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Cultural and Structural Barriers to Women’s Leadership in African Pentecostalism
IntroductionPentecostalism has emerged as one of the most vibrant and transformative religious trends in Africa, especially in Nigeria, where it has experienced explosive growth, redefining religious practices, social norms, and political participation.[1] As Pentecostal churches focus on spiritual empowerment, personal revelation, and charismatic authority, women are still faced with systemic limitations to leadership. Both cultural factors, involving patriarchal tradition, gendered expectations, and biblical literalism, and structural factors, including institutional structures, doctrinal limitations, and church hierarchies, are barriers to these.[2] The irony is that women are the largest group of Pentecostal followers and contribute significantly to expanding the church, yet they are not allowed to lead due to cultural views of…
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Evangelising Africa in the 21st Century: What it Takes to Create Impact and Convert Souls
Missionaries first arrived in Africa employing various strategies to convert native populations, such as providing education, healthcare and other civilizing services, that were often successful at drawing followers to Christianity. Recently, however, many of these duties have fallen to governments instead, leaving a lesser role for churches in these areas. Yet despite this shift in responsibility, churches continue to play an essential role in education and healthcare provision. Due to decreasing church attendance rates in Africa, churches need new methods of evangelism to attract and keep followers. I will share my own experiences on what has proven successful at engaging people and cultivating commitment to church attendance. Church-run institutions across…
