Apostolic Faith Mission Of 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.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 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 AFM is one of the oldest Pentecostal movement is South Africa with roots in the Azusa Street Revival, the Holiness Movement teachings of Andrew Murray and the teachings of John Alexander Dowie. 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. 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 with an episcopal polity. 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, Word of Faith, 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 (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 teacher and helped create a climate for revival. A third factor was the Zionist churches, led by John Alexander Dowie 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, Lake felt that the Holy Spirit was leading him to Johannesburg 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, 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. In South Africa, as at Azusa Street, the movement was initially multi-racial, appealing to both Boers and blacks. It expanded rapidly among African farm workers in the Orange River Colony and Wakkerstroom, 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 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 would be separate. Lake even addressed the South African Parliament, 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 Churches, 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 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 Latter Rain Mission in South Africa