An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

the churches they are busy breaking away from the parent church. COGIC is thus one suchchurch group.Since 1960, the black majority Pentecostal churches have been gathering momentum byincreasing their membership and the number of church buildings purchased for the purposeof church based activities in Britain. By 1989 five major black groups had been organizedand survived to become major denominations of the twentieth century, of which one of thelargest in the US was COGIC.The civil rights movement of the 1960s and the development of theologies of liberationhave served to eliminate some of the anxiety and fear of racial integration amongst blackPentecostal churches. Thus some healing of the suffering caused by racial exclusion ofblack people has taken place on an individual as well as on a corporate level. Therestrictiveness of racial self development because they did not want to be perceived asracist has been lifted according to Paris (1985).4.7 Genesis of Black Majority Churches in BritainThe colonization of developing countries by more developed countries such as BritainFrance, Holland and Germany took place over several centuries and included theintroduction of different customs and religious beliefs such as Christianity as a way of life.As de-colonisation began, immigration came about because the people were seeking whatapparently was a better way of life than in what are termed the New Commonwealthcountries. This search for a better way of life continued and was expressed morevigorously following the Second World War when Britain experienced a dramatic changein the composition of its population.112