Abstract:
This article explores how a farming community in Wellington (Bovlei) moved from dependence
towards an empowered community through non-profit organisations’ (NPOs) transformative
community development initiatives, undertaken together with the church’s social capital. This
example serves as the backdrop to explore critical viewpoints by various scholars who are
critical about how the church engages in an unequal and unjust society. The critical questions
that remain are the following; who is the church?, what is the church’s role as a change agent?
and how should churches leverage social capital for development? Although various definitions
have been given in conceptualising the church and its role in society, through this article, the
author engages with the social capital theory in understanding how the transformation came
about in this community by describing the churches’ involvement through a case study.
