Eyes closed, hands clasped, bodies swaying to the rhythm of the choir’s pleas – “God, don’t let us down!” – the faithful were plunged into intense emotion. Here and there, a finger wiped away a tear. Sunday, January 28, the Assembly of the Missionaries of Jesus Christ celebrated its weekly service in a basement apartment in Riad El-Oulfa, a popular neighborhood of Riad El-Oulfa. “Amen!” “Alleluia!” “Praise God!” Biblical cheers rang out as four young choristers, dressed in caftans adorned with the hand of Fatima, fervently sang hymns and swayed their hips in an incandescent gospel atmosphere.
After the songs of praise, Ferdinand Kouassi, the pastoral assistant, with his hands raised above his desk, called out to his flock dressed in their Sunday best: “We are all in the boat of Jesus. But when the wind blows, will you be able to hold on your faith? When the storm breaks, will you remain faithful to your God? The fifty members of the congregation are all from sub-Saharan Africa and include Ivorians, Congolese, Gabonese, Togolese and Nigerians.
Pastor Silas, dressed in a fuchsia jacket over a wine red shirt, closely watched his disciple leading the worship service. The Ivorian, who worked as a cook in a restaurant in Casablanca, founded this church in 2020, after hearing the “voice of God” in an intimidating “dream”. “Start the work here!” The name of his “work”, the Assembly of the Missionaries of Jesus Christ, is now displayed in giant letters on the banner hung behind the altar, accompanied by a verse from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew: “Go and do disciples from all nations. »
A broader phenomenon
The church of Pastor Silas in Casablanca is only one manifestation of a much larger phenomenon in Morocco: that of “house churches” (created in private apartments) of neo-Pentecostal or charismatic affiliation, derived from African Protestantism. Their growth since the 2000s, fueled by migratory flows from sub-Saharan Africa, has revitalized Christianity in North Africa. As Europe seeks to lock down its borders, the southern shores of the Mediterranean are home to growing migrant communities whose exodus towards the north is being slowed. Unwittingly, these countries are transforming from transit corridors into more permanent settlement zones, ideal for a revival of Christianity, since these stranded travelers are often Catholic or Protestant.
The fact that such a return of the Christian faith in Islamic countries is occurring from southern Africa rather than from Northern Europe certainly defuses the concern, sometimes expressed in certain Muslim circles, of a new “religious colonization “. But it also has societal consequences which can be difficult to manage. So far, Morocco is doing rather well compared to other North African countries, such as Tunisia, marked in 2023 by an explosion of violence against sub-Saharan migrants. The religious dimension was predominant in this outburst of xenophobia, reflected in President Kais Saied’s diatribe denouncing “hordes of illegal migrants” serving a “plot” aimed at distancing Tunisia from its “Arab-Islamic roots”.
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