scholarly journals SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT CAUSED SCHISMS IN THE APOSTOLIC FAITH MISSION OF SOUTH AFRICA

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mookgo Solomon Kgatle

The Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) of South Africa has experienced schisms from the year 1910 to 1958. The schisms were caused by sociological and theological factors. These are schisms by the Zionist churches (Zion Apostolic Church, Christian Catholic Apostolic Holy Spirit Church in Zion, Zion Apostolic Faith Mission); Latter Rain; Saint John Apostolic Faith Mission and Protestant Pentecostal Church. The sociological factors that led to the schisms by the Zionist churches and the Protestant Pentecostal Church are identified as racial segregation and involvement in politics respectively. The theological factors that caused these schisms by Latter Rain and Saint John Apostolic Faith Mission are manifestations of the Holy Spirit and divine healing respectively. After comparison of the factors, it is concluded that racial segregation is the main factor that caused schisms in the AFM.

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marius Nel

In general, early Pentecostals did not use any pulpits in their halls in order to underline their emphasis that each believer is a prophet and priest equipped by the Holy Spirit with gifts for the edification of other members of the assembly. All participated in the worship service by way of praying, prophesying, witnessing and bringing a message from God. From the 1940s, Pentecostals in their desire to be acceptable in their communities formed an alliance with evangelicals, accepted their hermeneutical viewpoint and built traditional churches in accordance with the Protestant tradition. From the 1980s, the pulpit started disappearing from the front of Pentecostal churches. This is explained in terms of new alliances that Pentecostals made with neo-Pentecostalist churches and a new hermeneutical viewpoint. The hypothesis of the article is that the Pentecostal stance towards the pulpit was determined by its hermeneutical perspectives. It is described by way of a comparative literature study and applied to a specific case study, the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa.


2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-170
Author(s):  
Marius Nel

John G. Lake visited South Africa in 1908 as part of a missionary team with the aim to propagate the message of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as experienced at the Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission in 312 Azusa Street, Los Angeles under the leadership of William Seymour, son of African-American slaves. Lake’s missionary endeavours that ended in 1913 established the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa and eventually also the African Pentecostal churches (‘spiritual churches’, ‘Spirit-type churches’, ‘independent African Pentecostal churches’ or ‘prophet-healing churches’) constituting the majority of so-called African Independent/Initiated/Instituted (or indigenous) churches (AICs). This article calls for remembering and commemorating Lake’s theological legacy in South Africa in terms of these two groups of churches.


Africa ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bennetta Jules-Rosette

Opening ParagraphThe Apostolic Church of John Maranke (Vapostori or Bapostolo), an indigenous Christian church founded in Umtali, Rhodesia, now has congregations across Central Africa. For the Church's central ritual event, the Sabbath kerek, and other occasions of worship, singing constitutes the core of ritual practice and is used to invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit. These songs combine traditional Bantu rhythmic patterns with a unique Apostolic form. Often drawn from biblical themes, the songs are composed by members as spiritually inspired pieces.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 136
Author(s):  
Gernaida K. R. Pakpahan ◽  
Frans Pantan ◽  
Epafras Djohan Handojo

Peter Wagner, as an expert on church growth, stated that the Apostolic church is a church that is experiencing rapid growth. This claim is made because many Apostolic churches have been built around the world. The church continued the spirit of the apostles at the time of the early church's birth. However, it is important to conduct an in-depth study regarding the realization in the field; whether a thriving Apostolic church is carrying out God's mission or the personal ambition of a charismatic church leader. This study analyzes how the church which is said to be an Apostolic church runs its organization so that it experiences significant growth. The research method used is descriptive qualitative. The researcher tries to explore the phenomena and data obtained through respondents about the transformative apostolic church that was developed in the ministry of the Indonesian Bethel Church of Gatot Subroto. In conclusion, GBI Gatot Subroto is a transformative apostolic church, because of several things, such as a visionary church, senior pastors or mentor pastors as apostolic leaders, divine authority and the work of the Holy Spirit have an impact, the church as a center for leadership training and discipleship across generations implements apostolic ministry followed by other gifts/services, prioritizing mission, and focusing on the Kingdom of God.AbstrakPeter Wagner, sebagai salah satu ahli pertumbuhan gereja, menyatakan bahwa gereja Apostolik adalah gereja yang mengalami pertumbuhan secara pesat. Klaim ini disampaikan karena banyak-nya terbangun gereja-gereja beraliran Apostolik di seluruh dunia. Gereja tersebut melanjutkan semangat para rasul pada masa lahirnya gereja mula-mula. Namun, penting untuk dilakukan kajian mendalam terkait realisasi di lapangan; apakah gereja Apostolik yang berkembang menja-lankan misi Allah atau ambisi pribadi dari pemimpin gereja yang berkharismatik. Penelitian ini menganalisis bagaimana gereja yang dikatakan sebagai gereja Apostolik menjalankan organisa-sinya, sehingga mengalami pertumbuhan yang signifikan. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah kualitatif deskriptif. Peneliti berusaha mengeksplorasi fenomena dan data-data yang diperoleh melalui responden tentang gereja apostolik transformatif yang dikembangkan dalam pelayanan Gereja Bethel Indonesia Gatot Subroto. Kesimpu-lannya, GBI Gatot Subroto adalah gereja apostolik transformatif, karena beberapa hal, seperti: gereja yang visioner, gembala senior atau gembala pembina sebagai pemimpin kerasulan, otoritas Ilahi dan pekerjaan Roh Kudus berdampak, gereja sebagai pusat pelatihan kepemimpinan dan pemuridan lintas generasi, menerap-kan jawatan rasuli diikuti karunia-karunia/jawatan lainnya, memprioritaskan misi, dan berfokus pada Kerajaan Allah.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 41-47
Author(s):  
Piotr Bortkiewicz

According to saint John of Damascus, Islam is one of the Christian sects. The difference between Islam and Christianity is mainly in understanding Logos (Logos as an eternal Word of God) and “logias” – the words of God that were revealed and written down. Christians understand Logos as the eternal Word of God directed to people by God. This Word is Jesus Christ. Meanwhile, Muslims refer to Jesus as a prophet and teacher. The Word of God for them is Koran, but initially it was also the Holy Bible. Muslims could not comprehend the person of the Holy Spirit and perceived Him only as a Divine power. Nevertheless, the biggest problem for Muslims living at the time of John of Damascus was to understand the embodiment.


2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Barry

This article aims to show that the Old Testament concept of the year of jubilee is neither an anachronistic, nor a peripheral de- tail of Scripture. It is an integral part of it and indeed one her- meneutical tool for interpreting and applying it to social and mo- ral transformation in South Africa.  Israel, liberated from slavery and returning to God, became a paradigm for the liberated slave to return to his inheritance in the year of jubilee celebrated every 50th year. Its underlying concerns are: justice, freedom, human dignity and rights.  Jesus clearly understood his mission in terms of the proclama- tion of “the year of the Lord’s favour” (Luke 4:14-21), and de- monstrated this by preaching good news to the poor, freeing the prisoners, restoring sight to the blind, and releasing the op- pressed. He linked the mission of his followers with his own and with the promise and gift of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost, seen as fulfilment and announcement of God’s promise, demonstrates that the kingdom of God is already here and still to come.   The Book of Revelation gathers together this scriptural theme and presents the jubilee as good news for now and the future. Indeed, God’s future is presented as the ultimate jubilee. Although these institutions cannot be imposed on a secular democracy, there are implications here for holistic evangelism and mission as well as for social and moral transformation in South Africa.   These implications, it is argued, should include a reference to the ‘missio Dei’ as Jesus expressed it: holistic evangelism; a commitment to the values and practices of restorative justice; restoration, healing and hope; economic justice and land re- form; ecological responsibility; and moral restoration.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mookgo Solomon Kgatle

Previous studies on the life and ministry of Richard Ngidi only present historical data on his achievements and to some extent his failures. This paper is a socio-historical analysis that not only reveals historical data but also aims to problematise the data in relation to social problems like racial segregation. A socio-historical analysis is a method that finds synergy between historical and social factors. The socio-historical analysis in this paper juxtaposes the history of Ngidi with racial segregation. The analysis of the ministry of Ngidi in the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) of South Africa demonstrates that his ministry was an integrated one amid a segregated society. Integrated ministry refers to a ministry that is able to bring unity in the midst of various divisions in society. The AFM of South Africa, like many other denominations, was a segregated society because of the influence of South African politics on ecclesiastical politics during apartheid. Similarly, many pastors adhered to the racial policies of that time or broke away to start their own ministries. Ngidi was an exception because his ministry was multi-racial, non-political, gender-inclusive, interdenominational and international. Therefore, this paper contends that Ngidi serves as a model for social cohesion and unity in diversity.


2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 836-855
Author(s):  
G A Duncan

The Federal  Theological Seminary of Southern  Africa was established in a changing and fluid situation in 1960s South Africa both politically and ecclesiastically. Its foundation can be attributed to the influence of these national and church influences. Politically, the changing context in the educational world in particular and ecclesiastically, a growing tendency towards ecumenism both nationally and internationally contributed to the need for an independent institution which would train ministers for the mainline churches in a deteriorating political context. In addition, there was a strong view that the influence of the Holy Spirit was operative in the political context which ‘forced the church to be the church’.


Author(s):  
Ivan Satyavrata

The Pentecostal/Charismatic movement is not a monolithic church ‘tradition’ with a centralized organization. After a May 1860 revival in Tamil Nadu, revivals swept across India that included figures such as Pandita Ramabai and Minnie Abrams. Pentecostalism in Iran had an early start in the work of Andrew Urshan, who received the baptism in the Holy Spirit in 1908 in Chicago. There are several sociological factors unique to the region that have influenced the wide range of Pentecostal expressions. Some church movements have closely guarded their indigenous identity, while others have welcomed outside relationships. Independent local churches have become Charismatic as the result of a spiritual revival or of embracing Pentecostal teachings and constitute the largest segment of Pentecostals/Charismatics in the region. Pentecostal movements take on indigenous contexts fairly easily due to its autonomy, its spontaneity, and the arousal of cultural identity emerging from colonial experience. A personal experience of the Spirit and the emphasis on Charismatic gifts are central. Despite hostility in the region, Pentecostal and Charismatic churches are growing exponentially, aided by the creative use of media. The varied populations of South and Central Asia represent the most formidable challenge to Christian missions in the twenty-first century.


1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-291
Author(s):  
M. Nel

The development of the doctrine of divine healing in the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa: some church historical perspectives In this study attention is given to the development of the doctrine of divine healing in the A.F.M of S.A., starting with its historical roots found in the holiness and revivalistic movements of the nineteenth century. A description of the preaching of the doctrine in the A.F.M of S.A. through the eighty five years of its history follows.


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