African-initiated church

For instance, those who wish to point out that AICs exhibit African cultural forms, describe them as indigenous.

The term African refers to the fact that these Christian groupings formed in Africa, but AICs differ from one another.

Regional variations occur among West, East, North, Central, and Southern Africans, and the AICs will reflect these.

The reasons for these splits were usually either: Some scholars argue that independent churches or religious movements demonstrate syncretism or partial integration between aspects of Christian belief and African traditional religion.

[citation needed] Bengt Sundkler, one of the most prominent pioneers of research on African independent churches in South Africa, initially argued that AICs were bridges back to a pre-industrial culture.

[4] Later, he recognized instead that AICs helped their affiliates to adapt to a modernizing world that was hostile to their cultural beliefs.

In the early 1900s, Zionist Christian missionaries went to South Africa from the United States and established congregations.

The Zionist missionaries were followed by Pentecostal ones, whose teaching concentrated on spiritual gifts and baptism with the Holy Spirit, with glossolalia as the initial evidence of this.

The predominantly white Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa arose out of this missionary effort and emphasised the Pentecostal teaching.

As time passed, some Zionist groups began to mix aspects of traditional African beliefs, such as veneration of the dead, with Christian doctrine.

The first Aladura movement was started in 1918 in Ijebu Ode, now in Ogun State, Nigeria, by Sophia Odunlami and Joseph Sadare.

The Nigerian revival started in 1930, and the leaders of the Cherubim & Seraphim, The Church of the Lord (Aladura), and the Faith Tabernacle played important roles.

The church has established several educational institutions in Nigeria, including Joseph Ayo Babalola University and primary and secondary schools.

The term "African Independent" indicates that these churches have originated in Africa and have no foreign financial or ecclesiastical control.