DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2018.v06i07.003

Pages: 1337-1348

This paper attempts to examine the church as an agent of ecological changes. Before the coming of the missionaries, African traditional communities had their tradition /cultural arrangements that were acceptable and transferred from one generation to another. These cultural beliefs and practices gave them a common sense of belonging that enhanced their livelihoods and satisfied their ecological demands that sustained their survival. This gave them harmony and co-existence with nature, God and fellow human beings. The coming of the missionaries groups expected their African converts to abandon their own cultural and religious heritage, and adopt their new cultural norms. Through acculturation, the church worked out viable possibilities where the Gospel could understand culture and where the community’s culture could meet the Gospel for cohesive environment. This paper therefore attempts to explore Christianity as an agent of cultural change and the role of the church in development.