Zion Christian Church

Zion Christian Church

The Zion Christian Church (or ZCC) is the largest African Initiated Church in southern Africa, with more than four million members. ref|People The church's headquarters are at Zion City Moria in Limpopo Province, South Africa, and the two congregations that compose the church are led by Barnabas Lekganyane and Saint Engenas Lekganyane, the grandsons of its founder.

History

Origin

The ZCC was formed in 1924 by Engenas Lekganyane, a former member of the Free Church of Scotland, Apostolic Faith Mission and Zion Apostolic Church. ZCC members trace the founding of the church to a revelation which Lekganyane is said to have received from God in 1910. The church was initially based in Lekganyane's home village of Thabakgone, near Polokwane in South Africa's Limpopo Province, and was officially registered as a church in 1942, by which time congregations had additionally been established in Botswana and Zimbabwe. The early church was strongly influenced by the doctrines of the Christian Catholic Church of John Alexander Dowie, based in Zion, Illinois in the United States of America, and by the teachings of the Pentecostal missionary John G. Lake, who began work in Johannesburg in 1908.ref|PentinAf

Zion City Moria

The Zion Christian Church (ZCC), founded in 1924 by Engenas Lekganyane, is the largest of the African indigenous churches in South Africa.

The ZCC belongs to the so-called independent churches of South Africa - described as independent because they are not under white control. (Lukhaimane 1980:1) The Zionist churches did not break away directly from the mission establishment; their origins lie, instead, in Zion City, Illinois, where John Alexander Dowie (1847-1907) founded the Christian Catholic Church in 1896. The influence of his church spread to South Africa in 1904 when Daniel Bryant baptized several Africans. (see Lukhaimane 1980:14)

Independent Ethiopian churches, on the other hand, have their roots in the history of resistance to the imperial system. In the thinking of many white missionaries, the success of Christianization depended on Westernization, and they intertwined religious conversion with the imposition of new cultural norms. This, inevitably, led to the phenomenon of cultural deprivation among African converts. As a consequence, in the second half of the 19th century some converts attempted to protect and perpetuate certain aspects of African culture. For example, the rise of nativistic sentiment prompted the Reverend Nehemiah Tile to break away from the Methodist Church in 1884. The Ethiopian movement in South Africa is often traced to this event, because thereafter the breakaway church movement gained momentum.

The separatist movement was not just a rejection of alien cultural values, it was also aimed at revitalizing the African society which colonial conquest had rendered ineffectual. According to some scholars, the separatist movement can be seen as the struggle of the African to assert his significance as a human being. This significance he knew very well in his home before his culture was disrupted by the impact of Western culture. He had had to surrender it in the face of overwhelming and awe-inspiring wonders of the White man. He was then left without purpose, and his degeneration as a human being began. The Separatist Churches restore this sense of purpose. (Vilakazi, Mthethwa, and Mpanza 1986:17-18) To this end, indigenous customs were, and continue to be, grounded within a Christian framework in the independent churches.

According to Lukhaimane, the ZCC arose out of personal differences between Engenas Lekganyane and the elders of the Zion Apostolic Church and the Zion Apostolic Faith Mission - churches of which Lekganyane was once a member (1980:2). Thus the formation of the ZCC was a "Black from Black" secession (Lukhaimane 1980:2). What places the ZCC firmly within the separatist or independent movement and closely links it to the Ethiopian churches is not provenance, but a common emphasis on the retention of certain African customs and norms.

As a Zionist organization, the ZCC is characterized by an emphasis on divine and faith healing, purification rites, dancing, night communion, river baptism, the holy spirit, prophesying, and so on.1 There are several formations within the ZCC which have been created to provide prayer and communion forums for members. The main ones are Mokhukhu, the Female Choir, the Male Choir, the Brass Band, and Nkedi. Mokhukhu is generally regarded by members as the most important of all the groups.2

The Origins of Mokhukhu

In Sepedi the word "mokhukhu" means a "shack" or "shanty." In Zion City Moria - the headquarters of the ZCC - situated some convert|40|km|mi east of Polokwane (previously Pietersburg) in the Limpopo (previously Northern Province) Province, there are many such shacks.3 The manner in which the word "mokhukhu" came to be applied to a dominant formation within the ZCC lies in the early history of conflicts within the church. After Engenas Lekganyane's death in 1948, Joseph, his son and appointed heir, succeeded him as the leader of the church. However, Joseph's older brother, Edward, contested this with the help of some church members. Traditional custom was in his favor as the older brother, for among the Bapedi the eldest son succeeds his father. It is said that, as a way of intimidating Joseph's followers, the pro-Edward faction burned the shacks in which Joseph's supporters lived. When each shack was ablaze, the Edward faction danced and sang a song containing the words "u yasha umkhukhu" (a shack is burning). This song, which was isiZulu, was begun by pro-Edward migrant workers based in what was then known as the Reef. The dancing pattern they formed eventually became popular within the branch that the Edward camp established after the conflict and came to be known as Mokhukhu. The name now refers to both the dance pattern and to the group that performs the dance.

Edward's faction called its branch the Zion Christian Church. By retaining the original name of the church that Engenas had founded, they were possibly suggesting that Edward was the legitimate successor to his father. Joseph's camp coined the name St. Engenas Zion Christian Church for their group: By putting "St. Engenas" before "Zion Christian Church," they were also insisting on their lawful link to the founder of the ZCC. "Mokhukhu" is found only in Edward's ZCC, perhaps because it conjures up unhappy memories for the leadership in Joseph's group. Because it played a decisive role in the establishment of Edward's ZCC, "mokhukhu" is accorded a central place in the church. Some members of the church refer to it as "motheo wa Kereke" (the foundation of the church).

Characteristics and beliefs

Characteristics of the ZCC

*The belief that the religious and administrative leader of the church (or bishop) is a mediator between the congregation and God; that, like Christ, he can perform supernatural acts and faith-healing.

*The belief that senior officials in the ZCC (known as "baruti") can use the power of the Holy Spirit to perform healing. ref|Anderson
*The use of different mechanisms for faith-healing. These include the laying-on of hands; the use of holy water; drinking of blessed tea and coffee; the wearing of blessed cords or cloth.

ZCC Beliefs

Members of the ZCC generally believe ref|Hanekom that:

*A person contacts God through direct prayer.
*Purification from sins is obtained through prayer and repentance.
*The bishop of the ZCC preaches on peace and respect, and the humility of Jesus Christ .
*Spirit possession is the work of the Holy Spirit. ngwako

ZCC in the UK

There have been recent sightings of ZCC gatherings in Yorkshire in the UK. When contacted, the headquarters confirmed that there is a ZCC church in Rotherham with over a 100 members. According to our source, most of the members are old ZCC members who migrated to the UK from mainly Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Malawi. However, the source added, they have added to the membership by baptising new members from other western Africa. Fact|date=April 2008

References

Other Sources:
*Marcus Ramogale is an Associate Professor in the Department of English, University of Venda, South Africa.

*Sello Galane is a Lecturer in English, Kwena-Moloto College of Education, Northern Province, South Africa. Both are interested in the oral traditions of Black South Africans.

*Joyce, Peter. 1989. Religions in South Africa. In The South African Family Encyclopedia. Cape Town: Struik.

*Lukhaimane, Khelebeni Elias. 1980. "The Zion Christian Church of Ignatius (Engenas) Lekganyane, 1924 to 1948: An African Experiment with Christianity." Diss., University of the North.

*Vilakazi, Absolom, Bongani Mthethwa, and Mthembi Mpanza. 1986. Shembe: The Revitalization of African Society. Johannesburg: Skotaville.

#Note|People [http://www.gcis.gov.za/docs/publications/pocketguide/people.pdf South African government guide]
#Note|People [http://www.gcis.gov.za/docs/publications/pocketguide/people.pdf South African government guide]
#Note|Anderson Anderson, A., 1999. "The Lekganyanes and Prophecy in the Zion Christian Church", "Journal of Religion in Africa", xxix - 3
#Note|Hanekom Hanekom, C., 1975. "Krisis en Kultus : Geloofsopvattinge en seremonies binne 'n Swart Kerk", Academica: Kaapstad en Pretoria
#Note|PentinAf [http://www.seekgod.ca/bantu.htm Pentecostalism in Africa]


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