African Pentecostals in the Diaspora

Background to the study

Why another book on the theology of mission when much has been written on the subject? Well, this book was written because it sought to contribute to the contextual and theoretical framework of the study of theology of mission. Previous books on the theology of mission have approached this subject from biblical, contextual, and practical perspectives (Peters 1984; Newbigin 1995; Kirk 1997; Bevans et al. 2004; Ott et al. 2010; Wright 2010; Ashford 2011; Bosch 2011; Yoder et al. 2013; Goheen 2014; Yong 2015). Scholars such as Peters (1984), Ott et al. (2010), and Goheen (2014) made important contributions by explaining the role of biblical theology in the theology of mission. This involves the role of scripture in both the Old and New Testaments as the foundation of the theology of mission. On the other hand, scholars such as Kirk (1997), Newbigin (1997), and Bosch (2011) introduced various aspects of the theology of mission, including missio-dei, missio-christos, and missio-ecclessia. Other scholars, including Bevans et al. (2004) and Yoder et al. (2013), approached the theology of mission using different contexts, including missional contexts like churches and mission fields. Yong (2015) made an important contribution, as his book introduced the important theoretical framework of missiological spirit. However, his book was not written in the context of African Pentecostals in the diaspora.

Although this book acknowledges previous works on the theology of mission, it is different, as it makes two important contributions to the subject. Firstly, this book’s contribution is the context of the study, namely, African Pentecostals in the diaspora. This is important given the growth of the African Pentecostal churches in the diaspora in different countries such as the United States of America, continental Europe, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom (Kgatle 2024). In addition, this is also important given the current debates on important topics such as migration, reverse mission, and so forth. Therefore, the context of African Pentecostals in the diaspora is important during migration challenges. The second contribution is on the theoretical framework of pneumatological missional imagination, which is developed by integrating the pneumatological imagination, missiological spirit and the missional imagination. The missional imagination as a theoretical framework has been used by different scholars in missiology. This study’s contribution lies in applying the Pentecostal perspective, particularly through Amos Yong’s (2015) missiological spirit. Thus, the combination of both the missiological spirit and the missional imagination constitutes an important contribution to the theology of mission from a theoretical point of view.

African Pentecostals in the diaspora

The phenomenon of African Pentecostals is recognized and employed by various scholars pursuing Pentecostal studies to distinguish Pentecostals in Africa from others residing elsewhere in the world. Allan Anderson (1992) used this phenomenon in his book Bazalwane: African Pentecostals in South Africa. Surprisingly, Bazalwane has no inherent religious meaning but simply means “brothers” in Zulu. However, in the South African context, this concept is commonly used to refer to “brothers” and “sisters” in the Lord, thus becoming a religious word by implication. Of many Christian traditions in South Africa, the phenomenon of bazalwane is commonly used by the Pentecostals, hence Anderson (1992) used the same in his book. The word is commonly used to describe the born-again and spirit-filled Christians, in simple terms, African Pentecostals. This is used in literature to refer to all types of Pentecostals in Africa, including spirit-filled Christians in classical Pentecostal churches, neo-Pentecostals, and charismatics. Although the theology and practice of these Christians might vary, the appellation African Pentecostals is used to refer to all African Pentecostals inclusively. Therefore, it follows that African Pentecostals in the diaspora also applies to bazalwane in the diaspora. These are the born-again and spirit-filled Christians living in other countries outside Africa.

Due to many challenges in Africa such as poverty, unemployment, and other economic challenges, many Africans have crossed the African borders into Europe, America, and elsewhere in the world in search of remedies to their predicament. Another contributing factor to migration comprises the conflicts and wars in some parts of the African continent like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and others. Consequently, Africans flee their countries to seek refuge in other parts of the world. Some Africans do not necessarily migrate overseas to escape challenges in their own countries but rather to seek greener pastures. Hence, there is a great movement of professionals and business people who leave their countries in search of a better life. This has caused the movement of people from countries such as Zimbabwe to countries such as the United Kingdom. African Pentecostals (bazalwane) are not exempt from these movements, as they too are facing various challenges. In other words, being spirit-filled and tongue-talking does not spare African Pentecostals from challenges faced in their countries of origin. Rather, they are also part of the recent migration from their home countries to various regions of the world.

This book contextualizes the African Pentecostals in the diaspora by using the Apostolic Faith Mission in the United Kingdom as a case study. This is because the Apostolic Faith Mission International was originally started in Africa in countries such as Zimbabwe and South Africa. Given the movement of the members of the Apostolic Faith Mission International to the United Kingdom, the church started a migrant church in the same country. Therefore, in this book, the African Pentecostals in the diaspora refer to the churches and members of the Apostolic Faith Mission in the United Kingdom. The church is properly introduced in Chapter 3 to contextualize this study in the development of the theology of mission. However, it is important to state here that the reason for choosing this particular church includes their origin in Africa, their current context in the United Kingdom, their foundation as a Pentecostal church, and the current migrant challenges they face as an African Pentecostal migrant church. The challenges faced by the Apostolic Faith Mission in the United Kingdom will be addressed in detail in Chapter 4 in the construction of a pneumatological Pentecostal theology of migrant mission.

The theology of mission

This book is conceptualized within the theology of mission, which, in this book, is approached beyond the specific Christian tradition. This is done to have a broader understanding of this theology within the field of theology (Kirk 1997:1). In the task of the theology of mission, one will unpack the relationship that exists between theology and mission on the one hand and being involved in the process of theologizing missions on the other. Mission and theology come together in the role, or rather the involvement, of God in the mission for humanity and the world at large (van Engen 2004:46). Therefore, the mission of God in the world makes the relationship between mission and theology much stronger. In a way, the theology of mission is not a reference to mission in the general sense, but specifically the mission of God. There are three important aspects of the mission of God, which are biblical theology, the mission community, and the missional context. The theology of mission, according to Van Engen (2004:45), means that “Biblical and theology presuppositions and values are applied to the enterprise of the ministry and mission of the church, and are in the context of specific activities carried out in particular times and places.” The biblical perspective of the theology of mission refers to approaching the mission of God from the biblical texts in both the Old and the New Testaments, whereas the mission community refers to church communities within different Christian traditions where a mission takes place. In addition, the theology of mission cannot ignore the contextual issues with which the mission activities and praxis take place. Therefore, doing a mission in Africa might be different from conducting one in the Euro-American context, as the local context contributes to the understanding of the theology of mission.

Furthermore, even within faith communities, the theology of mission is approached differently depending on the Christian church tradition and how they view the mission of God. In this book, the theology of mission is contextualized within the Pentecostal movement, particularly the African Pentecostals in the diaspora, who are different from other Christian traditions. Consequently, the theology of mission might be defined as the understanding of the mission of God within a particular church setting. Therefore, in our exploration of the theology of mission, we should not only look at the biblical perspective but also consider the church context (Kim 2010:40). The task of the missiologist is to draw a connection between the biblical context and the mission context, which is the church context. In this book, the biblical perspective and the Pentecostal church context are brought together to construct a Pentecostal theology of diaspora mission. Therefore, in the understanding of the theology of mission within the Pentecostal tradition, there will be a greater need to look at different theological paradigms within the movement, which includes Pentecostal hermeneutics, Pentecostal pneumatology, and Pentecostal mission.

As highlighted in the background of the study, scholars such as Bosch (1991) and Newbigin (1995) have been helpful in exploring the various aspects in the theology of mission. The first aspect is the missio-dei, which refers to the mission of God in the world; the second aspect is missio-christos, which refers to the mission of Christ in the world; and the third is missio-spiritus, which is the mission of the Holy Spirit in the world. In addition to these three dimensions of the theology of mission is the mission of the church, which is directly linked to the mission of God (Bosch 1991:389). Put differently, the mission of God gives direction to the mission of the church. According to Bosch (1991:390), the mission of the church is tasked with fulfilling the mission of God in the world. The theology of mission means that God is concerned with the challenges that humanity faces in the world and uses the church to change the status quo. Thus, both the Holy Spirit and Christ are active in the church in the fulfillment of the mission of God. The church on its own does not save the world but is rather a platform through which the redemptive work of Christ is preached for the redemption of humanity.