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Dynamic theology emerges amid the missionary encounter of sacred Scripture with unique human societies. Last year's one-volume Africa Bible Commentary provides a glimpse into the unique theological concerns confronting the fastest-growing church in the world. "Angels, Demons, and Powers," "Blood," "Dreams," "Female Genital Mutilation," "HIV and AIDS," "Initiation Rites," "Refugees," "Slavery," "Taboos," and "Widow Inheritance" are among the many uniquely African issues for ordinary African believers.

The religious scene in Africa is bewildering for most Westerners. Although today most Africans regard themselves as "Christian," standard definitions are hard-pressed to accommodate living realities. Often, well-established theologies and practices have been displaced by much that is unfamiliar, even shocking. Scholars such as Harold Turner, David Barrett, Bengt Sundkler, Kwame Bediako, and Marthinus Daneel have chronicled the phenomenon, variously referred to as "African Independent Churches," "African Initiated Churches," or "African Instituted Churches." AICs often have premodern worldviews (with a keen sense of the supernatural, for example) and theologies seemingly indifferent to the doctrinal priorities of the Christian West. While churches elsewhere tend to stress the nature of Christ and individual salvation, AICs focus on the Holy Spirit and community. And the Holy Spirit is not thought of as some kind of ethereal sanctifier, but as the power of God who heals, delivers, and persuades.

AIC names only hint at this radically unique religious paradigm: Prophesying and Evangelizing Daughters of God, Celestial Church of Christ, Church of the Lord Aladura, Sweet Heart Church of the Clouds, Musama Disco Christo Church, Spiritual Healing Church, Church of Christ on Earth by the Prophet Simon Kimbangu, and Church of the Cherubim and Seraphim. In 1968 David Barrett first noted the emergence and explosion of AICs in his groundbreaking book, Schism and Renewal in Africa: An Analysis of Six Thousand Contemporary Religious Movements. Matthew Ajuoga—an Anglican clergyman excommunicated in 1957 because of his affiliation with what the established church dismissed as "a bunch of disgruntled nut cases"—is today chairman of the Organization of African Instituted Churches. This is an Africa-wide confession linking 92 national councils of independent churches, by some estimates 85 million members strong.

In terms of sheer numbers, the growth of Christianity in Africa over the past 50 years is unparalleled. The most recent study (published in the January 2007 issue of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research) estimates more than 417 million Christians in Africa. According to a research center at Georgetown University, last century the Catholic population in Africa increased a phenomenal 6,708 percent, from 1.9 million to 130 million people. Over the past 50 years, Catholic membership has grown by 708 percent. Overall, Christian population growth in Africa is estimated to be 2.4 percent per year, the fastest of any continent.

A century ago, there were four times as many African Muslims as there were Christians. Today, Christians constitute 46 percent of the total population, and now outnumber the continent's estimated 412 million Muslims. Further, while African countries currently host nearly 96,000 foreign missionaries, more than 18,400 African missionaries serve abroad. Just how many African evangelists and missionaries are at work within their own countries is difficult to estimate. Let's just say that evangelistic and church-related organizations might possibly be the continent's No. 1 growth industry.

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November 2007, Vol. 51, No. 11, Page 46