Black Pioneers of the Church
Famous African-American, African and Caribbean Pastors
Since 19th century English missionaries introduced Christianity to Africa and to African slaves around the world, the number of black Christians has grown and today African, Caribbean and African-American churches are growing faster than those in Europe.
The Silver Bluff Baptist Church was the first African-American owned church founded in South Carolina in 1773 by David George, and since then, black pastors shepherding large "flocks" of religious followers have arisen with the most prominent listed below.
TD Jakes – Most Influential African-American Preacher
TD Jakes, pastor of the 30,000-member mega church The Potter's House in Houston, Texas is the foremost African-American preacher in the US.
Born in West Virginia in 1957, Thomas Dexter Jakes was called "Bible Boy" as a child and started a small storefront church in 1979 with ten members. The church relocated to Texas and in 1996 The Potters House was born.
Jakes' animated sermons are now broadcast worldwide on radio and television (the church equips several hundred prisons across America with satellite dishes to receive broadcasts) and The Potters House staff of 150 look after multi-media and distribution, while 4,000 volunteers help with outreach ministries including a private Christian school and work with the homeless, AIDS sufferers and communities in Kenya. The church's annual conference Megafest now attracts over 130,000 people.
Jakes, who is President Obama's spiritual advisor, is also a playwright, songwriter, movie producer and best-selling author of over 30 books including Woman Thou Art Loosed which was turned into a successful film in 2004. He was named 'America's Best Preacher' by CNN and Time magazine who put him on their cover in 2001, and The Church Report magazine called him the "Most Influential Christian in America."
Matthew Ashimolowo – Pastor of the Largest Church in Britain
Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo heads Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC), the largest church in the UK and the second largest* in Europe with over 12,000 worshipers.
Born to Muslim parents in northern Nigeria in 1952, Ashimolowo became a Christian at 22 and after moving to the UK started KICC with 11 members in a rented school hall in 1992. Now based in East London, the Pentecostal church's phenomenal growth in light of Britain's declining church attendance has gained national notoriety and international attention.
As well as broadcasting radio and international television programmes, the church has 42 employees and over 1,000 volunteers who help with outreach ministries, including a nightly prayer hotline and the annual International Gathering of Champions conference with 140,000 attendees.
Ashimolowo, whose sermons on social and economic empowerment are well-received by his primarily West African audience, has written over 70 books including What's Wrong with Being Black? (2007). which Biography.com called a "...thoroughly researched and extensively referenced, this highly credible work uses evidence from biblical, anthropological and ancient literature sources... Ashimolowo looks at the glorious past of the black race [and] his fascinating insight celebrates its rich heritage and confronts today's challenges."
*Ukraine's Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for all Nations headed by Nigerian-born Pastor Sunday Adelaja is the largest church in Europe with 20,000 members.
Dr Oliver Lyseight – Founder of the Oldest Black Church in Britain
When West Indians first arrived in the UK in the 1940s, they were kept away from churches by the racism that was found among members of English congregations. So one immigrant, Dr Oliver Lyseight, decided to start a church where fellow black immigrants would feel welcome.
Born in Jamaica in 1920, Oliver Augustus Lyseight was a tailor before emigrating to England in the early 1950s. Seeing the struggle for spiritual fulfillment faced by his countrymen, and as a member of the worldwide New Testament Church of God (NTCG) fellowship in Jamaica, Dr Lyseight and six friends opened the first UK branch of the church in Wolverhampton in a rented YMCA hall in 1953.
The American headquarters of the church heard about Dr Lyseight's pioneering move and made him a bishop and national overseer of NTCG UK. The church grew as more immigrants arrived and today NTCG has over 30,000 members worshiping in 350 branches across Britain.
During his tenure, Lyseight outlined the church's administrative structures, oversaw the purchase of church buildings, established Bible training institutes and sent missionaries to Africa.
Voted second in a national poll of the "100 Greatest Black Britons," Lyseight was also the co-founder of the Afro-West Indian United Council of Churches in 1976 which united Britain's Black churches, and in 1978 helped establish the British Council of Churches aimed at bridging the gap between black and white Christians.
Dr Lyseight died in 2006 but his contribution to the worldwide Christian community lives on.
E.A Adeboye - Head of Largest Black Church Group in the World
The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) is the largest African-led church organisation in the world with over 6 million members and was founded by Josiah Akindayomi in Nigeria in 1952, with just nine members.
RCCG is now headed by Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, who was born in Nigeria in 1942 and was a mathematics lecturer before joining RCCG in 1973. He worked in the church translating sermons from the Pastor's native Yoruba into English until Akindayomi's death in 1981 when he took over leadership (Akindayomi had earlier identified Adeboye as his successor).
The Pentecostal church now boasts 14,000 parishes and 5 million members in Nigeria alone, where its monthly Holy Ghost Night meeting draws crowds of over a million worshipers. RCCG branches can also be found in 110 countries worldwide from Haiti to Germany with over 300 branches in America and 360 in the UK. Its bi-annual all night prayer service Festival of Life in London attracts 30,000 people - the largest Christian gathering in Europe.
Known as "Daddy GO" to members, Adeboye travels between RCCG global parishes preaching his signature laid-back sermons and was listed in Newsweek magazine's "50 Global Elite."
Related article: Is London's KICC Church too Rich?
Sources:
- Dr Oliver Lyseight: Times Online Obituary, April 19, 2006.
- Pastor E.A Adeboye: Newsweek, December 20, 2008.
T.D Jakes
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E.A Adeboye
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