Franchopone churches in the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria (Tshwane) : a missiological perspective

Abstract

This thesis is a missiological study of the francophone churches in the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Francophone churches may be classified as African Initiated Churches (AIC) that have been planted by migrants from the French speaking countries of central Africa. They are characterised by the use of French and English as languages of worship and communication. The planting and the presence of these churches have become a more visible and remarkable mission phenomenon drawing scientific attention and is worthy of studying. The main issue of this study is the missionality of the Francophone churches. The investigation concerns the ways in which Francophone churches understand the mission of God, known as missio Dei, and the ways in which they express it in the community. In practice the exploration of the missionality of the Francophone churches discloses their nature, raison d’être, and their purpose, as well as their ministries, and allows us to determine the relevancy of these churches in the community. For this reason, in the study I explore and describe also the concept of the missional church in order to apply it to the Francophone churches. To that end, “Patterns of missional church” are used to measure the extent to which Francophone churches are missional. The study suggests the parameters of the development of a missional culture in a Francophone congregation and highlights the importance of the missional leadership in this respect. Finally the study proposes some missional ministries or contextual ministries that may express practically the missionality and consequently the relevancy of Francophone churches in their context.