MISSION COUNCILS – A SELF-PERPETUATING ANACHRONISM (1923-1971): A SOUTH AFRICAN CASE STUDY

Abstract

If ever mission councils in South Africa had a purpose, they had outlived it by the time of the formation of the Bantu Presbyterian Church of South Africa (BPCSA) in 1923. However, autonomy in this case was relative and the South African Mission Council endured until 1981. It was an anachronism which served little purpose other than the care of missionaries and the control of property and finance. It was obstructive insofar as it hindered communication between the BPCSA and the Church of Scotland and did little to advance God’s mission, especially through the agency of black Christians. During this period blacks were co-opted on to the Church of Scotland South African Joint Council (CoSSAJC) but they had to have proved their worth to the missionaries first by their compliance with missionary views. This article will examine the role of the CoSSAJC in pursuance of its prime aim, “the evangelisation of the Bantu People” (BPCSA 1937, 18), mainly from original sources.