Academic literature on the topic 'Uniting General Synod'

Since the inception of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) in 1994, the issue of theological education has occupied a key place in the meetings of General Synod. This article analyses the development and implementation of URCSA’s ministerial formation programme over the past 25 years through the lens of the Belhar Confession. It examines the extent to which not only the curriculum but also the practices of ministerial formation have become driven, guided and shaped by the commitments inherent in the Confession of Belhar. Due to space constraints, this paper uses only Article One of Belhar as an interpretive and evaluative lens and focuses only on the Northern Theological Seminary in Pretoria, hoping thereby to stimulate further reflection in a similar vein.

There are individuals within the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) who claim that URCSA is not an African church in the real sense, as it ought to be. These claims have emanated from the narrow reading of URCSA’s Church Order from a European perspective. This article aims at exploring how one can read the URCSA Church Order with African lenses. The author will highlight the identity of URCSA, as was accepted by the 2005 General Synod of Pietermaritzburg, which is African and Reformed. In this article, the author will outline the three concepts that are recently underpinning the African philosophy, namely community, Ubuntu, and Ujamaa as the lenses with which to read the URCSA Church Order. The utilisation of these concepts as lenses will enable us to understand and interpret the URCSA Church Order in an African sense.

Human sexuality has been on the agenda of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA’s) General Synod since at least 2005. Since then, at each respective General Synod, the discussion has been set forth to theologise about the lives of members who are LGBTIQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and other sexual minorities). Yet, throughout this time no attention has been afforded to the denomination’s catechesis, specifically its sexual ethic. This essay, then, attempts to contribute to the present dialogue on human sexuality with a focus on catechesis, or faith formation. It does so by following a queer theological hermeneutic, informed by the cultural criticism tradition in the form of queer theory. In order to investigate the sexual ethic at work in URCSA, the primary text engaged is its catechetical literature, Children of God. The essay, as such, attempts to note how URCSA has constructed its sexual ethic as heteronormative; and therefore, against all other sexual orientations. In order to do this, the essay probes three questions. First, it questions the existence and identity of URCSA. Second, it questions how a queering of catechesis may be done and what value it may contribute to the denomination. Third, it asks the question: quo vadis, where to URCSA? By asking this question, an attempt is made to qualify what it is that URCSA may need in queering its catechesis. Still, it is important to note that this reflection is much informed by the author’s experience of the denomination as a gay man.

On 15 April 2014 the author conducted an interview with Selaelo Thias Kgatla (then 64) by means of a prearranged interview schedule to revaluate a life review. Kgatla’s years of academic and ecclesiastical involvement leading to his ordination as the minister of the Polokwane Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa at the age of 47 were considered. However, the focus was on the last 18 years before his retirement, which was to happen in December 2015. This period commenced with his ordination in 1997 and covered his involvement in church leadership as Assessor and later Moderator of the Northern Synod (since 1999) and as Moderator of the General Synod (since 2005), as well as his appointments as professor at the University of Limpopo in 1997 and at the University of Pretoria in 2010.In freezing this interview into the academic account given here, oral history and methodological sensitivities are considered. The interviewee’s ownership of his life review is acknowledged; his construction of the self as a coherent story of church leadership is respected; and the characteristics of remembering in later life are pointed out reverentially.The life review with Kgatla was expanded with interviews from colleagues and congregants of his choice who confirmed the construction of his life story as one of relationship and resistance. Finally, the author gives a concluding overview of aims achieved in the article in terms of oral methodology and the contents of a life review in which the interviewee constructed his life as a church leader on the interface between resistance and relationship.

The journey to church unification between the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa and the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa. The article gives a historical overview of judicial problems that the Dutch Reformed Church (DRMC) and the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA) encountered in their journey to church unification. On 14 April 1994 the DRMC and the DRCA merged and the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) came into being. Firstly, attention is given to a historical overview of the unification process. Secondly, the resolutions of the General Synod of the DRCA (1991), the judicial problems that surfaced shortly after the unification between the DRMC and the DRCA, the objections against the unification process and the lawsuit that followed, will be attended to. The unification between the DRMC and the DRCA was tested in court and in 1998 the Supreme Court gave judgment in favor of the DRCA. The verdict indicated that all decisions with regards to church property were ultra vires and that the DRCA as a legal corporate entity remains. The article concludes with a few legal aspects that may be derived from the judgement. The verdict highlights the administration of justice according to established rules and principles, namely that a juristic person cannot be deprived of life, liberty or property without appropriate legal procedures and safeguards. The article proposes that Reformed churches in the South African context should seriously take cognisance of the judgement. This article attempts to identify the important criteria for and characteristics of administration of justice with regard to church unification.

This article is born out of my participation in the General Synod Ministerial Formation for theological training of Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA), when a decision was taken to license a student with a disability to be a minister of the Word in URCSA. Furthermore, my experience and observation of the licensing of the two candidates with hearing impairments to the ministry of the Word and Sacrament in URCSA and Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (DRCSA) has encouraged me to conduct this research. This article is made up of four important parts: Firstly, the researcher will discuss Belhar Confession as the confession that emphasises unity (inclusivity), reconciliation and justice. Secondly, Belhar Confession and disability from the human dignity perspective will be discussed. Thirdly, the ecclesiological practices and shortcomings from the human dignity perspective will be highlighted. Fourthly, pastoral care as the affirmation of human dignity will be discussed.Interdisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The fields involved in this article are Systematic Theology, Sociology and Psychology. The author challenges classification of people with a disability under the category of limited competence by the Dutch Reformed Church when they license the ministerial candidates. The future results will reveal the inclusivity in terms of licensing and calling of ministers in the Dutch Reformed Church Family. This research calls for the change in the traditional discourse within ecclesiological, sociological and psychological fields, which exclude the people with a disability from the ministry of the Word and Sacraments.

This paper focuses on the role of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) in the South African society during the past 25 years of its services to God, one another and the world. Firstly, the paper provides a brief history of URCSA within 25 years of its existence. Secondly, the societal situation in democratic South Africa is highlighted in light of Article 4 of the Belhar Confession and the Church Order as a measuring tool for the role of the church. Thirdly, the thermometer-thermostat metaphor is applied in evaluating the role of URCSA in democratic South Africa. Furthermore, the 20 years of URCSA and democracy in South Africa are assessed in terms of Gutierrez’s threefold analysis of liberation. In conclusion, the paper proposes how URCSA can rise above the thermometer approach to the thermostat approach within the next 25 years of four general synods.

Christian life today has been influenced by countless influences from the external world. Although these external factors have a significant bearing on the church of Christ, the greatest challenge however manifests itself from within the latter. Where the core doctrine of the church constitutes issues of theological and Christian importance, they seem to slowly dissipate and the practices of the secular world seem to take ownership of the church of Christ. The Reformed church has within its confines the three marks of the church whose sole purpose is to ensure that the church of God remains and continues to be the true church of Christ. These Three Marks are: (a) the proclamation of the Word; (b) the correct administration of the sacraments, and (c) the correct exercise of discipline. Among the three marks, discipline acts as a catalyst that enables the survival and proper continuance of the other two marks and thus the true church of Christ. These Three Marks prescribe the basic fundamentals of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) as a Reformed Church and thereby serve as a primary tool for this church. Discipline, therefore, forms an intrinsic part of this church. However, as a controlling mechanism, its influence and/or instillation appears to be neglected. This quagmire may very well be attested to the overemphasis of democracy (of/or relating to majority rule doctrine) in preference to theocracy (God as the ultimate authority in our lives), where even matters of high religious stature are being compacted to human decision-making processes. These influences needless to say are key in the regression and/or progression of Christian life and life in general. However, their inclusion within the Christian doctrine should not be cumbersome to the latter. The Christian way of life and doctrines should be holistically adhered to without fear or favour. The main purpose behind the formation of these marks by the Reformed church was to sustain the true church of Christ and the only way to ensure this sustainability, was to be consistent in exercising these marks. The church therefore has an obligation towards God and its members to be consistent in carrying out its mandate from God through the scriptures as the creator and father of the church and the world at large. The premonition that forms the basis of this research is that within the three prevalent marks of the church, there appears to be certain discrepancies in that they are not all carried out in unison and are not consistent with each other. With the over-emphasis of one above the other, the church of God could be heading towards vanity, and all its efforts could be fruitless. It is also my conviction that the starting point for rolling out these three marks lie with the leadership of the church by the General Synod, Regional Synods, Presbyteries, Ministers and their church councils. If found that any of these key adherents are not protagonists of these marks, then they would have neglected their God-entrusted responsibilities and their accountability towards the entire community of believers. It is in this regard that this research seeks to implement a litmus test of where the URCSA stands in terms of executing its mandate with relation to the three marks of the church viz; proclaiming the word, administering the sacraments and more importantly, exercising exercising discipline as these marks form the sinew that binds the entire church together. The church of Christ as an entity is engaged in service, which is not to be haphazard in nature, but must be structured. This service begins with serving God, serving one another and finally serving the world at large. This will ensure that the church of God maintains its holiness. For this holiness to be ensured, the church of God has to be open to discernment and allow God take charge of His church. Such uncertainties can be verified only by looking into discipline as the sinew that brings these three marks together. The reason for this approach is that, the first two marks are prescriptive with more parameters than discipline has, whereas discipline can be easily influenced. It is to the benefit of this task that much attention be given to discipline as the last mark of the three, as it is prone to abuse, because it relies mainly on human behaviour, attitude and/or approach to the Christian life. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to outline the possible disintegration of discipline as the sinew that binds the three marks of the Reformed Church in general and URCSA in particular within the Southern Synod. important to note that discipline in the lower strata of the church is carried out religiously without question. The notion that prompted this topic is that contrarily, those who occupy the highest echelons of the church (leadership in the church, ministers and evangelists) do not appear to be enjoying the same reception regarding discipline. The challenge that faces the URCSA is how to maintain equal treatment of the three marks of the true church in a democratic society in the light of the service of God, one another and the world.<br>Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology<br>M. Th.(Systematic Theology)

In celebrating a quarter of a century of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URSCA) (1994 2019), quite a few well-organised activities and events took place. These activities reflect a mix of serious academic seminars and liturgical celebrations of which the ones in the Cape, both in Belhar and at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) warrant special mention. In his sermon based on John 17 at the closing liturgical celebration at UWC, Prof Daan Cloete raised several pertinent issues pertaining to unity and justice as a challenge to the leadership of URCSA. Despite all the significant events taking place throughout the year (2019), there has been a major deficit. Attempts at serious historiography are few and far between. This book is an attempt at starting such a study process. However, to put it modestly to contribute to the writing of the history of the URCSA. It has been resolved to start right at the beginning: the founding synod of URCSA with a specific focus on the constituting moderature. The book discusses the issues that were looming large at the founding Synod in 1994 which captures the ‘miracle’ and the euphoria that emerged amidst some delicate matters and issues that would have posed some serious impediments that would have jeopardise the unification before it even started. In calling into service the pastoral or praxis cycle the contributions of the first moderature of URCSA: Rev Nick Apollis (moderator), Rev Leonardo Appies (Scriba Synodii) Rev Dr Sam Buti (Assessor) and Rev JD Buys (Actuaris), of the 1994 General Synod elections are presented in this book. The authors were interested in answering the question: In what way did the moderature members of URCSA assist in the transformation of church and society? The book showcases, how not only systems and structures are essential in transformation processes, but people - who take up the task in obedience and servitude.