Big is the word for Africa's Christians

LAGOS, Nigeria -- It's eight hours into the service, and the congregation is still dancing. Shout, they're told. Yell out to the Lord. Their cries melt into a muggy night with the odor of sweating bodies, jasmine and the tropical musk of the Nigerian bush land.

"Hallelujah," rumbles the head pastor as the church band kicks into a new number. "Hal-le-luuuuuuu-jah." Even from the heights of the pulpit, he can't see the far edges of the crowd. More than 300,000 people have come for the once-a-month, all-night, Pentecostal-style revival, led by a preacher most simply call "Daddy."

Given the standards of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, it's just an average turnout.

Think big. Think very big. Then think bigger.

This is the face of 21st-century Christianity: big, restless -- and African. There is no better symbol of it than the Redeemed Church and the insatiable ambitions of its guiding hand and pastor, the Rev. Enoch Adejare Adeboye. The savvy one-time mathematician leads the fastest-growing Christian movement from a continent that is rapidly putting its stamp on the faith around the world.

The Redeemed Church is a prime lesson in the shifting currents of Christianity. Centuries after the Gospel was brought to sub-Saharan Africa by colonizers and missionaries, the faith is coming back to the West. The forms are passionate and powerful. So potent, in fact, that clergy from Westminster Abbey to the Vatican are fretting about how to keep pace, and the Protestant-dominated World Council of Churches, always wary of Pentecostal and evangelical sects and denominations, is treating these new groups as if they were an invading army.

What began as a living-room Bible study in 1952 is now a juggernaut -- a university, movie studio, satellite television and a wi-fi Internet provider. Now add to that millions of followers in more than 90 nations, including footholds in China and even Dallas. Recently, close to 1 million worshippers turned out during three days of sermons and healing services to coincide with the birthday of Mr. Adeboye (A-day-BOY-ye), who turned 64 but maintains an athlete's physique and a few touches of gray in his hair.

In a rare interview, Mr. Adeboye explained where he hopes to go from here -- "At least one member of the church in every household in the whole world."

The dream, however improbable-sounding, has some genuine underpinnings. There's no bigger draw in Christianity at the moment than the century-old Pentecostal movement and its offspring, which can differ in styles of worship but share beliefs in the active presence of the Holy Spirit to heal and bestow other life-altering gifts.

The broad Pentecostal/charismatic/evangelical family accounts for about a quarter of the world's nearly 2.2 billion Christians, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity in South Hamilton, Mass.

The Redeemed Church claims 5 million followers in Nigeria and 250,000 abroad. Mr. Adeboye has set a goal of 50 million -- roughly the size of the entire Assemblies of God fellowship (another, older Pentecostal group) around the world. In the United States, 7,000 people attended the Redeemed Church's annual conference last year in New York's Madison Square Garden.

"This church has a tremendous strength and credibility with Nigerians at home and abroad," said Allan Anderson, professor of Pentecostal studies at the University of Birmingham in Britain. "Can it translate to non-Nigerians? This is the big test." The old religious mainstays in Nigeria -- the Roman Catholics and Anglicans -- are overshadowed nearly 2 to 1, and Pentecostals and other evangelicals widen the gap year after year.

That mass popularity is just what unnerves the established pillars of Christianity. No one knows how deeply the Pentecostal-inspired churches will change the faith. They only are sure that it's happening, and Africa is the engine.

The Vatican's main envoy for Christian unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper, summed up the concerns at a major conference on the faith's future in February. How, he asked, can churches deal with movements that have no unified theology and "very aggressive" strategies?

He had no clear answers. Instead, the nearly 4,000 delegates went home to their congregations with an image provided by the host World Council of Churches: The demographic center of Christianity is located now near Timbuktu, Mali, in northwestern Africa, and drifting south each year.

From The Washington Times

Debunking the Debunkers

Religious leaders and others distressed by Dan Brown's novel "The Da Vinci Code" -- and its movie debut this weekend -- might take a cue from an Oxford don steeped in medieval literature, C.S. Lewis.

A former atheist, Lewis became one of the most beloved Christian authors of 20th century. He was not only a master at exposing the fault lines of modern, secular thought. As a layman, Lewis also could see the weaknesses of the church with unusual clarity -- a skill he likely would apply to the furor over this latest challenge to orthodox belief.

There are few things more easily corruptible, Lewis observed, than religious belief and practice. "We must fully face the fact that when Christianity does not make a man very much better," he wrote a friend, "it makes him very much worse." Stories like "The Da Vinci Code" and Michael Baigent's "The Jesus Papers" carry a special appeal for people who are vividly aware of the historic failings of the church: the anti-Semitism, the persecutions, the soul-crushing legalism, right down to modern-day sex scandals.

In a short yet brilliant 1959 essay, "Fern Seeds and Elephants," Lewis debunked the debunkers of his own day -- those who held that the Gospels were the product of myth, legend and outright deception. He began by drawing attention to the "shattering immediacy" of the Gospel stories, the often brash realism of Jesus' encounters with ordinary people.

Lewis, I suspect, would also point out that theories about massive cover-ups presented in fanciful works such as "The Da Vinci Code" ignore an elephant-sized fact: There are any number of people and events in the Bible that are frankly embarrassing to believers. Recall, for example, that the family tree of the Messiah includes a prostitute (Rahab), a king who commits adultery and murder (David) and another king who leads his nation headlong into religious idolatry (Manasseh). Yet the earliest Christians failed to excise these characters from their story.

The first "conspiracy theory" about Jesus, in fact, actually appears in the Gospel of Matthew. After the crucifixion, religious leaders ask Pontius Pilate to post a guard at the tomb of Jesus because they suspect his disciples "may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead." Why keep a story about a possible conspiracy lodged at the heart of your sacred text if you're determined to cover up a deception about the credibility of that text?

Here is the real harm of these modern conspiracy theories: They may appeal to our emotions, but they violate our common sense. They reject reason, just as surely as they reject revelation.

"I do not wish to reduce the skeptical element in your minds," Lewis explained. "I am only suggesting that it need not be reserved exclusively for the New Testament and the Creeds. Try doubting something else."

WSJ

Holy Sepulcre! "The Da Vinci Code" shows that conspiracy theories have no limits.

"The Da Vinci Code" would not be the subject of this column had it not sold 60.5 million copies, according to its publisher Doubleday. Of course this does not make it the best-selling book of all time. That title, as irony would have it, goes to the Bible, half of which one of Dan Brown's characters dismisses as "false."

"The Da Vinci Code" has sold 60.5 million copies in 45 languages. Sales in the U.S. are 21.7 million, in the U.K. nine million, more than 4.7 million each in France and Japan, 3.6 million in Germany, 1.2 million in China and, no surprise, 143,000 in Romania.
A righteous army has formed to prove everything Dan Brown says about the early Christian church is false, which it most certainly is. Mr. Brown's history pales against the real story of Christianity's first centuries. I recommend two gems: Henry Chadwick's "The Early Church" (Penguin) and Peter Brown's "The Rise of Western Christendom" (Blackwell). Grand, thrilling drama...

...Here's my theory of "The Da Vinci Code." Dan Brown was sitting one night at the monthly meeting of his local secret society, listening to a lecture on the 65th gospel, and he got to thinking: "I wonder if there's any limit to what people are willing to believe these days about a conspiracy theory. Let's say I wrote a book that said Jesus was married. To Mary Magdalene. Who was pregnant at the Crucifixion. And she is the Holy Grail. Jesus wanted her to run the church as a global sex society called Heiros Gamos, but Peter elbowed her out of the job. Her daughter was the beginning of the Merovingian dynasty of France. Jesus' family is still alive. There were 80 gospels, not four. Leonardo DiCaprio, I mean da Vinci, knew all this. The 'Mona Lisa' is Leonardo's painting of himself in drag. Da Vinci's secret was kept alive by future members of 'the brotherhood,' including Isaac Newton, Claude Debussy and Victor Hugo. The Catholic Church is covering all this up."

Then Dan Brown said softly, "Would anyone buy into a plot so preposterous and fantastic?" Then he started writing.

The real accomplishment of "The Da Vinci Code" is that Dan Brown has proven that the theory of conspiracy theories is totally elastic, it has no limits...

More from the Opinion Journal

Most Da Vinci Code readers believe Jesus fathered a child, poll finds

The best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code has seriously damaged people's faith in the Christian Church, a survey has found.

Two thirds of Britons who have read Dan Brown's thriller believe that Jesus fathered a child with Mary Magdalene, a claim rejected as baseless by historians and Bible scholars.

More in The Daily Telegraph

God reigns at sporting events

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The throng of fans cheered, shouted enthusiastic "Amens" and waved their arms above their heads to the tunes of a Christian rock band. Nearby, children checked out the Bible-themed bobblehead dolls and posed with VeggieTales characters while parents scanned tables filled with Bibles in a family-friendly brand of pregame tailgating.

That scene before a recent Birmingham Steeldogs arenafootball2 game is one of a growing number of "Faith Nights" at sporting events around the country that mix religion and sports, praise and promotion.

"We want you to come to a game and have fun and listen to music," said Brent High, president of Third Coast Sports, which runs and promotes the events. "But at the same time, we're going to set the table for you with player testimonials and music. It's a great night for you to reach out to people who don't have a church home."

It's not a bad way for minor-league teams to coax a few extra fans through the gates, either. Nashville, Tenn.-based Third Coast has planned more than 60 events in 40-plus cities this year, even venturing into the major leagues for the first time. The Atlanta Braves have scheduled three Faith Nights this summer, and the Arizona Diamondbacks have one planned in August.

Mr. High said two NBA teams have expressed interest in similar events for next season. For churches, it's an opportunity for outreach. For teams, it's a chance to reach out to new fans.

"It'll be no different than any other group out there," said Derrick Hall, the Diamondbacks' executive vice president. "They will promote it at a much greater level than most groups can. As a result, we'll sell more tickets." It worked for the Steeldogs, who have two more Faith Nights planned this season. The Friday night game drew 6,156 fans, nearly 1,000 more than the team's average draw for previous May games, Steeldogs General Manager Scott Myers said.

The Steeldogs had planned to outfit their players in Bible-themed jerseys -- with books of the Bible above the jersey number pointing to specific chapters -- but nixed that idea when the league threatened a $25,000 fine if they changed uniforms.

Instead, they wore them during pregame warm-ups. The event featured a pregame concert with a testimonial offered by new University of Alabama at Birmingham basketball coach Mike Davis and booths set up outside the arena featuring Bibles and bobblehead dolls of biblical characters such as Moses and Samuel.

"It wasn't anything very much in anyone's face or overly evangelical," Mr. Myers said. "It was an opportunity to do something unique and do something entertaining for our fans. Those who wanted to be involved could be involved as much as they wanted to. Those that did not could have avoided everything. "The feedback we've received has all been positive," he said.

Count 12-year-old Daniel Morton Jr. among the supporters. The Birmingham youngster raved about the "awesome" concert -- before attending his first Steeldogs game with his father and a friend. Sporting a T-shirt with a picture of the cross above the message "Jesus beat the devil with two sticks," Daniel wasn't just enamored with the music or the ballgame.

"I hope that there are some nonbelievers here and maybe they found Jesus tonight," he said. "That would be awesome if that happened. It was pretty powerful."

Mr. High started Faith Nights with the Nashville Sounds minor-league baseball team in 2002. He said the promotions have spread rapidly, with 334 church groups participating in 2002 and 775 last year. Staffers visit each city leading up to Faith Night, drumming up support from churches and religious groups. Faith Nights aren't just sprouting up in the Bible Belt, either. The Arena Football League's Las Vegas Gladiators drew an estimated 2,000 fans who hadn't been to one of their games before, said ticket manager Mike Carosielli, even though the team had to move the game to noon on Palm Sunday. Many were presumably even more focused on God than Goddesses, the Gladiators' dance team.

Jenny Quinlan, pastor of First Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, wasn't surprised it was such a hit in Vegas. "Just because 'Sin City' is how our city gets its income and its business, there's Christians here, too," said Ms. Quinlan, whose church brought about 15 people to the game. She said the group included a 17-year-old who had strayed from the church and dropped out of school when his girlfriend got pregnant but was invited by a friend from the church.

"Sports is a huge part of our world," Ms. Quinlan said. "When you use those venues, it's kind of a backdoor ministry. You use sports to introduce people to Christ or bring them back into that relationship."

But Chap Clark, a professor of youth, family and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary in California, is skeptical of the real impact Faith Nights have on non-Christians.

"I don't think it makes much of an impact at all, and I don't think there's much relationship between the sports and the event for most kids," Mr. Clark said. "It becomes a way to get the kind of people that wouldn't come to the sporting event. That's the marketing side of it. "It's very similar to what amusement parks and theme parks have done for a long, long time. They had their Christian nights," he said. UAB's Mr. Davis thinks having high-profile sports figures offer their personal testimonials can have a positive impact.

"A lot of times, people have a tendency to listen to whoever they look up to or admire, and the message is always right there in front of them all their lives," the former Indiana University coach said. "But whatever it takes to get through to them, I think is good."

Daniel Martin Sr. had no complaints as he walked toward the arena following the concert. "That was awesome," he said, "and now we get to go watch some football."

From The Washington Times

Pentecostals spearhead big rise in new churches

More than 1,000 new Christian churches have been created over the last seven years, double the number of Starbucks coffee shops, new research has found.

All the major denominations opened new churches but the biggest growth was among the black Pentecostal churches.

About half of the new congregations were created by the Pentecostal churches, with help from other ethnic minorities such as the Chinese and the Croatians.

New initiatives such as "Fresh Expressions", alternative worship services aimed at young people, accounted for a fifth of new congregations.

The remaining new churches were scattered among the mainstream denominations. About 450 branches of Starbucks were opened over the same period.

But before Church leaders start celebrating, the survey also found that slightly more churches had closed than had opened, with the Methodists shutting the most.

More in The Daily Telegraph

Ukraine attacks 'charlatan' and his booty-shaking babes

The Orthodox Church in Ukraine is not quite sure which part of Sunday Adelaja's weekly services it likes the least.

The dubious Russian pop and the pom-pom-waving Cossack dancers are certainly contenders. The hot babes in choir dress swaying to the music might win the vote of its many older and weaker-hearted clergymen.

Or it could be the thousands of Ukrainian teenagers squealing as the diminutive Nigerian pastor preaches the word of God.

Twelve years ago, his Embassy of God church consisted of seven fellow Africans who used to gather in his Kiev flat.

Today he heads one of the fastest-growing Christian congregations in Europe, with 250,000 members in Ukraine alone. Among them is the first Protestant mayor of Kiev, elected to the post in March.

More in The Daily Telegraph

Church seeks spirituality of youth . . . and doesn't like what it finds

THE Church of England has debunked the widely held view that young people are spiritual seekers on a journey to find transcendent truths to fill the “God-shaped hole” within them.
A report published by the Church today indicates that young people are quite happy with a life without God and prefer car boot sales to church.

If they think about church at all, the images young people come up with are “cardigans”, “sandals and socks”, “corrupt”, “traditionalist” and “stagnant”.

The report has prompted an “urgent” wake-up call from the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, who writes of a large “mismatch” between the Church and the views of those aged 15 to 25. He says: “The research suggests young people are happy with life as it is, that they have felt no need for a transcendent something else and regard the Church as boring and irrelevant.”
The report, Making Sense of Generation Y, was funded by The Mercers’ livery company and written by academics and clergy including the Bishop of Maidstone, the Right Rev Graham Cray, who chairs the Soul Survivor Trust, a successful youth ministry. It is released today by Church House Publishing, the Church of England’s publishing arm.

As former Principal of Ridley Hall theological college, Bishop Cray commissioned interviews and group discussions with more than 120 young people.

The report comes in the context of a Britain awash with symbols of the supernatural, such as glow-in-the-dark crosses, Kabbalah bracelets and Harry Potter books.

Yet the Church continues to atrophy. The number of young people attending has been halved since 1979. Fewer than 7 per cent of those aged 15 to 19 and 5 per cent of those aged 20 to 29 attend church. The number of children in Sunday school is less than a tenth of what it was in 1930.

More in The Times