Dutch Reformed Church (Southern Africa)

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The Dutch Reformed Church in Southern Africa ( Afrikaans Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK), English Dutch Reformed Church (DRC)) is a Protestant church with a conservative, Calvinist character ("African Calvinism") in southern Africa . It began in 1652 under the Dutch settlers and missionaries around Jan van Riebeeck at the Cape and, through the establishment of its own synod, developed into a church that was gradually independent of the Dutch parent institution, the Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk (NHK). Its main theological foundations are the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), the Confessio Belgica (1561) and the Dordrecht doctrinal rules (Synod of Dordrecht, 1619). The seat of the General Synod is in Hatfield , a district of Pretoria . The name part Nederduits (literally translated from today's Dutch / Afrikaans "Low German", but in the former meaning "Dutch") led the church in the Netherlands until 1816; this designation has been retained in South Africa.

Dutch Reformed Church from 1847 in Franschhoek

structure

The community of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa today includes:

  • Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk
  • Verenierenden Gereformeerde Kerk in Suider-Afrika (VGKSA) / Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA)
  • Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in Africa (NGKA)
  • Reformed Church in Africa (RCA) or Charisma Reformed Church in Africa

Member churches in other countries in southern Africa (the administrative headquarters in brackets):

history

Formation of Dutch Reformed Churches in the Cape Region

The work of the Dutch Reformed Church (NHK) in the Cape region can be traced since the immigration of Dutch settlers in 1652. This early development was accompanied by a request to clergy working in Amsterdam whether it was possible from their circle to work on the Cape. Between 1652 and 1665 lay people first worked for this purpose. The confirmation and the Lord's Supper services were carried out during this time by pastors who temporarily went ashore here on their sea voyage. A permanent pastor was sent to the Cape region since 1665; this time is considered to be the formal founding date of the Church on South African territory. During the Dutch rule on the Cape, the communities that arose here were subordinate to the responsible clergy in Amsterdam. In addition, the ecclesiastical structures on the Cape were subject to complete control by the political power of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Their directors decided on the filling of the pastors' positions or the preachers. Only the Reformed Church was permitted and the parish pastors working here were employees of the VOC.

In November 1745, at a meeting (Gekombineerde Kerkvergadering), the parishes discussed the question of their own church leadership ( presbytery ). As a result, however, one remained in association with the NHK.

When the Cape Colony was placed under British rule around 1795 (see also capitulation in Saldanhabucht ), the relationship between the Cape Dutch NHK congregations and the mother church in the Netherlands became increasingly complicated.

Separate institutions begin in the 19th century

As a result of the distance that had developed from the Dutch mother church, a synod decided in 1824 to separate from the main church in the Netherlands.

At that time, it was still common in the Cape for European and non-European church members to attend services together in the same building and to celebrate the Lord's Supper together. At a synod in 1829 this practice was explicitly underlined and justified with the "infallible word of God". However, it was common for the groups to have separate seating areas in the churches. The widespread practice also included the participation of non-European parishioners in the elections to exercise functions in the parish boards, participation in the annual meetings of regional synods ( presbyteries ) or equal membership in the highest synodal assemblies. With the fragmentation of the NGK into provincial structures, the position of the non-European community members gradually changed to their disadvantage. While they still retained their full rights in the Cape region, other NGK branches in the areas north of them introduced a "race barrier" (color bar) for church functions, which led to a ban on the exercise of church functions. Later such separate developments also occurred in the Cape Colony . Older non-Europeans could remain in the white communities if they so wished; new non-European members were forced to organize their religious life in the new mission churches.

The Great Trek of the Boers from 1835 promoted the spread of the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK) in the interior of the Cape Colony and in the Boer republics that were soon to emerge . As a result of this Boer migration, changes took place within the church.

In 1852 Reverend Dirk Van der Hoff came to the Transvaal area from the Netherlands and founded the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika in 1853 . In the first constitution of the South African Republic of 1858 it was designated as the official state church. Not all parishes of the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in Transvaal joined this new church. The government of the Boer Republic, however, viewed the religious influence from the Cape region with skepticism, as the NHK there was under the strong influence of Scottish clergy, they were liberal-oriented and the tense relationship between Boers and non-Europeans in the Transvaal was known.

As a reaction to the creation of a state church , a new church was founded on the initiative of a Dutch clergyman of the Christelijke Afgescheiden Gemeenten , Dirk Postma , who had been in the Transvaal since 1858 . Their requests were directed at Christians who did not comply with the considerable proximity of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika to the state. Postma and other members of the NHK called for the founding of the Vrije Gereformeerde Kerk (Free Reformed Church) in 1859 , based on the religious movement Wee Frees in Scotland . The church officially justified its creation from the fact that the other Dutch Reformed churches (NHK and NGK) had distanced themselves from pure Calvinism. The South African city of Postmasburg was named after its church founder .

An 1862 judgment of the Cape Supreme Court stipulated that representatives of congregations of the NGK outside the Cape Colony are not allowed to attend the Cape Synod of this church. This led to the establishment of independent NGK branches in the Orange Free State , in the Transvaal and in the Natal colony . In the Transvaal there were several attempts with the aim of a union between NHK and NGK. Only when the obstacles to this had been removed did the first joint synod take place in Pretoria in 1885. The new name of this association was Nederduitse Hervormde of Gereformeerde Kerk (short: Verenigde Kerk , NHGK) and remained in existence until 1957, after which it returned to the name Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk . Not all members followed the association and found themselves together under the name Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk in a significantly reduced and ununified church. Today's church with this orientation is not a member of the NGK group.

After the Cape Synod of the NGK was confronted in 1857 with criticism of the previously demographic uniformity of community life, it reluctantly took the decision to allow separate ordination and preaching of the faith for non-European church members under special circumstances. As a consequence of the continuing tendency to split, the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk ( Dutch Reformed Mission Church , abbreviated DRMC) was established in 1881 , the aim of which was to spread the Christian faith within the Colored population group.

Formation of racial segregation structures in the 20th century

The NGK in the Cape Colony, in Natal and in the Orange Free State as well as the NHGK of Transvaal cultivated close relationships with one another. Finally, in 1907, they agreed to form a Federal Council of Churches (German for example: Federal Assembly of Churches).

In 1937, there was an amendment to the pass laws , the section 7 the churches in question (section 7) has been changed and the legislative restriction of religious practice led. It was now stipulated that every institution (including parishes) emerging from 1938 in every settlement area of ​​the black population required a permit from government agencies with the participation of local authorities. Even stronger restrictions resulted from the second amending law in 1957 with the Native Urban Areas Amendment Act (Act No. 77/1957) , which challenged the protest of several churches and was referred to as the " Church Clause ". Critics from the church sector described the change in the law as an encroachment on the “fundamental right to freely practice religion” and the sovereignty of the churches in their own area. This increased the influence of racial segregation politics in the area of ​​church politics. A year earlier, in 1956, the NGK published a summary of the fundamental resolutions passed at several synods in favor of a clear formation of separate "indigenous" churches under its roof. In an addendum to this report published in the same year it was stated: "... we accept the existence of separate churches, therefore for each indigenous group".

The formation of the first congregation of the Indian Reformed Church for Christians of Indian origin under the influence of the NGK took place in 1957 in the province of Natal . Missionary work within this population was under control of NGK General Synod that a sub-committee (sub-commission) in her for this purpose Kommissie vir the sending ( Commission for mission work , German as: Committee for missionary work) had created. This sub-commission for Indian work was composed of white employees of the mission work and members of regional synods from the circle of “Indian” congregations. There was also a Liaison Committee , which was used to coordinate all activities in this sector.

It was not until 1961 that the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk ( Coloreds ) achieved its independence and full autonomy from the mother church NHK. However, there was an exception, according to which the possibility of participation by priests of the "white" church in the presbyteries and synods was maintained as a dormant option.

In 1963 the Bantu churches (blacks) of the DRC, which until then had been active throughout South Africa, were united . The Nederduitse Gereformeerde Bantoekerk in Suid-Afrika , the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk van Transvaal and the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk in the Orange Free State merged to form a single church called the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in Afrika) .

At its synod of 1974, the NGK adopted the position paper Declaration on the Human Relations of the Nations of South Africa in the Light of the Holy Scriptures . In it, the apartheid system was justified with theological arguments.

Reform efforts

Within the NGK (White) the critical mood against the pro-apartheid-oriented line of the church increased in the early 1980s. Prominent members publicly opposed this course. One example of this is the Storm-Kompas collection of essays, first published in 1981 by 24 theologians, pastors and lay persons. The initiators of this critically oriented work were a former professor of theology at the University of Stellenbosch , Nicolaas Smith, the NGK clergyman Piet Meiring from Pretoria and the NGK general secretary O'Brien Geldenhuys, who resigned in protest against the apartheid support of his church.

The General Synod of the DRMC (Coloreds) decided in September 1986 on a creed based on the internal circumstances of the country, which became known as the Belhar Creed . This decision finally initiated the critical examination of the apartheid structures in South African society. During the vote there were 399 approving and 71 disagreeing synod . Its discussion draft was presented for the first time in 1982 at a meeting in Belhar and was therefore eponymous. In the text it says u. a .: “... Therefore we reject any teaching which, in such a situation, in the name of the gospel or the will of God, approves the forced separation of people on the basis of race and skin color and thereby prevents in advance the commission and the experience of reconciliation in Christ and weakens. ... "

With this resolution behind them, representatives of this church emerged as vehement critics of the apartheid doctrine in South Africa and condemned the foundations of this political concept as heresy . This internal church discourse took place in a historical phase of the country, when South Africa was at the height of a politico-militant control and security spiral and in a state of emergency with a permanent internal and external defense situation. Any criticism of the prevailing conditions under the then all-encompassing ruling President Pieter Willem Botha was cleared up and suppressed with the help of the National Security Management System, which he established to a large extent . The country threatened to freeze in a state of presidential administration. Criticism of the DRMC during this period was sparked by the fact that its church leadership could not bring itself to a unified recommendation to give church members a recommendation on how to conduct the election on August 22, 1984 for the House of Representatives according to the new constitution of 1983 .

In 1986 the NGK passed a statement by a large majority under the title Kerk in Samelewing (English title: Church and Society ), which was revised in 1990 due to the advancing domestic political conditions. In this position paper it was considered necessary that the linguistic and cultural differences between people should be taken into account in the regulations of the church, but only in ways in which the unity of the church would not be impaired. In determining the position, it was stated, for example, that no persons should be excluded because of their “origin”, “national sense of belonging”, “language” or “skin color”. It was also expressed that no congregation should reject anyone who “wants to hear the word of God”, that racism is a great sin and that apartheid as a political and social system is not compatible with the Christian canon of values. Eventually, it was argued that “we humbly and remorsefully confess” that the Church and its members are among those involved in apartheid doctrine.

In March 1989, international representatives of the Reformed Ecumenical Synod (RES) met in the South African city of Vereeniging . At this one-week synod there were comprehensively prepared talks between representatives of the NGK church group and participants from the theologically affiliated churches from Botswana , Malawi , Namibia , Zambia and Zimbabwe . The initiative came from a previous synodal meeting in Harare in 1988 , during which the NGK brother churches in Southern Africa were asked to discuss their position on apartheid as well as a structural (re) unification of the DRC group. The resulting exchange of views in Vereeniging resulted in a position paper that became known as the Testimony of Vereeniging .

On March 7, 1989, the South African press reported on an initiative by white members of the NGK, who issued a declaration rejecting apartheid, admitting the church's involvement as complicity with the state system of repression and asking the “black churches” for forgiveness. Allan Boesak , moderator in the DRMC, welcomed these positions and said that a "previously locked, bolted and rusted door" had opened. In fact, these position statements turned out to be the foundation for a new relationship basis between the then member churches of the NGK. As a result, the earlier NGK position paper Kerk in Samelewing (Church and Society) was again used as a basis for discussion. During this process there was a reorientation within the church with regard to South African society, the formation of which was significantly influenced by the influence of Johan Heyns (NGK) and Allan Boesak (DRMC). In the course of this development, there was also an intensive exchange about the contents of the Testimony of Vereeniging and a parallel NGK paper, in which the concern about further statements beyond the positions of 1986 were articulated. Finally, in October 1990, the representatives of the NGK General Synod agreed on further deepened reform positions, at the center of which was the continued abandonment of apartheid politics. As a result of the synod, a revised version of the Church and Society declaration (first version from 1986) was created.

The resolutions of the NGK General Synod of October 1990 paved the way for an understanding between the churches and Christian religious groups operating in South Africa and the NGK church community. The President Frederik de Klerk had already personally advocated such a course in December 1989 by inviting the church leaders to a joint discussion process, which should deal with the role of the churches in the process of change in his country. In line with his proposal, a national dialogue process was planned under the auspices of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), whose director Louw Alberts also agreed to lead this project. The church representatives agreed to this proposal and, in addition to Louw Alberts, also appointed the then General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches , Frank Chikane , to chair a future meeting. By organizing this conference in Rustenburg entrusted the church representatives Barney Pityana that at this time the WCC Program to Combat Racism (World Council of Churches' Program to Combat Racism) of Geneva headed out.

Between November 5th and 9th, 1990, the planned assembly of representatives of the churches took place in Rustenburg. This meeting went down in South African church history as the Rustenburg Conference. Its results were summarized by an editorial committee for the Rustenburg Declaration , which was headed by Alberts and Chikane. The constructive and understanding course of the discussion was reported, which laid the foundations for a “new” South Africa and an end to all racist discrimination.

Only two churches did not accept the invitation to the conference in Rustenburg. It was the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk (NHK) and the Afrikaanse Protestante Kerk (split off from the NGK in 1989). The conference was followed critically from the circle of right-wing members in the ruling Nasionale Party , from some top representatives of the Konserwatiewe Party and the Herstigte Nasionale Party . There were reports in the press that as a result of this conference, many NGK members turned their backs on their previous church and joined the breakaway Afrikaanse Protestante Kerk .

Steps to reorientation

In 1994 the DRMC (Coloreds) and the DRCA (Blacks) merged to form the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) or Verengende Gereformeerde Kerk in Suider Afrika . It is divided into seven regional synods, which include not only South African congregations but also congregations in Namibia and Lesotho. Congregations are grouped together to form presbyteries. The resolutions of the General Synod determine the path of the Church.

The Dutch Reformed Church has been a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) again since 2016 . She is now a member of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), the South African Council of Churches and the World Fellowship of Reformed Churches .

In October 2015, the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa recognized same-sex marriages ; homosexual people could then be ordained. In 2016 the decision was withdrawn by the synod and put into effect again by court order in 2019.

NGK-initiated separate church founding for non-Europeans

  • Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk van Suid-Africa , founded on October 5th, 1881 in Wellington
  • Dutch Reformed Mission Church of the Orange Free State , founded March 9, 1910
  • Church of Central Africa (Presbyterian) , together with the Scottish Missions of Blantyre and Livingstonia , founded on March 2, 1932 in Vrededorp
  • African Reformed Church in Northern Rhodesia , founded July 3, 1943
  • Dutch Reformed Bantu Church of South Africa , founded on November 6, 1951 in East London
  • African Reformed Church of Southern Rhodesia , founded on September 9, 1952 in Morgenster (Southern Rhodesia)
  • Dutch Reformed Mission Church of Christ among the Tiv , founded January 9, 1957 in northern Nigeria
  • Indian Reformed Church , founded in 1957
  • Dutch Reformed Church for South-West Africa , founded in Mariental in 1962
  • Three Dutch Reformed Bantu (Mission) Churches in the four South African provinces were united in May 1963 when their first general synod was held in Kroonstad . The new name was Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in Africa .

literature

  • Lesley Cawood: The Churches and Race Relations in South Africa . SAIRR , Johannesburg 1964.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Charles Villa-Vicencio: An Omnipresent Heresy: Racism and the "English -Speaking Churches" . In: Evangelisches Missionswerk in the area of ​​the Federal Republic of Germany and Berlin West eV (EMW): Confession and resistance. Churches of South Africa in conflict with the state . Missionshilfe Verlag, Hamburg 1983, p. 537 ISBN 3-921620-25-2
  2. ↑ Marlies Philippa, Frans Debrabandere, Arend Quak, Tanneke Schoonheim & Nicoline van der Sijs: Etymological Woordenboek van het Nederlands. Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal. Leiden, 2003-2009.
  3. ^ Peter Dirk Spies: De classis van Tiel, 1579-1816. The reformeerde kerk in de Nederbetuwe in het Spanningsveld van politieke made changes in maatschappelijke . Diss., Theological Universiteit van de Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland, Apeldoorn 2017, ISBN 978-94-6345201-4 .
  4. ↑ J. Dane, De vrucht van Bijbelsche Opvoeding, Hilversum, 1996, pp 16-17.
  5. ↑ Cawood, 1964, pp. 16-17
  6. ↑ Cawood, p. 17
  7. ^ Christoph Marx : South Africa. Past and present . Stuttgart 2012, p. 32.
  8. ↑ Cawood, p. 26
  9. ^ Quintin Whyte: Inter-racial Co-operation . In: Ellen Hellmann, Leah Abrahams (Ed.): Handbook on Race Relations in South Africa . Oxford University Press, Cape Town / London / New York 1949, pp. 651–668, especially p. 665.
  10. ↑ Website of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika. On www.njka.org (afrikaans)
  11. ^ Cawood, p. 11
  12. ↑ Cawood, pp. 23-24
  13. ↑ Cawood, p. 29
  14. ↑ Cawood, p. 27
  15. ^ Foundation Johannes a Lasco Library Great Church Emden: Verenierenden Gereformeerde Kerk in Suider Afrika. On www.reformiert-online.net (English)
  16. ^ South Africa: Confession and Resistance . Memorandum to the church leaderships, synods and parishes in the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Christine Lienemann-Perrin, Wolfgang Lienemann (ed.): Political legitimacy in South Africa . Texts and materials from the research center of the Evangelical Study Community, Series A, No. 27, Heidelberg 1988, pp. 281–315, here p. 291.
  17. ^ Nicolaas Johannes Smith, FE O'Brien Geldenhuys, Piet Meiring: Storm-Kompas. opstelle op soek na 'n suiwer koers in the Sudi-Afrikaanse Konteks van die jare day . Kaapstad 1981 ( bibliographical evidence in WorldCat ).
  18. ^ SAIRR: Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1982 . Johannesburg 1983, pp. 560-561.
  19. ^ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1986, Part 1 . Johannesburg 1987, p. 315.
  20. ↑ Swiss Evangelical Church Federation: RB 17: The Belhar Confession. On www.kirchenbund.ch (English, German)
  21. ^ Ferdinand Sutterlüty : Religious ideas and social action. Churches between social criticism and belief in legitimacy. IfS Working Paper # 5, July 2014, Frankfurt am Main, ISSN 2197-7070, p. 4 (PDF, p. 6).
  22. ^ Christoph Marx : South Africa. Past and present . Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-17-021146-9 , p. 274.
  23. ^ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1984 . Johannesburg 1985, pp. 905-906.
  24. ^ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1989/90 . Johannesburg 1990, pp. 294-295.
  25. ^ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1989/90 . Johannesburg 1990, p. 295.
  26. ↑ a b Klippies Kritzinger: The role of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church and the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa in the struggle for justice in South Africa, 1986-1990. In: Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, Vol. 39 (2013), No. 2, Pretoria (online at www.scielo.org.za, English).
  27. ^ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1989/90 . Johannesburg 1990, pp. 295, 297.
  28. ↑ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1991/92 . Johannesburg 1992, pp. 95-98.
  29. ^ World Council of Churches : Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa. On www.oikoumene.org (English)
  30. ↑ Afrika-Sued.org: Equal rights for all
  31. ↑ Ernest Mabuza: Court says Dutch reformed church's gay pastors can have same-sex unions. timeslive.co.za, March 8, 2019, accessed June 11, 2019