Towards Church Indigenization: A Critical Examination of the Problems and Prospects in the Deeper Life Bible Church in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

The Deeper Life Bible Church started as a Bible study group at the residence of Pastor W. F. Kumuyi in August 1973 with fifteen members.(1) It did not occur to Kumuyi that when they gathered in his parlour as a small group for a systematic digging deep of God's word that it will one day go ground Nigeria and beyond with large followership. That little group growth started in the western part of Nigeria with a lot of students graduating from the University of Lagos, Federal College of Education (Technical) Akoka, Lagos and the Yaba College of Technology (Yaba Tech) Lagos and they formed the earlier population and as they graduated they went for the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), and they carried along the 'fire of revival' all over the nation (Nigeria). The Northern part of the country was not exempted. What began in various centres as Bible study blossomed into a full denomination. The bulk of the leaders were from the southern part of the country. They dominated the bulk of the leadership and a few indigenes that came into Deeper Life Bible Church were the minority in the north. The leadership ofDeeper Life Bible Church took a decision to get the northerners into its fold, hence the indigenization policy in May 1994. This article sketches this indigenization policy; its problems and prospects and possible solutions.