spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

independent Pentecostal Churches, the renewal movements within mission denominations and
the trans-national fellowships (Asamoah-Gyadu 2005:236). Outsiders usually identify PCCs with
AICs, because both movements attract many African believers, distance themselves from
missionary-founded churches, emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit and centralize healing and
exorcism. Based on these similarities, it is hard to specify exactly the relation between AICs and
PCCs. Many researchers discern a certain continuity between the AIC movement and the PCCs
on the basis of their pneumatic emphasis: the AIC movement is seen as the African version of
Pentecostalism (Kalu 2008:69; see also Anderson 1990:65 and Asamoah-Gyadu 2007:307). One
wonders whether the general typology of African Pentecostalism as the amalgamation of AICs
and PCCs is able to account for the differences between AICs and PCCs. Kalu (2008:75)
elaborates on the demonization of AICs by Pentecostal Churches, which seems to be a clear
signal of Pentecostal believers perceiving AIC members in a different way than researchers (and
other outsiders) do. Generally, African Pentecostals are of the opinion that AICs are non-
Christian and abject because of their involvement with ancestral spirits and with certain African
traditional healing elements that are included in healing rituals of the faith community.
Although the AIC movement and the PCC wing highly determine the faith-based healing
discourse, it does not mean that only these two parties represent the phenomenon of churchbased
healing. Jenkins’ statement (2007:145) that the practice of healing unifies both mainstream
and independent churches in the southern hemisphere shows that the focus on healing and
exorcism cannot be narrowed down to a particular ecclesiological tradition or a faith movement.
In Southern Africa, there is a clear appreciation for the relation between religion, faith and
health, and basically all faith communities acknowledge the meaning of this relation.
5.1.2 HIV/AIDS and church-based healing
Recently the discourse on church-based healing has received more attention than previously due
to the role of churches in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Researchers and policy makers have
understood the need to explore how faith communities try to oppose the impact of HIV/AIDS,
and to seek the cooperation of churches and other faith-based organizations, because “their
unique positioning within communities and the often authoritative nature of their interaction with
followers mean that they have a certain legitimacy and resulting power to change behavior”
(Scorgie 2008:86, with a reference to Liebowitz 2002:10). An increasing number of publications
about the role of churches in the battle against AIDS center around AIDS prevention, with
attention being paid especially to changes in sexual behavior. Another topic of attention in
research and policy reports is related to care and support. In other words, the meaning of the
contribution of faith communities in the fight against AIDS is usually restricted to the realization
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