As early as 1969 one of the largest AICs, the Kimbanguist Church in Zaire had joined the World Council. It was followed in 1975, at the time of the Vth Assembly in Nairobi by three others: the African Church of the Holy Spirit and the African Israel Nineveh Church (both in Kenya) and the Church of the Lord (Aladura) based in Nigeria. Recently the Native Baptist Church of Cameroon became a member. And several other AICs have made known their desire to be part of the fellowship of the WCC.

But in spite of longstanding relations AICs have the impression that they are not looked at as full partners in the ecumenical movement. Sometimes they are merely objects of curiosity, often they are not understood at all. It should therefore be no surprise that the Office of Church and Ecumenical Relations made relations with African Instituted Churches one of its priorities.

The idea of holding a consultation had been in the air for some time. It began to take shape during a visit of the Most Rev. Ositelu, Primate of the Church of the Lord (Aladura) to the Council in October 1994. When he heard about it he said that Nigeria should be the venue - and a few months later he stood by his promise to host the event.

And so it became possible that from 9 - 14 January 1996 some 34 participants and a "cloud of witnesses" of the Aladura churches gathered in the pleasant setting of the Ogere Conference Centre about 60 kms from Lagos, near to the headquarters of the Church of the Lord. The meeting was conceived on the model of earlier meetings of a similar kind organised by OCER with Evangelicals and Pentecostals. Representatives of African Instituted Churches and African churches founded by foreign missions entered into a dynamic of listening to, and learning from one another. Under the able (and bilingual!) leadership of Dr Aaron Tolen, one of the WCC's Presidents, they engaged in a frank and lively dialogue. At the heart of the discussions were questions of gospel and culture, and of relations between the two families of churches. In many African countries they simply co-exist, caught in their mutual prejudices, and never talk to each other. As one Bishop from a mission-founded church said: "It took the WCC to get us, churches here in Nigeria, coming together around this table".

The importance of a meeting of this kind lies more with the encounters that were made possible than with the actual findings resulting from the discussions. The latter would have been more easily reported in written form. However it is hoped that this report will give the reader some sense of the rich diversity and vitality of African church life, and of the necessity to continue the dialogue between AICs and African churches founded by foreign missions. The participants agreed that this should be done in the first place by the African churches themselves and on their own terms, with the purpose to break barriers, do away with prejudices and create fraternal relationships for the mutual enrichment of all. Studying and interpreting the Bible together was highlighted as a way to come closer to one another.

For financial reasons the participation had to be limited mainly to a few countries in West Africa. Fortunately the OAIC was well represented through its Acting General Secretary and Secretary for Theological Education. Thus the meeting also provided an opportunity of strengthening relations between the OAIC and AICs in this part of Africa, especially in Nigeria itself.

Our warm thanks go to Primate Ositelu and his team of the Church of the Lord (Aladura) who looked so well after all the local arrangements and took care of every little detail. And not only that - the Church also covered the cost of the conference centre, thus making a very significant financial contribution to the WCC.

Hubert van Beek