scholarly journals Hou Christus die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika in stand?

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
André Ungerer
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Church Planting ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
White People ◽  
Predominately White ◽  
Missional Ecclesiology ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The People ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Theology Students

Does Christ sustain the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa? The Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (NRCA) that is situated in South-Africa is currently experiencing a serious decline in numbers. The question arises whether Christ will sustain the NRCA in the words of the Afrikaans Hymn 477 in the ‘Liedboek van die Kerk’ (Hymnbook of the Church): ‘Christ will maintain his church …’ Is it a matter of faith, or even more – a matter of obedience? The membership of the NRCA mainly consists of white Afrikaans-speaking people. Apart from the situation in the NRCA there is also a serious decline in the number of white people in South Africa. It raises the question about the sustainability of the NRCA if it continues to maintain a membership of predominately white Afrikaans-speaking people. The NRCA is very much institutionalised with a history that lacks missional intention and involvement in the community. This study investigates the possibility for a more applicable missional curriculum in the training of theology students to counter the lack of missional involvement. It also investigates new ways to reach the unchurched society with a missional approach. The Fresh Expression Movement that originated in the UK provides a new paradigm for the NRCA that will hopefully lead to a new way of thinking and doing. Will Christ sustain the NRCA? The answer lies in the willingness of the NRCA to show a missional heart for all the people of Africa, especially those in Southern Africa.Keywords: Missional; missional curriculum; missional ecclesiology; institutionalism; toxic organization; spiritual; church planting; fringes; Fresh Expressions 

scholarly journals Die Fresh Expression beweging en die Hervormde Kerk – ’n nuwe manier van kerkwees?

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
André G. Ungerer
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Church Planting ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Train The Trainer ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The People ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Task Team ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Established Church

The Fresh Expression movement is well-known in Great Britain and other Western countries like the USA, Australia and lately South Africa. During 2013, a task team launched two pilot courses in Cape Town and George that marked the beginning of Fresh Expressions in South Africa. The Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa – NRCA) exposed 125 of her pastors to the Fresh Expression movement by means of the annual continuous theological training program during 2015. Three of the pastors underwent the ‘Train the Trainer’ course and are currently involved in the presentation of courses in the Pretoria region. The Fresh Expression movement hold the possibility for pioneers in church planting to reach the people who have no ties with the established church. By entering a certain context, faith communities are established by means of listening to the people in their context, serving them in a loving way, creating a community, evangelise and discipling them and starting their own unique way of worshipping. The new faith communities are not in competition with the established church but it is rather a question of a mixed economy where different types of church exists alongside each other in mutual respect and support. This study tries to establish basic criteria to distinguish a Fresh Expression from random missional outreaches by a congregation. Two potential Fresh Expressions in the NRCA were evaluated by the set criteria.

scholarly journals Language as a barrier to ministry of the Word with special reference to sign language in ministry: Human dignity perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leepo J. Modise
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Hearing Impairments ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The People ◽  
Ministry Of The Word ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

This article is born out of my participation in the General Synod Ministerial Formation for theological training of Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA), when a decision was taken to license a student with a disability to be a minister of the Word in URCSA. Furthermore, my experience and observation of the licensing of the two candidates with hearing impairments to the ministry of the Word and Sacrament in URCSA and Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (DRCSA) has encouraged me to conduct this research. This article is made up of four important parts: Firstly, the researcher will discuss Belhar Confession as the confession that emphasises unity (inclusivity), reconciliation and justice. Secondly, Belhar Confession and disability from the human dignity perspective will be discussed. Thirdly, the ecclesiological practices and shortcomings from the human dignity perspective will be highlighted. Fourthly, pastoral care as the affirmation of human dignity will be discussed.Interdisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The fields involved in this article are Systematic Theology, Sociology and Psychology. The author challenges classification of people with a disability under the category of limited competence by the Dutch Reformed Church when they license the ministerial candidates. The future results will reveal the inclusivity in terms of licensing and calling of ministers in the Dutch Reformed Church Family. This research calls for the change in the traditional discourse within ecclesiological, sociological and psychological fields, which exclude the people with a disability from the ministry of the Word and Sacraments.

scholarly journals Church planting in South Africa: The role of the Reformed Church Tshiawelo

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muthuphei A. Mutavhadsindi ◽  
Piet G.J. Meiring
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Church Planting ◽  
Future Planning ◽  
Profound Change ◽  
The Past ◽  
Reformed Church

The Reformed Congregation of Tshiawelo, in Soweto, South Africa, has undergone a profound change over the past 20 years. It has developed from an ailing introverted church to a congregation that reached out to the wider community, increasing its membership dramatically in the process. In this article, the authors reported on a number of issues related to this transformation, including: the importance of partnerships in the process of renewal, the methodology used in the process of renewal, the need for church planting and the necessity for future planning.

scholarly journals Comparative Genomic Study for Revealing the Complete Scenario of COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ishtiaque Ahammad ◽  
Mohammad Uzzal Hossain ◽  
Arittra Bhattacharjee ◽  
Zeshan Mahmud Chowdhury ◽  
Md. Tabassum Hossain Emon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Causative Agent ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Comparative Genomic ◽  
The People ◽  
Genomic Study ◽  
Comparative Genomic Study ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Full Swing ◽  
Near Future

AbstractAs the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage across the globe and take millions of lives, worldwide efforts to understand its causative agent, SARS-CoV-2 at the genomic level are also running in full swing. Such studies are providing precious insights about the pathogenesis, evolution, strengths and weaknesses of the virus. As of October 1st, 2020, 323 SARS-CoV-2 genomes have been sequenced across Bangladesh. The current study is aimed at answering some vital questions about these sequences. From our analyses, it was discovered that the majority of the SARS-CoV-2 found in Bangladesh belonged to the lineage B 1.1.25 of GR clade. Dhaka and Chittagong division were the most diverse in terms of SARS-CoV-2 clades while Mymensing was the least. There are more variety of clades in southern parts of Bangladesh than the northern parts. The most commonly found SARS-CoV-2 mutations found in the country were Spike_D614G, NSP12_P323L, N_G204R and N_R203K. Even though no significant pattern of distribution could be drawn between mutations found in Bangladesh and the countries with similar mortality rates and the countries with large Bangladeshi diaspora, to a certain degree they match with those in the UK, Oman, Italy, Greece, South Africa and Russia. Therefore, careful eye should be kept on the performance of vaccines in those countries in the near future as they are likely to work well in Bangladesh if they work well there. Mutational events in Bangladesh were found to increase between April and July, 2020 and decrease since August, 2020. The number of mutations per SARS-CoV-2 virus sample in Bangladesh was calculated to be 6.88 which is lower than the global average of 7.23. The decrease and the lower rate of mutation raise the possibility of a vaccine or drug working sustainably to protect the people. Based on these insights, a clear picture about the ongoing pandemic can be drawn in the context of Bangladesh which will help the country take appropriate measures to combat the virus.

scholarly journals The Dutch Reformed Church is continuously changing: Revision of the church order of 1998

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet J. Strauss
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Church And State ◽  
New South ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

As the name of the title suggests, the Dutch Reformed Church is continuously changing or reforming. This change focuses on improvement as times change. In 1994, the Dutch Reformed Church was confronted with a new South African society built on a new paradigm, as expressed in Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996. Against this background, the General Synod of 1998 amended the church order. The amendments, including employment relationships of ministers, church discipline and the relationship between church and state, echoed the new South Africa and were an attempt to operate anew from reformed constants or principles. As a changing church in a changing situation, the Dutch Reformed Church wished to reform on these points or change on the basis of reformed principles.

scholarly journals Reframing the Tower of Babel narrative for economic justice within the South African context

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Rathbone
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Economic Justice ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
The South ◽  
Tower Of Babel ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The People ◽  
The Impact

The Tower of Babel narrative is profoundly connected to the history of South Africa and its interpretation in the Dutch Reformed Church document entitled Human Relations and the South African Scene in the Light of Scripture (1976), which was used to justify apartheid. In this article, it is argued that this understanding of the narrative is due to racist framing that morally justified the larger apartheid narrative. The Tower of Babel narrative was later reframed for liberation and reconciliation by Desmond Tutu. However, apartheid had an impact not only on the sociopolitical dynamics of South Africa. Submissions to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by business and labour highlight the impact of apartheid on the economy and specifically black labour. These revelations are responsible for new questions regarding the economics of the narrative that arise and may enrich the understanding of the Tower of Babel narrative. This focus on the economic aspect of the narrative is also supported by historical research on the Tower of Babel narrative that reveals that the dispersion of the people on the plain of Shinar may refer to the demise of the Sumerian empire, which was among other influences brought about by a labour revolt. In this regard, the narrative is a theological reflection on the demise of an unjust economic system that exploited workers. The purpose of this article is to critically explore this economic justice aspect embedded in the narrative in order to determine whether this reframing of the narrative is plausible. This is particularly important within the post-apartheid context and the increase of economic problems such as unemployment, poverty and economic inequality.

scholarly journals The shaping and formation of a missional ecclesiology of township congregations in the Mangaung Metro Municipality during COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Baron ◽  
Khamadi J. Pali
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Missional Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Missional Ecclesiology ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
African Context ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
The Church

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caught most organisations, institutions and leaders off-guard, including church leaders. This was not any different in the congregations in the townships of the Mangaung Metro Municipality. The article discusses the responses of the churches in the Mangaung district and poses the question pertinently, ‘How did (or not) the churches in the Mangaung district reimagine, restructure, and position themselves prophetically during the COVID-19 pandemic?’. This is done firstly by providing a background to the development of a missional ecclesiology in North America, United Kingdon, and South Africa. Secondly, a discussion will be focused on the characteristics of the congregations which are necessary for developing a missional ecclesiology, in terms of these phases, as argued by Baron and Maponya. However, in the final section it will bring the missional ecclesiological discourse in conversation with the shaping and developing (or not) of a missional ecclesiology in respect of congregations in the township of the Mangaung Metro Municipality. The authors provide some contours for the missional role of the church in the current South African context and the formation of a missional ecclesiology.Contribution: This article contributes to the missional church discourse in missiology, that has been a conversation within Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. The authors have been conducting research within mostly Pentecostal church in the township of Mangaung. The article is an attempt to broaden the missional church discussion in terms of region and Pentecostal ecclesiology.

International Listening Post report summary: the world at the dawn of 2019

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-124
Author(s):  
Sandy Henderson ◽  
Ulrike Beland ◽  
Dimitrios Vonofakos
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Faroe Islands ◽  
The South ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk

On or around 9 January 2019, twenty-two Listening Posts were conducted in nineteen countries: Canada, Chile, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Germany (Frankfurt and Berlin), Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy (two in Milan and one in the South), Peru, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, and the UK. This report synthesises the reports of those Listening Posts and organises the data yielded by them into common themes and patterns.

Free but fragile: Human relations amidst poverty and HIV in democratic South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-94
Author(s):  
Christina Landman
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
Black People ◽  
Hiv Treatment ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
White People ◽  
Black And White ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Black Township

Dullstroom-Emnotweni is the highest town in South Africa. Cold and misty, it is situated in the eastern Highveld, halfway between the capital Pretoria/Tswane and the Mozambique border. Alongside the main road of the white town, 27 restaurants provide entertainment to tourists on their way to Mozambique or the Kruger National Park. The inhabitants of the black township, Sakhelwe, are remnants of the Southern Ndebele who have lost their land a century ago in wars against the whites. They are mainly dependent on employment as cleaners and waitresses in the still predominantly white town. Three white people from the white town and three black people from the township have been interviewed on their views whether democracy has brought changes to this society during the past 20 years. Answers cover a wide range of views. Gratitude is expressed that women are now safer and HIV treatment available. However, unemployment and poverty persist in a community that nevertheless shows resilience and feeds on hope. While the first part of this article relates the interviews, the final part identifies from them the discourses that keep the black and white communities from forming a group identity that is based on equality and human dignity as the values of democracy.

The Reflection of Apartheidic Trauma / Traumatic Apartheid in None to Accompany Me by Nadine Gordimer

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 328
Author(s):  
Şahin KIZILTAŞ
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Black People ◽  
Native People ◽  
Nadine Gordimer ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
White People ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Violence Victimization ◽  
White Settlers ◽  
Almost All

The world has gone through a trauma for centuries. Almost all nations have experienced all sorts of traumatic events and feelings in this period. Among those nations, the black seem to be the most unlucky and ill-fated suffered from traumatic disasters. However, among those black nations, the natives of South Africa have been the most piteous and wretched ones. Their misfortune began in 1652 with the arrival of white colonists in the country. Since then, the oppression and persecution of white European colonists and settlers on natives increasingly continued. Those native people were displaced from the lands inherited from their ancestors a few centuries ago. They were not allowed to have equal rights with white people and to share same environment in public premises. The natives have put up resistance against the racial and colonial practices of white settlers which excluded them from all living spaces; yet, they could not manage, even they came into power in 1994. Today their exclusion and violence victimization still go on and they are still subjected to inferior treatment by (post)colonial dominant white powers. As a white intellectual and writer who had European origins, Nadine Gordimer witnessed the repression and torturing of European settlers on native people in South Africa. In her novels, she has reflected the racial discrimination practiced by white people who have considered of themselves in a superior position compared to the black. This study aims to focus on how Gordimer has reflected the trauma which the black people of South Africa have experienced as a consequence of racist practices. This will contribute to clarify and get across the real and true-life traumatic narratives of native people in the colonized countries.

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