Missionaries of money on the march across Africa

Across Africa a turf war is being waged between the Devil and God's faithful.

To the winners of this spiritual war will go enormous riches.

For fighting to defeat the Devil, pastors fly Gulfstream private jets and drive bling cars.

This is the "prosperity gospel", which teaches that it is okay to be Christian and rich - and it is sweeping across Africa.

In South Africa prosperity gospel churches are springing up, their flocks drawn from the more traditional religions.

One of these prosperity churches, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, has a following of more than a million, said anthropologist Ilana van Wyk.

It will probably outstrip the Zion Christian Church soon.

These are Pentecostal churches and are a recent phenomenon in South Africa, said Van Wyk. They began to appear in the mid-1990s.

The preachers who set them up were missionaries from the strongholds of prosperity gospel: Brazil, Nigeria and Ghana.

Pentecostal churches took off in West Africa in the 1980s and early 1990s. With their advent came a new breed of super pastor - such as TB Joshua. A hostel run by his church in Lagos collapsed last week, killing at least 67 South Africans.

"What sets Pentecostal churches apart is that their focus is on spiritual warfare on earth against the Devil and not on life after death," said Van Wyk.

"If you overcome the Devil, you inherit the kingdom on earth and the right to enormous prosperity."

This allows the leaders of such churches to display their wealth openly, Van Wyk said.

"This is a sign from God to the people of the leader's church that it was the power of God that opened the wallet," said Van Wyk.

David Oyedepo is reported to be Nigeria's richest pastor and is said to have four private jets and properties across the US and UK.

The money flowing into these churches through donations and tithes has a knock-on effect on the Nigerian economy.

"Take something like the Winners' Chapel [Oyedepo's church] - it has an enormous complex, including shops. There is a huge spin-off to local business. Religion in Nigeria has a financial multiplier effect," said Dianna Games, CEO of Africa at Work, who has travelled extensively in Nigeria.

But trying to put a figure on just how much these churches contribute to the economy is difficult.

It is also hard to know how many Christians follow the prosperity gospel.

According to the Pew Research Centre, about 30% of Nigerians were congregants of charismatic and Pentecostal churches in 2006.

In South Africa the transitory nature of worshippers makes it difficult to pin down the numbers.

Van Wyk spent 18 months researching the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. She found that churchgoers were inclined to move from one Pentecostal church to another, staying with each for only a few months.

They were searching, she believed, for the right pastor.

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God was formed in 1977 in Brazil by Edir Macedo. It arrived in South Africa in the early 1990s and has since grown dramatically. Internationally, it is worth billions of dollars.

"I think the attraction is that a lot South Africans are tired of being told that 'Your rewards will come later'," said Van Wyk.

Prosperity gospel churches find many of their converts at taxi ranks and railway stations.

Anywhere there is foot traffic and people looking for a new message, said Van Wyk.