Editing Kimbanguism (section)

== History ==
{{main|Christianity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo}}
In April 1921, Kimbangu, a [[Baptists|Baptist]] mission [[catechesis|catechist]], inaugurated a mass movement through his supposed miraculous healings and biblical teaching. His teachings attracted working people, who left jobs to hear him speak about liberation. This threatened the colonial labor structure and thus the Belgian regime.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nzongola-Ntalaja |first=Georges |title=The Congo from Leopold to Kabila : a people's history |date=2002 |publisher=Zed Books |isbn=1-84277-052-7 |location=London |pages=48–49 |oclc=46822313 |author-link=Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja}}</ref> The [[Belgium|Belgian]] authorities treated the faith with suspicion and imprisoned Kimbangu until his death in 1951. The church was formally recognised by the [[Belgian overseas colonies|Belgian colonial authorities]] in 1959.

Some smaller, more loosely organised groups in [[Central Africa]] regard Kimbangu as [[God]]'s [[prophet]].

===Life and works of Kimbangu===
According to the church,{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} Kimbangu is said to have come down to Earth from [[Mount Zion]] as a Congolese infant. His father had been a traditional religious leader, but both parents died and Kimbangu was orphaned and put in the care of his maternal aunt.  She took him to Baptist missionary school where he studied for many years, until he grew up and became a preacher.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}} Some statisticians have estimated that the number of Kimbanguists to be thirty two million.<ref name="q052">{{cite book | last1=Brissman | first1=I. | last2=Linjamaa | first2=P. | last3=Makeeff | first3=T.T. | title=Handbook of Rituals in Contemporary Studies of Religion: Exploring Ritual Creativity in the Footsteps of Anne-Christine Hornborg | publisher=Brill | series=Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion | year=2024 | isbn=978-90-04-69220-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WNH7EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA294 | access-date=2024-09-27 | page=294}}</ref>