Re-imagining Church for 21st Century South Africa

Re-imagining Church for 21st Century South Africa – a somewhat presumptuous title for an article. But I beg your indulgence in my presumption. What makes this article even more presumptuous is that based on some of my thought patterns over the past few years, I would not have imagined myself writing on the church in the 21st Century. My imagination of what church can be like had caused me to be somewhat disenchanted about what I saw church to be like. But here I go again in re-imagining what Jesus, the Head of the Church, can do together with the church, a group of transformed people who have seen the essence of the kingdom of God, the possibility of God turning the kingdoms of this world into the kingdom of his son who will rule forever.

When we reflect on South Africa's 20th Century Church, there is much which may cause us concern. Much of that concern is rooted in much of the church's close identification with the apartheid political ideology, either by its open support of it or by its silence in confronting it. This gave the church much bad press especially as this ideology was challenged and certainly in terms of the statute book in the country, dismissed in the 1990s in South Africa. The perception of the 'church', as being "institutional, bureaucratic, self-serving, conservative, slow, irrelevant, limiting, calcified, resistant to change, out-of-date" [cf. Suderman in ‘Jesus and the Church’ in Jesus Matters: Good News for the 21st Century] is one which has gained some momentum in South Africa in recent years. Certainly in terms of the relevance of the church for 21st Century South Africa, some re-imagining is essential.

South Africa's re-imagined church will move away from its close association with governmental structures. It may be the belief of Jacob Zuma that the ANC will rule until Jesus returns but the church cannot associate itself with such a sentiment if it is to remain relevant. The church must distance itself from this or any other party political ideology and in its place identify itself with the biblical concept of the kingdom of God rulership of God being established on earth as it is in heaven. The reality is that wherever and whenever church and state have been closely associated, the church has suffered and none more so than in the South Africa of the 20th Century.

The Kingdom of God that Jesus came to proclaim and establish, is one where an alternative set of values is demonstrated and worked out. Such a Kingdom is organic and alive rather than institutional and bureaucratic and calcified making it resistant to change and thus irrelevant to the world which God desires to see changed. He desires to use the church, which he is building, to bring about this change.

We know that faith comes by hearing. It is as the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed that faith is produced by the Word of God who is Jesus; he is alive and active and able to bring about faith and to separate that which is of the spirit and that which is of the soul. However as James points out that unless this faith is lived out in practice, it is dead and of no worth whatsoever. Proclamation without demonstration will produce nothing more than meaningless philosophy.

South Africa's re-imagined church will practice all that the New Testament in so many ways declares from its every page. It will be a church where there is no Black or White, and there is no Zulu or Xhosa etc. etc. because racial and cultural identity will not be the criteria by which we will relate. Our identity in Christ will come to the fore and a kingdom culture will prevail. This is particularly relevant in South Africa where the ideology of apartheid held sway for so long. The Kingdom of God-centred church will present a counter-culture to what has for so long prevailed in our nation.

This will be a church where social status or financial position will not count in any way. This is critical in a nation where these aspects of society have dominated all social interaction. Wealth will not be worshipped and poverty will not be despised. Success will not be measured by the number who turn up at meetings but rather by the evidence that whole communities have been changed because the church is present. It will be a church where neither man or woman will dominate or be stereotyped to fulfill a particular role. In it, all will submit one to the other, with no one demanding submission from another. Inferiority and superiority will forever be dispensed with.

South Africa's re-imagined church will see leaders as those who act as servants and not seeking positions of power and influence and not taking on titles to match these positions. They will do nothing out of selfish ambition but in humility consider others better than themselves. They will look to the interests of others and their motivation will be to prepare others to be in the limelight while they undergird their efforts. The re-imagined church will reach unity in the faith and knowledge of Jesus, becoming mature, attaining to the measure of the fullness of Christ. The church's leaders and those who exercise authority will be merciful and compassionate. The leaders of the re-imagined church would not be there because they climbed all over other people to get to a position of greater authority on the church corporate ladder. Their testimony will be who they are rather than what they say.

The re-imagined church in South Africa will see the hungry fed, the naked clothed, oppression in every form eliminated and those who have, will share freely with those who have not. No one will occupy a position so as to dominate and have control over others. This church will be the first to speak out against injustice, even when this makes them unpopular with those in positions of influence. It takes seriously its role to be peacemakers rather than peacekeepers; as it does this, the church will indeed be seen as children of God. Peacemaking is pro-active and puts you in the firing line of criticism; it brings an end to violence.

South Africa's re-imagined church will focus its evangelism on being the light of the world where its light will shine before all humanity, so that all may see their good deeds and worship God in heaven. This Church will seek not to put on a performance that appeals to the self-seeking nature of people, appealing to their consumerist nature. It will instead seek to practically demonstrate the good news of the Kingdom of God, so that the lives of is beneficiaries will be changed forever.

This re-imagined Church will move away from institutionalism and a human organisational construct. The order of the re-imagined church will resemble that of an indigenous forest rather than that of a ordered plantation of trees. The growth and welfare of every member of the church will be dependant on the growth and welfare of every other member; the first will be last and last will be first. The people of this church will be together, committed to living out the "one-anothers" described in the New Testament. They will be in communities where relationships will alone determine their togetherness rather than some ritual or regulation.

So let your heart and mind imagine. 20 centuries of church history should not leave you discouraged. Jesus came to reverse the effects of Adam and Eve's disobedience in the Garden of Eden. The Kingdom of God can become an ever increasing present reality. God is committed to making all things new. Yes, I can imagine this to be seen - Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. [Revelation 22:1-5). This can be the Church of 21st Century South Africa. Let us hear the voice of Jesus and follow after him.