Being a church today in South Africa's Liberal Democracy

Abstract

The emergence of a liberal democracy in South Africa confronted South African churches with a new environment. Until 1994, churches were mostly involved (on both sides) in the struggle against Apartheid. This situation resulted in a church model which can be defined as institutionalism. Churches acted as megainstitutions over and against the state and confronted or supported the state in decisions taken by synods, councils and ecumenical bodies. After 1994 the churches gradually lost their political relevance and subsided into a model which can be defined as spiritualism. Spiritualism emphasises the spiritual nature of Christianity to such an extent that the social task of the church becomes obsolete. This article endeavours to formulate a model which can overcome this problem and the article proposes the model of the “church as servant”. I then describe the role of the serving church in South Africa under the following rubrics: the church as a holy community, the church as an exemplary community, the church as a preaching community and the church as a worshipping community.