The Significance of Warfare Prayers Among African Independent Churches in South-West Nigeria and its Relevance to African Society

This paper examines the significance of warfare prayers among African Independent Churches in South-West Nigeria and its relevance to African society. Independent Churches are Churches that are independently started in Africa by Africans rather than chiefly by missionaries from another continent. The African Independent Churches usually engage in warfare prayers. This warfare prayer is one of their distinguishing features. Warfare prayer is a common ritual practiced among members of African Independent Churches in South-West Nigeria. It entails visualization of a supposed enemy or battle and the utilization of warfare prayers, songs and Bible verses to supposedly neutralize opposing forces. Warfare prayers as employed by African Independent Churches had gone a long way to contribute to the growth and expansion of these churches in Nigeria. The paper employs the use of library sources, archival materials and internet in gathering data for it. Findings reveal that warfare prayers in African Independent Churches have a strong connection with the foundation and beliefs of traditional African society that gives spiritual undertone to every situation confronting Africans. Therefore, it is recommended that Christians can adopt this type of warfare prayers as a means of finding solutions to problems confronting them spiritually.