Zion Christian Church

The Zion Christian Church (or ZCC) is the largest African initiated church in Southern Africa. The church's headquarters are at Zion City Moria in Limpopo Province, South Africa (Northern Transvaal).

According to the 1996 South African Census, the church numbered 3.87 million members. By the 2001 South African Census, its membership had increased to 4.97 million members.[1] (More recent official statistics are unavailable, since the last South African Census – 2011 – did not ask any questions about religious affiliation.)

History

The ZCC was formed by Engenas Lekganyane in 1924 after a long journey of trying to find a spiritual home.[2] After being educated at two Anglican missions, Lekganyane joined the Apostolic Faith Mission around 1911 in Boksburg. He then joined the Zion Apostolic Church schism in 1916 and eventually became a preacher of a congregation in his home village during late World War I.[3] After falling out with the ZAC leadership, Lekganyane went to Basutoland to join Edward Lion's Zion Apostolic Faith Mission in 1920. After some time he returned to the Transvaal as the regional leader for Lion.[4]

Lekganyane ZCC members trace the founding of the church to a revelation which Lekganyane is said to have received from God on the top of Mt Thabakgone in 1924.[5] After splitting from Lion, Lekganyane used his home village of Thabakgone, near Polokwane (Pietersburg), as a headquarters, with about twenty initial congregations in the Northern Transvaal, the Witwatersrand, and Rhodesia.[6] In 1930 Lekganyane began building a stone church there. After clashes with his chief, Lekganyane was expelled with his church still unfinished. Determined to obtain land, he eventually purchased three farms in the Polokwane area. Maclean Farm near Thabakgone would eventually be renamed as "Moria", the ZCC's headquarters. The ZCC was officially registered in 1962 after the government's reluctance to recognise one of the continent's largest and most influential churches. The early church was strongly influenced by the doctrines of the Christian Catholic Church of John Alexander Dowie, based in Zion, Illinois in the United States of America, and by the teachings of the Pentecostal missionary John G. Lake, who began work in Johannesburg in 1908.

Due to Lekganyane's attempts to appeal to migrant workers, the ZCC developed an international membership very early on. Samuel Mutendi, a founding member, built up many large congregations in Zimbabwe. In the late 1930s migrant workers from Botswana also started ZCC chapters, although they faced considerable opposition from the authorities.[7]

Following Engenas Lekganyane's death in 1948, a major split in the church occurred. The church's large section of male migrant workers generally backed Engenas's oldest surviving son, the charismatic Edward Lekganyane, to succeed his father as the ZCC Bishop. The church's rural base, meanwhile, backed a younger son, Joseph, to assume church leadership. Although events are highly disputed, Engenas himself appears to have favored Joseph—who served as his father's adviser and chauffeur during the 1940s. During Engenas Lekganyane's mourning period, Edward's supporters mobilized on the Witwatersrand and hired buses to take them to Moria. After arrival, this large, armed group was able to eject the pro-Joseph faction and take over the church's headquarters and infrastructure.[8] Initially the two factions remained together, but Edward soon insisted that all members declare their loyalty in public, and this led to a permanent split. The ZCC continued under Edward's leadership, while Joseph seceded and formed the rival St. Engenas Zion Christian Church in 1949.

The ZCC changed fairly dramatically following his son Edward Lekganyane's assumption of control of the church. Edward was a highly educated, flamboyant figure who eventually obtained a degree at an Afrikaans divinity school.[9] In contrast to his father, Edward relied less on faith healing and oral testimony in services, and moved towards a more biblically-based doctrine. Under his leadership the all-male Mokhukhu organization developed out of his core group of supporters. This group initially formed as a church choir. Wearing military-style khakis, police-style hats, and the Star badge, the Mokhukhu in each congregation engaged in dancing, singing, and praying three times a week according to a preset schedule.[10] An additional feature of Edward's control of the ZCC was the rapid growth of Zion City Moria as a pilgrimage site. Using the Maclean farm that his father had purchased in the 1940s, Edward instituted annual pilgrimages that have gone on to become massive southern African-wide events. Each year during Easter Holidays Church members bus en masse to Moria, Polokwane (Pietersburg) (several million members) to meet the Bishop and to pray for blessings.[11]

Characteristics

The church fuses African traditions and values with Christian faith. As opposed to the mainstream European churches, the church has sought independence and autonomy in terms of theological and dogmatic approach. According to the ZCC, scholars such as EK Lukhaimane, Hanekom, Kruger, Sundkler and Daneel did not understand the ZCC's approach to Christianity. Due to the apartheid education system in which Africans and their beliefs were rejected and mocked, they saw ZCC as a sect. This situation was exacerbated by the church's policy on secrecy, which limited its inability to publicize its activities. As a result, the ZCC maintains that much writing about it is inaccurate. The church still believes in prophecy, the power of healing and spiritual counseling, which did not resonate with the scientific perspectives of these academics. Instead of attempting to understand any therapeutic value these practices might hold, they dismissed them as mere superstitious rituals. The use of different mechanisms for faith-healing include the laying-on of hands, the use of holy water, drinking of blessed tea and coffee, and the wearing of blessed cords or cloth.

Members of the ZCC generally believe that:

Notes

  1. ^ Anderson, A., 1999. "The Lekganyanes and Prophecy in the Zion Christian Church", Journal of Religion in Africa, xxix - 3
  2. ^ Hanekom, C., 1975. Krisis en Kultus : Geloofsopvattinge en seremonies binne 'n Swart Kerk, Academica: Kaapstad en Pretoria
  3. Motshwaraganyi Tlhako "The two largest churches in Southern Africa", 2010 'Maltipular Senior Publishers'

References

  1. ↑ Census 2001: Primary Tables: Census '96 and 2001 compared. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa. 2004. pp. 25–28. ISBN 0-621-34320-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  2. ↑ https://www.academia.edu/14338013/Engenas_Lekganyane_and_the_Early_ZCC_Oral_Texts_and_Documents
  3. ↑ Lukhaimane, The Zion Christian Church of Ignatius Engenas Lekganyane, 1924 to 1948: An African Experiment with Christianity (MA Dissertation, University of the North, 1980), 15-22.
  4. ↑ "Who Was Engenas Lekganyane/" http://deanministries.page.tl/Who-Was-Engenas-Lekganyane.htm
  5. ↑ Lukhaimane, "Zion Christian Church," 23-4.
  6. ↑ https://www.academia.edu/14338013/Engenas_Lekganyane_and_the_Early_ZCC_Oral_Texts_and_Documents
  7. ↑ 6.Jump up ^ https://www.academia.edu/14338013/Engenas_Lekganyane_and_the_Early_ZCC_Oral_Texts_and_Documents
  8. ↑ Lukhaimane, "Zion Christian Church," 98-101.
  9. ↑ Hanekom, C., 1975. Krisis en Kultus : Geloofsopvattinge en seremonies binne 'n Swart Kerk, Academica: Kaapstad en Pretoria
  10. ↑ M. Ramogale and S. Galane, "Faith in Action: Mokhukhu of the Zion Christian Church." http://www.folklife.si.edu/resources/festival1997/faithin.htm
  11. ↑ R. Muller, African Pilgrimage: Ritual Travel in South Africa's Christianity of Zion. London: Ashgate Press, 2013. ISBN 978-1-4094-8164-5
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