Die rol van die Nasionale Sinodes van die Gereformeerde Kerke in Suid-Afrika in die ontwikkelingsgang van die hersaamgestelde Algemene Sinode in 2009

Abstract

The Reformed Church(es) in South Africa (RCSA) was established in 1859. By this time the reformed church already had a relatively long history in South Africa, as the arrival of the reformed doctrine can be traced back to the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck in 1652. For most of the history of South Africa there was good co-operation between the Afrikaans churches and the government. This co-operation came to the fore especially in the time of Apartheid when the state maintained a policy of Apartheid, which was either silently approved by the Afrikaans churches or was actively promoted and defended by them. The policy of Apartheid became the policy of the state after the assumption of power by the National Party in 1948. In response to the policy the GKSA conducted a study in 1955 to determine whether Apartheid was biblical, and found that it could notbe justified from the Bible. However, this synodal decision never had much power because it was not implemented and carried out to the “ground level”, and consequently there was never any serious criticism of the policy of Apartheid from the RCSA. During this time, however, another development took place within the RCSA. To understand this, it is necessary to keep in mind that over the course of its history in South Africa, the RCSA has grown from a church that consisted almost exclusively of whites to a church that includes people from all the nations (volke) and languages of South Africa. The initial idea, which prevailed especially among the Afrikaans churches at the time, was the concept of a “volkskerk”, where each people (volk) had their own church. In the RCSA, however, a different path was followed. The RCSA set up national synods. In the establishment of the national synods, the concept of the essence of the church played a decisive role in practice. Furthermore, language and “volk” were also a matter that received great attention. With the establishment of the national synods, the ideal of a national synod for each language and ethnic group was envisioned, but the end result was four national synods that contained the respective language and ethnic groups The ideal was a national synod for each language and ethnic group, but the end result was four national synods that embraced the various language and ethnic groups. These national synods would then come together in a general synod, which would consequently be a multicultural and multi-ethnic meeting. This organization is known as a “volkerekerk”. Over time, the need for visible unity grew and there was more and more discussion about whether there could be true unity in this model of church organization. Consequently, greater unity was sought in the practice of church life, especially in the organization of greater church assemblies.

The first place where the need for unity was realized in practice was in the incorporation of the Hammanskraal Theological School in the Theological School Potchefstroom, so that all theological training in the RCSA after 1994 takes place in Potchefstroom. The culmination of the search for unity was that the various National Synods came together in 2009 in the first reconstituted General Synod of the Reformed Churches in South Africa. Against this background, this study focuses on the role of National Synods of the Reformed Churches in South Africa in the development process of the reconstituted General Synod in 2009.