Das Christentum in den Städten Schwarzafrikas

Today, more than half of the populations in Sub-Saharan Africa are Christians. This is the result of the efforts of the Christian missions most of whom came to Africa from the late 19th century onwards. They first worked in the rural areas and opposed the emergence of towns because of the dangers. Because the colonial powers established the towns as their centres of control and because of the nature of some economic activities such as mining, urbanization increased nevertheless. Although urbanization levels in Africa are still low in a worldwide scale, many million and other great cities have come into existence. In the three cities with a predominantly Christian population which were included in a research project on urbanization (Kumasi/Ghana, Mombasa/Kenya, Lusaka/Zambia), a great variety of denominations is found. Most of the Christians belong to churches which are dominant in the areas where the immigrants come from. They are often called "tribal churches" because, among others, they use the respective vernaculars in their services. Apart from the Roman Catholic Church, and the various Protestant denominations, a number of independent African churches came into existence during the colonial period. It is unlikely that increasing urbanization will result in a major secularization and dechristianization process in Africa as was the case in Europe. As in other parts of the so-called "Third World", and as in North America, too, modernity and religiosity are not regarded as contradictions in Africa. The fact that pentecostal-charismatic and evangelical churches, congregations and groups have grown considerably over the past 20 years confirms this assertion16527