Anglicanism in West Africa

This chapter examines the course of the transformation of the Anglican mission into an indigenous West African Anglican Church after the First World War. In general, coinciding with the wane and demise of European imperialism, paralleled by the withdrawal of the dominance of London Church Missionary Society and European missionaries, West African Anglicans have sought more or less successfully to redefine the identity of their local church to fit ever more closely with its new African locus. The specific contexts in each West African country where the Anglican Church has been established played significant roles in the nature of the process and its outcome. By the close of the period under analysis here, West African Anglicans have come to fully own their Church, taking full charge of its culture, structure, and doctrine, and are asserting a global leadership claim in the Anglican Communion.