Eyes closed, hands clasped, bodies swaying to the rhythm of the choir's pleas –"God, don't let us down!" – the faithful were immersed in intense emotion. Here and there, a finger wiped away a tear. On Sunday, January 28, the Assembly of the Missionaries of Jesus Christ celebrated its weekly service in a basement apartment in Riad El-Oulfa, a working-class neighborhood of Riad El-Oulfa. "Amen!" "Alleluia!" "God be praised!" Biblical acclaims rang out as four young choristers, dressed in a caftan emblazoned with the hand of Fatima, fervently sang hymns and swayed their hips in an incandescent gospel atmosphere.

After the hymns of praise, Ferdinand Kouassi, the pastoral assistant, hands raised above his lectern, called out to his flock in their Sunday best: "We're all in Jesus's boat. But when the wind blows, will you be able to keep your faith? When the storm breaks, will you remain faithful to your God?" The 50 or so members of the congregation all come from sub-Saharan Africa and include Ivorians, Congolese, Gabonese, Togolese and Nigerians.

Pastor Silas, wearing a fuchsia jacket over a wine-red shirt, kept a close eye on his disciple at the helm of worship. The Ivorian, who worked as a cook in a Casablanca restaurant, founded this church in 2020, after hearing the "voice of God" in a "dream" intimating. "Begin 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 stretched behind the altar, accompanied by a verse from the Gospel according to St. Matthew: "Go and make disciples of all nations."

A broader phenomenon

Pastor Silas's church in Casablanca is just one manifestation of a much broader 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. At a time when Europe is seeking to lock down its borders, the southern shores of the Mediterranean are home to growing migrant communities whose exodus to the north is hampered. Unwittingly, these countries are transforming themselves from transit corridors into more permanent settlement areas, ideal for a revival of Christianity, since these stranded travelers are often Catholics or Protestants.

The fact that such a return of the Christian faith to Islamic lands is occurring from Southern Africa rather than from Europe in the north certainly defuses the concern, sometimes voiced in some Muslim circles, of a new "religious colonization." But it also has societal consequences that can be tricky to manage. So far, Morocco has maneuvered rather well compared to other North African countries, such as Tunisia, marked in 2023 by an outburst of violence against sub-Saharan migrants. The religious dimension was prevalent in this outburst of xenophobia, reflected in President Kais Saied's diatribe denouncing "hordes of illegal migrants" in the service of a "conspiracy" to alienate Tunisia from its "Arab-Islamic roots."

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