Africanization within the URCSA : a critical focus on how the Church Order relates to African Marriages

Abstract

Since the advent of the Christian faith in Africa in general and in South Africa in particular, there has been tension in the Christian of African descent. This tension is fuelled in my belief by the fact that the Christian believe system seems comfortable only when it has a monopoly over what is perceived to be truth or knowledge. It is argued in this research project that this hunger for monopoly over the truth can also be detected in western epistemologies. The current context is one which asks that we acknowledge that the Christian faith is flourishing in the global South. This therefore has significant challenges for a faith that wants to consistently insist in her own determination without learning from those wells of knowledge on the continent. The question of Africanization therefore abounds. It is in the light of this that this research explores the question of church polity within the URCSA and checks if it does in fact respond to the issue of Africanization. Church polity is a sub subject within the ambit of ecclesiology. In other words, it relates to those issues that gives meaning to the management and administration of a particular church. The church order is been investigated and it is concluded that this, while being a local element, speaks to the broader aspect of Christianity not been conducive to learn from Africa. The subject of African marriages is lifted up as a catalyst for Africanization in the local church. African marriage is an important element in the life of the African Christian. I believe that it is for this very reason that some mention of it is made although in passing and not informed by a genuine concern to learn from the African. A number of misconceptions are pointed out in the understanding of African marriages. With regard to the positives, issues of lobola are brought to the fore to thwart the misconceptions. It is found that there is nothing that positively help a conversation on African marriages in the church order. Since the URCSA is an offspring of the DRCA, it is found that nothing substantially has changed with regard to the perception of African marriages. In fact what the Christian attitude did was to create a buffer between itself and these African knowledge systems. In the end the monopoly over the truth by the west is chastised and reference is made to African proverbs and myths which are aimed ad ameliorating truth within the African context. Contrary to the west and her faith where truth is dogma, we realize that within the African context and space, truth is arrived at in the meeting of different worlds as poignantly articulated by some African proverbs. This research ends on a sad note that laments the lost opportunities between Africa and the world. It also realizes that these lost opportunities are intentionally being ignored by those who claim to have a monopoly on the truth. Having said all of these, this research realizes that the question of Africanization cannot and must not be left to those who continue to engage this subject from a point of view of having a monopoly over truth