In addition to the impact of members switching affiliations, Pentecostalism has been reshaping traditional Protestant churches in Nigeria through their adoption of Pentecostal practices, write Nigerian scholars Adideran Amos Ayoola, Paul Adedotun Adesupo, and John Bgenga Ayandiya in the International Journal of Humanities, Literature and Art Research (January). Their research is based on a literature review as well as a survey of 100 respondents in 10 churches of the Ogbomoso North Local Government Area of Oyo State. Sixty-five percent of the respondents transitioned directly from Protestant churches to Pentecostal denominations. The majority are relatively recent additions to the Pentecostal movement, with 60 percent having joined within the last 10 years. Eighty percent of the respondents considered the exercise of spiritual gifts—healings, miracles, signs and wonders—to be a primary factor drawing people toward Pentecostal churches.
The authors note that “music has been central to the shift” in Protestant churches. Contemporary praise music, spontaneous prayer, night vigils, and deliverance sessions—once absent from Anglican, Methodist, or Baptist worship—have become increasingly common. “The adoption of spontaneous testimonies and altar calls also reflects Pentecostal influence,” they add. These practices were rare in Protestant settings prior to the 1980s, but have become increasingly normalized. Protestant devotional culture has thus been transformed. Pentecostal preaching styles have had an impact on Protestant homiletics, “with messages linking scripture to daily struggles.” House fellowships, cell systems, prayer bands, and discipleship classes are being adopted in an effort to increase lay participation. Media-driven evangelism strategies (radio, television, social media), long a Pentecostal hallmark, have been progressively adopted by historic denominations. While some dynamics have introduced tensions into Protestant spaces that were previously foreign to their institutional culture, Pentecostalism appears to have already left an indelible mark on Nigerian Christianity beyond its own ranks.
(International Journal of Humanities, Literature and Art Research, https://mediterraneanpublications.com/mejhlar)
