Developing a post-heteronormative mission praxis with the Black Pentecostal Christians and the sexual minorities in Polokwane : South Africa

Abstract

In this thesis, I engaged in a possibility of developing a Post-Heteronormative mission praxis with the black Pentecostal Christians and the sexual minorities in Polokwane, South Africa. The thesis critically examines the current heteronormative oriented mission praxis of the black Pentecostal Christians in Polokwane. It moves from the premise that the hegemonic position of heteronormativity within the black Pentecostal Christian’s circle in Polokwane needs to be problematized. I show in this thesis that the Christian church which challenged the social ill such as poverty, racism and apartheid in South Africa should take as its moral crusade the challenging of heteronormativity in the contemporary South Africa. Additionally, the re-reading of Biblical passage of scriptures when developing mission strategies is in a way recommended. Following the same recommendation, the sexual minorities in Polokwane are regarded as a type of the Good Samaritan. From a Samaritan who was marginalised because of his ethnicity however, Jesus placed him in a position of a good neighbour as presented in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The black Pentecostal Christians in Polokwane are called to come out of their confines. They are further challenged to see the good in the lives of the sexual minorities. By doing that, they can in process discover the presence of God already at work in the lives of the sexual minorities. Consequently, the post-heteronormative mission praxis was defined in the following manner: Mission as going out to see the good in the lives of the sexual minorities.