The role of the international manager: managing the interface

6.0 Introduction

This chapter presents a summary of the study thus far. It evaluates the issues raised in the research and makes recommendations where necessary. It then makes a general conclusion about the issues discussed so far.

6.1 Summary of Study

This research has so far looked into the engagement of the identified African traditional religious elements in the Christ Apostolic Church in Southwestern Nigeria from 1970 to 2005. This was done with the view of determining how far the church in question has both attempted and managed to engage these elements and make them relevant in its liturgy without becoming syncretistic.

This study identifies that mission Christianity, through its formal liturgy, was inadequate for the satisfaction of the spiritual yearnings of the African people and that African Christians became more desirous to fashion out a Christianity which recognised the value of their culture and brought worth to their worldview. They looked forward to practising a Christianity that recognized every moment and every area of their lives under all circumstances. In addition, they wanted a Christianity that emphasized enough spirituality in their spiritually alive culture and worldview. African indigenous churches as self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating structure came to the fore to fill this vacuum. This research, however, notes 97 2 5

A critical review of the literature consulted in chapter two reveals that mission Christianity has not done much in the area of indigenizing Christianity in Africa and Nigeria. The literature further reveals that African indigenous churches came to limelight to foster a Christianity that respects the culture of their people. It is also obvious that prayer is one main weapon which formed the bedrock of Aladura spirituality.

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY

Chapter three discusses

before 1930 Great Revival. The chapter considers the events of the revivals that touched some important areas of the Southwestern part of Nigeria and determines the significance of the revivals to the overall making of Aladura Christianity among the Yorùbá people of Southwestern Nigeria. It then considers the factors that led to the emergence of Christ Apostolic Church.

Chapter four begins with an overview of Yorùbá religious and cultural worldviews, where it considers the Yorùbá beliefs in the Supreme Being, divinities and spirits, ancestors, and mysterious powers. It then examines the interaction between the selected African indigenous religious and cultural beliefs and practices among the Yorùbá of Southwestern Nigeria and Christ Apostolic Church within the period the research covers. The elements and objects have been looked into in relation to the objects used, the procedures involved in their use and the functions associated with them.

Chapter five considers the problems and prospects of using African traditional religious elements while chapter six, the concluding chapter, contains the summary, recommendations, and the general conclusion.

6.2 Data Assessment and Recommendations

This research has shown that Christian religion is interpreted based on the worldview of its host and that the religion is better understood and effectively practiced when the indigenous ways of thinking of the congregation is reflected in the liturgy of the church. It has been able to examine this in the case of Christ Apostolic Church. Since the church accommodate the Yorùbá worldview in her liturgy, the adherents of the church derive many benefits in the area of managing the day-to-day challenges of life. This work recommends that other churches need to recognize that their respective cultures are tools for effective mission adventure.

This work observes that the modern Pentecostal practices as introduced and practised in the neo-Pentecostal churches in Nigeria have contributed greatly in eroding the culture of their people. It observes that the attitude of modern Pentecostal churches in Nigeria towards adopting foreign practices in their services to the neglect of the indigenous culture of the people is not good. This research, however, recommends that

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY

neo-Pentecostals need not abandon their roots in the Christianity they practise. They should rather be conscious of the cultural atmosphere surrounding them and make it reflect in their liturgy so as to enhance greater benefits for the church and the members.

As this research has shown that Yorùbá socio-cultural and religious worldviews are good incentives to the survival of any church in general and Christ Apostolic Church specifically, other Christian churches should re-consider their earlier notion about African cultural worldviews in their domains as fetish, barbaric, anti-Christian and non-progressive.

This research observes that a number of cultural and religious practices and concepts inherent in traditional religion exist and may debase ideal Christian teachings.

The question that arises is; how much should the message and the messenger adjust or adapt to make the meaning of the message understood without essentially succumbing to compromise? The work recommends that churches should employ compatible or related indigenous practices that will not compromise the Christian doctrine and practices but rather enhance them.

The research shows that through the use of the traditional elements, Christ Apostolic Church, interrelationship between churches is enhanced. This obtains in the fact that many people from other religious and church denominations patronize Christ Apostolic Church either clandestinely or openly, officially or otherwise. The patronage was due to its engagement of the traditional elements we identified and the fact that their use produced positive results in the lives of its members. We observe that ecumenism among churches in relation to direct exchange of views and good relationship between church leaders may not be consistently taking place. Misgivings may result when exodus of members from a church to another occurs. This work recommends that churches should be less mindful of amassing members of one another into their congregation.

Rather, they could consider evangelism as paramount and carry out their evangelical works carefully and peacefully to attain the ultimate goal of enriching the kingdom of God.

This research shows that the traditional concepts identified and studied made adherents of the church to be careful about the world they live in. The concepts taught adherents watchfulness and caution. These concepts taught them to be careful of the ground they walk and be conscious of the malevolent beings that inhabit the airspace.

They were taught to be alert and counter the onslaughts of the enemies with prayer.

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY

6.3 General Conclusion

From the study so far, we can safely conclude that the incorporation of African ‟ influenced membership endearment and retention in the church and made it more acceptable to ribe of Southwestern Nigeria. It is noted that the ‟ elements, ideas and beliefs that our research identified (such as spiritualization of the head, earth, pregnancy conception and photograph/object and others) were regularly employed in solving many physical and spiritual challenges of adherents of the church, and this has made the church to positively respond to the existential needs of the people in Southwestern Nigeria.

Apart from meeting the existential needs of Africans, Christ Apostolic Church, through its contextualized Christianity, has to a large extent distinguished itself from the foreign based Christian practices obtainable in the Neo-Pentecostal churches today and made quite a number of its beliefs and practices foreign to African religious temperament.

However, in spite of the fact that the African elements had played immeasurable roles in retaining the members of the church and providing avenue for freer form of worship, their uses have been abused in recent times. Thus, for African elements to always be relevant in church liturgy, compromise, syncretism, corruption and immorality and their associated dangers should be avoided.

The study further shows that the increase in membership that Christ Apostolic Church in Southwestern Nigeria observed in the period we have researched was due to ‟ traditional belief systems. The traditional elements, ideas and beliefs examined in this work were regularly employed in addressing many physical and spiritual challenges of adherents of the church during the period we studied.

It has been identified through this research that these elements were used as tools towards (apart from enhancing the membership retention and promoting freer form of worship) encouraging contextualization of African practices within the church which

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY

missionary and neo-Pentecostal Christianity could not portray. This research showed Christ Apostolic Church as a church movement that confronted missionary Christianity in the pre-colonial era for insensitivity about the people it came to revive. The church also struggles to be distinguished from the neo-Pentecostal trend imported from Europe and America during the period under research through the encouragement of indigenous practices albeit unconsciously or otherwise in its spiritual practices.

It is evident that churches today claim not to have anything to do with African Traditional Religion, be it directly or indirectly. All of them assert that they derive their strength from God and do everything based on the teachings of the Bible and the directives of the Holy Spirit. However, Christ Apostolic Church as an indigenous denomination in the Southwestern part of Nigeria has appropriated some African ‟ church and the religion. These links are noticeable in relation to spiritual manipulation which is popular in African Traditional Religion to achieve expected results such as security, protection enhancement, blessing and power. In the case of the church, the African traditional religious elements such as head, pregnancy conception, picture and object and the earth that have been appropriated into the liturgy of the church shows that the church is conscious of the fact that security, power, prosperity and fertility are paramount issues in an ever growing competitive world where everybody aspires to achieve greatness by every means. This further shows that African Traditional Religion in Southwestern Nigeria plays an important role in the overall material and spiritual consciousness of the church and its members.

Finally, this research discovers that the appropriation of some natural and synthetic elements used in African Traditional Religion in Christ Apostolic Church shows a link between the church and the religion. Thus, the concepts of spiritual manipulation and protection enhancement are evident in the procedures of both African Traditional Religion and Christ Apostolic Church.

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY