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African Initiated Churches (AICs)
African Independent Churches, African Indigenous Churches, African-Instituted Churches, AICs, Zionist and Apostolic Churches
Headquarters: South Africa (movement-wide; individual churches have their own headquarters, e.g. Zion City Moria in Limpopo)
African Initiated Churches (AICs) are Christian churches founded in Africa by Africans, rather than introduced and led by foreign missionaries. In South Africa they are one of the largest expressions of Christianity, encompassing many thousands of denominations that range from small local congregations to mass movements with millions of members. AICs are usually grouped into three broad streams — Ethiopian, Zionist, and Apostolic/Pentecostal churches (with a related "Messianic" or prophet-led type) — and are widely associated with worship that weaves together Christian faith and African cultural forms such as the place of ancestors, communal healing, dreams and prophecy, and distinctive uniforms.
What "AIC" means
The acronym AIC stands for several overlapping names, each stressing a different aspect of these churches: African Initiated, African Independent, African Indigenous, and African-Instituted Churches. The common thread is that the church was started in Africa by African leaders rather than chiefly by missionaries from another continent. The various terms emphasise, in turn, independence from foreign control, the retention of African cultural forms, and establishment on African soil under African leadership. Scholars generally treat these labels as interchangeable. In ordinary South African usage, the phrase "Zionist and Apostolic churches" is often used loosely to describe the largest segment of the AIC world.
History
AICs in South Africa emerged from the late nineteenth century, often as African Christians sought churches that they led themselves and that spoke to their own cultural and spiritual world under colonial rule. The earliest wave is associated with the Ethiopian movement: a forerunner was Nehemiah Tile, who left the Wesleyan (Methodist) church and founded an independent Thembu church in 1884, and the first church to carry the name "Ethiopian" was Mangena Mokone's Ibandla lase Tiyopiya (Ethiopian Church), founded in 1892. From about 1904 a second, larger wave began when Zionist Christianity reached South Africa from the United States. After roughly 1910 the Zionist and related Apostolic churches grew rapidly and came to greatly outnumber the Ethiopian churches, forming the great majority of AICs in South Africa today.
The three main streams
Ethiopian churches arose from the Ethiopian movement of the late 1800s, which held that African churches should be led by Africans. They generally keep the doctrine and worship of their Protestant parent churches (such as Methodist or Anglican) largely unchanged, but under African leadership. Zionist churches trace their roots to the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church founded by John Alexander Dowie in Zion, Illinois (USA), and are marked by divine healing, prophecy, river baptism by immersion, white robes, and dietary taboos. Apostolic/Pentecostal churches overlap heavily with the Zionist stream and emphasise the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues and healing; in West Africa the related Aladura ("praying") churches arose in Nigeria from 1918. A further category sometimes distinguished is the Messianic or prophet-led church, built around a powerful founding prophet — for example the Nazareth Baptist Church of Isaiah Shembe in South Africa and Kimbanguism in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Beliefs
AICs are Christian churches and confess faith in God and, in most cases, in Jesus Christ and the Bible. Beyond this shared foundation they vary widely. Ethiopian churches largely retain the doctrines of their mission-church origins. Zionist and Apostolic churches stress divine healing, the activity of the Holy Spirit, prophecy and revelation through dreams and visions. A widely documented and distinctive feature of many (though not all) Zionist and Apostolic congregations is the way Christian belief is held alongside African cultural elements, including respect for and veneration of ancestors. Messianic churches additionally revere their founder as a prophet sent by God; the Nazareth Baptist Church, for instance, honours Isaiah Shembe as a prophet who restored the teachings of Moses, the prophets and Jesus. This profile describes these beliefs as practised by the communities themselves, without endorsing or evaluating them.
Worship and practices
Worship in many AICs is participatory, communal and often outdoors or in the open air, and commonly features singing, drumming, rhythmic dancing (including circle or "wheel" dances), prayer, and prophecy. Baptism is frequently by full immersion in rivers. Healing — through prayer, blessed water, laying on of hands, and the ministry of prophets and healers — is central to the religious life of Zionist and Apostolic churches. Many churches observe dietary and lifestyle taboos such as abstaining from pork, alcohol and tobacco, and some observe the Sabbath. Annual pilgrimages to sacred sites are an important rhythm of church life, the best-known being the Easter and other gatherings at Zion City Moria for the Zion Christian Church and the pilgrimage to the holy mountain Nhlangakazi for the Nazareth Baptist Church.
Regalia and uniform
Distinctive dress is one of the most visible marks of AIC membership. Zionist and Apostolic worshippers are widely recognised for white robes, sometimes worn with coloured sashes, cords or belts, and they often carry staffs. The Zion Christian Church is known for its members' badges — a silver/grey star on a green or black cloth backing — and for the khaki uniforms, peaked caps and energetic dance of its all-male Mokhukhu group. Such uniforms identify the wearer's church and role and are treated with care and respect by members.
Membership and scale in South Africa
AICs are one of the largest religious groupings in South Africa. There are estimated to be well over 10,000 distinct AIC denominations in the country. South African census figures from the 1990s and 2000s showed Zionist, Apostolic and Ethiopian churches together accounting for roughly a quarter to a third of the population (about 26.6% in 1996, rising to about 31.8% in 2001), and various estimates have put total AIC membership in the region of ten million or more. Because the most recent national census did not ask about religious affiliation, precise up-to-date figures are not available, so larger contemporary totals should be treated as estimates. The single largest AIC in southern Africa is the Zion Christian Church, headquartered at Moria in Limpopo.
Significance
Beyond worship, AICs are important social institutions in South Africa, offering community, mutual support, healing and a sense of identity that joins Christian faith with African heritage. The Ethiopian movement in particular is often noted by historians as an early expression of African self-determination and proto-nationalism, while the mass Zionist, Apostolic and Messianic churches remain a defining feature of South African religious and cultural life.
Related: Zion Christian Church, Nazareth Baptist Church (Shembe), Ethiopian movement, Zionist churches, Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa, Aladura churches, Kimbanguism, Pentecostalism, Mangena Mokone, Nehemiah Tile
Described factually and respectfully from documented sources; practices vary within and between congregations. Corrections welcome.