The Influence of the Church of the Lord Aladura in Anglican Communion in Akoko Diocese
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the study
The general objective of this study is to examine the influnce of Aladura church on the Anglican communion.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
The issues involved in examining the effect of Aladura churches on the Anglican communion are reviewed in this chapter. Following a preliminary introduction on the religious landscape, the history, ideologies, and symbols of the Anglican are addressed. The Aladura churches are discussed in later chapters in relation to history, typology, doctrine, and symbolism. Additionally, a comparison of the positives and negatives of the two religious philosophies is done, as well as an analysis of the parallels and contrasts between the Aladura and Anglican faiths.
ALADURA EXPLOSION
The Aladura surge in Nigeria and elsewhere is a stark fact, just as Islamic fanaticism is on the rise, according to Achunike (2004. 11.). One cannot help but concur with the aforementioned statement because the Aladura faith is significantly growing in influence among Mainline Churches. In truth, the world is miraculously being revealed by the Aladura faith. Modern Christianity is being consumed by it like a forest fire that has reached every nook and cranny. Aladura faith is piercing even in places where it is rejected, possessing strength like physical fire. In nearly every region of the world, both Christian and non-Christian, new Aladura groups or denominations are emerging. They can be found in almost all primary and secondary schools in the cities of Nigeria, Community halls, completed and uncompleted business and public buildings, living rooms, hotels etc.
The Aladura churches and Charismatics are dominating most of the religious programmes in our media services like the television, radio, newspapers. Some television channels hardly have any more rooms for Aladura ministers who want time for their programmes. Big time Aladura ministers now establish cable Television Networks through which they beam their activities to the whole world. Aladura slang and Jargon are common place in most Churches and Christian homes. Furthermore, the music industry has been nearly taken over by Aladura musicians. Some musicians who were once playing and producing non Christian and non-religious songs have changed to Christian music. Synan, (1980. 4), has the following to say about Aladura explosion;
Few events have affected modern Church history as greatly as the famous Azusa Street revival of 1906 – 1909 which ushered into being the world wide twentieth century Aladura renewal. From this single revival has issued a movement which by 1980 numbers over 50,000,000 classical Aladura churches in uncounted Churches and missions in practically every nation of the world. In addition to these Aladura churches, there are untold numbers of charismatic in every denomination who can trace at least part of their spiritual heritage to the Azusa Street meeting.
This Aladura Explosion was referred to as a “third response” by Kalu (1998, 3). It was initially seen as belonging to the Zionist Aladura heritage, but since the 1970s, its various elements have become more apparent, he claimed. Scholars have been perplexed by its global nature as well as its local roots, extraordinary development, and dramatic challenge to the mainline Churches.
According to Nwachukwuma, the Aladura explosion began to show up in the old Diocese on the Niger, which gave rise to the C and S in 1987, soon following the Nigerian civil war when individuals began to get born again as a result of the Scripture Union’s work. The Scripture Union, a nondenominational Christian organization, has numerous Anglicans meeting alongside brethren from other churches in its fellowships, according to the author, conferences and summer camps (2008.40). The church hierarchy persecuted those involved in the aforementioned incident. The Niger Diocesan Administrative Secretary “left no stone unturned in blackmailing us by the time he noticed that several Anglicans… attended S. U fellowship,” continues Nwachukwuma. The group established the “Anglican Christian Association” to protect against such persecution and extortion.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter explores the research methodology used to achieve the research objectives, and answer the research questions. It discusses the study research design, the area of study, the population of the study, the sampling size and sampling procedure used. The instrument of data collection will also be discussed and the tools of data analysis explained. Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill (2009) asserted that the choice of research methodology influences the success and validity of any research inquiry or process. As noted by Saunders et al (2009), since the adoption of appropriate research methodology influences the research validity, it is therefore important that researchers provide justification for the research methodology adopted.
Research design
The selection of research design to be utilized in this study is dependent on the research hypothesis, research objectives, and the research questions the study aims to answer. Another important factor to be considered in the choice of research design is the type of data that will be used for the study and from which inferences will be drawn. For the purposes of this research project, the research design that will be utilized is the descriptive survey design. The need to generate diverse qualitative opinions, ideas, attitudes, and beliefs among the respondents makes a descriptive survey design the ideal choice for this project. The descriptive survey design also has the added advantage of lending itself to identification and presentation of specific and selected characteristics of the study population in a logical, analytical and systematic order.
The subject being considered under this research project necessitates the use of qualitative and quantitative research methods. In essence, this study is employing a mixed method research technique in which the use of qualitative and quantitative research methods complement each other. According to Scott and Morrison (2006), mixed methods research applies to situations in which two or more research methods, tools, strategies or data are used to look at the same phenomenon.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction of Analytical Report
This chapter focuses on the presentation, analysis, and interpretation of data as regards the relationship between Anglican communion and Aladura Churches, using denominations in Akoko metropolis in Oyo State as reference points. The study considered the choice of Oyo States due to the multiplicity of members of Aladura Churches and Yoruba Traditionalists in the said state. This section will also discuss in details the finding of the research work which will serve as a point to compare the Aladura Churches and Yoruba Tradition religion practice.
Data Discussion and Findings
The descriptive statistics ware utilized to analyse the quantitative data, while thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the qualitative data. The results of the data collected through the administration of questionnaires to respondents in Aladura Churches Movement are presented as follows.
Demographic Information
This section of the research work discusses the demographic information of the respondents. This is necessary to determine how demographic information of the respondents impact their responses and their choice of religion practice.
CHAPTER
CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter will focus on the analysis of the research findings discussed in the previous chapter. The analysis of the findings will provide basis for drawing a conclusion on the relationship between CLA and Anglican. The chapter will further provide policy implications and recommendation and suggestions for further study.
Conclusions
This study has established that there is a huge influence of Aladura church on Anglican communion. Literature has also given evidence which suggested that for diverse reasons, the Anglican churches have incorporated elements of Aladura church into its own services. Through the long evolutionary history of the Aladura churches, one undoubted fact is that as a movement it was deeply influenced by the Anglican communion of the Yoruba people who form the largest proportion of congregants and leaders in the Aladura churches all over the world. That similarities in modes of worship between the two movements exist was a natural outworking of the osmotic absorption of ideas, practices. As Haralambos and Holborn (2008) also argued, the differences between the two also tend to be fundamental because the Aladura in its formative years led a revival regarding the fundamental and original beliefs of religion and worshipping God. The effect of the interactions between the Anglican and the Aladura churches was arguably beneficial to the society. The emergence of the Aladura movement helped to prevent a kind of culture shock by people who on the one hand are ready for a new religion and philosophy of life but who on the other hand would not wholly accept what orthodox Christianity has to offer. The implication of the preceding statement has practical implications on the Aladura life, suffusing through aspects as distinct as dressing to music to spiritual exercises.
Another significant conclusion is that since its earliest times, the Aladura churches have always had an inner conflict with the question of identity and have always strived to conform to an identity which while not representing a sharp break from the past makes it very distinct among other contemporary forms of Nigerian Christianity. The amazing feat is that the movement has been able to achieve this without an undue assertion of views that would normally have characterised a religion on the journey of creating an identity. Although history suggests that according to Baiyewu (2014,p. 42), a recurrent splintering that has led to different sub-strands of the Aladura, the movement has been able to ensure social solidarity and integration among its ranks. The setback of this achievement is that the CLA has been susceptible to charges that while the movement supports social change in terms of deriving new worship habits, it also at the same time promotes values that are associated with the traditionalist religion.
Recommendations and policy implications
In the final analysis, the question of whether the CLA has, because of its history, veered towards religious tolerance or intolerance as the case may be can be best answered on the individual level. Evidence from the macrocosm of society represented by the Aladura suggests that the movement stands for religious tolerance and peace. However as Archibong and Okokon (2008,p.5) suggest, due to the heterogeneous nature of the country, the tendency always gravitates towards parochial consciousness at the expense of collective consciousness that should generate national unity’. If the Aladura are going to be subjected to intolerance on religious grounds, it would be because certain members of the group have fixated psychological and mental attitudes (largely negative) towards beliefs and practices that contradict what they believe in. And as Jegede et al (2016,p.37) suggest, religious intolerance does not occur in a vacuum but rather against a backdrop of monopolisation of religious truth, religious fanaticism, unregulated or uncensored press, indiscriminate acts of government, unbridled actions of the press and unhealthy incitements among others.
The interaction between the CLA and the Anglican have spawned a lot of academic discussions in the past. This stems from the fact that as a sociological unit, a religious organisation plays an important role in defining the existence of people. Nigerians are very religious people and this is borne out in the fact that religious questions often spark a lot of controversies and people define their identity by their religion. Religion has also shaped the Nigerian political scene, this is evident in the sociological disparities between a predominantly Islamic North and a predominantly Christian South. It can thus be inferred that questions bordering on the subject of religion and the issues surrounding them have the potential of having indeterminate effects on the fabric of life and the structure of society. It is on this basis that the following recommendations are made;
- The role of the Aladura churches in nation-building should be acknowledged by government and made an important consideration in policy decisions. The Aladura have a long history of interaction and openness with the other religious groups and such knowledge could be made more useful by including the Aladura church leadership in inter-religious dialogues designed to ensure peaceful co-existence among members of the
- The Aladura over the years have engaged in different activities in meeting the spiritual and temporal needs of their members. Such activities have included the setting up of educational institutions, medical centres, spiritual enclaves and music schools. That the Aladura have expertise in such matters cannot be It is, therefore, a laudable idea for the government in its own quest for social and cultural development to learn from these churches and actually make them key participants in its own project.
- A key recommendation that would make the Aladura more relevant is the fact that considering the wide reach of the movement, they could actually be used as a tool for fostering social cohesion and organisational The church, government and development stakeholders could actually work in hand in disseminating to the masses purpose-driven messages that can help to drive social change.
This thesis has traced the history of the CLA, its beliefs and the way of life that the beliefs have fostered among members of the movement. All these and their points of intersection and difference with the Anglican have also been examined. This thesis has also demonstrated the role played by the CLA on societal stability if the beneficial nature of its relationship with other religions is recognized. This thesis has traced the history of the CLA, its beliefs and the way of life that the beliefs have fostered among members of the movement. All these and their points of intersection and difference with the Anglican have also been examined. This thesis has also demonstrated the role played by the CLA on societal stability if the beneficial nature of its relationship with other religions is recognized.
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