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A History of the Church in Africa

the rulers of this world’s darkness, and our weapons must be spiritual.
We are assured of victory—if we depend upon the Holy Spirit and His
supernatural power. The church must be endued with Pentecostal power
if it is going to be victorious.

In previous chapters, I have noted with admiration the work of African
Christians and missionaries. However, with the exception of the Nile
Corridor, the church as a whole failed to penetrate Africa south of the
Sahara for centuries. Thanks to the “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” of
many harvest workers during the nineteenth century, the church made
progress and laid a firm foundation for rapid growth in the twentieth
century. An abundance of literature traces the evangelical stream of
African church history. Authors such as Anderson, Hildebrandt, and
Shaw have assisted us greatly; however, one element that is often
missing from this literature is the Pentecostal component.

In this chapter, I will focus on how the church in Africa “returned to the
upper room,” so to speak, and became involved in the Pentecostal and
Charismatic renewal. What makes this significant is the documentation
which demonstrates that much of the church growth in Africa during
the twentieth century came from Pentecostal and Charismatic churches.
This Pentecostal element is presently the fastest growing segment world-
wide of Christianity.

Catalyst for World Evangelization

Luis K. Bush published a doctoral dissertation in which he attempted
to identify “catalysts of world evangelization.” He stated:

This dissertation identifies catalysts of world evangelization. My
thesis is that certain recurring impulses provide catalytic impetus
to world evangelization. These impulses are exemplified by such
indicators as renewal, global conferences, and adequately motivated
leaders which represent the means, structures, and agents of
world evangelization. The problem addressed in the dissertation is
knowing where to go from here in world evangelization. (2)

To borrow Bush’s term, the “catalyst” for renewal or the “recurring
impulse to world evangelization,” in my opinion, is the Holy Spirit. And

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