New Churches Sprout in Town

New Churches Sprout in Town
Churches are now found in every nook and cranny in Douala like in other big towns.

In time immemorial, the Africans worshiped their ancestors or other strange gods. But colonialisation later came along with the Christian religion in Africa. It was the same trend in Cameroon when the Baptist Church first came to Cameroon. Later other Christian expressions such as the Catholics and the Presbyterians followed. These three were known to be the mainstream or nominal churches. A few years ago, things changed within the religious setting with the coming of the Pentecostals.
The Pentecostals are generally known to be noisier than the others and most people called them “the crying church”. There had names like The Apostolic church, Full Gospel Mission, Deeper Life, The Redeemed Christian Church of God, among others. Recently the congregations have increased in Douala and other big towns in the country that some secret societies have come in under the cover.
Most of the secret societies now claim that they are normal religions or Pentecostal churches too. Apart from these there are other types of churches. Their members put on white garments and walk bare feet, like the Olumba Olumba, some put on red garments and use red and yellow candles during their worship. There are some who put on a particular uniform each day. Churches have sprouted with funny names too in every little corner of the town. There are some streets which are named “Church Street” because of the large number of churches found along them.
Most of the cinema halls which used to attract many people in Douala have been transformed into churches and now occupied by their faithful. Out of the Pentecostal churches other branches arch out daily. Most of them organise their services either in classrooms after school hours or in people’s parlours, or in a room of a dilapidated building. Little is known about the churches. Yet many people do not bother to find out from the root.
For some time public opinion has it that these churches have defiled the normal norms of Christianity which according to them is to pray to God silently so that nobody but God alone hears. Another argument is that a church is a sacred place and the service has to be solemn. The public claims this is not so with the Pentecostal churches because they are very noisy and go to church too often. They have named members of most Pentecostal churches “born again Christians”.
According to a lady most people hide their laziness behind the banner of being born again. She said some of their members only sell scotched eggs around town because they will be dismissed for regular absences if they have to work in a big enterprise. The reason: they will always go to church several times a day, some of them, during work hours. They prefer to do small businesses to close and go to church at will. Until much light is shed on the Pentecostal churches, they will always be doubts and misunderstandings.
EFFA TAMBENKONGHO