African-led Christianity in Europe: Migration and Diaspora Evangelism

A massive growth in Christian presence in the southern continents meant that by the middle of the twentieth century Christian faith had developed into a “non-Western religion.”¹ With the rise of churches and prophet movements of African provenance at the turn of the twentieth century, Christianity grew by leaps and bounds in sub-Saharan Africa.

These developments, together with the emergence of Pentecostal and charismatic varieties of the faith, led to significant changes in the African Christian landscape after the dominant era of historic mission Christianity. With increasing global migration, Christianity in Africa also took on an international presence.

By the time of this article’s original publication, some large congregations in Western and Eastern Europe had been founded or led by people of African descent. Discussions of African immigrant Christianity often focused on churches whose memberships were predominantly African, yet research also identified African-led churches with largely European memberships. This complicated the simple designation of such communities as “African churches.”

Mission, migration, and diaspora

In African hands, mission and evangelization had become international, with diaspora Christianity at the forefront of new initiatives. Originating in Jewish biblical tradition, the term “diaspora” gained importance in the study of religion because of developments associated with the dispersal of African Christians in the modern West.²

For many migrants, however, the idea of “return” commonly associated with diaspora was not necessarily central. Alongside academic and political migration, economic migration was a major factor. Scholarship on Christianity among Africans in Europe noted that human migration is present throughout history and that religion has consistently been a significant aspect of it.³

Across these categories, African migrants carried their faith into diaspora settings.⁴ Unlike the biblical lament of exiles unable to imagine singing the Lord’s song in a foreign land, modern migrants did precisely that through the formation of churches.

Witness of presence

Although African-led churches in Western Europe did not always attract many Europeans, mission studies speaks of a “witness of presence.” The presence of these churches testified to the dynamism and significance of African evangelical witness. In Pauline language:

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” (1 Corinthians 1:27–29)

Africa, a continent repeatedly marginalized and exploited, emerged as a major center of Christian mission and evangelization. This did not render European Christianity irrelevant. Rather, it suggested that changes in former Christian heartlands were being met by new missionary energy from the Global South. For many African Christians in diaspora, the recession of Christianity among Western Europeans represented a call to evangelism and the renewal of kingdom values in lands once associated with nineteenth-century missionary sending. Mission appeared to be moving in reverse.

Varieties of churches in mission

African-led churches in Europe developed in different forms. Some of the earliest began as fellowships among migrants who felt unwelcome in established churches on racial grounds. These interdenominational fellowships also offered worship that participants found spiritually and liturgically richer. Africans reconstituted fellowships as churches where faith could be expressed in ways that resonated with African and biblical pieties.

In Western Europe, the rise of African immigrant churches and other non-Western Christian congregations became especially visible because of the contrast between dynamic immigrant groups and the often subdued character of traditional churches.⁵

Early immigrant churches included African independent traditions known in different contexts as Spiritual, Aladura, or Zionist churches. African members of historic denominations initially joined related European churches, particularly in the United Kingdom and Germany. Over time, distinct Ghanaian, Nigerian, and other African congregations developed within Methodist, Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Presbyterian traditions. In African hands, these inherited denominations acquired new ecclesial identities, liturgical patterns, and worship styles.

During the final quarter of the twentieth century, the range of congregations broadened considerably. Africa-based classical Pentecostal movements established churches throughout Europe. Neo-Pentecostal congregations also expanded, some serving largely African memberships and others attracting substantial European participation.

The primary intention of these churches was not always to establish congregations exclusively for Africans. Independent communities frequently described themselves as international churches. “African-led churches in Europe” is therefore a more useful designation because it does not imply that such communions were closed to non-Africans.

Social and religious roles

Ethnic and cultural identity remained important for people in diaspora, yet African immigrant Christians often understood themselves primarily as Christians and intentionally described their congregations in inclusive, international terms.⁶ Research in the Netherlands found that many identified first with Christianity and only secondarily as African Christians.⁷

Immigrant churches also provided a social safety net amid difficult immigration conditions. Religion helped members attain a degree of security and inner strength in environments they could experience as hostile.⁸ Christian interpretations of displacement drew parallels with Christ’s experience of refuge, uprootedness, alienation, and service.⁹

Mission and evangelism in diaspora

Despite painful experiences, African Christians and African-led churches in Europe interpreted their presence as a call to mission and evangelism. One influential definition describes mission as recognizing what the Creator-Redeemer is doing in the world and participating in it.¹⁰

For this discussion, mission and evangelism are closely related expressions for an active agenda to restore and reconcile a broken world to God in Christ. African-led immigrant churches were meeting religious needs that the evangelism efforts of established churches did not always address. Five dimensions were especially significant:

1. Moral and personal transformation. African-led Christianity challenged moral relativism by calling people to offer their lives to Christ in ways reminiscent of the Book of Acts. Congregations reported ministries among people living with addiction, exploitation, and organized crime, presenting conversion and community as paths toward changed lives.
2. The Bible at the center. These churches restored Scripture to a central role in congregational life. The Bible was the primary source for preaching and was treated as authoritative for teaching, rebuke, and training in righteousness.
3. Pastoral attention to spiritual worldviews. African immigrant churches took African understandings of spiritual causality seriously in pastoral care. Members found biblical language for forces of good and evil and for questions of life and death.¹¹ Churches articulated Christian responses to fear, uncertainty, and insecurity in ways that could seem unfamiliar to Western rationalist approaches.
4. Liturgical renewal. African churches generally favored worship that was experiential, expressive, exuberant, and dynamic. Whether formally Pentecostal or not, renewal and an active understanding of the Spirit’s presence were important to their identity.
5. Material and moral support. Diaspora churches offered practical and spiritual support to migrants navigating precarious circumstances. Their communal provision recalled the pattern in Acts, where believers bonded together and cared for one another’s needs.

Conclusion

Diaspora churches also had rough edges. Leaders could be accused of pursuing personal or material gain, while others risked exploiting the fears and insecurity of people whose lives were already marked by uncertainty.

Nevertheless, the “ministry of presence” associated with African diaspora initiatives suggested that immigrant congregations could help preserve and renew Christian life. The theme recalled the infancy narrative in which Jesus and his family sought refuge in Egypt until it was safe to return.

In this reading, Christianity in African hands had in one sense returned “home” to the continent that gave refuge to Jesus. Amid Christianity’s recession in parts of the modern West, immigrant churches appeared as institutions through which an active Christian presence might continue and develop.