One of the most significant developments within post-independent African Christianity is the mushrooming of new churches, Pentecostal-Charismatic in nature. David B. Barret, the highly respected church statistician, states that the growth of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity is truly global and multicultural, with members found in 8, 000 ethnolinguistic cultures. The aim of the present article is to examine the political roles which the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement plays in Africa's neopatrimonial states.
The earlier Pentecostal movement is now typically referred to as classical Pentecostalism. On a global basis, it has produced its own denominations such as the Assemblies of God, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, and the Yoido Full Gospel Church. Neo-Pentecostalism, which is known as the Charismatic movement, was born in the United States in the 1960s. It includes churches within the established denominations which have been open to Pentecostal influence, along with interdenominational ministries and para-church organizations outside of these structures. The Pentecostal movement and the Charismatic movement share basic characteristics, such as the doctrine of Baptism in the Spirit and the emphasis on speaking in tongues and healing.
Reinhard Bonnke is a German evangelist who belongs to Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity. He is well known for his major healing crusades throughout Africa. In the 1970s, Bonnke founded an international ministry called Christ for all Nations (CfaN) and began holding tent meetings in Southern Africa. The main features of Bonnke's crusades include mass baptism in the Holy Spirit and miracles of healing. The crusades have played three socio-political roles in Africa's modern political arena. First, his healing ministry and messages of the faith gospel have turned African people's eyes away from politics. Second, he has directly or indirectly contributed to the maintenance of the neo-patrimonial states in Africa by building and maintaining patron-client relationships with the rulers. Third, his campaigns have intensified religious antagonism. While the first and the second effects of his campaigns have worked as stabilizing factors for the neo-patrimonial regimes, the last is a side-effect of the crusades and may lead to destabilizing the regimes.

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