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Enoch Mgijima (1868 – 5 March 1928) was a Xhosa prophet and evangelist. He formed his own church, known as the Israelites, a breakaway from the Church of God and Saints of Christ, and led them through a clash with the white Union of South Africa government, which left 163 Israelites dead, 129 wounded and 95 taken prisoner, in what became known as the Bulhoek Massacre. [1] : pp.1
Enoch Mgijima, the youngest of nine children – five girls and four boys, was born in Bulhoek, 25 km southwest of Queenstown to parents Jonas Mayekiso Mgijima and MaKheswa in 1868. [2] [3] His father, a successful farmer, Jonas Mgijima, was among those Mfengu people who accepted land from the British in a buffer zone - Ntabelanga, or Bulhoek - in return for their support. Like many Mfengu families in the area, the Mgijimas adopted British ideas like wearing Western clothing, raising their children as Wesleyan Methodists and sending them to mission schools. [3] Mgijima's brothers studied at Lovedale Institute and Zonnebloem College in Cape Town. Mgijima completed Standard 3 (Grade 5) at a local school but could not go to Lovedale because of severe headaches. He became a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Hunter and Farmer, It was during that time that he started having visions. [4]
In April 1907, Mgijima had his first vision in which an angel said to him: "I have sent you to these people because I am worried that although they worship me, they are not honest in their worship of me. I want you to worship me according to your old traditions." After ignoring the vision, Mgijima began preaching again and acquired a large following as an evangelist. In 1910, after seeing Halley's Comet, Mgijima felt that his vision had been confirmed. To him, this was a sign that God was angry with humans and that they should return to their Old Testament beliefs. [4] [3] In 1912, Mgijima broke away from the Wesleyan Methodist Church and began baptising his followers whom he called the "Israelites" in the Black Kei River. This came after Mgijima had received a visit from John Isaac Msikinya, a man who had just come back from studying theology and anthropology at Howard University in Washington DC. Msikinya came with an instruction from Pastor William Saunders Crowdy in the United States. Crowdy was a run-away slave, a soldier and the founder of the original Church of God and Saints of Christ – the world's oldest black Hebrew denomination. The instruction was that Mgijima should leave the Wesleyan Methodist Church. [2] In November 1912, he joined the Church of God and Saints of Christ, a small church based in the United States of America, observed the Sabbath on Saturday, held services four times a day, and had the Passover in mid-April as their main festival. [3]
Towards the end of 1912, Mgijima predicted that the world would end by Christmas and would be followed by 30 days of rain. As a result of his prediction, the Israelites stopped working their fields. However, the end did not come. Over the years his visions became more intense. The Church of God and Saints of Christ asked Mgijima to renounce his visions. When he refused to do so, he was excommunicated. As a result, the church split into two factions – the Church of God and Saints of Christ and Mgijima's faction, the Israelites. [4]
Mgijima, who had accumulated a large following, stood up at the tabernacle during a church service in 1919 and said "Juda, Efrayime, Josef, nezalwane (Judah, Ephraim, Joseph and brethren)". According to his followers, Israelites all over the country heard these words and understood that they were to come to Ntabelanga, their prophet's holy village, and await the Lord's coming. By 1921, 3000 Israelites had arrived in Ntabelanga. [4]
In early 1920, local inspector of African locations, Geoffrey Nightingale visited Bulhoek and was reluctant to grant Mgijima permission to host the Passover Festival in the area that year. However, Mgijima assured him his followers would not stay for good. When the inspector visited the village in June, more Israelites had built houses, but Mgijima said many people had not been able to leave for various reasons. Nightingale reluctantly allowed them to stay for a short while. [3] After continuous disagreements over land and the prolonged stay of Israelites in Bulhoek, the white South African government and Mgijima's followers clashed on 24 May 1921. This resulted in 163 Israelites declared dead, 129 wounded and 95 taken prisoner. The massacre is known as the Bulhoek massacre.
Mgijima, his elder brother Charles, and Gilbert Matshoba were sentenced to five years hard labour at DeBeer's Convict Station in Kimberley. [1] : pp.1 He was released from prison in 1924 and returned to Bulhoek. Mgijima died on 5 March 1928 at the age of 60, leaving his wife, Tiyiwe Nondzaba, known by her married name "Mampumalanga the first", and a seven children: Sony, Innis, Zantsi, Mzanywa, Bumba, Topi and Mlauli. [2]
Each year, on 24 May, the religious sect known as the Israelites, founded by Mgijima, host an annual pilgrimage to the grave where the 193 Israelites were buried on 25 May 1921, a day after the massacre. 24 May 2017 marked the 96th anniversary of the massacre. [5]
On 3 August 2016, Tsolwana, Inkwanca and Lukhanji local municipalities were amalgamated to form Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality in honour of Enoch Mgijima. [6]
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley were also significant early leaders in the movement. They were named Methodists for "the methodical way in which they carried out their Christian faith". Methodism originated as a revival movement within Anglicanism originating out of the Church of England in the 18th century and became a separate denomination after Wesley's death. The movement spread throughout the British Empire, the United States and beyond because of vigorous missionary work, and today has about 80 million adherents worldwide.
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, an event that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles.
The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelicalism. The present denomination was founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, by union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley in England, as well as the Great Awakening in the United States. As such, the church's theological orientation is decidedly Wesleyan. It embraces liturgical worship, holiness, and evangelical elements.
The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is an international Holiness–Pentecostal Christian denomination, and the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States. Although an international and multi-ethnic religious organization, it has a predominantly African American membership based within the United States. The international headquarters is in Memphis, Tennessee. The current Presiding Bishop is Bishop John Drew Sheard Sr., who is the Senior Pastor of the Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ of Detroit, Michigan. He was elected as the denomination's leader on March 27, 2021.
The Wesleyan Church, also known as the Wesleyan Methodist Church and Wesleyan Holiness Church depending on the region, is a Methodist Christian denomination in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Indonesia, and Australia. The church is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement and has roots in the teachings of John Wesley. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian doctrine and is a member of the World Methodist Council.
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Black Hebrew Israelites are a new religious movement claiming that African Americans are descendants of the ancient Israelites. Some sub-groups believe that Native and Latin Americans are descendants of the Israelites as well. Black Hebrew Israelites combine elements to their teaching from a wide range of sources to varying degrees. Black Hebrew Israelites incorporate certain aspects of the religious beliefs and practices of both Christianity and Judaism, though they have created their own interpretation of the Bible, and other influences include Freemasonry and New Thought, for example. Many choose to identify as Hebrew Israelites or Black Hebrews rather than Jews in order to indicate their claimed historic connections.
The Church of God and Saints of Christ is a [Israelite]] religious group established in Lawrence, Kansas, by William Saunders Crowdy in 1896. William Crowdy began congregations in several cities in the Midwestern and Eastern United States, and sent an emissary to organize locations in at least six African countries. The congregation later established locations in Cuba and the West Indies.
Eucharistic theology is a branch of Christian theology which treats doctrines concerning the Holy Eucharist, also commonly known as the Lord's Supper and Holy Communion. It exists exclusively in Christianity, as others generally do not contain a Eucharistic ceremony.
William Saunders Crowdy was an American soldier, preacher, entrepreneur, and pastor. and was also one of the earliest known Black Hebrew Israelites in the United States, he established the Church of God and Saints of Christ in 1896 after he claimed to have had visions telling him "That blacks were descendants of the twelve lost tribes of Israel."
The Wesleyan Reform Union is an independent Methodist Connexion founded in 1859 and based in the United Kingdom. The Union comprises around one hundred individual self-governing churches in England and Scotland. Beliefs are set out in a nine-point Confession of Faith.
Religion of black Americans refers to the religious and spiritual practices of African Americans. Historians generally agree that the religious life of black Americans "forms the foundation of their community life". Before 1775 there was scattered evidence of organized religion among black people in the Thirteen Colonies. The Methodist and Baptist churches became much more active in the 1780s. Their growth was quite rapid for the next 150 years, until their membership included the majority of black Americans.
Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles Wesley. More broadly it refers to the theological system inferred from the various sermons, theological treatises, letters, journals, diaries, hymns, and other spiritual writings of the Wesleys and their contemporary coadjutors such as John William Fletcher.
Methodism has historically followed the Protestant tradition of referring to sanctified members of the universal church as saints. However, as a title, Saint is typically prefixed to the names of biblical figures, and pre-Reformation Christians, especially martyrs of the faith. While most Methodist churches place little emphasis on the veneration of saints, they often admire, honor, and remember the saints of Christendom.
In religion, a covenant is a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general. The concept, central to the Abrahamic religions, is derived from the biblical covenants, notably from the Abrahamic covenant. Christianity asserts that God made an additional covenant through Jesus Christ, called the "new covenant".
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Nontetha Nkwenkwe was a Xhosa prophetess who lived in colonial South Africa and began a religious movement that caused her to be committed to asylums by the South African government from 1923 until her death in 1935. She is regarded as one of the most remarkable female religious leaders associated with independent churches in the 1920s.
In the Bulhoek massacre, a white police force from the Union of South Africa killed 163 Xhosa civilians. The massacre occurred on 24 May 1921, in the village of Ntabelanga in the Cape Province. After a dispute over land in Ntabelanga, dating back to 1920, an 800-strong police force from the Union of South Africa led by Colonel Johan Davey and General Koos van der Venter gathered at Ingxingwa Ye Nkunzini, in the Bulhoek valley, and Ingxingwa ka Stivini, Steven's Valley. At the same time 500 men known as the "Israelites", armed with spears and knobkerries, and led by Enoch Mgijima, gathered in an open field, ready to defend their families and community. After failed final negotiations between the two parties, a battle ensued. The 20-minute battle, which left an estimated 163 Israelites dead, 129 wounded and 95 taken as prisoners, became known as the Bulhoek Massacre.
Protestant theology refers to the doctrines held by various Protestant traditions, which share some things in common but differ in others. In general, Protestant theology, as a subset of Christian theology, holds to faith in the Christian Bible, the Holy Trinity, salvation, sanctification, charity, evangelism, and the four last things.
Frank S Cherry was the founder and leader of one of the early Black Hebrew Israelite groups in the United States.
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