WELCOME to AFRICAN ORTHODOX DEREKH, a new Christian denomination that is being launched to unite ALL Sub-Saharan Africa Christians in one denomination and therefore redefine African Christianity. It is launched to delete Western Christianity which now dominates Sub Saharan Africa.

1) ARRIVAL OF DEREKH IN AFRICA

Christianity started in Jerusalem and is primarily Jewish even though scripture says anybody who believes is a Jew by faith. In Jerusalem, this religion was called DEREKH, Hebrew for ‘The Way’, and it was much later after the collapse of the First Church in Jerusalem that Greeks took it over and renamed it in Greek as Christianity or ‘Followers of Christ’. Apart from being Hebrew, and the original name of this religion, the word DEREKH is much more precise, and much more correct, spiritually, in capturing what this religion is about than the word CHRISTIANITY. DEREKH is The Way of the LORD, The PAVED PATH, dictated by God for us to walk on to earthly success, good health and eternal salvation. The Holy Mikra (Bible in Greek) also calls this religion THE WAY OF THE LORD.

“In the meantime, Saul kept his violent threats of murder against the followers of the Lord. He went to the High Priest and asked for letters of introduction to the Synagogues in Damascus so that if he should find there any followers of the Way of the Lord, he would be able to arrest them, both men and women, and bring them back to Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:1-2)

“But some of them were stubborn and would not believe, and before the whole group they said evil things about the Way of the Lord.” (Acts 19:9). We can also see (Acts 19:23), (Acts 22:4), (Acts 24: 14), (Ps 67:1-2), (Ps 27:11), (Prv 22:6)

Greeks deleted all Hebrew vocabulary from DEREKH religion and replaced them with dozens of Greek words, including ‘Christianity’ and ‘Bible’, but this was pure sacrilege. Even if the ‘Followers of Christ’ phrase was correct, we wouldn’t state it in Greek while the religion is Jewish.  Western Christianity adopted Greek terminology until this day, but AFRICAN ORTHODOX DEREKH has deleted all Greek words and reverted to Hebrew.

Even though DEREKH religion started in Jerusalem in 33 CE, it arrived in Sub Saharan Africa 1,400 years later, when Portuguese explorers arrived on the West African coast in about 1450 CE. DEREKH arrived in neighbouring Ethiopia (the ancient Axum Kingdom which is now part of Ethiopia) in 330 CE but Axumites didn’t have the bravery and resources to conduct evangelisation to their black neighbours in East Africa. It was therefore the Portuguese Roman Catholic Church, which first brought DEREKH to the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa starting in 1450 CE.

DEREKH faith arrived in Arab Maghreb (North Africa) before 100 CE and this region was totally Derekh before 100 CE. The reason DEREKH spread fast to this region was that the entire Mediterranean region, including virtually all Arabs, Israel and Greece were under Roman Empire rule. Apart from Jerusalem, other big Derekh centres were Alexandria (Egypt), Antioch (Syria), Constantinople (Turkey) and Rome (Italy).  The Roman Empire was opposed to DEREKH faith, but Derekh still spread throughout the Empire as an illegal religion even within Rome itself. Three Barber Arabs from present day Algeria and Tunisia, were even able to become Popes of the World Catholic Church before Derekh was legalised. These are called ‘African’ Popes, but they were Barber Arabs. The word ‘Africa’ was coined by Romans 2,500 years ago to describe a North Africa Berber Roman Province in present day Algeria and Tunisia. Roman ‘Africa’ did not cover Egypt or Sub-Saharan Africa.

2) WORLD DEREKH

World DEREKH faith is divided into three main categories below; –

• Western Christianity (Roman Catholic, Protestant and Pentecostal churches)
• Eastern Christianity (Greek orthodox, Russian Orthodox etc)
• Oriental Christianity (Ethiopian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox etc)

The division of DEREKH into these categories took place in ancient times, especially following the scriptural and theological disagreements that emerged out of the Chalcedon World Ecumenical Council of 451 CE that was attended by 520 bishops to iron out core matters of faith. The dispute here was about the identity or celestial rank of Isho Hamashiach (Jesus Christ in Greek). These disagreements fragmented the one Derekh Catholic Church which had existed until then. A much bigger schism happened in 1054 CE when Greek and Roman branches of the World Catholic Church parted ways mostly over archbishop seniority issues. The Church of Rome retained the Greek name of the original united World Church of CATHOLIC (universal) as Greeks adopted the title ORTHODOX (Traditional, Unchanging). The Russian church was also born out of this power crisis and called itself ORTHODOX as well.

According to American global research company, Pew Research, conducted in 2020, DEREKH faith is still the biggest religion of the world, with 31.2 % of all human beings, followed by Islam with 24.1 % of all human beings. About 17% of people in the world do not belong to any religion, and most of these are in Europe and America and were previously Derekhs but have given up religion. The big Asian religions of Buddhism and Hinduism are about stagnant. Looking at the trend of the last 50 years, however, Pew Research says, DEREKH faith is losing ground while Islam is gaining ground. The number of people joining Derekh faith is reported to be smaller than population increase meaning that the percentage of Derekhs worldwide is falling while the percentage of Muslims is rising.  

Sub-Sahara Africa now has about 40 countries with a total population of about 1.1 billion people in 2024, about 68% of whom are estimated to be Derekhs.

3) WESTERN DEREKH

Western Derekh (Christianity) is the biggest branch of DEREKH faith in the world because it covers Western Europe, North America, South America, Sub Saharan Africa, Oceania (Australia, New Zealand) and even some pockets in Asia (Philippines, India) and Arabia (Lebanon). The Roman Catholic church is still the biggest Derekh denomination with about half of all DEREKHS worldwide but is losing ground in Sub Saharan Africa. Over 30 American Pentecostal churches have invaded Sub Saharan Africa in the last 50 years, and have taken away lots of people from the Roman church. It is estimated that the Roman church had about 90% of all Derekhs in Sub Saharan Africa in 1900 CE, but by 2024, its share had fallen to below 40%.

Western DEREKH was created by fragmentation from the Roman Catholic Knesiya starting with the protest of Martin Luther of Germany in 1517 CE that eventually created the Lutheran church in 1530 CE. Britain followed suit by seceding from Rome and establishing the Church of England in 1543 CE. When these two churches were formed, they took over all Roman Catholic believers and converted them to what they called ‘Protestant’ Christianity.  They also took over all Roman Catholic church buildings and made them theirs. From 1550 CE, Europeans started immigrating to the ‘New World” of America, and North America created their own denominations there. In 2024, the USA was estimated to have over 120 denominations, and over 30 of these have established branches in Sub Saharan Africa.

North America came up with private churches, which are social-economic rather than spiritual, and operate on business principles, and pay taxes. Indeed, registration of religion in USA is the same as registering a business enterprise. The USA is estimated to have over 100,000 private churches, called ministries, that are owned by individual entrepreneurs or families and employ pastors. They have now coined the terminology of “Mega Churches” which conduct their Sunday worship service in sports stadiums with 10,000 or more believers or through television. This is however a misuse of the name of God and sacred reality and can amount to sacrilege. Religion is not only spiritual, but is also social and demands assembly and social interaction.

Western Europe has however not copied this decadence and desecration of religion, and private churches are mostly not acceptable in Europe.

4) EASTERN AND ORIENTAL DEREKH

Eastern and Oriental DEREKH comprise the following very ancient Knesiya (churches); –

• Greek Orthodox
• Syrian Orthodox
• Alexandria Coptic Orthodox
• Ethiopian Orthodox
• Russian Orthodox

The distinction of Western and Eastern Derekh started with the schism of 1054 CE which was about Eastern churches refusing to accept the authority of the Bishop of Rome, now called Pope. Eastern Knesiyas accept the Western Church ‘Two Natures’ of Isho doctrine arising out of the Chalcedon Conference of 451 CE, while Oriental Knesiyas like Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Ethiopian Orthodox reject Chalcedon and stick with earlier Ephesus Doctrine of 331 CE of ‘One Divine Nature’ of Isho. AFRICAN ORTHODOX DEREKH rejects both Ephesus and Chalcedon as sacrilege, but the nature of Isho is beyond our responsibility as believers. Europeans are engaging themselves in meaningless academics like Greek Theology which is really a misinterpretation and disrespect of DEREKH religion. DEREKH religion is about BELIEFS, not about FACTS.

Virtually all Eastern and Oriental churches have branches in Western Europe and North America as well. Ethiopian Orthodox Church, for example, has six dioceses led by bishops, and only two are in Ethiopia itself. Four dioceses are in America and Western Europe. AFRICAN DEREKH will equally establish itself in black communities in North and South America.

What Africans don’t seem to understand is that religion carries a very big part of national culture as well. This is why Greek Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox have churches in locations where Greeks or Ethiopians have immigrated to.  This is why also Western Christianity represents cultural colonialism for Sub Saharan Africa. AFRICAN DEREKH is launched to bring an end to this cultural colonialism through DEREKH religion. 

5) RELIGION IS BASIC

DEREKH religion is not Rocket Science or Newtonian Calculus where we need the top one percent brains. DEREKH is, instead, much simpler, and it is not therefore something Africa has to spend centuries learning from other human beings, or to be supervised about endlessly. Religion is very simple, at the intellectual level, and all people can therefore manage themselves as far as religion is concerned. This is borne out also by reality of world religions today that they no longer have the eminence that they had 1,000 years ago, when religion was ruling the world. This means, in the present world, religion is something you introduce to people, communities, and nations, and let them take it forward their way. 

According to DEREKH scripture, every believer reports to, and is monitored and guided, directly by God, and the Good Shepherd, Isho Ha-Mashiach, so human leaders of religion are superfluous. Most religions of the world have priests who are experts in religion, or are spirit mediums, who convey spirit power from their god or deity.  Again, this is a low-key affair that does not warrant big institutions of the kind that accompanied Western Christianity.

6) MONARCHIC GOVERNANCE

Part of the reason DEREKH faith is losing ground worldwide is its monarchic governance style, whereby it operates like a political entity, with hierarchies of pastors, bishops, archbishops, popes and patriarchs. This model could have been justifiable in the past, when religions were defined by territories and a religion had monopoly of all people in its area. There was no competition, because in the past, the world was rather wild, and a Muslim could not live within Derekhs and vice versa.

With open borders, freedom of worship, and religious cohabitation, religions are competing for believers. On the part of Derekh faith, especially in Sub Saharan Africa, much competition seems to be between Derekh denominations themselves and thousands of private preachers. They move Derekhs from one denomination to another, or from one private preacher to another, but they don’t attract people from other religions. Derekh has five times more preachers than Islam in Sub Saharan Africa but is still losing ground because of the way it operates. It is ‘top heavy” with thousands of bishops, while Islam is very lean but very effective at the grassroot level where new believers are found. DEREKH has therefore been losing people to Islam in Sub Saharan Africa. We can say therefore that DEREKH has very powerful political and administrative institutions, but very weak religious institutions.

7) HIGH COST OF RUNNING DEREKH

Another matter which is differentiating DEREKH faith from Islam in Sub Saharan Africa is the very high cost of running Derekh religion. Most Islam priests are volunteers who are paid very little allowance or nothing at all. They serve God, not money. DEREKH on the other hand, operates like a government, with so many preachers living in comfort and luxury. The fragmentation of DEREKH into dozens of denominations and tens of thousands of private preachers is creating ungodly extravagancy by tripling clerical staff, building three times the number of churches Africa genuinely needs etc. African DEREKHS are, on average paying possibly ten times more tithe and offering to their churches than Moslems pay to their mosques simply to maintain this big army of preachers in luxury and comfort.

The Roman church was once the ruler of Europe, and the Pope was also known as ‘The Holy Roman Emperor’ because he had earthly power over European kings. In this situation, the church was also a monarchy and was swimming in money. But the word of God is that we cannot serve both God and Money (Mt 6:24) so this was, and still is, apostacy. To serve and save African DEREKH, we need to bring it down to the people, to very low budgets, and to one denomination to reduce costs and defend our cultural identity. Religion is part of culture.

8) INTEGRITY IN DEREKH MINISTRY

DEREKH religion has become big business, no longer a religion. Preachers of DEREKH faith are becoming billionaires. But DEREKH offering to God has to be made to a genuine impersonal denomination, not to a private church. African Derekhs must understand that they have a spiritual duty NOT to support people who open private churches simply because they have Holy Spirit power to heal.

Gullible Africans are not coming to genuine DEREKH faith by BELIEVING and HEEDING scripture. Instead, they have turned to paying tithe and a long list of contributions that Derekh priests now demand. While tithe has to be paid to sustain the DEREKH Knesiya (church) we all need to know that God is not primarily looking for money from us. He is looking for FAITH and HEEDING scripture, not big offering. Scripture says; –

“The LORD, your God is supreme over all gods and over all powers. He is great and mighty, and He is to be feared. He does not show partiality, and does not accept bribes.” (Deu 10:17)

We cannot bribe God by big offerings, we simply have to heed Him. African Derekhs need to understand also that they are priests of God as well, and that they have a duty to defend the integrity of the religion by not using services of conmen and private preachers. In today’s highly integrated world where different races, tribes, and religions are existing in one physical space, religion can only be sustained by personal commitment and brotherhood of the believers, and this is what we must pursue.

We cannot achieve God’s purpose in sending his only Son to reconcile Himself with us if we fragment into hundreds of independent churches and thousands of private preachers. Sub Saharan Africa must venerate God Almighty, and respect Isho Harmashiach, Lord and Saviour, by forming one Knesiya that has servants of various Holy Spirit gifts (1 Cor 12:4-11,) because we are all parts of the same body (1 Cor 12:25-30). We must keep reminded also, that whatever spirit gift we have, we received it for free (Mat 10:8), (1 Cor 4:7). It is therefore immodest to try to personalise, commercialise, or benefit exclusively from such a gift of God that is given for the good of the entire African Knesiya, not for individual preachers. The Knesiya also serves to supervise and monitor its Shamashim or preachers so that they don’t use African witchcraft in Derekh Deliverance services to create fame for themselves. All offering has to go to the institution of AFRICAN DEREKH and not to individuals.

9) EQUALITY BEFORE GOD

All DEREKH believers have the same rank, and the same spiritual power, before God. God Almighty has His chosen people whom he favours, but these favourites or anointed people are not necessary in priestly or church leadership positions. Scripture says;

“Go through the whole world and preach the gospel to all mankind. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. Believers will be given power to perform miracles” (Mk 16:15-18)

We see here that Isho Ha-Mashiach does not make any distinction between bishops and lay believers. All have the same blessings, and the same authority; they receive the power of the Holy Spirit to cure other people and perform miracles.

“Then God said, ‘And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild, large and small. So, God created human beings making them to be like Himself.” (Gen 1:26-27)

God is spirit, so if humans were created to be like God, they are spirits as well, and the physical body is just a dress that they wear while on earth. This human status of being spirit is consistent with the spirit power given by Isho Hamashiach to ALL believers.

This equality before God and Isho Ha-Mashiach is the basis of the key tenet of Derekh faith of THE PRIESTHHOD OF THE BELIEVERS.  Each baptised and practicing Derekh is a priest.

10) PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS

All believers will join Derekh through Tevilah (Baptism) with water and the Holy Spirit, and even when they don’t notice the Spirit, they will assume they have the Spirit in them already. Derekh stands much more on inner faith than on Avodah (liturgical) rites and ceremonies. The Holy Spirit is the builder of the Derekh Knesiya and he chooses and grants spiritual Gifts/Graces/ Charismas as he pleases, without regard to the priestly rank one holds.  We can say therefore that Ministerial ranks, or ‘Sacraments of Orders’, are worldly manifestations, and social ranks, that do not mean anything at the spiritual level. World Derekh is currently dominated by very big hierarchy of ministerial and so-called pastoral positions, but this is just historical, not religious. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, and there are different ways of serving the Lord. (1 Cor 12:3-4).

African Orthodox Derekh main purpose and objective is to bring people to the ‘Way of the Lord’ which leads to Earthly Fulfilment and Eternal Salvation. Ordinary believers, not the Bishops and Priests, are the people who bring this about by Heeding the Word of God in their personal lives. The believers are the AFRICAN ORTHODOX DEREKH Knesiya (church), and every believer must understand his position clearly.

11) ELDER KNESIYA GOVERNANCE

World DEREKH has three main church governance models being APOSTOLIC Governance, CONGREGATIONS governance, and ELDERS governance. Apostolic governance is monarchic and is still the most common governance model for Western, Eastern and Oriental Derekh, worldwide. It has ranks of priests from pastors to Bishops and Popes who virtually own the religion in their areas and make final decisions. This model is difficult to justify in modern times.

Under the Elders governance model, the Knesiya (church) is led by elected elders.  This model of ‘Elders of the Knesiya’ is standing on the Priesthood of the Believers, but is the more strongly supported by scripture in the Final Covenant (Acts 11:30), (Acts 14:23), (Eph 3:6-10), (1 Pet 2:9), (Eph 2:19-22), (1 Cor 12:12-27), (Acts 15:2), (Acts 20:17), (Tit 1:5), (Jam 1:5-14).

Considering the state of religion in the world today, and the poor character of African people generally, AFRICAN ORTHODOX DEREKH is dictating the ELDERS OF THE KNESIYA governance model so that DEREKH is in the hands of the believers and lay congregations, not in the hands of priests and bishops. It is simultaneously demanded, from all Derekh faithful, however, to use this power to serve God, by being ethical, humble, pious, and spiritual. The key word is to come forward to serve, instead of staying on the fence, and letting others handle the religion for you.

12) EMPIRE BUILDING

There is a quiet scramble by Western Christianity for religious Empire Building to control African spirituality, and therefore culture. The problem, however, is not foreign denominations but African naivety and docility. We don’t take the initiatives we need to take, and this is creating vacuums which foreigners are trying to fill. It is time to stand up and be counted on the part of mature humans, and of Derekh faith. As already noted herein, African Islam is autonomous and governs itself without any help or guidance from Arabs, but is outperforming Derekh religion even though it collects less than ten percent of the money that Derekh Africa collects from its believers.

13) DEREKH JERUSALEM

DEREKH Jerusalem was Jewish, and although we are now all Jews, by faith rather than blood, descendants of Israel, or blood Jews, still have an elevated place even in their absence according to scripture; –

“You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom we worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes” (Jn 4:22)

“Then he opened their eyes to understand scriptures and said to them.’ This is what is written: the Messiah must suffer and must rise from death three days later, and in his name, the message about repentance and the forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.” (Lk 24:45-47)

“Have the Jews then any advantage over the gentiles?  Or is there any value in being circumcised? Much indeed, in every way! In the first place, God trusted his message to the Jews.”  (Rom 3:1-2)

 AFRICAN ORTHODOX DEREKH has African culture undertones but is received directly from Jerusalem and is therefore Jewish as well. It has, accordingly, adopted teachings and practices of the first Knesiya, DEREKH Jerusalem, of 33 CE to 150 CE. It has also rejected and deleted several changes introduced by Greeks, Romans and Europeans over the last 1,800 years

14) CATHOLIC CHURCH

Most of us Africans know only about the Roman Catholic, but there are over 20 other denominations, throughout the world, that have the word catholic in their name.

“People in the West refer to the Catholic church, meaning the Roman Catholic church. But that western usage is not entirely accurate because there are other branches of the Catholic church that are not Roman, but eastern; and they have their own rites of worship, their own theology, and their own church law. This fact was dramatized at Vatican II every time Maximos IV Saigh (1878-1967), the Melkite patriarch of Antioch in Syria, spoke. He kept reminding the bishops about this Catholic diversity and–refusing to use Latin, the official language of the Council–always delivered his remarks in French.”(Xavier University, Centre for Mission and Identity, 2022)

AFRICAN DEREKH is also CATHOLIC (Universal) because it is formulated and administered to accommodate all 900 plus tribes of Sub Saharan Africa in 40 countries in a single spiritual system, that is designed to deepen their humanity and their standing with God the Father, and Isho the Son, offering the same Avodah (Liturgy) in each and every part of Sub Saharan Africa, and served with the same Shamashim; trained, certified, and supervised at the same high standards, and by the same AFRICAN DEREKH SHAMASHIM NATIONAL BOARD.

Even though targeting, primarily, African people, in and outside Africa, all other races are warmly welcome, both as believers and as Shamashim, within Africa, Asia, America, and Europe.  There will also be AFRICAN DEREKH COUNCILS which will be in charge of Governance and Finance at African National Level, and at Country and diocese levels. Shamashim will handle spiritual matters, and lay elders will handle Knesiya finances because we cannot serve both God and money (Mt 6:24).

15) AFRICAN DEREKH MISSION

 AFRICAN DEREKH mission is to; –

1) Unite The African Knesiya to end religious slavery whereby churches in a single town are owned by over 30 denominations and 300 private churches so that some believers are having to travel 10 or more km across town to reach a church of their denomination, while DEREKH religion is the same everywhere.

2) Return the African Knesiya to original DEREKH Doctrine of DEREKH Jerusalem, by removing several Greek, Roman, and European adulterations.  

3) Reject private churches as a desecration of DEREKH faith because religion can never be a private entity. Religious service must always be altruistic and benevolent, even if it brings in some income so it is wrong to operate it as a business, in the name of an individual person or household, whereby it operates as a company.

4) Remove European culture from AFRICAN DEREKH and, instead, introduce vetted and harmonised African culture into DEREKH religion.

5) Reject Apostolic church governance model as monarchic, outdated, and ineffective in running DEREKH religion in Africa as it is top-heavy, expensive for nothing, and has brought politics to church governance as priests conduct political campaigns to earn high church office or gain personal recognition.

6) Reject Greek theology as unbelief, paganism, and apostacy because scripture is crisp that DEREKH stands on faith alone, not on knowledge or academic discourse.

7) Reject Apostolic succession as the only criteria of starting a new Derekh denomination. DEREKH is not about history; it is precisely about FAITH and HEEDING of scripture.

8) Bring DEREKH religion to be a platform for, and a facilitator of, Africa’s indigenous civilisation and earthly development.

WELCOME to the Rebirth of DEREKH faith in Sub Saharan Africa.

WELCOME to the end of fragmentation and privatisation of the religion of God, and sacrilegious competition for believers, and for money, among over 30,000 private churches and over 30 different institutional churches in Sub Saharan Africa.

WELCOME to the end of Western academisation of religion and meaningless Greek Theology that amounts to rejection of Revealed Truth of Derekh religion.

WELCOME to an Africanised ORIGINAL JEWISH RELIGION of God, AFRICAN ORTHODOX DEREKH.

SHALOM ALEKHEM ( May Godly peace be with you)