and its significance for the seventh-day adventist church in south africa

361 Pages·2013·6.14 MB·English

THE AFRIKAANSE KONFERENSIE
(I968 - I974)
AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE
FOR THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH
IN SOUTH AFRICA
by
Antonio Pantalone
submitted in fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR THEOLOGIAE
in the Department of
CHURCH HISTORY AND MISSIOLOGY
at the
University of D,urban-Westville
Promoter: Professor MC Kitshoff
January 1999
THE AFRIKAANSE KONFERENSIE
(1968-1974)
AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE
FOR THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH IN SOUTH AFRICA
vi
Abstract
viii
List of abbreviations
ix
Glossary of names and terms
Biographical notes of prominent persons involved in the conflict xi
. xii
Acknowledgements
xiii
Personal declaration
INTRODUCTION
1- Crisis in the Seventh-day Adventist Church 1
.
2. Aims 3
3. Thesis structure 3
4. Sources 6
CHAPTER ONE: THE EVOLVEMENT OF AFRIKANER CONSCIOUSNESS (1652-1914)
THE INITIAL STIRRING OF A PEOPLE WITH A DISTINCTIVE
IDENTITY . . . .. ........... 8
A. Early aspirations for independence 8
B. The advent of the Afrikaner 12
II. AFRIKANER IDENTITY UNDER THREAT (1795-1877) 14
A. Britain's policy of anglicization •.... 14
B. The Great Trek 17
C. Calvinistic theology and Afrikaner nationalism 19
D. The annexations of the Boer republics (1843-1877) 22
E. The flowering of Afrikaans language and culture . 23
III. THE RESURGENCE OF THE AFRIKANER PEOPLE (1902-1914) 26
A. The calamitous effects of the South African War 26
B. Afrikaner revival . 30
IV. VERLIGTE/VERKRAMPTE CONFLICT 33
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A. Afrikaners in crisis 33
V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 34
CHAPTER TWO: A HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THE POSITION OF THE DUTCH
AND AFRIKAANS BELIEVERS IN THE SEVENTH-DAY
ADVENTIST CHURCH IN SOUTH AFRICA (1887-1968)
I. THE ORIGINS OF THE SEVENTH-DAY
.............
ADVENTIST CHURCH IN SOUTH AFRICA 37
A. The first Seventh-day Adventist in South Africa 37
B. The Dutch and the seventh-day Sabbath • • • . 37
THE COMMENCEMENT OF DUTCH-ENGLISH ANTAGONISM
II.
IN THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH IN SOUTH AFRICA . . .. 38
A. Beginning of dissatisfaction among
Dutch-speaking believers . . . . • . . . • . . . . • 38
B. The influence of the South African War (1899-1902) 42
C. Desire develops for a separate organization • • 43
III. SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THE LANGUAGE QUESTION • . . 49
A. The establishment of Claremont Union College (1892) 49
1- The College perceived as alien 50
2. Views on government examinations 53
.
B. The College relocated to Natal (1918) . . 53
C. The College moves back to the Cape (1928) 58
IV. SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST LITERATURE AND
THE LANGUAGE QUESTION ....•. 69
A. Early printing endeavours in South Africa 69
B. Seventh-day Adventists face strong challenges 70
C. Dutch Seventh-day Adventist literature 73
D. English literature gains prominence 74
E. A pattern emerges in the Church's
literature work 76
V. THE CHURCH'S MEDICAL ENDEAVOURS
AMONG THE DUTCH PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA 79
A. Medical endeavours in Stellenbosch (1903) 79
VI. THE CHURCH'S ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES 82
A. The establishment of the South African Conference 82
B. Optimism and enthusiasm outpaces discretion 83
C. Organizational transformations (1903) . 85
D. Expansion into the Dutch-speaking areas 87
E. The establishment of the Orange River
Conference (1913) .... . ..•..... 88
F. The Orange River Conference disbanded (1929) 88
G. The Natal-Transvaal Conference and the
Cape Conference amalgamate (1933) .••. 90
H. The formation of the Transvaal Conference and the
Oranje-Natal Conference (1957) . •... 91
r.
Expansion into the Orange Free State 92
J. Afrikaans work develops in the Transvaal
K. Antagonism still rife in the Church • . • •
. . . .
VII. THE AFRIKAANS LITERATURE YEARS · · · · · · · 94
A. The first Afrikaans Seventh-day Adventist literature 94
B. The translation of Afrikaans literature
. . . . . .
gains momentum · · · · · · · 95
. . . . . .
C. A backlog develops · · · · · · · 97
D. Paucity of original Afrikaans reading material 97
E. Afrikaans ridiculed at the publishing house 100
VIII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 101
CHAPTER THREE: THE RISE OF THE AFRIKAANSE KONFERENSIE AND THE
REACTION OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH (1968-1974)
I. CONFRONTATION IN THE TRANSVAAL CONFERENCE • • . . . . • . . 102
A. The formation of the Afrikaanse Konferensie
van sewendedag Adventiste (1968) 102
B. Further grievances of the Afrikaanse Konferensie 106
II. SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST ECCLESIOLOGY 109
A. The origins of the missionary mandate
of the Seventh-day Adventist Church • • 109
B. The organizational unity of the Church 111
III. THE BACKDROP TO THE CONTROVERSY IN THE CHURCH 114
A. The background years (1955-1968) 114
IV. THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH REFUTES THE
ALLEGATIONS OF THE AFRlKAANSE KONFERENSIE .•.••.... 117
A. The reaction of the Church following
the Special Session at Sedaven (1968) • . • . . . . . 117
V. THE RIFT BETWEEN THE AFRlKAANSE KONFERENSIE
AND THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH WIDENS . . 118
A. A "letter and tract" conflict erupts . . • . . . 118
B. The quarrel within the Church becomes public 123
C. The Afrikaanse Konferensie justifies its motives
and act ions . . . . • . . . . . . • . . . . . 124
D. Afrikaanse Konferensie sympathizers censured 126
E. Invitation to fast and pray rejected
127
F. Fires of dissension kindled in the Church . . . . . . . . .
131
. . . . . . . . . . . .
1. Na Vyf Maande
131
2. Off-Shoot Movements . . . . . . • .
133
3. Eenheid Onder die Volk van die Here
135
4. Sal Daar Erkenning Wees . • .. • .•
G. Joint declaration by the Afrikaanse
138
Konferensie and the Transvaal Conference
145
H. The Church withholds its literature
I. The Afrikaanse Konferensie threatened . . . . . . . . .
146
with legal action • . . . . . . • . .
J. The personal influence of C. h.u rc.h . le.a d. er.s . . . . . . . . . .
148
in the crisis . .
VI. THE ENDEAVOURS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH
TO TRY AND JUSTIFY ITS RESISTANCE TO THE
AFRIKAANSE KONFERENSIE . . . • • • • . 150
A. Negation of the charges of immorality made
against the Transvaal Conference president 150
B. Denial that Afrikaans had been disregarded 154
C. The entreaty for a unilingual c.o n. fe.r e.n c.e . . . . . . . . . .
turned down . . . . . • 158
1. Racial inequality in the Seventh-day
Adventist Church . . . . • . • . 171
a. The practice of separate education 171
b. Racially based medical work. 173
c. Racially divided organizational
structures 174
d. Racially divided places of worship 176
D. Cultural differences between English
and Afrikaans believers invalidated • 177
VII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 181
CHAPTER FOUR: THE DEVELOPMENT, DECLINE AND DEMISE OF
THE AFRlKAANSE KONFERENSIE (1968-1974)
I. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AFRIKAANSE KONFERENSIE 183
A. "Die stryd is aangeknoop" ..... . 183
B. Registration of the new conference 188
C. Enthusiastic support for the Afrikaanse Konferensie 191
D. The evangelistic endeavours of the Afrikaanse
Konferensie . . . . . . . . . . . . • . • . . 194
E. The Afrikaanse Konferensie's medical
and welfare work . . . . . . . . . . 199
F. The publication endeavours of the Afrikaanse
Konferensie . • . • . . . • • • • • • • • . . . • . • • 209
G. The aspirations of the Afrikaanse Konferensie
to open up a theological seminary • . . . . • . • . . . . • 211
H. The establishment of the Afrikaanse Advent
Vroue Vereniging (AAVV) . . . . . • . . . . . . . • . . . . 213
II. THE DECLINE AND DEMISE OF THE AFRlKAANSE KONFERENSIE 213
A. optimism, though tempered, still prevails 213
B. The Afrikaanse Konferensie confronted with
serious monetary difficulties 215
1. A critical decrease in financial support 217
2. Excessive spending 220
3. Misappropriation of funds • 221
C. Virulent personality clashes . . . . • • . . . . • • • 225
D. The impact of the ecclesiology of the Church 236
E. Demise and aftermath of the Afrikaanse Konferensie • 237
III. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 240
CHAPTER FIVE: THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH AND THE
CHALLENGE OF A MULTICULTURAL MINISTRY
I. THE ENDURING LANGUAGE DILEMMA 242
A. Inadequacy to handle cultural issues 249
B. An a-cultural view of the church • 252
C Power of perception 253
D. Reticence regarding overseas paradigms 256
II. PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS FOR RESOLVING THE
AFRIKAANS CULTURAL DILEMMA IN THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . • 256
A. The Seventh-day Adventist Church and
the cultural challenge 256
B. The circle of praxis 257
1. Insertion ..• 259
2. Social analysis 266
3. Theological reflection
• 272
4. Pastoral response . 277
a. Rediscovering the importance of
the local church . . . . . . . 278
b. The promotion of self-supporting
organisations . . . . . . . . . . 281
c. Training leaders in multicultural
. . . . . . . . . . . .
ministry
284
d. Decentralization of administrative
structures . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . 285
III. CONCLUSION
297
IV. ANNEXURES .
299
V. BIBLIOGRAPHY
324
VI. INDEX ....
345
ABSTRACT
In 1968 a group of Afrikaans believers protested that the Seventh-day
Adventist Church in South Africa had remained foreign to their experience.
They maintained that American leaders had dominated the Church. They also
asserted that their cultural, linguistic and literary needs had not been
adequately catered to, and that the work of evangelization in the Afrikaans
speaking areas had been sadly neglected.
Some headway had been made by the Church in the years prior to 1968 with
translations, firstly, into Dutch and later also into Afrikaans. Advancement
had also been made by evangelists into the Afrikaans-speaking areas of the
Transvaal and the Orange Free-State. The history of the Seventh-day Adventist
Church in this country, however, corroborates many of the grievances
enumerated by the dissatisfied Afrikaans believers. The predominance of
English in the administrative work of the Church and at its educational
institutions had always been a thorny issue, resulting in continuous friction
between the Church leaders and the Dutch and Afrikaans-speaking members.
Problems had also arisen with regard to the use of Afrikaans at the publishing
house of the Church. Positions of leadership in almost every department of the
Church had been filled by non-South Africans. As a result, by the late 1960s,
tensions in the Church had reached a boiling point.
At the end of 1968, at a special business session of the Transvaal Conference,
the objections of the Afrikaans believers met with very strong resistance. No
opportunity was granted to them to air their frustrations and grievances and,
as a result, a number of delegates left this meeting in protest before it had
been officially closed. This unilateral action resulted in the establishment
of an organization called Die Afrikaanse Konferensie van Sewendedag
Adventiste. This new conference was, however, considered to be schismatic and
was never acknowledged by the established Church.
From the outset, the Afrikaanse Konferensie set out to cater to the needs of
Afrikaans-speaking people in very forceful fashion. Many people felt that this
new conference had a legitimate cause and its membership grew very rapidly.
It initiated a welfare society, opened up several geriatric centres, its own
printing press and a correspondence Bible school. It also held, throughout the
ensuing years, numerous evangelistic campaigns. By the middle of 1973,
however, the opposition and incessant pressure applied by the established
Church and the severe problems that had emerged from within the ranks of the
Afrikaanse Konferensie, swiftly contributed to its demise, with most of its
members eventually rejoining the established Church.
At the time of the disintegration of the Afrikaanse Konferensie, the leaders
of the Church resolved to strengthen the evangelistic work directed at
Afrikaans-speaking people. They also determined to have more literature
produced in Afrikaans, and to strongly promote the use of Afrikaans at the
publishing house and at the Church's educational institutions. These
resolutions, however, proved ineffectual, and in the years that followed, the
work of the Church showed no improvement in its approach to the Afrikaans
speaking people.
vi
Twenty-five years have passed since the demise of the Afrikaanse Konferensie
and the Church finds itself, because of both, external and internal factors,
in a position that could be considered decidedly worse than at the time of the
formation of the Afrikaanse Konferensie in 1968. As from 1995, after a protest
march by students on the campus of Helderberg College, instruction in
Afrikaans was no longer provided at a tertiary level. The production of
Afrikaans books and the translation of reading material into Afrikaans is
almost non-existent. As a result, voices of dissent are once again being heard
that the Afrikaans work is being neglected. This predicament in the Church can
neither be ignored nor circumvented and the only way for the Church is to deal
with the crisis in the utmost sincerity without allowing itself to succumb to
it.
The source of the problem appears to lie primarily in Seventh-day Adventist
ecclesiology where a gulf exists between its interpretation of unity, and its
understanding of mission in a multicultural context. Authentic church unity
cannot consist only of an outer dimension whereby unity and mission are
cosmetically combined. It involves a deeper internal dimension, where the
striving for unity becomes a witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ, while the
mission of the church simultaneously embodies the obligations to cater to the
cultural and linguistic needs of all of Christ's people. It is this essential
synthesis that has yet to take place in the Seventh-day Adventist Church,
where both these facets are to be fostered as complementary aspects of its
total vocation. It is this fusion of unity and mission which will open the way
for the Church to complete its mission, unhindered either by the polarizing
and divisive effect of religious and cultural diversity, or by any misguided
attempts to impose uniformity.
In their quest for positive resolutions for the challenges facing the Church,
its leaders must ask what it means to be "church" in the social context in
which it finds itself, what precisely is its mission in the pluralistic,
multicultural situation in which it is located and how essential is the Church
to God's mission in this country?
Judging from the nature of the dilemma that the Seventh-day Adventist Church
in South Africa still faces today, it appears that these are questions that
have not been satisfactorily answered. After assessing both the past and
present modes of the Church's operation it becomes essential for the Church
leaders to do some critical rethinking about certain facets of its existing
ecclesiology and its missionary strategies. It is just as important to
systematically abandon the organizational structures that no longer fit the
purpose and mission of the Church and to realign them with new paradigms that
will effectively cater to the spir itual, cultural and linguistic needs of all
the peoples of this country.
vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ACS Adventist community Services
AD African Division
ADO African Division Outlook
AH Advent Helpers
AK Afrikaanse Konferensie
BL Beherende Liggaam Afrikaanse Konferensie
CC Cape Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
CCA Cape Conference Archives
CCC Cape Colony Conference
CCEX Cape Conference Executive Committee
CNO Christel ike Nasionale Onderwys
CS Claremont Sanitarium
CUC Claremont Union College
DB Dagbestuur Afrikaanse Konferensie
DCM Department Church Ministries
EAD Eastern African Division
EGW Ellen G. White
EGWRC Ellen G. White Research Centre (Helderberg College)
GC General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
GHC Good Hope College
GRA Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners
HBC Helderberg College
HBCA Helderberg College Archives
HBCL Helderberg College Library
n.d. No date (used with undated source material)
KNFSC KwaZulu-Natal Free State Conference
NFSC Natal-Free State Conference
NFSCA Natal-Free state Conference Archives
NTC Natal-Transvaal Conference
ONC Oranje-Natal Conference
ORC Orange River Conference
SAC South African Conference
SAD Southern African Division
SALCT South African Library. Cape Town
SAO South African Observer
SAPC South African Publishing Company
SAU South African Union
SAUC South African Union Conference
SKC Spion Kop College - (at times spelt Spioen Kop College)
SDA Seventh-day Adventist
SPA Sentinel Publishing Association - (name was later changed
to Southern Publishing Association)
TAD Trans-Africa Division
TC Transvaal Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
TC Ex. Com. Transvaal Conference Executive Committee
UDWL University of Durban Westville Library
UNPMB University of Natal Library, Pietermaritzburg
VOC Vereenighde Oost-Indische Compagnie
VOP Voice of Prophecy Bible School
ZAR Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek
viii
GLOSSARY OF NAMES AND TERMS
Although I have endeavoured in this study to limit the words, names, and
expressions that are peculiar to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, there are
a number of terms which need some clarification.
ADVENT. Anticipated second coming of Jesus Christ.
ADVENT REVIEW AND HERALD. Seventh-day Adventist Church periodical.
CONFERENCE BUSINESS SESSION. A local Seventh-day Adventist conference which
usually meets in session every two years, with delegates from the various
churches represented. Such a session elects officers and the conference
executive committee, receives new churches, and hears reports on the work in
the conference during the preceding term.
CAMPMEETING. Religious gathering of Seventh-day Adventist believers usually
held over a number of days, generally in a rural or semirural setting, with
provision for encampment on the grounds. A campmeeting is normally conducted
by the local conference.
CHURCH MANUAL. An official handbook, issued by the General Conference, dealing
with matters of local church organization, services, and operation, church
officers, church membership, standards of conduct, and relationships of the
church to conference officers, and workers.
CONFERENCE. Refers to the unit of church administration under the jurisdiction
of a conference president in which a number of churches are associated
together for administrative purposes.
DIVISION. The largest geographical and administrational unit of church
organization below the General Conference, comprising of a number of union
conference and headed by a Division president.
ELDER. A title used by Seventh-day Adventists to designate an ordained
minister, although "Pastor" is more often used. However, "Pastor" is also
applied to licensed ministers. In recent years "elder" has declined in
popularity but continues as an alternative for "Pastor".
ELLEN G. WHITE (1827-1915). Considered to be the only person in the Seventh
day Adventist Church that has been endowed by God with the prophetic gift.
Continual reference is made in this study to her counsel to the Church in
South Africa at the turn of the century.
EFFORT. Technical term employed for a public evangelistic campaign.
GENERAL CONFERENCE. Highest level of Seventh-day Adventist Church
administration, headed by a General Conference president. The headquarters of
the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church is located in Washington D.C.
LITERATURE EVANGELIST. Salesperson usually employed by the Church to promote
and sell Seventh-day Adventist literature.
ix