The Evangelicalisation of Black Pentecostalism in the AFM of SA (1940 -1975): A Turning Point

Abstract

The Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) of South Africa, a Pentecostal denomination founded in 1908 by an American missionary, John G Lake, attracted a large following of blacks in South Africa from its inception. This denomination contributed a large body of Zionist churches to the African Independent Church movement. Among its black members before and during the 1940s, it was Zionist-like—only undergoing changes between 1943 and 1975 resulting in it becoming outright evangelical. This was a turning point in the history of the AFM and black Pentecostals specifically, as it brought this large body of followers culturally closer to the dominant evangelical expression of Pentecostalism in the denomination. This article looks into reasons behind the changes as well as how they were carried out. Primary sources, available at the AFM archives, and secondary sources such as theses, articles and books with a bearing on the topic have been consulted. The article contributes to the growing body of South African Pentecostal history.

Pentecostal Theology, Identity Politics, and Racialized Xenophobia: Claiming A New Social Order

“…The AFM itself, established in South Africa in 1908 and initially but only briefly multiracial in its orientation, existed as a racially segregated church until 1996, thus politically toeing the line in apartheid South Africa (Kgatle 2017;Maxwell 1999). The early black AFM was influenced by Zionism, drawing elements from African cultures, but has since moved theologically toward evangelicalism (Mofokeng and Madise 2019), the latter also being evident at the HPS. In 2019 all the pastors at this HPS branch were Congolese, except for one Zimbabwean pastor in training.…”

Zionist ‘syncretism’ in the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa before the 1970s A comparative analysis

“…However, considerations of the pre-1970s history of developments in the black AFM, some claim syncretism is possible through inferences from De Wet (1989); Hwata (2005); Maxwell (2006); Burger and Nel (2008); and Khathide (2010). Mofokeng and Madise (2019) increased the possibility of making such a claim through their argument that black Pentecostalism in the AFM was Zionistic.…”

“…Rather, the approach here is that of noting the historical depiction of Zionism as syncretistic as Sundkler (1961) and the above mentioned scholars did, and assuming this position, to argue for black Pentecostal syncretism on the basis of Mofokeng and Madise's (2019:5) argument that Zionist phenomena was a defining trait of the pre-1970s black Pentecostalism within the AFM. According to Mofokeng and Madise (2019), black Pentecostalism only became definitely evangelical in the 1970s, after a long-drawn process, which missionaries curated from 1929.…”