Missions are money and money is missions : Methodist ecclesiology in South Africa, 1872-2004

Abstract

This article examines the close relationship between the church and money, as manifested in the breakaway churches from the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) from the 19th to the 20th century. The Methodist Church has had more secessions than any other mainline denomination in South Africa.1 One of the key factors leading to these secessions was the disagreement about money. This is because the leadership of the Methodist Church, most of whom were white and privileged, often did not practise equality and transparency when it came to money. The article also argues that the disagreements about money were a manifestation of racism and mistrust of black leadership by their white counterparts. The author uses five case studies of secession in the life of the MCSA to show how money became a bone of contention that led to breakaways. The case studies are (1) the formation of Unzondelelo in the 1874; (2) the formation of the African Methodist Episcopal in 1892; (3) the formation of the Ethiopian Church in 1892; (4) the formation of the Methodist Church in Africa in 1930; and (5) the formation of the United Methodist Church of South Africa in 1978.