I consider now my own interests and background, and the reasons for this present study.
I am not an African, nor an active participant in the African Pentecostal movement. As such, I am aware of my limitations as an outsider, in terms of culture, race, and denominational affiliation. Yet in some respects, my personal story is similar to those I listened to when talking to former Igbo revivalists, and this has helped me to identify with, and understand their experiences.
I was ‘converted’ to evangelical Christianity in 1974 during a university mission led by the late David Watson, a popular Anglican Charismatic evangelist. In the late 1970s, I became actively involved in the ‘house church’ sector of the British Charismatic movement. The 1980s was a period of heightened interest in revival, fuelled by stirring sermons and popular historical accounts. As a member of a growing urban community church, I joined with others to pray for an ‘outpouring of the Spirit’ upon the nation. In 1995, I became a participant in the most intense period of spiritual activity in the British
for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World, New College, University of Edinburgh, December, 1992, 1-13.
101 The term ‘neo-Pentecostal’ movement was originally used to describe the outbreak of Pentecostal spirituality within Protestant mainline churches in North America from about 1960. See Vinson Synan,
‘Introduction’, in Synan (ed.), Origins, 3; Arnold Bittlinger, ‘Charismatic Renewal - An Opportunity for the Church’, in Arnold Bittlinger (ed.), The Church is Charismatic: The World Council of Churches and the Charismatic Renewal, Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1981, 10. Since the 1960s, many new Pentecostal churches have emerged from the movement.
Christian community for many years, the so-called ‘Toronto Blessing.’ Things I had only read about or heard second hand now became part of my own spiritual pilgrimage.
At the time, there was great expectancy that this would be the forerunner of widespread revival in the nation. That this never occurred was a disappointment to many, and sharply divided the church. However, for myself, and for others, it was an enriching experience and left an indelible mark on our lives. These roots account for some of the underlying presuppositions present in this work.
Between 1990 and 1996 I worked in Nigeria with the Qua Iboe Fellowship (now Mission Africa), an interdenominational faith mission. My first assignment was as a lecturer in a small theological college in the Middle Belt, training pastors for the Qua Iboe Church of Nigeria (QIC), a large denomination with roots in the second wave of Western missionary activity that began in the late 19th century. After a period of further training at London Bible College, I returned to Nigeria to teach at another QIC theological institution in the southeast, the heartland of QIC territory. Two developments reawakened my interest in revival, this time in an African context. The first related to internal changes taking place within the QIC due to exposure to Pentecostal influences. A group calling themselves the ‘revival movement’ challenged the existing church structures and traditional forms of worship inherited from Western missionaries. The church elders maintained control by prohibiting the public use of spiritual gifts, but this only heightened tensions and threatened to divide the church.
The discovery of two very different popular participant accounts of Nigerian revivals further stimulated my interest. The first was the 1927 ‘Spirit Movement’, associated
with the QIC itself.102 This coincided with other similar movements in Nigeria, which together generated Nigeria’s first wave of indigenous Pentecostal churches. The second was the Civil War Revival.103 During my excursions into the surrounding area, I had noticed roads lined with church buildings, bearing exotic names. As a teacher serving the QIC, I felt unable to venture inside, but was aware of their Pentecostal nature, and keen to discover their history. Some originated during the colonial era, but many were of more recent origin. The Nigerian religious landscape had clearly changed radically since independence, and I wanted to know why.
The Civil War Revival offered a possible clue. On my return to England in 1996, I met Canon Dr. Cyril Okorocha, then Director for Mission and Evangelism of the Anglican Communion. Okorocha had participated in the revival as a teenager. One outcome of our discussion was my decision to embark on this project. The research process has included two periods of fieldwork in Nigeria. From April to June 1999, I was based in the city of Enugu, where I participated in a conference, entitled ‘Remembering the Seventies’, jointly organised by Professor Ogbu Kalu of the University of Nigeria, neo-Pentecostal pastor and former revivalist Amaechi Nwachukwu, and myself.
Subsequently, I spent seven months (July 2001-January 2002) based in the city of Jos as a visiting lecturer at the Theological College of Northern Nigeria. During both visits, I was able to interact with former revivalists and participants in the neo-Pentecostal movement. While I do not suppose that what I say can adequately reflect the lived
102 J. W. Westgarth, The Holy Spirit and the Primitive Mind. A Remarkable Account of a Spiritual Awakening in Darkest Africa, London: Victory Press, 1946. Westgarth, a QIM missionary, was an eyewitness of the revival.
103 Bolton, Glory. Bolton (née Egwu) is an Igbo, married to an Englishman, and now resident in London.
Though written in a popular style, Bolton’s account has proved a valuable resource. Her story focuses on
experience of the Civil War Revival and its Pentecostal progeny, I have tried, as much as I can, to identify with the people I am writing about.