Whiteheadian Process Philosophy and Its Implication for the Nigerian Contemporary Churches

It has been demonstrated that religion can promote both spiritual and societal growth. Religion undoubtedly has an impact on every institution in society in addition to spirituality. In Nigeria in the twenty-first century, the church has been a clear force for progress, not only by illuminating society spiritually but also by being socially relevant in the fields of health, politics, education, and the economy. There has always been a lot of discussion over the church's social role. Some believe that the church is fulfilling its role as a catalyst for change, while others believe that, rather than improving society, she has turned into a liability. Therefore, some fundamental presumptions include the first that Christianity is an appealing and communal faith. It started out through interacting with Greco-Roman society, culture, philosophy, and worldviews in general. This interaction resulted in a two-way transition that benefited both the emergence of Christianity and Christianity itself. Second, both the life of the church and the academia revolve around theological reflection. Many people reflect theologically, both consciously and unconsciously. There are various levels at which the church engages in theological reflection, and there may be a connection between this reflection and church life. Thirdly, as a general theological exercise or for a context study, Christology plays a significant role in Christian theological reflection. The pivotal roles of the church and theology in public space continue to dominate the thoughts of many churchmen and theologians in Nigeria as they grapple with the fact of the increasein the numberof Christian communities in all geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Thus this study is targeted towards examining the church to whether the church is still militant or already perfect in Whiteheadian process philosophy point of view. Related literatures are viewed to bring an understanding to what Whiteheadian process philosophy is about and how it can be related to the present state of the Church. Therefore, philosophical tools coupled with descriptive survey are employed as the research method to uncover the state of the church. The implications of Whiteheadian process philosophy on the church points out that the church is becoming and not yet perfect but that does not exonerate the church from working towards perfection as not doing so will make the church a substance of no growth at all.