Piety and profit: accounting for money in West African Pentecostalism (Part 1)

Authors

  • A Ukah

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17570/ngtt.2007.v48n3.a17

Keywords:

Cameroon, Empirical investigation, Faith and Finance, Mobilisation, Money matters, Nigeria, Organisation, Pentecostalism in West Africa, Piety, Profit, Resources

Abstract

The study of mobilisation and organisation of money in churches is not new: it is actually a staple of Western Christianity where documentation is a routine practice and openness is accepted as a norm of existence for most religious bodies. The issue of resource mobilisation within Pentecostalism in Africa is however a blind spot. This article is a new empirical investigation of pentecostal mobilisation and the organisation of money in West African Pentecostalism. It also focuses on selected churches in Cameroon and Nigeria in order to have a comparative perspective on the issue. It is concluded that the two focused churches in this article demonstrate different attitudes and behaviour towards money, its mobilisation and organisation. The need for deeper research on the dynamics and dialectics of faith and finance in African Pentecostalism is strongly emphasised.

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Published

2007-12-31

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