Many scholars have tended to take African Christianity as a given, and study its social, political, economic or ecological implications, without coming to terms with the nature and character of African Christian faith A knowledge of how faith is understood at the popular level and how it functions in personal, domestic, and communal life is essential to this task. In this context a significant contemporary Christian movement which has received little attention is studied in depth - revival meetings or crusades which are a regular and popular feature of urban life in Malawi.