The African Church

The African Church is an African Instituted Church founded in 1901, as the result of a disagreement in the Anglican Church between missionaries and a group of African Christians over indigenous leadership. In its doctrine and liturgy The African Church has remained close to the Anglican tradition. Its mission statement reads: “The African Church receives and accepts the Bible as the  standard of its faith. She also accepts the Old Testament and the New Testament as being canonical, and sufficient for salvation. She accepts and believes in the Fatherhood of God and the Holy Trinity”. The church practises the sacraments of baptism and holy communion. It has a spiritual head, the primate, who is also the head of the clergy, and a lay president who is the head of the laity. Any major decision affecting the church is always taken by both the clergy and the laity. The highest governing body is the general conference. Since 1983 clergy are trained at the African Church College of Theology which since 1992 has been affiliated with the University of Ibadan. The church runs three schools, two hospitals and some social centres and development projects. It publishes a guide for daily Bible reading (in English and Yoruba).