South African "Zionists"
Every summer I relish spending lazy evenings watching minor-league baseball, which in my neck of Penn's Woods means following the State College Spikes.
Going to Spikes games for leisure does not mean that I escape my professional interests, however—as I learned when I first noticed the name of a talented young player, Gift Ngoepe. Taken together, those names point not only to a South African origin but also to roots in one of that country's many African-initiated churches (or AICs). Gift's mother was praying in a building of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) when she received a visitation from a woman prophet who assured her that her pregnancy would have a good outcome and that her son would prosper—hence the name Gift.
That story raises a number of questions about some current trends in Christianity. The ZCC itself—always pronounced zed, cee, cee—matters enormously for anyone interested in the world's rising churches. This emerging denomination is a classic example of an independent church founded and led wholly by African people, and since its foundation in 1924 it has been firmly intertwined with African culture and tradition. With perhaps 8 million members, it is a powerful group within South Africa, which is the most influential state on that continent.
