Pentecostalism in South Africa

Last updated

Pentecostalism began spreading in South Africa after William J. Seymour, of the Azusa Street mission, sent missionaries to convert and organize missions. [1] By the 1990s, approximately 10% of the population of South Africa was Pentecostal. The largest denominations were the Apostolic Faith Mission, Assemblies of God, and the Full Gospel Church of God. Another 30% of the population was made up of mostly black Zionist and Apostolic churches, which comprise a majority of South Africa's African Instituted Churches(AICs). In a 2006 survey, 1 in 10 urban South Africans said they were Pentecostal, and 2 in 10 said they were charismatic. In total, renewalists comprised one-fourth of the South African urban population. A third of all protestants surveyed said that they were Pentecostal or charismatic, and one-third of all South African AIC members said they were charismatic. [2]

Contents

History

Early 20th Century

In 1895, John Alexander Dowie established a church in Johannesburg. Eventually this joins with the Christian Catholic Church in Zion. In 1904 a missionary from Dowie's Zion City was sent to oversee this church consisting of around 5,000 members who were mostly Zulus. [2]

In 1908, Thomas Hezmalhalch and John Lake, along with others, from William Seymour's Azusa Street Mission went to South Africa to convert and organize missions. [1] [2] Seymour decided to send missionaries to South Africa because a reader of Seymour's Apostolic Faith newsletter responded inviting Azusa missionaries to South Africa. This mission was well received as South Africans were predisposed to pentecostal ideas such as Speaking in Tongues, Spirit Healing and the Holy Spirit from previous missions done by Holiness missionaries as well as John Alexander Dowie's Zion City. John Lake, who was also an elder in Zion City, helped bridge the two missions together and partnered with Afrikaner Pieter Le Roux to establish the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa in October 1913. [1] [2] Seymour's Pentecostal vision was not always well received in South Africa because Seymour's missionaries promoted the idea of social equality between the white South Africans and the native black South Africans, which the white South Africans disagreed with. [1] The issue of racial segregation created a few breakaway churches from the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa, the Catholic Apostolic Holy Spirit Church in Zion, created in 1910, Zion Apostolic Faith Mission, created in 1920, which later in 1925, split into the Zion Christian Church which is the largest South African church today. [2] Seymour's missionary work in South Africa caused Pieter Le Roux, an Afrikaner Pastor, to adopt the Pentecostal message and spread it through native black South Africans and eventually through Zionist Pentecostalism and into African Instituted Churches. [1]

Rodney Smith, a white South African, read about Pentecostal beliefs and the Azusa revival in William Seymour's Apostolic Faith newsletter. Smith wrote about how he wanted to receive the Spirit Baptism, so when Lake and the other Azusa missionaries arrived in South Africa, he received his Spirit Baptism. Smith and another Azusa missionary, Henry Turney, organised to create a work that eventually became the Assemblies of God in Cape Town and Johannesburg. [1] Turney, who received his Spirit Baptism in 1906 at Azusa Street, played a large part in this missionary work. He partnered with eleven missionaries and eventually began ministering in Pretoria in 1909. By 1911 they created another mission in Transvaal which in 1917 became a part of the Assemblies of God. [1] [2]

In September 1909, two evangelists from Pieter Le Roux's church walked from Wakkerstroom to Johannesburg where they held meetings with the Zulus. Many people at these meetings were saved and sixteen received their Spirit Baptism. There were reports of an unnamed evangelist raising up to four people from the dead while at the meetings, causing the meetings to completely fill the building they were held in. While these claims may not be true, they were extremely important in promoting and spreading Pentecostalism throughout the native population. [1]

By October 1909 revivals were in full swing in Johannesburg, Cape Colony, Doornfontein, and Pretoria. Many were reported being saved, healed, and receiving their Spirit Baptism. In Johannesburg, Pentecostals were evangelizing workers in the Diamond Mines and inmates in local jails, totalling about 250,000 South Africans. Within a few years, there were more than 250 native black Pentecostal preachers, 12 ordained ministers, and 6 places of worship. [1]

Mid-20th Century

In 1932, the South African branch of the Assemblies of God separate from the American branch. The South African branch of the Assemblies of God was unique in that during the Apartheid-era, they avoided racial segregation, though they were still divided into different associations that reflected the racial differences. These associations were reunited in 2002 to form one of the largest Classical Pentecostal denominations in South Africa. [2]

During this time, the majority of white Pentecostals supported apartheid or remained apolitical. One of the county's biggest Pentecostal denominations, The Apostolic Faith Mission, has an all-white leadership council. Many white church leaders at this time were a part of the apartheid-era government, such as Gerrie Wessels, who was a senator of the National Party in 1955 and served as vice-president for the Apostolic Faith Mission until 1969. Black Pentecostal leaders during this time usually tended to avoid political involvement. Nicholas Bhengu, a prominent leader of the Assemblies of God in the 1950s, condemned political involvement, even considering it to be un-Christian. He created a "Back to God Crusade" where he emphasised restoring black dignity and fighting crime while staying out of politics. [2] Bhengu’s friend Edgar M. Louton was later forced to cut ties with the Assemblies of God because of his criticism of Apartheid.

Late 20th Century

In the 1970s and 80s, there was rapid growth in neo-Pentecostal churches such as the Rhema Church, and Durban Christian Center. Ray McCauley was the country's most important white neo-Pentecostal leader. He was the founder of the Rhema Church in 1979, and the president of the International Fellowship of Christian Churches in 1985, which is the country's largest association of Charismatic and neo-Pentecostal churches. [2]

in 1994, the African Christian Democratic Party was founded by Pentecostals and evangelicals with focus on opposition to abortion and homosexuality. In 1994, Kenneth Meshoe, a pastor of the Pentecostal Hope of Glory Tabernacle, was elected to parliament. Eventually, other Pentecostal leaders such as Ray McCauley and Frank Chikane criticize the party for their focus on being conservative. [2]

In 1996, the two, previously separate black and white, branches of the Apostolic Faith Mission reunite. At the celebration, the president of the church, Isak Burger, apologizes to Chikane for the sins of the church during the apartheid era. Later on that year, Chikane is elected to vice president of the church and in 1997, is elected to the National Executive of the ANC, and then in 1999, becomes the director-general for the office of President Thabo Mbeki. [2]

By 2006, four members of the African Christian Democratic Party are members of parliament, including Pentecostal pastor Meshoe. [2]

Apartheid and Pentecostalism

Apartheid was a system in South Africa, put in place around 1948 by the newly elected white Afrikaner National Party, which legally enforced segregation. [3] [2]

During the apartheid era, many Pentecostal leaders tried to stay out of politics. But a few, mostly black, Pentecostal leaders became politically active to fight apartheid. Such as Frank Chikane, a black Pentecostal member of the Apostolic Faith Mission, who joins the Student Christian Movement in the 1970s to help guide them towards political activism. Between 1977 and 1982, Chikane was arrested four times. During one of these, he was interrogated and tortured by a member of his own church. In 1981, Chikane was suspended by the Apostolic Faith Mission and was not reinstated until 1990. In 1987, Chikane became the general secretary of the South African Council of Churches where he serves as mediator between the government and the African National Congress (ANC). [2]

In 1985, Chikane and a group of other anti-apartheid church leaders create a group called Concerned Evangelicals. Concerned Evangelicals published papers denouncing apartheid, including the Kairos Document in 1985, and the Evangelical Witness in South Africa in 1986, of which, half of the signers were Pentecostal. in 1988, a Pentecostal organization called the Relevant Pentecostal Witness published an anti-apartheid paper and in 1994, these two organizations join to form The Evangelical Alliance of South Africa. [2]

Ray McCauley of the mostly white, neo-Pentecostal Rhema Church, starts becoming involved in politics near the end of apartheid. in 1990, McCauley and representatives from 97 other churches sign the anti-apartheid Rustenburg Declaration. In 1991, McCauley and Chikane serve on the National Peace Accord. [2]

Churches

Apostolic Faith Mission

The Apostolic Faith Mission began in 1908 when John Lake and Thomas Hezmalhalch came from William Seymour's Azusa Street Mission to convert in South Africa. The Apostolic Faith Mission grew quickly, but soon became racially segregated. In 1996 the two racially segregated branches reunited to form one of the biggest denominations in South Africa. [1] [4]

South African Assemblies of God

The Assemblies of God is the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world. In 1908, missionaries arrived in South Africa from William Seymour's Azusa Street mission. Some of these missionaries organized a group that would eventually grow to becoming a part of the Assemblies of God. By 1936 this branch of the Assemblies of God was a mostly black denomination. The Assemblies of God preach of Healing, miracles, as well as the holy spirit baptism, like many other Pentecostal denominations. One major difference from other Pentecostal denominations is that the Assemblies of God believe in the Trinity, that people should be baptised "in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit", rather than being Oneness, where you are baptised in the name of Jesus. [5]

Full Gospel Church of God in South Africa (Volle Evangelie Kerk Van Suid-Afrika... before 2005)

In 1909, George Bowie was sent by the Bethel Pentecostal Assembly to South Africa. In 1910 the Pentecostal mission began. This would eventually become the Full Gospel Church of God in South Africa. The Full Gospel Church of God teach of integrity, prophecy, empowering members and leaders to operate within biblical standards, and are contemporary yet remain faithful to their Pentecostal origins. [6] [7]

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God(UCKG) was established in 1977 in Brazil and began spreading to Africa in the 1990s. The UCKG, led by Edir Macedo, sent missionaries to most countries within Africa, as well as many outside. The first bishop to be sent to South Africa, Marcelo Crivella, which was near the end of apartheid, preached of equality between the whites and blacks. South Africa is among the few countries in Africa where the UCKG succeeded the most. The UCKG preaches about prosperity, exorcisms, and healing which form the basis for their faith. [8]

Nazareth Baptist Church

Related Research Articles

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 Apostolic Faith Church of Portland, Oregon, also known as the Apostolic Faith Mission of Portland, Oregon, is an international Holiness Pentecostal denomination of Christianity, with nationwide reach and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1907 by Florence L. Crawford, who was affiliated with William J. Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival of Los Angeles, California. By 1908 Crawford had independently founded what would become the Apostolic Faith Church. Since July 2000, the Superintendent General of the Apostolic Faith Church has been Darrel Lee.

Oneness Pentecostalism is a nontrinitarian religious movement within the Protestant Christian family of churches known as Pentecostalism. It derives its name from its teaching on the Godhead, a form of Modalistic Monarchianism commonly referred to as the Oneness doctrine. The doctrine states that there is one God―a singular divine spirit with no distinction of persons―who manifests himself in many ways, including as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This stands in sharp contrast to the doctrine of three distinct, eternal persons posited by Trinitarian theology.

The Azusa Street Revival was a historic series of revival meetings that took place in Los Angeles, California. It was led by William J. Seymour, an African-American preacher. The revival began on April 9, 1906, and continued until roughly 1915.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assemblies of God</span> Group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches

The World Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is an international Pentecostal denomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William J. Seymour</span> African American holiness preacher

William Joseph Seymour was an African-American holiness preacher who initiated the Azusa Street Revival, an influential event in the rise of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. He was the second of eight children born to emancipated slaves and raised Catholic in extreme poverty in Louisiana.

The Latter Rain, also known as the New Order or the New Order of the Latter Rain, was a post–World War II movement within Pentecostal Christianity which remains controversial. The movement saw itself as a continuation of the restorationism of early pentecostalism. The movement began with major revivals between 1948 and 1952 and became established as a large semi-organized movement by 1952. It continued into the 1960s. The movement had a profound impact on subsequent movements as its participants dispersed throughout the broader charismatic and pentecostal movements beginning in the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Fox Parham</span> American preacher and evangelist (1873–1929)

Charles F. Parham was an American preacher and evangelist. Together with William J. Seymour, Parham was one of the two central figures in the development and early spread of American Pentecostalism. It was Parham who associated glossolalia with the baptism in the Holy Spirit, a theological connection crucial to the emergence of Pentecostalism as a distinct movement. Parham was the first preacher to articulate Pentecostalism's distinctive doctrine of evidential tongues, and to expand the movement.

David Johannes du Plessis was a South African-born Pentecostal minister. He is considered one of the main founders of the charismatic movement, in which the Pentecostal experience of baptism with the Holy Spirit spread to non-Pentecostal churches worldwide.

Zionist churches are a group of Christian denominations that derive from the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church, which was founded by John Alexander Dowie in Zion, Illinois, at the end of the 19th century. Missionaries from the church came to South Africa in 1904 and among their first recruits were Pieter Louis le Roux and Daniel Nkonyane of Wakkerstroom who continued to evangelize after the Zionist missionaries left in 1908.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa</span> Classical Pentecostal Christian denomination in South Africa

The Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa (AFM) is a classical Pentecostal Christian denomination in South Africa. With 1.2 million adherents, it is South Africa's largest Pentecostal church and the fifth largest religious grouping in South Africa representing 7.6 percent of the population. Dr. Isak Burger has led the AFM as president since 1996 when the white and black branches of the church were united. It is a member of the Apostolic Faith Mission International, a fellowship of 23 AFM national churches. It is also a member of the South African Council of Churches.

The Australian Christian Churches (ACC), formerly Assemblies of God in Australia, is a network of Pentecostal churches in Australia affiliated with the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, which is the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assemblies of God USA</span> Pentecostal Christian denomination

The Assemblies of God USA (AG), officially The General Council of the Assemblies of God, is a Pentecostal Christian denomination in the United States founded in 1914 during a meeting of Pentecostal ministers at Hot Springs, Arkansas, who came from a variety of independent churches and networks of churches. The Assemblies of God is a Finished Work Pentecostal denomination and is the U.S. branch of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, the world's largest Pentecostal body. With a constituency of 2,928,143 in 2022, the Assemblies of God was the ninth largest Christian denomination and the second largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States.

The Finished Work is a doctrine associated with Pentecostals of the Finished Work Pentecostal tradition, that locates sanctification at the time of conversion; afterward the converted Christian progressively grows in grace. This is contrary to the Wesleyan doctrine of entire sanctification that locates complete sanctification in a definite second work of grace which Holiness Pentecostals teach is a necessary prerequisite to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Finished Work Pentecostals are generally known to have retained the doctrine of progressive sanctification from their earlier Reformed roots, while Holiness Pentecostals retained their doctrine of entire sanctification from their earlier Wesleyan roots. The term finished work arises from the aphorism "It's a Finished Work at Calvary", referring to both salvation and sanctification. Though the term is used within Pentecostal Christianity, it is not exclusively a Pentecostal doctrine.

Apostolic Faith Mission is the name of several Pentecostal congregations and denominations, and may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Howard Durham</span>

William Howard Durham was an early Pentecostal preacher and theologian, best known for advocating the Finished Work doctrine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Hezmalhalch</span> American missionary (1847–1934)

Thomas Hezmalhalch, usually known as Tom Hezmalhalch, was an American missionary, who together with John G. Lake founded the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa and was its first chairman and president. He was influenced by the healing ministry of John Alexander Dowie.

Pentecostalism is a renewal movement within Protestant Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal relationship with God and experience of God through the baptism with the Holy Spirit. For Christians, this event commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Jesus Christ, as described in the second chapter of the Book of Acts. Pentecostalism was established in Kerala, India at the start of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentecostalism in Australia</span>

Pentecostalism in Australia is a large and growing Christian movement. Pentecostalism is a renewal movement within Protestant Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. It emerged from 19th century precursors between 1870 and 1910, taking denominational form from c. 1927. From the early 1930s, Pentecostal denominations multiplied, and there are now several dozen, the largest of which relate to one another through conferences and organisations such as the Australian Pentecostal Ministers Fellowship. The Australian Christian Churches, formerly known as the Australian Assemblies of God, is the oldest and longest lasting Pentecostal organisation in Australia. The AOG/ACC is also the largest Pentecostal organisation in Australia with over 300,000 members in 2018. Until 2018, Hillsong Church was one of 10 megachurches in Australia associated with the ACC that have at least 2,000 members weekly. According to the church, over 100,000 people attend services each week at the church or one of its 80 affiliated churches located worldwide.

The doctrines and practices of modern Pentecostalism placed a high priority on international evangelization. The movement spread to Africa soon after the 1906 Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Espinosa, Gaston. William J. Seymour and the Origins of Global Pentecostalism. pp. 76–78.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Historical Overview of Pentecostalism in South Africa". www.pewforum.org. October 5, 2006. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Apartheid." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 02 May 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/apartheid>.
  4. ↑ "AFM AGS | The Apostolic Faith Mission of SA | Die Apostoliese Geloofsending Van SA." AFM AGS | The Apostolic Faith Mission of SA | Die Apostoliese Geloofsending Van SA. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2015. <http://www.afm-ags.org/>.
  5. ↑ "The Assemblies of God in South Africa." The Assemblies of God in South Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.agfsa.co.za/aog-in-sa.aspx>.
  6. ↑ Anderson, Allan. "New African Initiated Pentecostalism and Charismatics in South Africa". Journal of Religion in Africa. 35.
  7. ↑ "Full Gospel Church of God." N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2015. < "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-04-14. Retrieved 2015-05-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)>.
  8. ↑ Freston, Paul. "THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD: A BRAZILIAN CHURCH FINDS SUCCESS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA". Journal of Religion in Africa. 35 (1).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.