Abstract
The quest to understand the church’s missionary calling will remain a significant exercise in the life of the church of every age. Transformation in the world context compels the church to rethink its missionary calling and to strive towards a theology of mission that will respond positively towards the changing context. Hugo du Plessis lived and worked in the 20th century as the first missionary and missiologist of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA). It is the thesis of this article that Hugo du Plessis’ theology of mission, which had great impact on how the GKSA responded to the challenges of the day, was informed and shaped by missiological debates which took place within ecumenical circles.
Highlights
Hugo du Plessis was born on 22 March 1902, in Burgersdorp in the Cape Colony
Du Plessis accepted a call to serve in the Witwatersrand, and in Soweto (Mashau, 2004:17). He served as a missionary until 1955 when he became the first lecturer to train black ministers of the Word at Moroka and later Dube. It was only in 1959, during the 100 years celebration of the Gereformeerde Kerk in Suid-Afrika (GKSA)’s existence, when Missiology was introduced as a theological discipline in the Theological School of Potchefstroom, that Du Plessis was appointed as the first chair and professor of Missiology
This is very clear in the following words: “Christianity throughout the world is called by God to continuously protest against all injustice and it must make its prophetic witness heard against all forms of racial discrimination and warfare” (Du Plessis, 1960b:64)
Summary
Hugo du Plessis was born on 22 March 1902, in Burgersdorp in the Cape Colony. He is the son of Prof. He served as a missionary until 1955 when he became the first lecturer to train black ministers of the Word at Moroka and later Dube It was only in 1959, during the 100 years celebration of the GKSA’s existence, when Missiology was introduced as a theological discipline in the Theological School of Potchefstroom, that Du Plessis was appointed as the first chair and professor of Missiology. He served in this capacity for thirteen years until 1971 when he died (Van der Walt, 1976:47). It is the presupposition of this article that Du Plessis’ theology of mission was shaped by the missiological debates during his time, the need to investigate those debates
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