Evangelicalising Black Pentecostalism: The Mechanics of Change at the Apostolic Faith Mission Sharpeville Congregation (1981–1985)

Abstract

A recent study argues that black Pentecostalism in the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) of South Africa became evangelicalised through the agency of white missionaries. The study was national in scope and drew from archival as well as secondary sources. This article, on the other hand, seeks to contribute to an understanding of how evangelicalisation worked in a concrete situation of a specific congregation by analysing oral historical and archival material related to this process in the AFM Sharpeville congregation, between 1981 and 1985. The article answers the following question: How did evangelicalisation of black Pentecostalism happen at the congregational level of the AFM? The findings suggest that evangelicalisation at the level of the congregation happened through the appointment of (an) evangelical pastor(s), the use of evangelistic and revival campaigns, as well as pastoral discretion in deciding what to relent to, what to refrain from, and what to emphasise in their engagement with the congregation.