Church Proliferation in Nigeria Society

In the village of Umuofia, the Igbo people worship a religion of many deities. Their polytheistic religion consists of gods related to nature such as rain, sun, etc. The most important deity is the goddess of the Earth; Igbo people frain from committing sins against the goddess of the Earth in fear of complete genocide. The European missionaries introduce Umuofia to a monotheistic religion, Christianity. The Igbo people fear what they can’t understand, such as medicine. Igbo people feared the “white man”, however, missionaries successfully convert some Igbo people into Christian, causing them to be shamed by the hierarchy of men in the village. The conversion caused changes in Igbo culture and influenced the Igbo people to behave in a way that was unheard of before the European missionaries arrived. Enoch, a recently converted Christian, committed one of the worst crimes in

This book seeks to encourage the declining and stagnate churches to take the example set by other churches that have had a period of decline yet have managed to pull up their socks and regained their lost growth. Stetzer and Dodson call this book the “comeback Churches’ to give the readers

One example of the impact of Christianity on traditional religions is the state of Nigeria. In the state of Nigeria, its native religion is Yoruba. Islam is also the second largest religion that came to Nigeria from the middle east by trading between merchants. With the emergence of Christianity, Yoruba and Islam felt threatened by the number of people who were either forces or convinced in converting to Christianity. Leaders of these two religions did not stand still toward the issue.They put in a lot of efforts in order to stop Christianity from spreading across the country. However, These efforts seemed to be futile against the cooperation between colonial governments and missionaries, who used their superiority in military power to keep the rebellious African chiefs in their place. Christianity seemed to be used as a tool for the colonial government to show off their superiority of their own religious point of view compared to the traditional religion of native people. Christianity was not used for the sake of spreading religion like its earlier purpose before the colonial

In their book, Comeback Churches: How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can Too, writers Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson report their discoveries concerning 324 churches that made rebounds from five or more years of level and/or decrease. There is promise for the 70 to 80 percent of North American houses of worship that are as of now in a condition of upkeep or decay. Comeback Churches establishes a decent framework for perceiving the issue and will help pioneers in the Church begin moving in the right heading. Furthermore, it makes an extraordinary showing with shielding the requirement for Churches to genuinely assess the wellbeing and welfare of their body. A great guide to any Church pioneers and any individual who should notice that their

Yet; now, some argue the institution, whether without walls, storefront, or mega church, has become ambiguous in its purpose. Various people question the relevancy of the church and its current contributions to a contemporary community where poverty remains high, homelessness continues to grow, ignorance persists, and educational pursuits are problematic. Some even suggest ill-moral behavior is rampant. While others, even suggest the church only serves as a tool to put money in a few manipulative peoples' pockets.

Rochelle Vann, I generally agree with your assessment of how many churches have “commercialized” their worship services in an attempt to fill the pews. I wonder how much of this is simply due to the fact that the church – in many places - has conformed to the culture rather than the church impacting the culture? Pettit (2008) says that “Since salvation is holistic, one possibly obvious implication of the spiritual formation process is that the believer's life should ultimately affect the culture” (p. 48).

The pragmatism of America has lead to a larger acceptance of atheism and rejection of direct church attendance. Hence, while churches have been growing over the last two decades they come at the expense of smaller churches and overall church attendance is down. This trend was countered by christians to be more relevant, or at least what is thought of as

European men have traveled into Nigeria preaching their beliefs on Christianity. THe majority of the Umuofian people are against this new religion being forced upon them. While others are joining to regain a feeling of acceptance. Some are understanding of these changes while others are trying to force the new religion out.

After the missionaries arrived, many Igbo people converted to Christianity; because of this, a majority of modern Igbo people are Christian, and even some Igbo people practice “a syncretic version of Christianity intermingled with indigenous beliefs” (“Igbo”). However, there were some negative effects on the religion. Christian reforms and attempts to destroy the religion caused less integration and unity between the Igbo people (Okeke et al. 9). While the religion was not completely forgotten, a majority of the Igbo have abandoned traditional

The reason behind this study is to find out a strategy to be used for replanting a church in the United States, Jackson County, Alabama in a town known as Woodville. The study will put into consideration whether a certain kind of individual can show propensity on a contextual basis towards replanting of a new church through the exploration of distinctive of the people in this town from a cultural stand and also the church planting history in a cultural and geographical context. The study will also involve the determination of demographic research and resources exploration that will be enough for the replanting of a new church in Woodville, Alabama.

Missionaries have had a profound and resounding effect on southeastern Nigeria that remains today, missionaries still playing a significant role in the culture of the Igbo. Although missionaries were initially synonymous with colonization, European coloniasts enforcing Christian ideals on the ‘save’ natives in an effort to civilize them, missionaries remained in Nigeria even after it gained its independence on October 1, 1960 through a series of constitutions legislated by the British government. Despite the abolition of British colonial forces, missionaries remained, exerting extensive influence on local culture. Missionaries promoted western education, which was widely popular among the Igbo and viewed as a method to move up the social ladder.

A major aspect of one’s society is religion. Without it, the way people hold themselves accountable would be nonexistent. In addition, many moral standards that exist today are values taken directly from religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Currently, there exists a feud between people who believe in a god, and of those who do not. Eventually those who believe in a higher power will fight against each other. In “Things Fall Apart”, Chinua Achebe brings to light the differences and similarities of Christianity and Animism in order to demonstrate the effects of religion upon one’s society, which is exemplified by Okonkwo and his people. This is noticed in the lives of the Ibo, the missionaries, and

The risk for organizations during this phase is to assess for good yet a limited set of qualities in potential church planters. Current tools are helpful, but they are lacking. What they are lacking causes a problem because what is missing in the gap is not emphasized during the earliest stages of church planter formation. What is being emphasized, in other words, assessed is being communicated as a value such as skills, ability, knowledge but what about a planter’s posture towards God, the church, and culture? Church planting organizations will often teach and train about what the purposes of the church are and what the planter needs to do in those areas but without an assessment of their current preferences

1. Solomon, Jerry. "Christianity and Culture." Leadership University. 14 July 2002. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.

In this paper, we are going to look at some of the vital parts that make a church plant successful. We will first examine the importance of the location and will look at three reason why this is something that requires extreme thought and prayer. We will then look at finances of the church. We will examine the who and the how when it come the stewardship. Finally closing the paper, we will examine where the main growth will take place small groups. Looking at four areas of small groups that a church plant must have.