scholarly journals Institusionalisme – springlewendig in die kwynende Afrikaanse Gereformeerde kerkpraktyk

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophia Van Helden
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Church Growth ◽  
Great Commission ◽  
Natural Growth ◽  
Church Decline ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dominant Paradigm ◽  
Sister Churches

In hierdie artikel word die institusionalistiese denkwyse (I-denke) as dominante denkwyse in die krimpende tradisioneel-Afrikaanssprekende Gereformeerde kerke bespreek. I-denke toon ’n denkwanbalans wat weerspieël word in die huidige ongebalanseerde en ongesonde kerkpraktyk. Die onwaarskynlikheid van organiese groei binne die huidige ekklesiologiese wanbalans, word belig deur te fokus op navorsing binne die Gereformeerde Kerk van Suid Afrika (GKSA)-kerkpraktyk, as een van die drie gereformeerde susterskerke. Die bevindings dui op die noodeisende toestand binne die tradisionele ekklesiologie. Die Christosentriese denkparadigma word as gebalanseerde korrektief aan die hand van die groot opdrag uiteengesit (maak dissipels van alle nasies) uiteengesit, as sleutel vir die daarstel van gesonde omstandighede ter wille van kerkgroei. Denke as die belangrikste ekklesiologiese oorsaak van kerkkrimping, kan deur denkverandering teëgewerk word ten einde verdere krimping van die susterskerke teë te werk.Institutionalism – alive and well in the declining Afrikaans reformed church practice. This article discusses institutionalism as the dominant paradigm (I-paradigm) among the declining traditional Afrikaans speaking Reformed churches in South Africa. The I-paradigm portrays imbalanced thinking prevailing in the current unhealthy church practice. The improbability of natural growth within the recent ecclesiastic imbalance, is highlighted by focusing on a study within the church practice of the Reformed Curch of South Africa (RCSA) – one of the three reformed sister churches. Conclusions drawn from the study emphasise the serious conditions of this traditional ecclesiology. The Christ centered paradigm, as balanced corrective, is discussed in line with the great commission (disciple the nations) as key to creating healthy circumstances in order to realise church growth in the long run. Thinking, as the most important ecclesiological factor causing church decline, can be changed, thus preventing further decline of the sister churches.

Leadership functions and church decline in the Reformed Churches in South Africa: Considering Ephesians 4:11–16

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignatius W. Ferreira ◽  
Wilbert Chipenyu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Church Growth ◽  
Church Decline ◽  
Protestant Churches ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Reformed Churches ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
The Church

Multiple studies from Ephesians 4:11–16 have been carried out that focused mostly on aspects of the believers’ priesthood. This article highlights the significance of adhering to the biblical instructions of God as a means to attain church growth. The church was instituted by God and as such he directs the process of church growth. Nevertheless, the ongoing membership decline in the World Protestant Churches globally and the Reformed Churches in South Africa (RCSA) locally is an indicator that the church is failing to meet the will and purpose of God with the church. In the World Protestant Churches and the RCSA, the decline trends are basically the same, and the loopholes are pointing at church leadership. This article seeks to describe the leadership failure to uphold the blueprint of church health according to Ephesians 4:11–16. These are the keys to real church revitalisation and growth. The exegesis of the problem verse (Eph 4:11) was carried out to indicate the various leadership gifts that are necessary for church growth to occur. The Bible and related literature are the sources of data. This article identifies how an omission of the gift-oriented tasks in a congregation leads to church decline.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Within the context of the continued church decline within Western Christianity (Christendom), this article reflects on the historical, mostly ‘Practical theological’ focus on church growth by exegeting the source texts from a ‘missiological perspective’. This study is also very conscious of modernity’s onslaught on the evangelical church through the therapeutic and managerial revolutions, which functions with an attitude of anti-clericalism when focusing on church growth.

scholarly journals Traversing a Tightrope between Ecumenism and Exclusivism: The Intertwined History of South Africa’s Dutch Reformed Church and the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian in Nyasaland (Malawi)

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 176
Author(s):  
Retief Müller
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Church History ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Christian Nationalism ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

During the first few decades of the 20th century, the Nkhoma mission of the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa became involved in an ecumenical venture that was initiated by the Church of Scotland’s Blantyre mission, and the Free Church of Scotland’s Livingstonia mission in central Africa. Geographically sandwiched between these two Scots missions in Nyasaland (presently Malawi) was Nkhoma in the central region of the country. During a period of history when the DRC in South Africa had begun to regressively disengage from ecumenical entanglements in order to focus on its developing discourse of Afrikaner Christian nationalism, this venture in ecumenism by one of its foreign missions was a remarkable anomaly. Yet, as this article illustrates, the ecumenical project as finalized at a conference in 1924 was characterized by controversy and nearly became derailed as a result of the intransigence of white DRC missionaries on the subject of eating together with black colleagues at a communal table. Negotiations proceeded and somehow ended in church unity despite the DRC’s missionaries’ objection to communal eating. After the merger of the synods of Blantyre, Nkhoma and Livingstonia into the unified CCAP, distinct regional differences remained, long after the colonial missionaries departed. In terms of its theological predisposition, especially on the hierarchy of social relations, the Nkhoma synod remains much more conservative than both of its neighboring synods in the CCAP to the south and north. Race is no longer a matter of division. More recently, it has been gender, and especially the issue of women’s ordination to ministry, which has been affirmed by both Blantyre and Livingstonia, but resisted by the Nkhoma synod. Back in South Africa, these events similarly had an impact on church history and theological debate, but in a completely different direction. As the theology of Afrikaner Christian nationalism and eventually apartheid came into positions of power in the 1940s, the DRC’s Nkhoma mission in Malawi found itself in a position of vulnerability and suspicion. The very fact of its participation in an ecumenical project involving ‘liberal’ Scots in the formation of an indigenous black church was an intolerable digression from the normative separatism that was the hallmark of the DRC under apartheid. Hence, this article focuses on the variegated entanglements of Reformed Church history, mission history, theology and politics in two different 20th-century African contexts, Malawi and South Africa.

scholarly journals The local church as a non-governmental organisation in the fight against poverty: A historical overview of Bethulie 1933–1935

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Van der Merwe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Local Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Organisation And Administration ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Church

Poverty is one of the greatest threats to society. In South Africa it is also one of the biggest challenges. This article starts with the challenges put to society by Mr Trevor Manuel at the Carnegie 3 conference. It then explores the possibility of if and how the church can act as a non-governmental organisation in the fight against poverty. A historical overview of the actions of Rev. E.P. Groenewald, during the drought of 1933–1934 in the Dutch Reformed Church Bethulie, serves as a case study of how the church can make a difference. It, however, also illustrates the many pitfalls on this challenging road. The article comes to the conclusion that the main challenge of the church in the fight against poverty is to act as a non-governmental organisation, which transforms values and assists society with good organisation and administration.

scholarly journals The Role of the Church in Socio-Economic Transformation: Reformation as a Transformation Process

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leepo Johannes Modise
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Social ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
The Church

This paper consists of five parts. Firstly, a brief historical background of reformation will be discussed as an exercise to remember reformation. Secondly, we review the role of the ecumenical church (SACC) prior to democracy in South Africa. The purpose for focusing on the role of the church from this period is that it gives us a model to follow in our involvement in socio-economic transformation. Thirdly, the social and economic challenges facing the church and society in democratic South Africa will be discussed. Fourthly, we debate the role of the ecumenical church (SACC) in democratic South Africa. Fifthly, the article explores what role the Uniting Reformed Church in South Africa (URCSA) is playing (descriptive) and ought to play (normative) through all her structures to transform the socio-economic situation in South Africa.

scholarly journals �The hastening that waits�: A critical assessment of the tangebility of unity within the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rothney S. Tshaka ◽  
Peter M. Maruping
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Church Of Christ ◽  
The Political ◽  
Racial Categories ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Racial Lines ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Tradition

The tale of the Reformed Church tradition in South Africa remains conspicuous with challenges also within the current democratic context. Whilst the political past of South Africa contributed towards a Reformed church divided along racial lines, a struggle continues for a genuinely unified Reformed church today. Conceding to the present discussions about the possibility of uniting all Reformed congregations that were divided along racial categories of Black, Coloured, Indian and White, this article aspires to delve into the intricacies pertaining to the already achieved unity between the �Coloured� and a huge portion of the �Black� Reformed congregations, that is to say, the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa. This article will argue that although it is fundamental that the church of Christ must be united, it is equally imperative that the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) waits and assesses whether it has already achieved tangible unity.

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 Inclusive Communities: A missional approach to racial inclusivity within the Dutch Reformed Church

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter Fourie Rossouw
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Racial Diversity ◽  
White Identity ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Hybrid Identities ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Personal Reflections ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

This article dealt with racial diversity in homogenous white Afrikaans faith communities such as the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). This study was partially an account of the researcher’s own discontent with being a minister in the DRC against the backdrop of his own journey of finding a racially integrated identity in a post-apartheid South Africa. It focused on the question of how a church like the DRC can play an intentional role in the formation of racially inclusive communities. The study brought together shifts in missional theology, personal reflections from DRC ministers and contemporary studies on whiteness. The researcher looked towards a missional imaginary as a field map for racial diversity in the church. This was mirrored against contemporary studies on white identity in a post-apartheid South Africa. From this conversation the researcher argued for a creative discovery of hybrid identities within white faith communities. Missional exercises such as listening to the stories of strangers, cross cultural pilgrimages and eating together in strange places can assist congregations on this journey.

scholarly journals Die predikant: bewaker of veranderingsagent in ’n tydperk van transformasie?

1994 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Potgieter ◽  
P. M. Heyns ◽  
G. B. Roux
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Church Members ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Racial Democracy ◽  
Peace And Reconciliation ◽  
The Church

South Africa finds itself in a transition period on its way to a non-racial democracy and an integrated society. This is in contrast to a past charac­terized by apartheid. In this transition period, many South Africans and members of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) struggle with questions and uncertainties concerning a future dispensation for the country and the church issues that need to be addressed. The question is whether the DRC, and specifically the minister, can play an active role in the transition to an integrated South Africa by, for instance, facilitating acceptance, un­derstanding, peace and reconciliation among church members of all races within the congregation and wider contexts. It is probable that ministers have questions concerning their own role, as well as the role that church members expect of them to play during this transition period.

scholarly journals Christelik-nasionale onderwys in die nuwe Suid-Afrika

1991 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. G. Van der Westhuizen
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Multicultural Education ◽  
New South ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
New Era ◽  
National Education ◽  
Cultural Milieu ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

Christian national education in the new South Africa The Dutch Reformed Church of Africa (Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika), as a People’s Church, according to Scripture takes an intense interest in the education of the nation’s youth. According to educational principles, the best school is one in own cultural milieu. The negative reports on multicultural education received from various countries are disquieting for the Church. Consequently, it is necessary to contemplate different options for maintaining Christian national education in a new era.

scholarly journals Finansiële aspekte van gemeentes van die Gereformeerde kerke in Suid-Afrika: ’n empiriese ondersoek

1991 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. S. Lubbe ◽  
J. Lubbe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Financial Planning ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Church Finances ◽  
Planning And Management ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Government

As a result of the presbyterial system of church government of the Reformed Church in South Africa (Gereformeerde Kerke in Suid-Afrika), very little information on the financial matters of the church is available. Hardly any research has been undertaken on the financial matters of congregations of the said church. The aim with this research was firstly to obtain the opinions of clergymen and cashiers within the ranks of the Reformed Church on certain aspects of the financial matters of their congregations and the church as a whole. Secondly certain data from which guidelines on the financial matters of congregations can be drawn, were collected and processed. From the research it became clear that there is a great need for financial guidelines in respect of financial planning and management in congregations and that church finances offers a vast field of study for future research.

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