Pentecostals buckle up Africa's Bible belt

By Tim Cocks

KAMPALA (Reuters) - As the miracle-healer descended from the sky in an immaculate white helicopter, his disciples cheered with joy: "Hallelujah! Praise Jesus."

Gospel songs thundered through the speakers as televangelist Benny Hinn landed outside Uganda's national stadium last month, before addressing 40,000 enraptured faithful.

His white suit picked out by floodlights, the U.S.-based preacher promised a "miracle crusade" to heal the sick, make the blind see and the lame walk. "In Jesus' name, lift your hands and sing," he cried, almost drowned out by cheering.

Pentecostal religion is mushrooming in Africa.

Promising prosperity, miracle cures and life-changing spiritual experiences, the "born again" faiths that are the staple of America's multi-millionaire televangelists are fast taking over the world's poorest continent.

For many, they offer hope. In Hinn's front seats, ringed with collection buckets, sat people in wheelchairs, AIDS patients, children with deformities.

"I want the power of the Lord to descend on me and lift me out of this chair. I want to be like you," said John Wilson, a 58-year-old Ugandan who broke his spine in a car accident.

The U.S. Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life says Pentecostalism is growing globally, with a quarter of the world's 2 billion Christians thought to be members of these faiths that emphasize speaking in tongues, divine healing, prophesy and a strongly literal interpretation of Bible stories.

In Africa all churches are booming, but Pentecostalism is overtaking traditional Catholic and Anglican faiths brought by European colonizers over a century ago.

"FERVENT PRAYER, 24 HOURS"

Pentecostals and charismatics now account for 147 million Africans, 17 percent of the continent's people, compared with 5 percent in 1970, the World Christian Database says.

South Africa's Apostolic Faith Mission is its biggest church. A third of urban South Africans are Pentecostals.

Last year, one million Kenyans -- nearly one in 30 -- attended a service by American preacher T. D. Jakes in Nairobi.

Nigeria, with 130 million people, is full of barn-like buildings with names like the "Mountain of Fire and Miracles", drawing a million or more worshippers for all-day prayer.

A camp along Lagos-Ibadan expressway advertises "fervent prayer, 24 hours".