Dual practices of worship: a pastoral challenge

Abstract

Dual practices of worship entail the practicing of both the Christian religion and an African traditional religion of ancestral worship interchangeably in a church as compatible religions. The truth is that the two religions cannot be compatible, and they differ in terms of their activities. Allegorical interpretation of scriptures becomes a normal church system and unquestionable by the congregants who are involved in dual practices, to them is a normal church service. This encourages the congregants to worship both God and their ancestors, hence they mention “Modimo le badimo” which means God and ancestors when they preach and pray. This kind of preaching creates confusion for the newly converted, they end up practicing dualism. One of the fundamentals of becoming a member of a congregation is based on their evangelism program. Members who have not given in to ancestral worship have been casualties of various threats from fractional Christians within that church, and the problem of ancestral practices is engrained among many Africans and disturbs all classes of people who are not into it. The aim of this research is to contribute information that was not examined by other researchers that created a gap in the existing literature on this topic.