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Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa | |
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Classification | Protestant |
Theology | Reformed |
Polity | Presbyterian |
Associations | All Africa Conference of Churches; World Communion of Reformed Churches; World Council of Churches; South African Council of Churches |
Region | South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia |
Origin | 26 September 1999 Port Elizabeth |
Merger of | Reformed Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa & Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa |
Congregations | 473 |
Members | 80,000 [1] |
The Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA) was formed and constituted in 1999 as the outcome of the union between the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (RPCSA) and the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa (PCSA).
These two churches shared the same origin dating back to the 19th century, when Britain took over the Cape Colony. The Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa was constituted among soldiers and settlers who arrived in the Cape in 1820, spreading north into Zimbabwe and Zambia. The Reformed Presbyterian Church on the other hand was a product of Scottish missions intended for indigenous Africans and started at Lovedale Mission in Alice. It became autonomous in 1923.
In 1896 the first Presbyterian congregation was founded in Rhodesia at Bulawayo, and later in 1903 in Salisbury (now Harare). Currently there are more than 40 congregations and 100,000-300,000 members. [2]
The motto Nec tamen consumebatur is adapted from the Latin translation of Exodus 3:2 "...The Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet it was not consumed."
The UPCSA ordains both men and women as ministers and elders, a position inherited from the predecessor body, the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa. [3] The church defines marriage as exclusively heterosexual, between one man and one woman, and instructs ministers to not perform same-sex marriages. [4] However, a church court ruled in 2015 that the church did not prohibit its ministers from blessing same-sex unions. [5]
In 2019 the UPCSA celebrated its twentieth anniversary after having spent much of that time in forging structures of union.
The Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa has over 500 congregations and more than 900,000 members [1] and is divided into the following Presbyteries (regional districts):
The Basis of Union is a contract that was signed in September 1999 entered into between the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa (PCSA) and the Reformed Presbyterian Church in South Africa (RPCSA). Under this contract, the two churches would join and become one: the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA). Article 13 of the basis of union states that, as a condition of the union, both churches are to bring 4 associations each and the 8 associations would unite to form only 4 associations (one women's association, one men's association, one girl's association and one youth association).
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The Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church is a confessional Lutheran church body of Germany. It is a member of the European Lutheran Conference and of the International Lutheran Council (ILC). The SELK has about 33,000 members in 174 congregations. The seat of SELK is in Hanover.
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The Dutch Reformed Church is a Reformed Christian denomination in South Africa. It also has a presence in neighbouring countries, such as Namibia, Eswatini, and parts of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. In 2013 it claimed 1.1 million members and 1,602 ordained ministers in 1,158 congregations.
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The Dutch Reformed Church in Africa is a Reformed Christian denomination based in South Africa. It also has congregations in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Along with the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) and the Reformed Churches in South Africa, the NHKA is one of the three Dutch Reformed sister churches of South Africa. The NHKA retains the old Nomenclature Nederduitsch, the word originally referring to the Dutch language. The word refers to the Low Saxon language today. The Dutch language remained the official language of the church until 1933 when the church started functioning almost exclusively in Afrikaans.
The Reformed Churches in South Africa is a Christian denomination in South Africa that was formed in 1859 in Rustenburg. Members of the church are sometimes referred to as Doppers.
The Presbyterian Church of Africa was founded in 1898 by the Reverend Phambani Jeremiah Mzimba, who broke from the Church of Scotland. He broke away because of misunderstanding between the black and white clergy.He was born in Ngqakayi, and his father was a deacon in the Presbyterian Church. Mzimba become a pastor, and was ordained in 1875. He was sent to Scotland to the anniversary of the Free Church of Scotland, but later severed its ties with the denomination. In 1898 he founded his own independent Presbyterian church. He died in 1911. The first Synod was constituted in Alice, Cape Colony. Mzimba had a dispute with the Free Church of Scotland over land and over the use of money. The Presbyterian Church of Africa is a predominantly black church. It was a small group of churches with 2 presbyteries. The church grew steadily. It is one of the oldest independent churches in Africa.
William Anderson Soga was the first black African to qualify with an MBCM in 1883 and the first black African medical doctor to practise in South Africa, as well as being the first black African to obtain a doctorate MD. His thesis titled "The ethnology of the Bomvanas of Bomvanaland, an aboriginal tribe in South East Africa, with observations upon the climate and diseases of the country, and the methods of treatment in use among the people" was completed at the University of Glasgow in 1895. He was also ordained as a minister in the United Presbyterian Church 1885 making him one of the first medical missionaries in South Africa. Soga was involved in the running of mission stations, building churches, diagnosis and treatment of patients, research and writing.