L’africanisation de l’Église évangélique au Maroc : revitalisation d’une institution religieuse et dynamiques d’individualisation

Abstract

L’Église évangélique au Maroc (EEAM), fondée au début du xxe siècle, est une Église de tradition réformée issue de la colonisation. Fréquentée par les seuls Européens, ses effectifs déclinent inexorablement à partir de l’indépendance en 1956, jusque dans les années 1990 où elle connait alors une mutation sociologique profonde, avec l’afflux de ressortissants venus d’Afrique subsaharienne (étudiants, migrants, cadres, etc.). Seule Eglise protestante officiellement reconnue et présente dans plusieurs villes du pays, l’EEAM réunit une population à 95 % africaine, très diversifiée sur le plan culturel et confessionnel. Les membres sont originaires d’une part des Églises protestantes d’institution coloniale (mainline churches) et d’autre part des Églises néo-pentecôtistes et charismatiques d’initiative africaine, de création plus récente. La cohabitation dans une même structure d’identités religieuses hétérogènes produit parfois tensions et malentendus. Les modèles d’organisation, les référents théologiques et les pratiques observables témoignent de ce pluralisme en tension. Caisse de résonnance d’un champ religieux africain multiforme et globalisé dont chacun de ses membres reflète une composante, l’Eglise se constitue aussi en acteur de ce même champ avec une proposition religieuse originale combinant pluralisme confessionnel, inter-culturalité et agencéité. Après avoir mis en évidence l’influence du champ religieux virtuel (internet), de même que les liens entre l’EEAM et le réseau informel d’Églises de maison constitué à ses marges, cette contribution montre comment se construit l’articulation entre d’une part, une institution religieuse en pleine mutation, et d’autre part, les trajectoires religieuses individuelles qu’elle suscite, avec leur dynamique propre oscillant entre adhésion, contestation ou subversion.The Église Évangélique au Maroc (EEAM) was founded in Morocco under French colonialism in the early twentieth century as an expression of the Reformed Protestant tradition. Attended first by Europeans only, its numbers had inexorably declined from Morocco’s independence in 1956 until the nineties. Since that time, the Church has experienced a deep sociological mutation with a continuing influx of sub-Saharan Africa nationals (students, migrants, businessmen, etc.). As the only officially recognized Protestant church, the EEAM has congregations in many cities all over the country, where regular attendees are 95 % Sub-Saharan Africans, with very diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. Members of EEAM churches come from both traditional mainline Protestant churches and more recently established Pentecostal or charismatic churches (PCCs). This cohabitation of heterogeneous religious identities within the same institutional structure often creates tensions and misunderstandings. Varying theological reference points, patterns of church organization, and religious practices bear witness to this pluralism-in-tension.The EEAM acts as a resonance chamber for a global, multiform African religious field, with each church member reflecting a particular dimension of this field. At the same time, the EEAM operates within the field as a key-player, presenting an original African religious expression marked by denominational pluralism, interculturality, and personal agency. After considering the influence of the virtual religious field (internet) on the church as well as the links between the EEAM and the informal network of house churches existing on its margins, this article will explore the articulation between a changing religious institution on one hand, and, on the other hand, the individual religious trajectories it generates with their own dynamics, oscillating between adhesion, contestation or subversion.

African Perspectives on South–South Migration

“…The religious effects of the presence of African migrants in Moroccan cities have also received some attention more recently. These works have shown how the more or less permanent settlements of West and Central African migrants have contributed to a pluralization of the religious landscape and the introduction of new forms of religiosity (Coyault 2014;Bava 2016;Bava and Boissevain 2020;Berriane 2020). At the same time, the Christian and Muslim spaces used and shaped by sub-Saharan African migrants are usually neither publicly visible nor shared with locals (Timéra 2011;Berriane 2014;Coyault 2021).…”

“…A survey conducted by the Protestant church in 2013 find out a large variety of newly founded Christian churches in the city. 12 These places, which often are referred to as house-churches, have all been founded by migrants from Central (both Congo states) and West Africa (mainly Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Liberia) and are exclusively frequented by migrants from these regions (Coyault 2014;Berriane 2020). Besides slight doctrinal differences, these churches belong mostly to the charismatic movement which has become the most influential Christian movement in Africa (and worldwide) and attaches, among other things, a central importance to the work of the Holy Spirit in teaching and faith practice (Robbins 2004).…”

Governing Migration for Development from the Global Souths

“…These neighbourhoods are also witnessing the multiplication of migrant support associations as well as informal places of worship, mostly Pentecostal, Protestant or prophetic (Bava, 2016). These house churches are set up inside the buildings where migrants live (Coyault, 2014). The whole Christian religious landscape of West and Central Africa seems to be represented in this network of informal churches.…”

“…It has been estimated by a member of the Mowafaqa Institute6 in 2019 that the official churches gather a total of 30,000 faithful. The main nationalities represented are from Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon and Central Africa (Coyault, 2014), countries located in the area of cooperation favoured by Morocco (Abourabi, 2020).…”

Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience in the Arabic Countries Facing Globalization and Migration

“…Among migrants, many Evangelicals were expelled from 2014 to 2016. This was the case for 16 volunteers for the orphanage in the Middle Atlas in 2014, accused of proselytism among miners and their poor families (Coyault 2014(Coyault , 2015. Religious leaders seem to no longer know how to handle these developments and instead adopt attitudes ranging from inherited reflections to traditions condemning apostasy, Muslim marriage with non-Muslims, etc., and respect for freedom of conscience.…”