Harvey Kwiyani
Publisher SCM £21.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9780334057529
African-heritage Pentecostal churches in the UK’s cities and university towns are increasing in number and size, their leaders now prominent in civic life and local Christian fraternals. Census data reveal that churchgoing across London is holding up well, with these communities being the main reason: here, 49% of Sunday regulars are black African or Caribbean Christians. ‘Cultural diversity in British Christianity’, Kwiyani writes, ‘is the great new fact of our era’. The author describes African Pentecostalism and gives the historical background: the European missions, and then the migrations contributing to the multicultural society experienced in Britain today. Yet many of these ‘new’ Churches are monocultural, deliberately targeting people from a particular heritage nation (Nigeria, Ghana) or even – by worshipping in a specific dialect – of a particular tribe. This gives rise to practical and theological challenges: a segregation of cultures is inimical to Kingdom values, ‘going against everything we read in the New Testament’ (a congregation consisting of a white, middle-class clique is deserving of the same critique). Kwiyani uses the metaphor of a mosaic, reminding us that in Christendom the whole ‘picture’ is composed of lots of different bits, but that they have to work together if the maker’s (God’s) envisioned image is to be effectively realised: ‘one tile cannot make a mosaic’. This book is full of interesting data, memorable stories and good theology. The author, a Christian scholar of Malawian origin, has the freedom to venture into this politically sensitive territory objectively and critically and, with passion, encourages readers to engage with some uncomfortable truths.
STEPHEN LAIRD
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