Inculturation in African churches with particular reference to Zimbabwe

Abstract

This study tries to investigate the extent of inculturation in African Churches in general and in Zimbabwe in particular. Some mission churches, like the Catholic, the Anglican and the Methodist Churches were selected for the study. The main areas of investigation are baptism, the Eucharist:, marriage, burial and healing. The study discovered that there is some inculturation going on in all the churches under discussion, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist. On the other hand, it was also discovered that the African Independent Churches, such as Vapostori and the Aladura, churches are much more at home with the implementation of inculturation especially in the area of healing. We concluded that Christianity is not yet deeply rooted in African soil, in particular in Zimbabwe. This is because not much inculturation has taken place in the mission churches. Some recommendations are made to help facilitate the implementation of inculturation and to enable Christianity to take flesh in Africa so as to become an authentic African Christianity.