Sacc
Sacc
Sacc
In this assignment I will try and give a broad outline of the history of the SACC.
In 1936 the CCSA was called into being at the Trinity Methodist Church in
Bloemfontein. It had an international parent organisation, the IMC. The Dutch
reformed church was part of this council, and this caused a bit of an uneasy
feeling among the delegates of the CCSA, especially with regards to the DRS`s
political standing.
In 19410 William Nicol took the DRC out of the CCSA and till today, some fifty
years later they are still not part of the CCSA.
The CCSA was however also slow in establishing indigenous churches and in
having more natives work on the CCSA board. They sometimes got so caught up
in their pursuit of speaking for the natives that they forgot to let the natives speak
for themselves.
By this time the DRC became the new governments’ new best friend. This meant
that the government didn’t like the CCSA so much.
In 1957 the infamous church clause came into effect and this brought even more
tension between the CCSA and the government.
Because of these tensions the ANC became stronger and this caused a call for
black involvement in the CCSA.
By this time there was an international outcry for a world council of churches.
This could then be an umbrella term for the main council of churches. The CCSA
was apart of this. The DRC was also part of the WCC but after Sharpeville they
withdrew because of political views. The shootings at Sharpeville and the
banning of both the ANC and the PAC were cause of the political unrest that had
an effect on the church. This was followed by the organisation of active
resistance to the apartheid Government, the Rivonia trial and the imprisonment
of Nelson Mandela and other political leaders. Harsh measures were being taken
against any resistance to Government policy. It may have succeeded in
quietening the public voice of opposition, but beneath the surface there was deep
discontent and anger ready to break out at any time.
The divisive plans of apartheid were now in full motion. The official names then
for black people, Bantu, laws were implemented one after the other. Group
areas, for instance, was strictly enforced. Whole societies were being moved
from traditional homes to new settlements and older black townships near many
towns were being relocated to new, and more out of the way, sites.
In 1962, after having been sidelined for a while by the WCC, the CCSA chose a
new secretary, Basil Brown. His successor, BB Burnett formed the SACC as it
stands today.
The SACC was politically more assertive and publicly protested the Apartheid
regime.
This then was the context into which the SACC was born: a heightening of
political tension throughout the country; the emergence of Black Consciousness;
the rigid enforcement of apartheid policy; and some members of the Church
community speaking out strongly against that same apartheid policy. These and
a history of a slow movement toward Church co-operation and the creation of
indigenous Church leadership. A slow movement but one that precipitated the
eventual formation of the South African Council of Churches.
What happened since 1962?
On 28 May 1968 on the 17th biennial meeting of the CCSA it was agreed that the
name of the Council should be changed to THE SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL OF
CHURCHES.”
This was the importance of the decision, to create a Council that belonged to the
Churches of South Africa. And since that day the story of the SACC has been a
story of indigenization and contextualization. The gospel remains the gospel, the
good news of salvation in Christ, but the way that gospel is expressed does
change according to times and situations. The story of the SACC is a story of
expressing the never changing gospel through the changing scene of South
Africa in an era of enforced apartheid and promised reform.
The Council has been at the centre of the development of local leadership and a
South African based understanding and exposition of the gospel.
Although the Chairman at the 1968 meeting was a black pastor, the Rev S.
Mokitimi of the Methodist Church, the vast majority of those present were white.
And one lone woman! A very different picture at recent National Conferences
where the vast majority are black and there are many women among the
delegates. This provides a much more representative picture of the South African
Church population.
Through the years the SACC has facilitated many theological statements and
made pronouncements in the name of the Church and the Church's Lord about
the state of the nation and the soul of the people.
In 1968 the message to the natives of SA was issued. It set a trend and tone of
message to place all that happened in South Africa under the judgement of the
word of God.
This message was the first of many. Most were published in co-operation with
other Church organisations. The SACC National Conference and Executive and
the SACC General Secretary also made statements on issues as they arose in
the society. In recent years the SACC, as well as making statements, has
facilitated Church Leader interventions into crisis situations during the period of
transition, challenging and assisting all who are engaged in the negotiations
toward a new society.
The prophets of old spoke "Thus said the Lord!" The SACC has tried to follow in
that tradition of prophetic ministry for the past twenty-five years.
The SACC has suffered attack from many critics during the twenty-five years.
Some has been verbal, with government and others using the mass media as a
means of attack and others using the phones for verbal abuse and meetings for
heckling. Some has been physical with police raids and detention, attacks and
gun threats from other members of the public. The most violent event was the
destruction by bomb of the SACC headquarters, Khotso House, in August 1988.
In 1983 the government instituted the Eloff Commission to examine the work and
witness of the Council. The aim of silencing and being able to find legal cause to
close the SACC failed utterly.
The sadness is that you can reason in a Commission to show the justness of
your position, but you cannot reason with those who believe they and they alone
are right and the word of God is their property.
One of the departments of the SACC that is basic to the work, even if heard of so
little in the media is the Department of Faith and Mission The faith lies behind
and is intertwined with and ahead of all that is done by the SACC.
So the main aim of the SACC is to unite and try to help previously disadvantaged
persons. They also try to give a theologically more sound reasoning to the church
in SA.
www.sacc.org.za
Im not entirely sure of the internet addres, but I found it by putting in the search
engine, a search for “South-African council of Churches”
Marna Venter
KGS 452
Ecumenism: An ouline of the history
of the SACC