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| Influence of African Traditional Religion on Pentecostal Church Worship In Makindye Division In Kampala District, Uganda
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NABWIRE JUDITH
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Abstract:
The prosperity message preached mainly by independent apostles and prophets in Network Christianity's new prophetic churches with some Pentecostal leanings has become popular among many Africans. One of the reasons for the popularity of the prosperity message is that it links closely with the African enchanted worldview and the spirituality that characterizes African traditional religion. Their message of prosperity deviates from the essence of the gospel of Christ in several respects like emphasis on material enrichment against spiritual purity, measuring godliness against material possession among other things. This paper examined how the prosperity message represents a dangerous fallacy based on a syncretistic contextualization of the gospel to African spirituality coupled with other aspects like symbolism and use of spiritual objects as a precursor of blessings, healing and godliness. It will also aim at understanding the relationship between Christianity, traditional religious practices, and culture in Africa and positing an ethical response to the phenomena after viewing religious plurality from the perspective of cultural anthropology. Chapter one examined the religious composition of Uganda's population as per the 2014 census where the majority ascribe to any of the Christian sects. Most whom go their respective worship places but at the same time go to the shrines. It also looked at the problem statement which saw the rapid growth of Pentecostal churches of which most are not grounded on pure Christian doctrine but founded under intrigue and need for independence making them fall into the trap of syncretism and compromise with the aim of attracting many followers. It also outlines the objectives of the study which is aimed at understanding why there is a high degree of occurrence of religious pluralism which I termed as syncretism. It also looked at the background of the study as well as definitions. In chapter two I summarized a review of related literature using critical contextualization model. Here three approaches were used to examine the literature. These were:- Phenomenological review where the researcher looked at the phenomenon of ATR at play in the Pentecostal worship in Makindye, then the theological review, where the researcher looked at the biblical precepts on doctrine and how the church has responded to heresy and apostasy then lastly the empirical review where the researcher observed and measured phenomena against the hypotheses developed. A glimpse of the literature reviewed include: There is a lot of literature that explain the existence of a mix of ATR and Pentecostal worship for example:- Cook and Nayap-Pot (1997) argue that where incarnation began syncretism also took place. Harrison asserts that Christianity cannot remove traces of paganism (Harrison 2014). Douglas Bafford while looking at ethnography says: prosperity preaching is premised on prophetic proclamations which explain the mix with ATR worldview. In chapter three I present the methodology and research approach (es) I used in data collection. This research is basically a qualitative research though at certain point mixed research approaches were also applied. The sample was drawn from a general Kampala population of about 6,670,900 (UBOS 2019). The likert scale was used to determine the sample size out of the population listed beginning with 100 participants from whom 30 participants were interviewed, observed and documented. The researcher used self administered questionnaires, interview guide, documentary review guide and expert review from my mentor and supervisor. In chapter four I present the findings of the research by referring to Ephesians 5:25-32 to examine the effects of ATR on the communication of the gospel in Makindye division. Of the participants between the ages of 18-70years 60% agreed that there are similarities like belief in the deity, presence of obedience and sacrifices while the major difference was that God is not a personal God in ATR. Compatibility of ATR and Christianity in terms of use of traditional instruments, African melody, concept of community, dedication of infants, and holistic view of things about 74% agreed. About the use of anointed objects these symbols have no power (83%), have faith in the symbols (80%), can build faith (70%), new form of syncretism 53%, anointing oil 50% and power when prayed over 10%. Many regretted putting faith in symbols instead of God and indeed all participants agreed that the use of symbolism is evident in churches. It was also evident that majority believe that the gospel is for the transformation and that family ties was the major cause of the turn back and that there was unexamined mixture of ATR and Pentecostal worship in Makindye and a divergence from the Biblical teachings of Colossians 2. In Chapter five, present a summary of the findings like the fear factor being the reason why some Christians crave for religious symbols as a means of embodiment to safeguard them from demonic attacks. This therefore calls for contextual approach to sharing the gospel including expository preaching. The chapter gives also the recommendations and areas of further research as well as the limitations.
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