The African church

During our visit, Rachel and I had the privilege of visiting the Connexional Office of the Methodist Church of South Africa where Rachel led the staff devotions. 

    

After the morning prayers we were taken for coffee to a room in which there was an amazing exhibition telling the history of Methodism in South Africa. 

I learned that Methodism in South Africa began as a result of lay Christian work by an Irish soldier of the English Regiment, John Irwin, who was stationed at the Cape and began to hold prayer meetings as early as 1795.  This paved the way for missionary work from 1816 onwards and the establishnment of mission stations along the Cape.  The Methodist Church of South Africa formerly began in 1833 and gained independence from the British conference in 1926.   Today there are reportedly 2 million members in the Methodist Church of South Africa.

 The first black President of Conference was shockingly as recent as 1964 and the first female minister was ordained in 1976.  Sadly, to date there has not yet been a female President of Conference so we will watch this space with interest for the future!

What saddened me here (and in other countries I have visited) is the way the churches seem to operate in a very ‘British’ way and don’t always reflect the culture within which they are placed.  If you look at the photos below of one of the churches we visited, it is interesting that there is nothing to give it away that we were in Africa (other than maybe the palm trees!) – it could be a church anywhere in the UK.

The township churches definitely had a more African feel to them and even though the services were organised in a very ‘British’ style, when the congregations began to sing in worship, their passion and exuberance burst out and we felt that we were truly worshipping in a way that was natural to the people. We were in awe of Rev Steve Day who has worked hard to learn to speak in the language of the people and who on the day I was with him in the township church of Good Hope, led the entire liturgy in Xhosa.  The local people are amazed that a British man has gone to the trouble of learning their language and he has earned a lot of respect for that. 

          

From various countries I have visited it seems that congregations feel that the ‘British’ way is the correct way to ‘do’ church and I have a sense that in the building of congregations, much of the original culture of the indigenous people has been lost.  There is a colonial feel to a lot of our churches overseas and that makes me feel sad. 

Ernest Cole, writing in 1967 (House of Bondage) about the arrival of Christianity in South Africa states that ‘The white missionaries, no matter how high their purpose, could not help but impose their own Western background onto African converts whose traditions and culture were far different.’

I know from various African Christians with whom I have spoken that many are grateful to the white people for bringing Jesus to them but often want to be free to worship in their own way rather than in a way imposed on them from Britain. 

It seems that we have a long way to go within the church in releasing people from the religious traditions and culture of our way of doing church, so that they can be enabled to worship and run their churches in a way that is at one with their own culture and traditions.

Again Ernest Cole writes, ‘The Africans learned from white example that Christianity can be treated as little more than a religious social club, something to join because it is somehow better to be inside than outside but not something to affect ones everyday life deeply.’  How I pray that the African church will be able to hold on to Jesus and not allow dead religion to squash their faith and passion for God. 

The other thing we learned about the churches from our visit is that there is still a lot of segregation within the church with different groups for blacks, whites and coloureds and there is still a lot of prayer needed for the healing of old wounds and bringing about unity so that the church of Jesus can be an example to the rest of society in reconciliation and fellowship. 

The Magnify programme, run by Jane, seeks to do just that as it brings together women from across the cultural and racial divides in a common sisterhood and that is a powerful, prophetic statement in this country and a lesson in unity to all of us wherever people are excluded or separated. 

I close with the words of a song from the song book at the Connexional Office which is a prayer for the nation of South Africa:

Who will save our land and people?

Who can rescue us from wrong?

We are lost – faint, false and foolish

We have slighted God too long.

Save the people, Lord our Saviour,

Guide us home from country far

Holy fire consume our rancours;

Thy Kingdom come – in Africa.