Faith, Savings & Credit: Christian Finance in Coastal West Africa

Pentecostal Christianity has emerged as a prominent force as communities confront the everyday social and economic realities of post-colonial Africa. Scholars have demonstrated how the Pentecostal prosperity gospel, and “health and wealth” doctrine, addresses crucial needs of poor and working class people for economic mobility. Others have highlighted how economic arrangements like development and humanitarian aid are often structured by Christian moral frameworks of responsibility and ethical action. However, none of these works have addressed how Pentecostal Christian values and norms become institutionalized within formal financial organizations. As a result, we lack analyses of how financial transactions such as banking and credit are transformed by Pentecostal, church-based institutions. This is particularly relevant as an ever increasing number of people throughout the global south are incorporated into financial practices like microfinance and cooperative savings and lending. My dissertation addresses this gap by examining economic modes of savings and loans, debt repayment, and credit monitoring at a Pentecostal Christian savings & loan institution in Lomé, Togo.