by Don Kritzinger, editor
How is the church in South Africa doing? What is the church in South Africa doing? The importance of this excellent and interesting small volume goes beyond answering these questions; it also gives us a model for examining the church in other nations.
Mission Research Network, Institute for Missiological and Ecumenical Research, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa, 2002, 215 pages, $14.00.
—Reviewed by Mikel Neumann, associate professor of missiology, Western Seminary, Portland, Oregon.
How is the church in South Africa doing? What is the church in South Africa doing? The importance of this excellent and interesting small volume goes beyond answering these questions; it also gives us a model for examining the church in other nations.
There is something here for all. Feel the need for statistics? Kritzinger offers two chapters of statistical analysis. Jurgens Hendriks and Johannes Erasmus provide charts showing growth (or lack thereof) denominationally, racially and economically. Paul Siaki, in the second chapter, gives further meaning to the numbers as he seeks to answer questions such as “Why is there a lack of male participation in church?” and “What does it mean that the church is the most trusted institution in South Africa?”
While this book is specific and at times unique to South Africa, such as a chapter on how the new constitution affected the religious dynamic, many chapters serve as models for analysis in other contexts. Chapters dealing with religion and human rights (5), the community centered approach (6), socio-economic justice (7) and the environment (14) are all interesting examples.
A couple of selections serve as examples of how the church interacts with the surrounding culture. Piet Beukes speaks of the economy, poverty and the church. He shows how structural societal issues (such as the economy) hurt the poor much more than the rich. He then describes how the church often dealt more with life after death than life before it. Such passive attitudes have often kept the church from helping solve the economic stressors. His fascinating section on globalization and how the church could respond to it is worth the price of the book. He follows with a section on economic justice issues. He sets these in a global context while explaining how the church can be part of the solution.
Attie van Niekerk gives practical and biblical solutions to poverty in his chapter, “A Strategy Against Poverty in South Africa.” The problem is stated: “Poverty in Africa is the result of the dysfunctional interaction between complex systems, especially the traditional African world, the modern Western world, and the environment” (122). While viewing the problem broadly, he gives a very local solution, essentially based in the household and reaching out to the community through relationship-building.
Excellent chapters on health and education show how the church has interacted in those domains. As resources diminish, the church’s challenge concerning its role in these areas is huge. The authors describe how the church can be salt and light in these important areas of nation building. A chapter is given to the unique and overwhelming challenge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Practical suggestions (i.e. facing the crisis, not ignoring it) are made to help church leaders. In a final section Kritzinger provides fifty-four summary statements that review each chapter.
This small book is for anyone involved in ministry in South Africa. It also gives to others information and examples of what the church could and should be about.
Copyright © 2004 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS). All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.
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