SOURCE:

Faculty: Arts
Department: Religion And Human Relations

CONTRIBUTORS:

Adim S. Eusebius,
Ugwueye E. Luke

ABSTRACT:

The fundamental obligation of Christianity is for Christians to preach the gospel for the purpose of conversion. In Igboland, the quest for evangelism has been on the increase with Christians becoming more passionate to carry out the work of evangelism. However, one thing that is very disturbing is that some crusades organized in Igboland are characterized with stories of violent attacks and destruction of traditional religious artifacts. The reasons adduced for these attacks on traditional religious artifacts include, the belief that traditional religious artifacts are instruments through which satanic stronghold attack the people, bringing on them misfortune, ill-luck, backwardness in business, sickness and even untimely death. Crusades organized in some parts of Igboland such as Amansea, Umuaji-Aguobuowa, Achina, Ugbenu, Oraukwu and so on, lend credence to the believe among some Igbo Christians that traditional religious artifacts are antithetical to the people’s progress. Evangelism in itself is not the problem but the way and manner the act of evangelizing the people is being done by some Christians without allowing the people own the choices they make, hence the need to rewrite the narratives that associates Christians with violence on traditional religious artifacts during crusade evangelism in Igboland. Data were collected from books, articles, journals, internet publications, oral interviews, participant and non-participant observations. Interpretative phenomenological approaches were used to analyze the data. Using the frustration aggression and non-violence theories as working tools, the study discovered that Christian evangelism in Igboland would be much more effective if the principle of tolerance and respect for custom and tradition of the people is taken into consideration. The study, therefore, submits that Christians’ understanding of the basic evangelical principles and its application during evangelism remains vital for a coherent and effectual evangelism free of violence.