scholarly journals A Quarter Century of Structural Unity in the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa: A Socio Historical Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mookgo Solomon Kgatle
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Assemblies Of God ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
White People ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Full Gospel ◽  
Pentecostal Churches ◽  
Apostolic Faith Mission ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

The Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) of South Africa is one of the largest Pentecostal churches in Africa, with other denominational Pentecostal churches like the Full Gospel and the Assemblies of God. Since its inception in 1908, the AFM of South Africa has been divided into four main sections, namely: black, white, mixed race and Indian, for about 88 years. The church followed the divisions under apartheid in South Africa that divided people according to race, colour and ethnicity, with white people at the forefront of that division. It was only in 1996 that the AFM of South Africa decided to unite under one umbrella, with one constitution governing the structures and the members of the church. The 25 years of unity within the AFM of South Africa call for an evaluation of both the successes and the failures of this unity. Through a socio-historical analysis, it will be possible to identify the achievements of this unity on the one hand, and the loopholes on the other. The paper will show that the identified loopholes are detrimental to the unity of the church and its future. Therefore, in order to experience true unity, the church should address the challenges that compromise this unity by returning to the biblical basis of unity, dealing with structural impediments and encouraging multicultural fellowships. When the above is done, not only will the church experience true unity, but also maintain its growth that the church has experienced over the years of its existence.

scholarly journals Pentecostals and apartheid: Has the wheel turned around since 1994?

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelebogile T. Resane
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Assemblies Of God ◽  
Church Of God ◽  
Governance Structures ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Political Space ◽  
Full Gospel ◽  
Apostolic Faith Mission ◽  
Racial Lines ◽  
Church Governance

The article gives a brief origin of the three classical Pentecostal denominations in South Africa, namely the Apostolic Faith Mission, the Full Gospel Church of God, and the Assemblies of God. The aim is to demonstrate the Pentecostals’ docility in the socio-political space in South Africa due to their church governance, structures and polity designed along racial lines. The main question is: Has the wheel in these churches turned around since 1994 after the dawn of democracy in South Africa? The conclusion suggests that these churches should demonstrate intrinsic reformation by continuing with proclamation and participation activities to demonstrate their alignment with the new democratic dispensation. A brief summary is given of these churches’ current activities in answer to the main question.

scholarly journals A socio-historical analysis of the sections in the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa from 1908 to the present

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mookgo S. Kgatle
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Mixed Race ◽  
Church History ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
Apostolic Faith Mission ◽  
Scholarly Contribution ◽  
The Church

The article presents a socio-historical analysis of the sections in the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) of South Africa from 1908 to the present. In order to achieve this, the article studies the relationship between the South African social politics and the ecclesiastical politics. It demonstrates how the AFM got divided into sections. The sections are the white, mixed race, Indian and black sections. The four sections in the AFM were not equal in power and responsibilities. The white section of the church was the major and domineering section of the AFM. Although other sections like mixed race and Indian were also inferior to the white section, the black section was the most inferior and marginalised section. The article also studies how the divisions in the AFM were addressed and solved. The purpose is to demonstrate how the church that was once divided into sections according to racial groups was able to move into unity.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article makes a valuable scholarly contribution to the ongoing research on the history of the AFM in the field of church history. It juxtaposes church history with the problems facing society today like racial segregation and how such problems can be addressed and solved.

scholarly journals A Quarter Century of Democracy and the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leepo Johannes Modise
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
History Of ◽  
Measuring Tool ◽  
The Church

This paper focuses on the role of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) in the South African society during the past 25 years of its services to God, one another and the world. Firstly, the paper provides a brief history of URCSA within 25 years of its existence. Secondly, the societal situation in democratic South Africa is highlighted in light of Article 4 of the Belhar Confession and the Church Order as a measuring tool for the role of the church. Thirdly, the thermometer-thermostat metaphor is applied in evaluating the role of URCSA in democratic South Africa. Furthermore, the 20 years of URCSA and democracy in South Africa are assessed in terms of Gutierrez’s threefold analysis of liberation. In conclusion, the paper proposes how URCSA can rise above the thermometer approach to the thermostat approach within the next 25 years of four general synods.

scholarly journals Filosofies-teologiese uitgangspunte van ‘missionale’ kerkwees: ’n Kritiese evaluering

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaco Kruger
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Important Implication ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Missional Church ◽  
The World ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Static View ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

In hierdie artikel word ’n perspektief gebied op die tendens wat min of meer sedert die aanvang van die millennium ook in Suid Afrika posgevat het, naamlik om die kerk as diemissionale kerk te tipeer. Hierdie ontwikkeling in die nadenke oor die kerk is oënskynlik ’n reaksie op ’n vroeëre, statiese siening van die kerk, waar meer op die kerk as instelling gefokus is en wat funksioneer deur mense nader te trek en deel te maak van die instelling. In teenstelling hiermee wil die missionale kerk in haar benadering by God self begin, as die sendende God en van daar ’n meer dinamies-kommunikatiewe siening van kerkwees ontwikkel. Laasgenoemde beteken dat die kerk veel meer binne die kultuur van die wêreld aanwesig is om daar op ’n nuwe werklikheid te wys. Die navorsingsvraag wat in hierdie artikel gevra word, het te make met die filosofies-teologiese vertrekpunte van die missionale kerkweesbenadering. Watter siening van die verhouding tussen God en die skepping, oftewel die transendente en die immanente, lê ten grondslag van hierdie benadering? Watter invloed het die inagneming van filosofies-teologiese oorwegings op die beoordeling van die missionale kerkgedagte? Hierdie vrae word beantwoord deur die opvatting van missionale kerkwees, asook die institusioneel-kontraktuele opvatting van kerkwees waarteenoor dit reageer, teen die agtergrond van die sakramentele verstaan van die kerk te plaas. Die sakramentele verstaan van die kerk was deel van die deelnemende wêreldbeeld wat vir die eerste millennium van die kerk se lewe as vanselfsprekend aanvaar is.This article presents a perspective on the growing tendency – also in South Africa – to characterise the church as missional. Thinking of the church in missional terms is apparently in reaction against an earlier, static view that focused on the church as an institution, and more specifically, an institution that functions by drawing people to itself. In contrast, the missional approach to church wants to start with God, as the One that sends, and from that perspective develops a more dynamic and communicative conception of the church. An important implication of this would be to have the church much more present in and to the culture of the world, in order to effectively point to a new reality. The research question informing this article has to do with the philosophical and theological underpinnings of the missional church approach. What assumptions about the relation between God and creation, or transcendence and immanence, underlie this approach? What implications would the consideration of the philosophical and theological assumptions underlying the missional church movement have for its evaluation? These questions are answered by placing the missional notion of the church, as well as the institutional-contractual notion against which it reacts, against the background of a sacramental understanding of the church. The latter was the notion of the church that was almost universally taken for granted in the first millennium of the church’s existence.

scholarly journals Pentecostals and the pulpit: A case study of the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marius Nel
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Comparative Literature ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Worship Service ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Pentecostal Churches ◽  
Apostolic Faith Mission ◽  
Comparative Literature Study

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.

scholarly journals REMEMBERING AND COMMEMORATING THE THEOLOGICAL LEGACY OF JOHN G. LAKE IN SOUTH AFRICA AFTER A HUNDRED YEARS

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-170
Author(s):  
Marius Nel
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
African American ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Pentecostal Churches ◽  
Apostolic Faith Mission ◽  
Azusa Street

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.

scholarly journals Your sister in Babylon sends her love: Towards prophetic solidarity in post-apartheid South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarman S. Tshehla
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Arena ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

How does a self-respecting Christian from Galilee who now finds himself based near the seat of empire relate to power in light of his faith? How are his admonishments, especially those which relate to the public arena, to be appropriated by those living on the periphery of the empire? I reflect on these questions from the vantage point of a South Africa in which on the one hand erstwhile prophets are being haunted by the vagaries of power and on the other the Church is apparently as powerless as never before.

scholarly journals Structural Violence against Women in the Pentecostal Movement: Proposals for a South African Deconstruction Strategy

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marius Nel
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Structural Violence ◽  
Women's Ministry ◽  
Pentecostal Movement ◽  
History Of ◽  
Pentecostal Churches ◽  
Apostolic Faith Mission

The phenomenon of discrimination against women within Pentecostal churches in terms of ministry and leadership is investigated to propose a strategy for deconstructing such structural violence. The violence is described in terms of a case study, the history of a prominent South African Pentecostal denomination (Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa) that initially recognised the involvement of women in all forms of ministry; subsequently in the 1940s refusing their ministry as preachers and pastors, and eventually at the end of the 1970s offering them the same ministerial privileges as for males. Their recognition is, however, characterised by a practical non-application of a church order that in effect represents the commitment of violence against women. It is argued that the change in perspectives of women’s ministry and leadership is hermeneutical in nature. To deconstruct it would need revisiting Pentecostalism’s original hermeneutic as well as restoring its restorationist urge of egalitarianism and inclusiveness.

scholarly journals Integrated Pentecostal Ministry of Richard Ngidi in the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa, 1921–1985

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mookgo Solomon Kgatle
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Racial Segregation ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
Unity In Diversity ◽  
Apostolic Faith Mission ◽  
South African Politics

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.

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