Grace Community Church, South Africa

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Grace Community Church
South Africa: World Factbook, 2009
Location	Philipstown, South Africa
Date Established	1990's
Presiding Officer	Leon Pula
MWC Affiliated?	Yes
Number of Congregations	7
Membership	1,023

Grace Community Church is a Mennonite World Conference church located in Philipstown, South Africa. Philipstown, South Africa is located in the heart of a rural sheep ranching territory in the northwest part of the country. Most recently, the Grace Community Church in South Africa has reported to have 1,027 members in seven different congregations.

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History

Origins

The church began when Pastor David Makaleni decided to build a church and evangelize within the Philipstown community in the 1990's. Makaleni became a legend in the area for carrying the gospel to many workers struggling to live on sheep farms. He drove thousands of miles to spread the good news. During his life, David planted nearly 20 cell groups and rid most of the plantations of the alcoholism that was creating an epidemic.
After some time, Grace Community Church had mentioned that they would really like to have some of their members ordained. Tim Lind, a Mennonite Central Committee representative, helped connect Grace Community with the Brethren in Christ Church in Zimbabwe. During 2001, Bishop Shenk and his wife Nancy, travelled to Philipstown to ordain pastors and advise the church on how to install deacons.

Growth

Apartheid

The Philipstown community continues to be an area of economic depression influenced by sheep farms. The sheep farms are the main source of wealth in the community, and as it was before the apartheid, the farms belong almost solely to white farmers. Because of this, these white farmers employ large numbers of African workers. While the church and Philipstown community can feel disgruntled in a culture that had been closed by color for so long, Grace Community Church has rapidly grown since apartheid. Pastor Leon Pula is the head of the church at the moment. For quite some time, now, Pastor Pula has been fervently involved in politics. During 2006 he was the only person of color in a senior government position and had already been a deputy chairperson for a branch of the African National Congress (ANC). He has only been allowed to hold congress since apartheid is finally over. The African National Congress finally came to power in 2006 and the victory released a lot of emotion for change. Pastor Pula continues to be a well known leader within the community and has continued to try and bridge the gap between the opposition party and the ANC. Although the church has grown tremendously since apartheid, the economy has completely plummeted since the opposing party lost power.

Contemporary Trends

Currently the BIC church has branches in the following places: Freedom Park, Eersterus, Johannesburg South, Yeoville, Krugersdorp, Tembisa, Cosmo City, Ivory Park, Tsakane, Cape Town, and Pretoria. These branches have recently been given a General Conference status by the international Brethren in Christ Association (IBICA).
Lately, Zimbabweans have been making efforts to nurture the Hillbrow group. The Zimbabwe Brethren in Christ Church sent Pastor Benedict Macebo to help strengthen their newly formed sister church.
Recently, efforts have been made to build relations with other Anabaptist churches, including Grace Community Church in Philipstown, South Africa.

Identifying as Anabaptist

The church has committed itself to a message of compassion, peace, and reconciliation. Members in the Brethren in Christ church do not participate in wars. Learning to lead a separate lifestyle from that of the world is encouraged and necessary as an Anabaptist in this church. The church also puts a lot of emphasis on living simply, and forgiveness is a core part of their teaching.

Important Individuals

• Pastor Benedict Macebo - He is currently the pastor at Hillbrow Brethren in Christ Church in South Johannesburg. Pastor Macebo has done a lot of work with the Anabaptist Network in South Africa (ANiSA). He is an influential leader within the Anabaptist community, and has had success in creating connections within the different branches.

Current Challenges

Probably the biggest problem of the Brethren in Christ Church is the capacity to finance all of the church programs. While the church continues to grow at a very good pace, many of the members are unemployed and do not help the church financially. While the church desires to plant 60 churches by 2014, they do not have enough money to develop a strong leadership program. Another issue within the church is the continued affects of apartheid. In this way, xenophobia within the church is sometimes a serious challenge. Some problems to mention would also be that tribalism is also felt in the church. Poverty is a constant frustration among members. The church is still at an infant stage, which is a challenge in itself. Crime is very prevalent in the South African society. Faith Healers also challenge the church as members are leaving the church in large numbers. One of the challenges facing the BIC Church in South Africa today is the growing numbers of youth in the church. While many churches would feel blessed to have such a young church, it can pose as a problem if the youth have not completely latched on to the Anabaptist ideals. This has come as a concern since the youth are the future of the church. A further challenge within the BIC branches is that there is a lack of knowledge about Anabaptism. The Anabaptist Network in South Africa (ANiSA) is an organization that is working to fix this, but hopefully the problem is not too big at this point.

Annotated Bibliography

• "About ANiSA." The Anabaptist Network in South Africa. 2009. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. <http://anisa.org.za/about>.
  

This website helps connect the Anabaptist churches in South Africa. The creators’ goal is to help define what it means to be Anabaptist in a South African context, and allows churches all around the country to have a common place to connect. Along with general information on Anabaptists, ANiSA has contact information for a couple Brethren in Christ churches in the country.

• "Africa." Africa Summary. Mennonite World Conference, 2011. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. <www.mwc-cmm.org/en15/files/Members%202009/Africa%20Summary.doc>.

This website directs the reader to a document that lists the different Anabaptist and Mennonite World Conference churches within Africa. The document lists the African countries in alphabetical order, with a list of each church in the pertaining country. Under the church’s name is the number of members and how many congregations exist within each church.

• "BICWM | International Flag Processional Script." Brethren in Christ Church. Brethren in Christ World Missions, 2000. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. <http://www.bic-church.org/wm/global-impact/resources/script.asp>.

While the need for a processional script is unclear, this website provides a little information on when the Brethren in Christ church began. It also lists a few things that the church has been focusing on.

• Checole, Alemu, et al. Anabaptist Songs in African Hearts. Ed. John Allen Lapp and C. Arnold Snyder. 3rd ed. Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 2006.

This is one of the most thorough books on Anabaptist history within the African context that I used during research. While it focuses on the whole continent, this book pays ample attention to the Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches in Southern Africa. There was even a small section specifically on the Brethren in Christ Church in South Africa. This was a primary source.

• Macebo, Benedict. "I Want to Know More About Your Church." E-mail interview. 10 Apr. 2011.

Benedict Macebo is the pastor at Hillbrow Brethren in Christ Church in South Johannesburg. Through this interview Benedict presented his obvious and clear passion for the church, as well as provided some very direct and necessary information about the Brethren in Christ Church. He answered every question in the interview in full detail, delighted that someone was interested about his church. Benedict is a major leader within the South African Anabaptist community, and really knows his history but also where he wants to lead the church in the future. This was a primary source.

• Suderman, Andrew. "Tell Me About the BIC Church." E-mail interview. 10 Apr. 2011.

Andrew is one of the web developers for the Anabaptist Network in South Africa (ANiSA). He knows a lot about the Anabaptist churches working within the country.

Acknowledgments

This information was compiled by Aspen Schmidt, working through the Anabaptist/Mennonite History course at Goshen College in Goshen, IN.