
Lewis Rambo has argued that some form of crisis normally precedes religious conversion. This is not enough to explain conversion, but it may act as an initiator of the conversion process.
8
Within Igbo religious his- tory two major socio-political crises have affected Igbo responses to Christianity. The Ž rst occurred with the invasion of Igbo territory by British colonialists and Christian missionaries, beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Igbo response to this has been well docu- mented.9 It is generally agreed that a turning point in Igbo religious his-
5
Ruth Marshall, “ ‘ God is not a democrat’ : Pentecostalism and Democratization in Nigeria,” in Paul Gifford ed., The Christian Churches and the Democratization of Africa (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995), 240; Matthews Ojo, “ The Charismatic Movement in Nigeria Today6 ,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 3 (1995): 114.
7
Gifford, African Christianity , 314.
Some of the material for this article was collected during Ž eld research in Nigeria between 8 April and June 2000.
Lewis R. Rambo, Understanding Religious Conversion (New Haven and London: Yale 9University Press, 1993), 44, 54-55.
For example, Cyril C. Okorocha, The Meaning of Religious Conversion in Africa: The Case of the Igbo of Nigeria (Aldershot, UK: Avebury, 1987); Kalu, Embattled Gods ; Elizabeth Isichei, “ Seven Varieties of Ambiguity: Some Patterns of Igbo Response to Christian Missions,” Journal of Religion in Africa 3 (1970): 212-13; Edmund Ilogu,
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tory occurred as a result of British penetration of the Igbo interior in the early 1900s.
10
The second major sociopolitical crisis began with the grant- ing of independence in 1960 and reached its climax with the Nigerian Civil War. The progress of the revival and the emergence of the newer Pentecostal churches in Igboland were closely related to the Biafran crisis.
Immediately prior to the Civil War, a nominal form of Christianity dominated the Igbo religious landscape, and most people claimed afŽ lia- tion to one of the mainline Protestant denominations or to the Roman Catholic Church. There was a growing interest in the prayer houses and Aladura churches because of their close afŽ nity to Igbo traditional piety and their pragmatic approach to religion.
11
Few professed, however, to be exclusive followers of Igbo indigenous religion.
12
Cyril Okorocha refers to the Igbos as having “ two faiths in one mind” as they sought to appro- priate Christianity. This was particularly true of second-generation Christians (those converted between 1936 and 1966). In times of crisis some would revert to the old ways to gain access to the power inherent in their indige- nous piety. Okorocha believes that during the Biafran crisis, many Igbos were “ reconverted” to a more radical form of Christianity.
13
Sometimes this involved a change of denomination and adoption of a more Pentecostal spirituality.
Insecurities caused by social dislocation, lack of food and medical facilities, air raids, growing fatalities, and the threat of genocide all helped to heighten popular stress among the Igbos during the war.
14
This had missiological implications and transformed the Igbo religious landscape as people were driven to prayer. There was a revival of traditional reli- gious beliefs and practices. It also produced a proliferation of churches, as refugees carried their particular denominations from the urban areas into the villages.
15
Christianity became increasingly important, both
Christianity and Ibo Culture (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974); F. K. Ekechi, Missionary Enterprise and 10Rivalry in Igboland 1857-1914 (London: Frank Cass, 1972).
Kalu, Embattled Gods , 13; Ekechi, Missionary Enterprise , xiii; Elizabeth Isichei, A History 11 of the Igbo People (London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1976), 165.
Aladura-type independent churches in Igboland are popularly called prayer houses, because 12 of their emphasis on healing prayer and visionary experiences.
13
Isichei, “ Seven Varieties of Ambiguity,” 212-13.
14
Okorocha, Religious Conversion , 262-63.
For more on the Biafran crisis see John de St. Jorre, The Nigerian Civil War (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1972); A. H. M. Kirk-Greene, Crisis and Con ict in Nigeria , 2 vols. (London, 1971); A. Madiebo, The Nigerian Revolution and Biafran War (Enugu: Fourth Dimension, 1980); N. U. Akpan, The Struggle for Secession 1966-1970 (London: Frank Cass, 1976); Eghosa E. Osaghae, Crippled Giant: Nigeria since Independence (London: Hurst, 15 1998).
Kalu, Embattled Gods , 270; Okorocha, Conversion, 253.
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ideologically and as a source of spiritual consolation. Aladura churches and prayer houses multiplied, offering quick solutions to the growing problems experienced by refugees and casualties of the war. These were often established near refugee and army camps.
16
It was among a small group of young Scripture Union members at Umuahia, however, that events occurred that had repercussions through- out Eastern Nigeria and eventually resulted in the transformation of the Scripture Union from an evangelical movement to one with Pentecostal characteristics. More importantly it directly contributed toward the emer- gence of many new Pentecostal churches. Cyril Okorocha was among the early Scripture Union leaders in Umuahia. He later wrote that
there, in the heart of a war zone, the Spirit of God broke in upon these stu- dents gathered for Bible study and prayer in an unpremeditated, unplanned way. It was like a page from the Acts of the Apostles! This started a renewal that would eventually spread to the rest of Nigeria— even to other parts of West Africa.
17
This statement should warn us against reductionism and the assump- tion that sociological factors alone were responsible for what happened. Although participants acknowledge that the Civil War crisis acted as a catalyst, they interpret what happened primarily in terms of the work of the Spirit.
The Civil War Crisis and the Progress of the Revival
Various circumstances engendered by the Civil War affected the revival in the east. The movement progressed in several distinct stages. The Ž rst occurred soon after the outbreak of the war, and involved the coming together of Igbo Christian young people at the headquarters of the Scripture Union in Umuahia, which had become the capital of Biafra following the fall of Enugu.
18
At the time Bill Roberts was the British representative of the Scripture Union at Umuahia. His decision to stay with the Igbo during the war made a great impression upon the youth, particularly as the British had come out in support of the federal government of Nigeria.
19
16
Hilary C. Achunike, Dreams of Heaven: A Modern Response to Christianity in North Western 17 Igboland , 1970-1990 (Enugu, 1995).
18
Richard Kew and Cyril C. Okorocha, Vision Bearers (London: Mowbray, 1996), 87.
The main Igbo urban areas were Onitsha in the northwest, Enugu in the northeast, Umuahia 19 and Aba in the south, and Owerri in central Igboland.
The process of re-evangelization in Igboland that began with the Civil War revival
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As the Civil War escalated, many high school students found refuge with Bill Roberts at the S.U. headquarters, where they met together reg- ularly for Bible study and prayer and learned to live together as a Christian community. Initially these meetings were weekly, but soon they were occurring on a daily basis. At this stage the main impetus for their com- ing together was social, rather than due to a common spiritual experience. The students were forced together by the circumstances of the war. After secondary school most would normally have gone on to university, but as this was no longer possible they remained in Umuahia, where they were discipled by Roberts and some of the more senior S.U. members.
20 Initially most of the young people were members of the Anglican Church, since this was the main denomination in the area.
The second stage of the movement was a period of mobilization. This occurred between 1967 and 1969. As Igbo towns fell to federal troops, the youth moved out, some returning to their villages, where it was claimed that many people responded to their preaching. Again it was the Anglican churches that beneŽ ted most, as many nominal Christians were converted. But it was the fall of Umuahia in April 1969 that provided the main impe- tus for this second phase of the revival. S.U. members later referred to it as the “ dispersion of Umuahia.” The S.U. headquarters subsequently moved to Mbano, an area in central Igboland. During the next six months of the war the number of S.U. groups in Biafra increased from twenty-Ž ve to eighty-Ž ve. Most were started by young people who had become Christians through the S.U. fellowship at Umuahia, and by the end of the war many villages and refugee camps had become centers of renewal.
21
The Ž nal phase of the revival occurred in the aftermath of the war and progressed in two distinct stages. The Ž rst centered on a number of Charismatic ministries that emerged from the recently reactivated S.U. township groups. The most important for the progress of the revival was
was primarily an African initiative, but former Igbo revivalists have paid tribute to the role played by Bill Roberts, who was a mentor to many. He arrived in Nigeria in 1964 and moved to Umuahia in January 1967 to become the Ž rst S.U. travelling secretary in the east. He left Nigeria due to illness toward the end of 1969 and was unable to return (J. O. Onuora, “ The Radicalization of the Scripture Union during and Immediately after the Civil War,” paper presented at the Enugu seminar Remembering the Seventies , April 2000, 2; Bill 20Roberts, Life and Death among the Igbos (London: Scripture Union, 1970), 18.
Some of these senior S.U. members were former Christian Union members who had joined Bill Roberts following the closure of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) at the beginning of the war (John Onuora, interview, 30 April 2000); Roberts, Letter to Harold 21 Ling , S.U., London, August 1967.
Roberts, Life and Death , 79.
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the Hour of Freedom Evangelistic Association, led by Stephen Okafor.
22 The second phase began in 1973 with the formation of new Pentecostal churches. Although the war had ended, it was still a period of crisis for the Igbo people. Many had lost family members as well as possessions. In the words of one revivalist, there were “ no good food, no good homes, no cars, no motorcycles, no Ž ne shoes, no Ž ne cloth, no Ž ne homes, but everybody was deŽ nitely committed to Christ and conscious of heaven.”23 Schools and universities in the east did not resume immediately and jobs were scarce, so there were many young aspiring evangelists with time on their hands. Preaching the gospel became their full-time occupation. A new wave of revival swept through Igboland, focusing again upon the work of the Scripture Union. The majority of the revivalists were drawn from the ranks of the Anglican Church.
In 1969 three young men who were destined to become key leaders during the postwar revival were converted from a background in the prayer houses. Their names were Stephen Okafor, Raphael Okafor (not related), and Arthur Oruizu.
24
The prayer house they belonged to was called Ufuma Practical Prayer Band.
25
The Hour of Freedom Evangelistic Association that was to form the platform for their ministry was started toward the end of 1969 while the Civil War was still in progress.
26
In the aftermath of the war it became the main vehicle for the spread of the revival. Prayer houses like Ufuma were often demonized by the postwar revivalists, who criticized them for incorporating elements of indigenous religion and occult practices into their belief systems and rituals, for failing to preach the gospel, and for the magical use of the Bible. Visionary practices were
22
Others included the Master’ s Vessels Group (Umuahia), the Riches of Christ Evangelistic 23 Association (Onitsha), and the Holiness Evangelistic Association (Owerri).
Rev. Eliezer Okoye, Interview, Onitsha, 13 May 2000. Okoye was an early leader of the S.U. township group in Onitsha after the Civil War. In 1974 he founded the Travelling Gospel 24 Team, an early charismatic ministry.
Stephen was a trader before the war and had been educated up to primary level at the time of the revival. Raphael Okafor was an Anglican from Awka-Etiti. He was at sec- ondary school when the war started. Both he and Arthur Oruizu were members of an Aladura church called the Cherubim and Seraphim before joining Ufuma (Stephen Okafor, Interview, 25 16 December 1998; Raphael Okafor, interview, 8 May 2000; Bolton, Glory, 11).
Ufuma Prayer Band belongs to the “ prophet-healing” type of Nigerian indigenous church and was one of the Ž rst Igbo-founded groups of its kind (Ilogu, Christianity and Ibo Culture , 60-61), though at the time of the revival it was interdenominational and still attached to the Anglican Church. For more on the typology of Nigerian indigenous churches see H. W. Turner, Religious Innovation in Africa: Collected Essays on New Religious Movements (Boston, MA.: G. K. Hall & Co., 1979); Kalu, Embattled Gods ; Hackett, New Religious 26 Movements .
Stephen Okafor, interview, 16 December 1998.
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considered demonic. Further suspicion was generated by the alleged immoral lifestyles of some of the leaders.
27
Soon after the formation of Hour of Freedom, two events occurred that acted as catalysts for the new wave of revival. Mike Oye and Muyiwa Olamijulo, both Scripture Union travelling secretaries from the Yoruba tribe in the west, came to work among the group of Christians in Umuahia. Their backgrounds were very different from the brethren in the east. Mike and Muyiwa were both Pentecostals from the Apostolic Faith Church, although Mike had been converted from a Methodist background.
28
The two men preached that there was a second blessing available for all believ- ers, an empowerment for mission. Another important incident was the arrival of the Igbo Pentecostal evangelist J. M. J. Emesim from the west. He had formed the Hour of Deliverance Ministry in Lagos, where he was sheltered by other Christians during the Civil War. In August 1970, Stephen Okafor invited him to be the guest speaker at a crusade near Onitsha, and in the words of Ogbu Kalu, “ he simply set the whole area ablaze.”29 Following the crusade, he set up a Bible school in Igboland that became the training ground for many future Pentecostal church leaders.
30
By mid-1970, the revival had started to penetrate the urban areas of Igboland. During the war this had been difŽ cult because the cities were the main focus of the con ict. As peace was restored, the center of the revival moved from Umuahia to Onitsha and Enugu, the Igbo capital city and headquarters of East Central State. Early in 1970, a Scripture Union group was started in Onitsha by Emmanuel Ekpunobi, a former associ- ate of Bill Roberts in Umuahia, and soon after the Hour of Freedom had also established a base there. Initially the Hour of Freedom encountered opposition from the Scripture Union in Onitsha because of its Pentecostal
27
Stephen Okafor, Raphael Okafor, and Arthur Oruizu, Circular Letter, early 1970, quoted 28 in Bolton, Glory, 11-20; Stephen Okafor, Letter to Bill Roberts, early 1970.
Both were products of the relationship between the Scripture Union and the growing Christian Union in the University of Ibadan, a center of Charismatic renewal in Western Nigeria. Their presence in Igboland helped to unite the revival in Eastern and Western Nigeria (Ojo, Campus Christianity , 68-69, 79; Rev. Mike Oye, interview, Enugu, 6 May 2000). The Apostolic Faith Church was founded in 1908 by Florence Crawford, a participant in the Asuza Street Revival. The Nigerian branch was founded in 1944 by Timothy Oshokoya, a former evangelist with the Christ Apostolic Church in Lagos (Benjamin Steward, The Historical 29 Background of Churches in Nigeria [Lagos: Intervale Press, 1984], 27-28).
30
Kalu, Embattled Gods , 277.
Among those who trained at Emesim’ s Bible College were Edozie Mba, Wilson Uzegbunam (Riches of Christ Mission), Benson Ezeokeke (Salvation for All Mission), Dominic Onuigwe (National Evangelical Mission), Obiorah Ezekiel (Christian Pentecostal Mission), and Edward Ezenwafor (Our Generation Gospel Ministries).
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emphasis. Yet it was not long before members of the Scripture Union joined the ranks of Hour of Freedom, resulting in its rapid expansion. As the revival spread, interdenominational fellowship groups afŽ liated to the Hour of Freedom were started all over Igboland. Like the Scripture Union and Ufuma prayer house, the Hour of Freedom did not believe in start- ing new churches, but encouraged people to remain in their existing churches. Later, however, these fellowship groups would become the basis for the formation of many new Pentecostal churches in Igboland.
The other major center of the revival after the war was the city of Enugu. It spread there independently from the Hour of Freedom and events in Onitsha. A small S.U. group started meeting in the home of Joshua Ogugua, another former associate of Bill Roberts, after people had be- gun to congregate there immediately after the war. The Sunday meeting soon became an evangelistic guest service, and the group grew rapidly.
31 By July 1970, a young woman called Amauchi Obijiofor had taken over the leadership following the departure of Joshua Ogugua.
32
S.U. mem- bers became aggressive evangelists, witnessing in the streets of the city and from house to house. By 1971, the Enugu S.U. township group had become the largest in Nigeria.
33
Many of its members belonged to the Assemblies of God, and this hastened the pentecostalization of the Scripture Union in Igboland.
34
Meanwhile the work of the Scripture Union outside Onitsha and Enugu expanded rapidly as schools reopened and dispersed members started new groups in towns and villages throughout Igboland.
31
Monica Chigozie Ezenwa, Letter to Bill Roberts, 14 September 1970. As the group grew, the Sunday meeting moved Ž rst to the ECWA/SIM church, and then to the Presbyterian church, to accommodate the growing number of young people. The pastors of both these mission 32 churches were sympathetic toward the revival.
Amauche Obijiofor, Letter to Bill Roberts, 9 July 1970. The group met initially at Amauche’ s residence. Amauche later married Chris Okeke, the present General Secretary of S.U. Nigeria. In September 1970 Tony Ewelike, a member of Assemblies of God, suc- ceeded 33 her as leader of the group.
S. C. A. Chukwuka, “ The Pilgrims Ministry: Its Developmental Stages,” Plumbline (The Journal of the Pilgrims Ministry, S.U. Nigeria) 1, no. 921 (1992 Maiden Edition): 7. According to Ken Okeke, an early S.U. leader in Enugu, the S.U. township meeting held on Sunday afternoon at the Presbyterian church had an attendance of “ thousands” (Rev. Ken Okeke, interview, London, 17 December 1998). Okeke has recently been appointed Anglican 34 Bishop of the Niger, and is based in Onitsha.
Augustus Wogu, an Igbo man from Umuahia, founded the Assemblies of God in Nigeria after a revival that occurred in the Faith Tabernacle congregation he was attend- ing in 1934. Formal links with the American Assemblies of God were established in 1939. It is one of the largest Pentecostal groups in Nigeria (R. I. Ebuade et al., The Growth of Assemblies of God in Nigeria [Aba: Assemblies of God Press, 1989]).
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By January 1971 there were 173 S.U. groups in schools and churches in East Central State.
35
In 1973, the revival entered a fresh phase with the formation of new Pentecostal churches. Several factors contributed toward this develop- ment. By this time Hour of Freedom fellowships existed throughout Igboland, and these formed the basis for most of the new churches. Karla Poewe has suggested that “ Revivals, generally, and the renewal, neo- Pentecostal, and charismatic movements of the 1960s and 1970s are Protestant ways of recruiting the next generation.”36 Already this was hap- pening in Igboland. A new generation of young evangelical Christians had emerged with time on their hands and Ž re in their souls. Many of them would become pioneers of the new Pentecostal church movement.
It was a British missionary called S. G. Elton who was largely respon- sible for introducing the strategy of church planting in the east.
37
He had close links with Stephen Okafor and the Hour of Freedom, but his initial attempts at persuading them to gather their converts into new churches were unsuccessful. This changed following the departure of Stephen and Raphael to the U.K. for further studies in mid-1972. In their absence Paul Nweke (now Nwachukwu) took over responsibility for the Hour of Freedom ministry at Onitsha, and Elton soon convinced him of the strategic impor- tance of planting churches. Through Elton Paul Nweke and his friend Augustine Nwodika came into contact with the late Benson Idahosa and attended his New Covenant Bible School in Benin City. Though they were there only for a short time it further strengthened their resolve to plant churches.38 The other important factor behind the formation of new churches was the opposition the young revivalists received from existing churches,
35
John Onuora, Letter to Bill Roberts, 2 August 1970; Uchenna Emezue, Letter to Bill Roberts, 31 August 1970; Sam C. Nnamuah, Letter to Bill Roberts, 21 January 1971; Scripture 36 Union Nigeria, News/Prayer Letter , January-March 1971.
Karla Poewe, “ Introduction: The Nature, Globality, and History of Charismatic Christianity,” in Karla Poewe, ed., Charismatic Christianity as a Global Culture (Columbia, SC: 37University of South Carolina Press, 1994), 13.
He was affectionately known as “ Pa Elton” and was particularly in uential among the new breed of Nigerian Christian leaders in the 1960s and 1970s. He came to Nigeria in 1934 with the British Apostolic Church. In 1954 he broke with them due to his support for the Latter Rain movement, and became an independent church planter and counsellor to many of the new ministries (Kalu, Embattled Gods , 278). His emphasis on church plant- ing 38was in uenced by his background in the Apostolic Church.
Paul Nwachukwu, interview, 12 May 2000. The late Archbishop Benson Idahosa was founder of Church of God Mission International, a large indigenous Pentecostal church with its headquarters in the mid-western region of Nigeria.
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and in particular the Anglican Church.
39
Most Anglican priests did not accept what was happening and objected to the interdenominational approach, the charismatic style of preaching, and the emphasis upon per- sonal holiness that were hallmarks of the revival.
40
In April 1973, Paul Nweke, Augustine Nwodika, Edozie Mba, and Emeka Eze founded Riches of Christ, the Ž rst new Pentecostal church to emerge from the revival. This grew rapidly as other members of the Hour of Freedom and the Scripture Union joined them. From its base at Onitsha branches of Riches of Christ were soon established at Enugu, Umuahia, Aba, and Owerri. By 1975, they had about eighty congregations, formed mainly from the original Hour of Freedom fellowship groups.
41
The 1970s saw a proliferation of new Pentecostal churches in Igboland. Initially the primary motivation for starting new groups was dissatisfac- tion with the spirituality of the mainline churches, but later groups were often born of schism.
42
In 1976, Paul Nweke and Augustine Nwodika broke away from Riches of Christ to form the Jesus the Way Mission, following allegations of sexual misdemeanour and authoritarianism against Edozie Mba. In 1978, some of these new Pentecostal groups came together to form the Grace of God Mission. Augustine Nwodika described this as a new wave of revival. “ A kind of conviction came again. People started crying, repenting again. And then Riches of Christ and Jesus the Way came back again as one church.”43 Despite further fragmentation, Grace of God Mission remains the largest of the newer Pentecostal denomina- tions in Igboland. They have since spread further a Ž eld and now have
39
Most of the early leaders of the newer Pentecostal churches in the east were for- merly 40 members of the Anglican Church.
Rev. Dr. Cyril Okorocha, Interview, London, 23 August 1998. Okorocha is now Anglican 41 Bishop of Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
Augustine Nwodika (founder, Throne of Grace Ministries), interview, Enugu, 8 May 2000. Nwodika was formerly pastor of the headquarters branch of Riches of Christ Mission in Onitsha. 42 Edozie Mba was the President of Riches of Christ, and Paul Nweke his deputy.
Kalu, Embattled Gods , 279. There were other Pentecostal groups that started inde- pendently of Riches of Christ in this early period. Benson Ezeokeke’ s Christ for All Gospel Mission (Onitsha) and Tony Okeke’ s Save the Lost Mission (Nnewi) were formed in 1974. Felix Obiorah formed the Master’ s Vessel Group in Umuahia, which became a church in 1976. Gabriel Nwokoro started the Last Days Messengers at Okigwe. The Holiness Evangelical 43 Mission in Owerri became a church in 1977.
Rev. Dr. Augustine Nwodika, interview, Enugu, 8 May 2000. According to Nwodika, there were about twenty-three churches who “ pulled down their signboards” and joined the Grace of God Mission. Among these were the Riches of Christ Mission, Jesus the Way Mission, Christ for All Mission, Word of Life Mission, Fulness of Christ, and Believer’ s Gospel Mission (Rev. Dr. Joseph Onuchukwu [National Secretary, Grace of God Mission], interview, Enugu, 23 May 2000).
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approximately eleven hundred congregations in Nigeria.
44
Igbo revival- ists also planted churches in the mainly Muslim north. Early attempts in 1970 had proved largely unsuccessful, but as peace returned and the nation attained a degree of stability, many Igbos moved north, including some who had been in uenced by the revival and who were eager to spread the good news.
45
“ Repent or Perish” : Revival Message and Strategies
The revival’ s message and strategies contributed to its popularity and growth. It was essentially an evangelical movement with its roots Ž rmly within the Scripture Union. The evangelical tradition has stressed per- sonal conversion, devotion to the Bible, a life of active service, and an emphasis on the cross.
46
All these features were present during the Civil War revival in the east.
Contemporary evangelicals and Pentecostals in Nigeria are commonly called “ born-again” Christians, and this emphasis was present among S.U. members during the Civil War.
47
“ Born-again” terminology formed part of their religious discourse and was a prominent feature of conversion narratives, particularly among those from nominal Christian backgrounds. Ruth Marshall has argued that the experience of becoming “ born-again” provides individuals with new opportunities for survival.
48
One reason it proved attractive during the Biafran crisis was that it allowed access to a caring egalitarian community at a time when existing social and economic relationships were disintegrating. As one member of the Scripture Union fellowship at Umuahia remarked, “ When in trouble there are sisters and brothers to help me.”49
44
45
Onuchukwu, interview, 23 May 2000.
Dominic Onuigwe founded the National Evangelical Mission, responsible for start- ing new Pentecostal churches all over Northern Nigeria. In Jos, the Redeemed People’ s Mission was founded by Thompson Nwosu in 1977, and the Bible Faith Mission by Wilson Ezeofor in 1979. William Okoye started the All Christians Fellowship Mission in 1978, with 46its headquarters at Abuja.
See David Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 47 1980s (London: Unwin Hyman, 1989), 1-3.
Achunike, Dreams of Heaven , 56. A former revivalist, involved with S.U. in Umuahia during the war, recalled that Bill Roberts’ s teachings were “ based mainly on John chapter 3, new birth, regeneration, salvation, and then forgiveness of sin, change of life” (Rev. Ndubueze 48 Oti, interview, Enugu, 23 May 2000).
49
Ruth Marshall, “ Pentecostalism in Southern Nigeria,” 20-23.
Ume Kalu, “ What God has done for Me,” Written testimony, October 1969. Ume Kalu was a member of Bill Roberts’ s core leadership team in Umuahia during the Civil War. He is now a medical doctor.
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The new birth had moral as well as social consequences. Those who were born again believed they possessed the power to leave behind old habits and sins. Bill Roberts refers to “ the miracle of conversion,” and the way that “ people were absolutely transformed in their behaviour and their practices, which spoke volumes to everyone roundabout.”50 The revival developed around a doctrine of radical antimaterialism and strict personal ethics, closely linked to a belief in the imminent return of Christ. Participants were encouraged to prepare for the rapture by shunning unnec- essary material and carnal pleasures and maintaining a life free from sin. “ Take the whole world, but leave me Jesus” was a line from one of the popular songs of the revival. The Bible was also a crucial factor in the emergence of a holiness theology during the revival.
51
Cyril Okorocha has suggested that the Igbo revivalists hoped to “ recover the fervour and power of the Ž rst-generation converts, through a radical biblical literal- ism.”52 Again this re ects the in uence of Scripture Union. The empha- sis on the biblical text as authoritative and life-transforming proved attractive to young people looking for practical help during a time of severe stress.
The main reason for the growth of the movement was the emphasis on active evangelism and discipleship. This was already an integral part of the ministry of the Scripture Union before the war, but during the revival it grew in intensity and scope. Prior to 1967, Scripture Union work in the east had consisted of school visitation, organization of S.U. camps and rallies, and literature distribution. With the onset of war, schools closed and travel was severely restricted, resulting in the collapse of these three areas of S.U. ministry.
53
Because Scripture Union activities were initially restricted to Umuahia, however, it allowed a community of committed young people to develop around Roberts and his coworkers. This group would later become the mainspring of the revival during its Civil War phase. Early in his ministry Roberts recognized the need to train indige-
50
Roberts, interview, 23 July 1999; Roberts, Letter to S.U. Groups Area Representatives in Biafra, 51 S.U. Headquarters, Umuozu-Mbano, 20 November 1969.
The S.U. travelling secretary, Muyiwa Olamijulo, observed that one beneŽ t of the war was the re-emergence of Bible-based Christianity, and a return to New Testament belief and ethics in the east, especially among young people (Muyiwa Olamijulo, Report of Visit to the East Central State , 15 June-30 Sept. 1970). Soon after the beginning of war Bill Roberts started a Bible Study meeting for local young people at the S.U. House in Umuahia (Roberts, Letter to Harold Ling, S.U. London, August 1967). This emphasis continued after the 52war (Bolton, Glory, 153-54).
53
Okorocha, Religious Conversion , 274.
Ojo, Campus Christianity , 98.
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nous leaders, and this became an urgent priority when the war situation made his own future uncertain. A signiŽ cant step in the process of indi- genization took place when Roberts went on leave in the middle of 1968. In his absence, Igbo Christians took sole responsibility for the S.U. work in the east.
54
The organization of weekday camp-like activities at the S.U. head- quarters in Umuahia was one example of the way evangelistic strategies were contextualized during the war. Many young people in Umuahia were separated from relatives and friends, and the S.U. fellowship offered them the possibility of an alternative network of relationships. Weekday activ- ities consisted of chorus singing, Bible study, talks, group discussions, meals, and games. These proved attractive to young people who were bored, isolated and hungry. Plots of land were made available for farming, a pol- icy in keeping with the Biafran government’ s “ war on hunger” strategy, which encouraged people to grow their own food.
55
Later, monthly guest services became an important focus of their evangelistic activity, and many were said to have responded to the preaching of the Igbo revivalists.
56
S.U. members in Umuahia were aggressive evangelists, visiting homes, army camps, refugee camps, and hospitals to share the gospel.
57
Roberts attributed this evangelistic zeal to the conditions created by the war, their daily exposure to the Bible and Christian fellowship, the work of the Holy Spirit, and their youthful energy.
58
Millennial beliefs also added urgency
54
55
Roberts, Life and Death , 63.
Weekday activities were a joint initiative that originated with Bill Roberts and his Igbo colleague, Peter Nwangwu. On the Ž rst day (13 September 1967) twenty came. Soon numbers increased, to more than one hundred (Roberts, S.U. Prayer Letter no. 11 , 13 September 56 1967; Roberts, Life and Death , 36).
Roberts, Life and Death , 38, 40; Isaac Iheukwumere, Letter to Bill Roberts, 29 July 1968; Roberts, S.U. Prayer Letter no. 17 , 7 October 1969. One who proved particularly in uential was an itinerant evangelist from Aba called Evans Ogbansiegbe. He was alleged to have introduced the term “ revival” and the practice of “ altar calls” to the group at Umuahia. Guest services were called “ revivals,” and people were encouraged to come for- ward and “ give their lives to Christ.” This was a more aggressive form of evangelistic out- reach than previously employed by Roberts and his coworkers. Ogbansiegbe was also a popular speaker during the postwar phase of the revival (Okorocha, interview, 8 February 1998); 57 Raphael Okafor, Diary, 5 April 1971; cited in Bolton, ( Glory, 98, 113).
Although Umuahia remained the center of the revival until April 1969, there were others in the Biafran enclave involved in aggressive evangelistic activity independently from S.U. One was Paul Nweke, the future leader of the Grace of God Mission (Rev. Dr. Paul 58Nwachukwu, interview, Onitsha, 12 May 2000).
Bill Roberts, interview, Collumpton, 23 July 1999. Biblical texts were sometimes used to persuade S.U. members to engage in evangelistic activities (see, e.g., Roberts, Letters to New Converts , nos. 1-3, Umuahia, n.d.).
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to their evangelism. The revivalists were motivated by their expectation of Christ’ s imminent return. This conviction was derived from the Bible, but was strengthened by the war situation. Similar beliefs continued to in uence their gospel presentation after the war. “ Repent or perish” was a common refrain. The main revival message during the postwar period was repentance and the coming of the Lord.
The revivalists used songs to attract people. This was another exam- ple of their attempts to contextualize their evangelistic strategies. Music is an important element of Igbo indigenous spirituality. Songs were a fea- ture of the S.U. weekday activities and proved popular with participants, although they sang mainly Western gospel songs rather than ones pro- duced locally. Roberts also admitted his aversion to loud noise and his resistance to clapping or the use of African drums.
59
Music remained an important feature after the war. Biafran soldiers used to march to battle singing songs, and postwar revivalists adopted this approach as they trekked from place to place preaching the gospel. Singing Christian cho- ruses was both an act of worship and a conscious effort to attract people to listen to their message.
The war situation in uenced the way people responded to the gospel. The Scripture Union saw more lasting conversions than they had under normal conditions.
60
It was reported that many nominal Christians were converted through studying the Bible and listening to the preaching of S.U. members. As the war progressed and S.U. members moved out from Umuahia, they started new groups in towns and villages, ammunition fac- tories, hospitals, and army and refugee camps. Roberts observed that there was “ exceptional spiritual life in many of them with vigorous personal evangelism being done in all spheres of our present day society.”61 Many more people were hearing the gospel than before, and guest services were being held at ten different centers instead of one. By the end of the war there were about eighty-Ž ve S.U. groups in Biafra.
62
With the ending of the war and the removal of restrictions there was a signiŽ cant increase in evangelistic activities, particularly in the urban areas. While at Ufuma Stephen Okafor had been exposed to the writings
59
Roberts, S.U. Prayer Letter no. 11 , 13 September 1967. During the war the S.U. group 60 at Umuahia started an evangelistic singing group called the “ Peacemakers.”
61
Roberts, Letter to Dan Onukwe, 11 April 1970; Roberts, interview, 23 July 1999.
Roberts, Pilgrims of the Scripture Union, Newsletter no. 3, for the Republic of Biafra62 , 26 March 1968; Letter to a staff member of S.U. London, 15 July 1969.
Roberts, S.U. Prayer Letter no. 17 , 7 October 1969; Roberts, S.U. Prayer Letter no. 18, 29 December 1969.
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of American evangelist T. L. Osborn and was impressed by his emphasis on mass evangelism. The Ufuma Prayer Band was not evangelistic. Stephen and his coworkers carried the gospel into the streets and proclaimed boldly that the “ hour of freedom” had come.
63
Initially they were able to use the many branches of Ufuma scattered around Igboland as the base for their evangelistic activities. When this was no longer possible, they encour- aged those who joined them to organize crusades in their home towns or villages. Altar calls featured strongly in the meetings, and it was claimed that thousands of people were saved, including prostitutes and occultists. There was often a deep sense of personal sin. Raphael Okafor recalled what it was like at some of the meetings:
It was amazing how people came to the altar call. I could remember at one school . . . at the end I just saw all these people coming from all parts of the building, falling down, crying, crying, weeping . . . it was wonderful. And that type of thing happened from time to time. Before you Ž nished a message, people will just be coming, you know, just falling down, and cry- ing, and just confessing their sins.
64
Active service by Igbo revivalists was not restricted to evangelism. By the end of 1967 the situation in Biafra had reached crisis proportions, and one of the factors that helped alleviate tensions within the enclave was the relief operation. Both Catholic and Protestant churches played a signiŽ cant role in this. All Protestant relief work in Biafra was under the auspices of the World Council of Churches. “ Relief became the heart throb of Biafra and the Church a veritable balm in Gilead.”65 The churches’ primary role changed from education to relief work.
Bill Roberts joined the relief operation in October 1968 following his return from leave in Britain.
66
This immediately raised his proŽ le in the area. In the Umuahia Province, where Roberts acted as Protestant repre- sentative, there were ninety-two refugee camps with an average of four hundred people each.
67
Unfortunately corruption was a problem, and it was difŽ cult for those with responsibility for distribution to resist the temptation to steal, especially when their own families were starving.
63
Dr. Stephen Okafor, interview, London, 16 December 1998; idem, Letter to Bill Roberts, 64 early 1970.
65
Rev. Raphael Okafor, interview, Enugu, 8 May 2000.
66
Kalu, Embattled Gods , 271-72.
Roberts, Letter to H. G. Ling (Overseas Secretary of S.U. London) , 11 October 1968; S.U. 67London Council Meeting, 20 November 1968, 3.
Roberts, S.U. Prayer Letter no. 15 , 7 November and 8 December 1968; Roberts, Letter to a staff member of S.U. London, 15 July 1969.
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Lorries carrying supplies were hijacked by drivers, and relief stores became the target of unscrupulous ofŽ cials. This prompted the W.C.C. to ask Bill Roberts to recruit honest young people to assist with relief distribution by acting as escorts. Initially he recommended Ž ve young men from the S.U. group at Umuahia. Their example led to requests for more workers. By the end of 1969, there were about sixty committed S.U. members employed in different aspects of the relief work.
68
Many revivalists were convinced that the Biafran cause was just. Some were conscripted into the Biafran army or became involved in the pro- paganda war. Because of their marginalized position in society they were unable to in uence the situation through critical dialogue, but this did not stop them calling for Christians in Britain to protest against the British government’ s policy of arm sales to Nigeria.
69
Apart from involvement in the relief operation, for most revivalists active engagement with the sociopolitical situation during the war was limited to evangelism and prayer. They believed in the possibility of God’ s intervention through prayer. Initially they interceded for victory, but as the situation within the Biafran enclave became increasingly critical, they prayed for the end of the war whatever the outcome.
In the immediate postwar period revival Christianity contributed toward reconciliation and the restoration of peace. Instead of demanding justice and revenge, the Igbo traditional way of dealing with this kind of situa- tion, there were many examples of Igbos extending forgiveness to their former enemies. Cyril Okorocha believes that this was one factor that brought healing to the nation,
70
though it also had to do with the “ No vic- tor, no vanquished” policy adopted by the Gowon government.
71
According to former revivalist Chinedu Nebo, the revival helped to restrain the moral depravity induced by the war situation by creating an ethical awareness, particularly among young people. Many who might have become crimi- nals and prostitutes were transformed through their experience of the new
68
Roberts, S.U. Prayer Letter no. 15 , 7 November and 8 December 1968; Roberts, S.U. 69Prayer Letter no. 18 , 29 December 1969.
S.U. leaders in Biafra expressed their surprise and disapproval over the reluctance of S.U. in Britain to speak out publicly concerning the events surrounding the Nigerian Civil War (Letter from the Scripture Union of Biafra to Scripture Union London, 8 July 1968). 70
See Cyril C. Okorocha, “ Reconciliation: What Price? Some Biblical and Practical Re ections from Africa,” in Barbara Butler, ed., Open Hands: Reconciliation, Justice and Peace Work Around the World (Bury St. Edmunds, U.K.: Kevin Mayhew Ltd. 1998), 185-200.71
St. Jorre, Civil War, 407.
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birth.72 But the postwar revivalists’ understanding of their mission did not extend to practical social programs aimed at improving the lives of peo- ple around them. Unlike the early missionaries, they did not build hos- pitals and schools. Their urgent task was to evangelize the world before the imminent return of Christ.
73
Baptism of Fire: the Development of a Pentecostal Spirituality
Initially the revival in Igboland had no close links with any existing Pentecostal denominations. Although the Assemblies of God had a strong base in Umuahia, most of the early protagonists were Anglicans and Methodists. But there were a small number of Assemblies of God mem- bers attached to the Scripture Union at Umuahia, and they were anxious to promote the doctrine of Holy Spirit baptism and speaking in tongues.
74 Bill Roberts and senior S.U. members resisted this because they felt it was divisive and threatened the unity of the fellowship. They also believed that focusing on signs, such as tongues and healing miracles, could dis- tract people from seeking after the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
75
As S.U. groups were established further a Ž eld exposure to Pentecostal in uences increased. More members came from Pentecostal churches, and Assemblies of God pastors became regular speakers at evangelistic guest services. Toward the end of the war many S.U. members were expelled from the Anglican Church or left voluntarily, and joined the Assemblies of God and other Pentecostal churches.
Because of increasing Pentecostal in uences, a theology of Holy Spirit baptism developed after the war.
76
This gradually came to dominate the
72
73
Rev. Dr. Chinedu Nebo, interview, Enugu, 4 May 2000.
74
Frances Lawjua Bolton, “ Structural Units for a New Nigeria,” unpublished paper, 1999.
Rev. Ndubueze Oti, interview, Enugu, 23 May 2000. Oti was among the Ž rst Assemblies 75 of God members to attend S.U. activities in Umuahia during the Civil War.
Roberts, S.U. Prayer Letter no. 15, 7 November and 8 December 1968. Toward the end of the war the S.U. committee in Biafra expressed concern over certain beliefs and practices associated with Pentecostalism that had been entering into the work over the pre- vious eighteen months or so. These included the teaching that every Christian must speak in tongues before she can say she has fully experienced the Holy Spirit; the insistence that physical healing should take place by the prayer of faith, without the use of medicine; an overemphasis on fasting; and excessive emotionalism in their services and witnessing (Roberts, 76 S.U. Prayer Letter no. 18, 29 December 1969).
The main in uences were the Yoruba S.U. travelling secretaries Mike Oye and Muyiwa Olamijulo, the Igbo evangelist J. M. J. Emesim, and the Assemblies of God. The British missionary S. G. Elton was also in uential, as was Pentecostal literature from North America.
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revival and provided the foundation for other features, such as speaking in tongues, healing miracles, holiness and prophecy. Initially most Igbo revivalists who belonged to the Scripture Union in the Onitsha area opposed it, but this began to change when Stephen Okafor started to promote Holy Spirit baptism after working alongside Mike Oye and Muyiwa Olamijulo in early 1970. Stephen claimed to have received the “ baptism” himself while preaching at an evangelistic crusade near Onitsha. Raphael Okafor found himself speaking in tongues during an all night prayer meeting in August 1970. For both it was an experience of power, giving them increased boldness in witness and effectiveness in the ministry of healing and deliv- erance.77 So early on Holy Spirit baptism became an integral part of the message of the Hour of Freedom Evangelistic Association. Subsequently it spread throughout the work of the Scripture Union in the east. In Enugu the attitude of the group changed as members were exposed to Pentecostal in uences from groups like the Assemblies of God.
78
Despite the resistance of Scripture Union leaders in Biafra to Pentecostal doctrine and practices, the movement was phenomenologically Pentecostal during its Civil War phase. It exhibited many of the features of Pentecostal spirituality associated with the experience of the Holy Spirit. Intense reli- gious experiences were relatively common. Cyril Okorocha relates that sometimes while they were praying “ people would break down crying . . . people would laugh, and scream for joy, and just start jumping about, they can’ t stop.” Rather than use the term “ baptism of the Holy Spirit,” participants talked about revival, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. “ Being set on Ž re for Christ” was a common expression. This was asso- ciated with a religious experience in which individuals apparently felt the sensation of Ž re coming upon them and sometimes claimed to see ames of Ž re while they were praying. During the revival it was interpreted as the work of the Holy Spirit dealing with sin and giving a renewed zeal for evangelism. Some claimed to have received the gift of tongues as a result of their association with the Assemblies of God.
Healing through prayer was another feature of the revival in its early stages, though it never acquired the status it had after the war. In Umuahia, Scripture Union members would regularly visit the local hospital to pray for the sick, but it was in the villages that the practice was more
77
Stephen Okafor, interview, 16 December 1998; Raphael Okafor, interview, 8 May 2000. 78
Rev. Amaechi Nwachukwu (Senior Pastor, Amazing Love Assembly), interview, Enugu, 6 June 2000. A number of the early leaders of the S.U. township group were mem- bers of the Assemblies of God, including Amaechi Nwachukwu himself.
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commonplace. This was because of the war situation. In many areas access to medical facilities was severely limited, and there was often no alternative but to resort to prayer. Cyril Okorocha began to pray for the sick in 1968 when he was cut off behind enemy lines. “ There was no hospital, there was nowhere to go, the whole place was sealed off, and I just prayed, people got well.” The biblical text was also a signi- Ž cant in uence. ‘ Reading the Bible, I just got struck by this thing . . . these things that happened in Bible times, can happen today; that was what I believed,’79 Mike Oye visited Umuahia during the war in his capac- ity as S.U. travelling secretary. He later commented, “ Almost anything you can think of in the book of Acts was happening; there were healings, there were deliverances.”80 By 1971, healing prayers had become a reg- ular feature of evangelistic meetings organized by the Hour of Freedom, and it was claimed that miraculous healing occurred on a regular basis, although it wasn’ t until 1973 that this practice became a dominant fea- ture of the movement.
81
During the war some believed that God could speak through dreams, visions, and prophecy, although this was not encouraged within the Scripture Union fellowship. It was more common in the postwar phase of the revival. Dreams or visions were sometimes a feature of conversion narratives. Prophecies usually took the form of exhortation rather than prediction, and were often closely aligned to Scripture. Some revivalists were reluc- tant to focus too much attention upon these alternative forms of revela- tion due to their background in the prayer houses, which, they maintained, laid excessive emphasis on visions and dreams.
By the late 1970s, links had developed with a number of Pente- costal churches in North America. Initial interest was stimulated by exposure to American Pentecostal literature and the visits of American Pentecostal evangelists.
82
When certain ministries in America recognized the potential of the young pioneers, they invited some of them to be- come partners and gave them the opportunity to travel overseas and train in their Bible colleges.
83
While there they imbibed the emphasis on
79
80
Okorocha, interview, 8 February 1999.
81
Rev. Dr. Mike Oye, interview, Enugu, 6 May 2000.
Raphael Okafor, Diary, 4 April 1971, 1 May 1971; Paul Nwachukwu, interview, 12 May 822000; Augustine Nwodika, interview, 8 May 2000; Bolton, Glory, 41, 123.
The writings of T. L. Osborn and Gordon Lindsay were particularly popular. American evangelists who visited Igboland in the 1970s included Morris Cerullo and T. L. Osborn (Bolton, 83 Glory, 99, 153; Paul Nwachukwu, interview, 12 May 2000).
Several Igbo Pentecostal leaders attended Morris Cerullo’ s School of Ministry. Others had links with Kenneth Hagin and T. L. Osborn.
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prosperity propagated by their sponsors. When they carried this back to Nigeria they found that it Ž tted well with the mood of the times, and it was eagerly embraced by Igbo Christians. Another important vehicle for the spread of the “ prosperity gospel” was the late Benson Idahosa.
84
In 1971, he trained at Gordon Lindsay’ s Bible College in America, and on his return to Nigeria in 1972 opened his own Bible College, which attracted many leading Igbo Pentecostals.
Conclusion
The new wave of Pentecostalism that originated in the Civil War revival has changed the Igbo religious landscape. Although it was in uenced by the stress on Bible study and evangelism associated with the Scripture Union, it was an indigenous initiative and arose in response to the Civil War crisis. It soon developed a distinctive Pentecostal spirituality, and by the mid-1970s had spawned a number of new Pentecostal denominations. But it was not until the late 1970s that these churches established links with America. As a result the direction of the revival changed. From an early emphasis on holiness and anti-materialism, it embraced a doctrine of faith and prosperity. Today many former revivalists regret this devel- opment and the failure of the movement to make a more lasting social impact. They hope to recapture the spirituality of the early 1970s by engag- ing in aggressive evangelism and preaching a message of repentance and the imminent return of Christ.
84
Kalu, Embattled Gods , 278.
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