Research Outputs (Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology)
https://hdl.handle.net/10500/435
2024-03-29T06:19:37ZPentecostalisation in the Devhula Lebowa Circuit of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa: towards church growth and ecumenism
https://hdl.handle.net/10500/29791
Pentecostalisation in the Devhula Lebowa Circuit of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa: towards church growth and ecumenism
Kgatle, Mookgo Solomon; Malema, Mulalo
The growth of the Pentecostal movement is not only marked by the proliferation of the Pentecostal churches in Africa and the diaspora but also by the adaptation to the Pentecostalist practices particularly pneumatic experiences by mainline Christianity known as Pentecostalisation. Instead of completely joining the Pentecostal movement, some mainline churches adjust their practices to suit their congregants who are more pentecostalist and charismatically inclined. This article uses the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa, the Devhula Lebowa Circuit, Limpopo province in South Africa as a case study to illustrate that the adaptation to Pentecostalist practices in the church is the source of church growth and ecumenism. This kind of adaptation has some implications in demonstrating that different Christian traditions can learn from one another to grow in terms of numbers. Secondly, it demonstrates that the Christian tradition can move towards unity by learning from one another instead of being divided along denominational lines. Through a participation observation method, this study shows that Pentecostalisation cannot be viewed negatively but should be revisited by scholars considering church growth and the notion of ecumenism.
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZRethinking the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement: an African ecclesiological approach
https://hdl.handle.net/10500/29769
Rethinking the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement: an African ecclesiological approach
Kgatle, Mookgo Solomon
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement accepts and practices the beliefs in the gifts of the Holy Spirit without leaving the fundamental teachings of a mainline tradition. Similarly, in the Catholic Church, this is a movement that has embraced the gifts of the Holy Spirit without leaving Catholicism. The movement has been influenced largely by the protestant tradition, particularly the Pentecostal movement, hence some resemblances with Pentecostal ecclesiological practices such as charismatic worship, prophecy, divine healing, and speaking in tongues. Previous studies on this movement have only looked at the various challenges or attacks on the movement such as shifting their focus away from the church ordinances and sacraments. What is new in this article, is a reflection on the practices of the charismatic renewal in offering a relevant African ecclesiology. This will be done by locating this article within an African ecclesiological approach which when applied to the charismatic renewal makes the movement relevant to an African context.
2023-02-02T00:00:00ZSpiritual Fathering in Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in Southern and Western Africa Toward an Inclusive Model
https://hdl.handle.net/10500/29768
Spiritual Fathering in Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in Southern and Western Africa Toward an Inclusive Model
Kgatle, Mookgo Solomon
This article studied the metaphor of spiritual fathering within Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in southern and western Africa. In these churches, the pastor of a congregation is not only perceived as a shepherd of the flock but also as a spiritual father. The main study findings revealed three challenges of spiritual fathering: exclusion of women, illtreatment of spiritual children, and Gender Based Violence (GBV). Spiritual fathering neglects the role of women pastors and women church founders in spiritual parenting. Similarly, some imbalances exist in the relationship between spiritual fathers and spiritual children. Some “spiritual fathers” use spiritual fathering to perpetuate GBV and other types of abuse. The main objective of this article is to redefine the metaphor of “spiritual fathering” in the religious community through the parenthood model as a theoretical framework. The article recommends inclusive metaphor in contrast to the current challenges of spiritual fathering in popular religion.
2023-02-02T00:00:00ZThe role of ecumenical bodies in curbing abuses in New Prophetic Churches in South Africa
https://hdl.handle.net/10500/29730
The role of ecumenical bodies in curbing abuses in New Prophetic Churches in South Africa
Kgatle, Mookgo Solomon
The proliferation of New Prophetic Churches within the broader Pentecostal movement in
South Africa has come with the challenge of the abuse of religion and people’s beliefs. These abuses have attracted the attention of the government through the Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Communities (CRL) commission with calls for the regulation of religion to deal with the abuses. This article worked within the context of Christian ecumenism and explored the role of ecumenical bodies in curbing the abuses in New Prophetic Churches as opposed to the regulation by the government. In this article the ecclesiastical freedom theory is used to argue that ecumenical bodies are better positioned to deal with these challenges facing churches than the government and its commissions. It is suggested that, for New Prophetic Churches to be active in national ecumenical bodies such as the South African Council of Churches, they should be allowed to establish their own bodies to assure accountability. This will be achieved by defining the theory of ecclesiastical freedom, a discussion of the ecumenical bodies in South Africa and their relationship with New Prophetic Churches. In the last section the role of ecumenical bodies in dealing with abuses in New Prophetic Churches will be
explored and recommendations made.
2022-12-12T00:00:00Z