Abstract:
This research deals with the journey towards racial diversity in homogenous white
Afrikaans faith communities such as the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). This study is
an account of the researcher’s own discontent with being a minister in an racially
homogenous faith community against the backdrop of his own journey of finding an
integrated identity in a postapartheid
South Africa. It deals with the question of how a
church like the DRC can play an intentional role in the formation of racially inclusive
communities. The study brings together shifts in missional theology, personal reflections
from DRC ministers and contemporary studies on whiteness. Can a homogenous white
church become a place that cultivates racial diversity? How can missional theology be a
guide on this journey? Are there other voices that echo the feeling of the researcher?
The study looks towards a missional imaginary centered around the Trinity and the
Incarnation as a field map for racial diversity in the church. This is mirrored against
contemporary studies on white identity in a postapartheid
South Africa. Out of this
conversation the researcher argues for a creative discovery of hybrid identities within
white faith communities. Missional exercises such as listening to the stories of
strangers, cross cultural pilgrimages and eating together in strange places can assist
communities on this journey.
