Christian Theological Discourse on Music: The African Instituted Churches (AICS) Liturgical Experience

Abstract

Prior to Western colonial contacts, music was an integral part of African social, religious, and

community life. However, Western church music traditions have frequently been regarded as

normal in Nigerian Christianity. The purpose is to critically examine how music functions as a

medium that integrates traditional African spirituality with Christian doctrine, thereby fostering

a distinct African Christian identity within African Instituted Churches (AICs). The study

engages selected theological perspectives by Rudolf Otto, David Brown, and Ferdia Stone-Davis

to interpret musical experience as a possible site of divine encounter, embodied spirituality, and

theological knowing. These perspectives are situated within the African musical context to

highlight the decolonial impulse behind the indigenization of church music in AIC worship

practices. The research employs ethnographic observations, interviews with church leaders and

congregants, and analysis of liturgical music practices within selected AIC communities. The

findings reveal that music in AIC worship is a dynamic, participatory practice that facilitates

communal engagement, spiritual empowerment, and theological reflection. The discussion

highlights how this musical liturgy challenges conventional Western worship models by offering

an embodied and contextualized expression of faith. The study concludes that the musical

practices of AICs represent an authentic contextual theology of worship. This challenges

assumptions about the norm+ative superiority of Western church music traditions. Based on this

insight, the paper recommends that African churches and theological institutions intentionally

promote indigenous musical expressions in worship. It further calls for sustained scholarly

engagement with African music as a legitimate locus of theological reflection in contemporary

African Christianity.