Abstract
The arrival of foreign missionaries played some significant roles in the formation of the Assemblies of God (AOG). The new Pentecostal denomination was originally a church of blacks, though under white control. In 1925, the Americans and Europeans in this church organised themselves as South African District of the Assemblies of God, and AOG in America recognised AOG of South Africa as a separate national church in 1932. This article traces how AOG evolved by entrenching a ‘Group” system significantly divided along racial lines. This status quo has marked AOG as a racially divided church regardless of South African socio-cultural and theo-cultural realities in the changing demographics since 1994. This structure is the polity that reflects South African Apartheid legacy of separate development – the compromise between unity and mission.
Highlights
2017 is the celebration of 500 years of Reformation or the Protestant faith
Assemblies of God in South Africa started both as a missionary and an indigenous church
More autonomy was given around 1932 when American Assemblies of God reorganised South African Assemblies of God as a national church. This step opened the way for more missionary bodies to come under the umbrella of the Assemblies of God in South Africa, and it further entrenched the concept of a church consisting of co-operating groups in a single movement (Watt 1992:26)
Summary
Assemblies of God (AOG) is celebrating a centenary of its operation in South Africa. This is a Pentecostal denomination that is well-known and is international in its scope. In the Foreword of Peter Watt’s book (1992:11) David Bosch quips: The Assemblies of God is one of the lesser-known denominations in South Africa. Be gravely mistaken if one were to think that the Assemblies of God is unimportant or irrelevant in the current South African context The fact that it is not widely known is as much due to its general ethos as to its style and ecclesial structure. This paper examines AOG historical and missiological development and its group system as a reflection of apartheid sociopolitical structure
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