Contextualization and Christian Practices: A Study of Its Impacts and Challenges on Contemporary Mainline Churches in Nigeria
Obasola, Kehinde E. Ph.D

Abstract
Culture is an intrinsic aspect of every human society and it plays a dominant role in shaping their orientation and influencing every strata of life, be it social, political, economic and religious. It is in this latter aspect that this study examines the influence of culture and tradition on the practices of the Mainline Churches in Nigeria. The church generally have refuted the cultural and traditional elements in its entirety and regarded them as superstitious and spurious. However, findings revealed that cultural elements form a part of the liturgical processes in these Churches. This presupposes that the doctrines recognize the tenets and culture of the African people and incorporates some aspects of this culture into its liturgy in order to remain relevant within the African milieu. In addition, there exists contextualization of African belief system into the fabric of the Church in order to remain relevant and not to be alien to the people. These cultural elements help to enliven the religious worship and to liberate them from the orthodox mode of worship which is dry and mechanical. This paper concludes that the use of cultural elements is a right step in the right direction. In this regard, contextualization helps in such a way that Christianity is being practiced within the cultural context of the host community by adopting the cultural elements into its worship. Therefore, the people are not alienated from their culture.

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