The Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa (AFM) is a classical
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement Christian denomination
A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worsh ...
in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. 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.
[Office Bearers of the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa]
. Accessed 2 September 2010. Dr. Isak Burger has led the AFM as president since 1996 when the
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
and
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
branches of the church were united. It is a member of the
Apostolic Faith Mission International
Apostolic may refer to:
The Apostles
An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission:
*The Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles
*Apostolic succession, the doctrine ...
, a fellowship of 23 AFM national churches. It is also a member of the
South African Council of Churches
The South African Council of Churches (SACC) is an interdenominational forum in South Africa. It was a prominent anti-apartheid organisation during the years of apartheid in South Africa. Its leaders have included Desmond Tutu, Beyers Naudé an ...
.
The AFM is one of the oldest Pentecostal movement is South Africa with roots in the
Azusa Street Revival
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. O ...
, the
Holiness Movement
The Holiness movement is a Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent other traditions such as Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. The movement is historically distinguished by its emph ...
teachings of
Andrew Murray and the teachings of
John Alexander Dowie
John Alexander Dowie (25 May 18479 March 1907) was a Scottish-Australian minister known as an evangelist and faith healer. He began his career as a conventional minister in South Australia. After becoming an evangelist and faith healer, he ...
.
[ The AFM had an interracial character when it started, but, as in American Pentecostalism, this interracial cooperation was short-lived.][ The decades from the 1950s to the 1980s were marked by the implementation of ]apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
. After 1994, the white AFM moved rapidly towards unification with the black churches. By 1996, all the AFM churches were united in a single multi-racial church.[
The constitution of the AFM blends at the national level the elements of a ]presbyterian polity
Presbyterian (or presbyteral) polity is a method of church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or ...
with an episcopal polity
An episcopal polity is a Hierarchy, hierarchical form of Ecclesiastical polity, church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. (The word "bishop" derives, via the British Latin and Vulgar ...
.[ Decentralization is a major feature of its constitution, which allows local churches to develop their own policies.][ The Apostolic Faith Mission displays a variety of identities and ministry philosophies, including ]seeker-sensitive
The Church Growth Movement is a movement within evangelical Christianity which aims to grow churches based on research, sociology, analysis, etc. The Church Growth Movement started with a passion for the Great Commission, and seeing people come to ...
, Word of Faith
Word of Faith is a movement within charismatic Christianity which teaches that Christians can get power and financial prosperity through prayer, and that those who believe in Jesus' death and resurrection have the right to physical health. The ...
, Presbyterian, and classical Pentecostal.[
]
History
Early history: 1908–1912
While the Apostolic Faith Mission was founded in 1908 and Pentecostalism brought to South Africa by American missionaries, several factors helped create a favorable climate for the Pentecostal movement to spread in the country. First, revivals in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa
Three churches from the Dutch Reformed Church tradition in South Africa are often mentioned together as "three sister churches". They are the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK), Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NHK), and Reformed ...
(DRC) in 1860, 1874 and 1884 were characterized by deep conviction of sin followed by conversion, fervent prayer and some ecstatic phenomenon. Thus in 1908, some older DRC members were familiar and open to Pentecostalism. Second, the Dutch Reformed minister Andrew Murray was a prominent holiness
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...
teacher and helped create a climate for revival. A third factor was the Zionist churches, led by John Alexander Dowie
John Alexander Dowie (25 May 18479 March 1907) was a Scottish-Australian minister known as an evangelist and faith healer. He began his career as a conventional minister in South Australia. After becoming an evangelist and faith healer, he ...
from Zion City, Illinois, United States.
In May 1908, five American missionaries— John G. Lake and Thomas Hezmalhalch, along with their wives, and A. Lehman—arrived in South Africa from Indianapolis. Lake and Hezmalhalch had links to Dowie's Zion City and had been baptized in the Holy Spirit at the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles. Despite these influences, however, the missionaries had no organizational affiliation. Arriving in Pretoria
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...
, Lake felt that the Holy Spirit
In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...
was leading him to Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
because they found no doors open in Pretoria. In Johannesburg, a Mrs Goodenough met them and invited them to stay in her house. She witnessed that the Holy Spirit had sent her to the train station to meet the American missionaries. They first began ministry at a rental hall in Doornfontein
Doornfontein is an inner-city suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, located to the east of the city centre, Region 8.
History
The area, whose name means "thorn fountain", was originally the southern part of a farm owned by Frederick Jacobus Bez ...
, a Johannesburg suburb, on 25 May 1908. The services consisted of a mixed racial group, and many who attended the first services were Zionists. The missionaries moved to the Central Tabernacle, Bree Street, Johannesburg as the young Pentecostal movement grew. It was there that the Apostolic Faith Mission developed, initially as a committee first meeting in September 1908. It was not registered as a legal entity until 1913, however.[Maxwell, "Historicizing Christian Independency", 249.]
By 1909, it had spread to the Orange River Colony
The Orange River Colony was the British colony created after Britain first occupied (1900) and then annexed (1902) the independent Orange Free State in the Second Boer War. The colony ceased to exist in 1910, when it was absorbed into the Unio ...
. In South Africa, as at Azusa Street, the movement was initially multi-racial, appealing to both Boers
Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this area ...
and blacks. It expanded rapidly among African farm workers in the Orange River Colony and Wakkerstroom
Wakkerstroom, (''Awake Stream''), is the second oldest town in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The town is on the KwaZulu-Natal border, 27 km east of Volksrust and 56 km south-east of Amersfoort.
History
The settlement was laid out o ...
, where Pentecostal beliefs in divine healing through prayer would have made it an attractive alternative to traditional or medical treatment.[Maxwell, "Historicizing Christian Independency", 246–248.] Lake made contact with the Wakkerstroom Zionists led by Pieter Louis Le Roux, and many Zionists joined the Apostolic Faith Mission. Their influence can be seen in the AFM's practice of baptism by triple immersion, once each in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There was also interaction with other churches, such as the Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and non-conformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where they originated from Anglicanism. The group emphasizes ...
and International Holiness movement, which often resulted in individuals or whole congregations joining the AFM. Most AFM converts, however, came from the Dutch Reformed churches.[Maxwell, "Historicizing Christian Independency", 250.]
The AFM was a self-propagating movement early on due to the successful evangelism of Boer and African converts. In 1909, Lake wrote to ''The Upper Room'', an American Pentecostal journal, that missionaries were not needed as the AFM had men "far superior to any that can come from America . . . who can speak English, Dutch, Zulu, and Basuto".[Maxwell, "Historicizing Christian Independency", 248.] Towns and mining compounds were prime areas for missionary activity, reflected by the fact that 69 percent of AFM members lived in urban areas in 1928.[ From urban centers, the AFM spread to rural areas through returning labor migrants or native preachers.
The interracial character of the AFM was, like American Pentecostalism, short-lived. One explanation for this shift was tensions over economic competition between poorer whites and blacks.][Matthew S. Clark, "Two Contrasting Models of Missions in South Africa: The Apostolic Faith Mission and the Assemblies of God," ''Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies'' vol. 8, no. 1 (2005): 144.] In July 1909, it was decided that baptisms of whites, blacks, and coloureds
Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...
would be separate. Lake even addressed the South African Parliament
The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seve ...
, which he advised to adopt a policy of racial segregation similar to the policy for Native Americans in the United States.[Maxwell, "Historicizing Christian Independency", 259.] An all white executive council controlled the movement, and a separate committee, also white controlled, was responsible for coordinating the "black work". This situation would lead to many black secessions from the AFM resulting in the formation of African Initiated Church
An African-initiated church (AIC) is a Christian church independently started in Africa by Africans rather than chiefly by missionaries from another continent.
Nomenclature
A variety of overlapping terms exist for these forms of Christianity: Af ...
es, but the church would continue to have a large black constituency, who continued to exercise considerable autonomy in their local churches.[Maxwell, "Historicizing Christian Independency", 252.] As the AFM adopted the "daughter churches" approach to missions from the Dutch Reformed churches, eventually the AFM was divided into four main groupings: the white parent church, a large black daughter church, a coloured daughter church and an Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
daughter church.[Clark, "Two Contrasting Models of Missions in South Africa," 144–145.]
According to Barry Morton, "An analysis of the missionary career of John G. Lake shows that the initial spread of Pentecostalism and Zionism in southern Africa was facilitated by the systematic use of fraud and deception". Morton cites examples of misappropriation of AFM funds and the staging of miraculous healings.
1913–1969: Divisions, institutionalization, accommodation
The return of Lake and Hezmalhalch to America was an important turning point for the AFM. Le Roux was elected its president in 1913, a role he filled until 1943. During his leadership, the AFM distanced itself from the black Zionist movement with its distinctive taboos and dress and began looking to the Dutch Reformed heritage and respectability.[ During his leadership a large portion of the AFM's African constituency withdrew in 1919. Another schism occurred in 1928 when Maria Fraser led a number of AFM members to withdraw and form the ]