Research On The Historical Development Of Christianity In Nigeria

Christianity and Islam are the two main religions in Nigeria today. Since 1472, Christianity has experienced about four periods in Nigeria. Firstly, the Portuguese missionaries introduced Christianity on the coast of Nigeria from the 15th to 18th century, which ultimately failed because of the decline in the volume of trade; secondly, with the establishment of colonial rule, European and American missionaries flocked to the interior of Nigeria during the 19th century, which brought Nigeria into the "Age of Missionary"; thirdly, during the tide of fighting against racial discrimination and striving for national liberation, Christianity experienced the Indigenization Movement and witnessed plenty of independent churches being established rapidly in Nigeria during the 20th century, which made Nigerian churches changed from Western Mission Churches to African Independent churches; fourthly, the coming of the Pentecostalism and the revolution of churches since the 1970s made massive Pentecostal churches established, which symbolizes a new trend of the development of Christianity in Nigeria. Overall, Nigeria’s religious landscape has changed from "based in Islam and traditional religions" to "based in Christianity and Islam" and Nigeria has become the largest Christian population state in current Africa.During its spread in Nigeria, Christianity has continuous interaction with Nigerian society in many areas. It should be noted that Christianity has not only penetrated into Nigeria’s politics, but also plays a pivotal role in the public service areas of Nigerian society. On the one hand, Christianity has participated in the national constructing in Nigeria actively, which makes an important contribution for the public services; on the other hand, the conflict with Islam and the possession of large-scale social resources makes Christianity become a great challenge Nigerian government, which lacks the experience in national governance.In the future, Christianity in Nigeria will face new opportunities and challenges. Some trends like networking, internationalization, indigenization will bring new opportunities for church’s expanding, however, the religious conflict and oppression, the disputes of theological doctrine and the church’s corruption, as well churches’ intervention in the field of social affairs will become serious challenges to Nigeria’s Christianity.