Christofides, PeterMeiring, Piet (Pieter Gerhard Jacobus), 1941-2012-07-042012-07-042012-05-29Christofides, P. & Meiring, P.G.J., 2012, ‘The rediscovery of the role of the laity in the mission of the Church – with reference to the Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA)’, Verbum et Ecclesia 33(1), Art. #425, 9 pages. http://dx.DOI.org/ 10.4102/ve.v33i1.4251609-998210.4102/ve.v33i1.425http://hdl.handle.net/2263/19313The article is based on the first author’s PhD thesis on The rediscovery of the role of the laity in the mission of the Church – with reference to the Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA), Department of Science of Religion and Missiology, University of Pretoria (April 2009), under the supervision of Professor P.G.J. Meiring.The role of the laity is at the cutting edge of Christian missions today. The author conducted a number of interviews and questionnaires to determine the status of the laity across denominations of the Christian faith in South Africa. His findings are in a number of instances startling: The picture of the laity, and what lay Christians in South Africa believe, run against general expectations. Some suggestions and proposals on how to empower the laity in general, and the churches of the Baptist Union in Southern Africa (BUSA) in particular, are made. The underlining motive for the research is to encourage the BUSA churches to become truly missional churches that make a difference in the world in which we live.en© 2012. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.Baptist Union in Southern Africa (BUSA)Christian missionsBUSA churchesLaity -- BaptistsLay ministry -- Baptist Union of Southern AfricaMission of the churchBaptists -- MissionsMissional church movementArticle