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Political Pentecostalism and Faith-Based Development in Nigeria

Political Pentecostalism and Faith-Based Development in Nigeria Rethinking the Postcolonial Megachurch

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Political Pentecostalism and Faith-Based Development in Nigeria

Rethinking the Postcolonial Megachurch

Christopher Wadibia

Religion / Christianity / Pentecostal & Charismatic

This book examines how the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) mobilises its theological teachings, financial resources, and political interests to invest in social development in Nigeria. Focusing on the megachurch's extensive portfolio of development institutions, the book explores the phenomenon of postcolonial megachurch Pentecostalism by analysing how the RCCG negotiates tensions between charity-driven social welfare and a prosperity-centred theology that underwrites large-scale commercial enterprises.

Drawing on ethnographic research and interviews with with senior church leaders and officials managingRCCG-funded development institutions, the book shows how prosperity theology is not simply a doctrine of accumulation, but a strategic resource in a challenging and dysfunctional postcolonial context that enables the RCCG to bankroll an effective Pentecostal micro-state. Through investments in higher education, healthcare and public health, social welfare, and profit-generating enterprises, the RCCG compensates for Nigerian state failure while generating political capital to support a broader religious and socio-political vision.

Situating these practices within the framework of third-generation Pentecostalism, the book establishes productive parallels between RCCG theology and Catholic social teaching, demonstrating how both traditions draw on religious content to shape individuals, institutions, and communities. Through offering a balanced assessment of prosperity theology and a detailed organisational analysis of RCCG development institutions, this study provides a significant contribution to scholarship on African Pentecostalism, theology, and urban development.

Christopher Wadibia is an independent scholar and private consultant based in Manchester, UK, specialising in faith-based charity and social investment. He completed a Junior Research Fellowship at Oxford and has degrees from Cambridge, Trinity College Dublin, and Georgetown. In 2016, the US Department of State awarded him a Fulbright research grant to study Muslim-Christian relations in Nigeria. His areas of expertise include the future of Christianity, religion and global development, and political Pentecostalism.

Publication Date: 10 December 2026
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN-13: 9781350646889
Format: Hardback
Page Count: 320
Weight (oz): 16.0

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