Research Programme on Religious Communities and Sustainable Development

The research project “Are African Initiated Churches adequate partners for future development co-operation?” was commissioned and is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is implemented by the Seminar of Practical Theology of Humboldt University Berlin (Prof. Wilhelm Gräb). Its aim is to investigate whether and in what way African Initiated Churches could be partners for future German development co-operation.

The term African Initiated Churches as used in the project refers to churches that have been founded in Africa by Africans, without “missionary Godfathers”, including Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. Many of these churches emphasize a spiritual worldview, i.e. a cosmology marked by the influence of spiritual forces in the material world. For many people those traditional beliefs are closely intertwined with their daily life. AICs are among the fastest growing churches of sub-Saharan Africa. However, contrary to the Catholic Church or Protestant churches and their respective church-based development organisations (e.g. Misereor, Brot für die Welt), AICs get little to no attention when it comes to development co-operation. Hence, this is the focus of the research project.

 

Publications:

• Report (in German) "Sind African Initiated Churches geeignete Partner für eine künftige Entwicklungszusammenarbeit?"
• Summary (in German)
• Paper "African Initiated Churches’ potential as development actors"