15/07/2017
The Bantu Bethlehem Christian Apostolic Church of South Africa
was founded in Johannesburg in 1938 by the Revd. Gilbert Radebe, who had broken away from the Apostolic Faith Mission to which his parents belonged. He was succeeded by his younger brother, Archbishop M. P. Radebe, who was the leader in 1969. The formal leadership was all male in an elaborate hierarchy: an Archbishop, a Vice-Bishop, a President, and a number of ministers, deacons, evangelists, preachers and sidesmen, all with specifically defined roles. The women had their own hierarchy led by the wife of the Archbishop, referred to as Lady Archbishop, with other women taking position and title according to the rank of their husbands. There was also the conventional women's association, a manyano, common to most churches, which meets on the traditional Thursday afternoon. It had some elected office bearers: a Chairlady and deputy, an Organiser, a Secretary and Treasurer.
The Lady Archbishop, Mrs L. Radebe, was also the senior prophet healer of the BBCAC. She had an extensive practice outside her church activities (see section on prophets.) The colours of the church were blue and white. The Archbishop had special white robes with blue trimmings, a white mitre with blue trimmings, and a blue stole with the name of the church embroidered in white. Others of the rank of minister and above wore white robes, blue stoles with the name of the church in white, and clerical collars with blue stocks. Those below the rank of minister wore white dust-coats with blue belts, and with the exception of deacons, who wore reversed clerical collars, were indistinguishable from ordinary male, full members.
The women's uniform consisted of blue skirt, white blouse, blue and white cape, blue collar and belt and a white hat with blue ribbon. Rank can be distinguished by rows of braid on the cape: thus the Lady Bishop had three stripes, and the children did not usually wear specific uniforms, but some wore combinations of blue and white.
The church claimed approximately 1 000 full members, although no accurate record of membership was kept by church leaders. In 1971, in addition to the church headquarters, which are in the centre of Soweto, there were five other congregations in or near Soweto, one congregation on a farm near Durban and one congregation in a Bloemfontein township.
The average observed attendance at the BBCAC headquarters over the fieldwork period was 20 to 25 people. Sunday services were held in a garage on the Radebe property. The senior leaders sat behind a table in front facing two large drums, while the children sat in the centre, separating the women and the men who sat facing each other down the sides of the room.
Members of the congregation spoke a number of languages, including Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Sotho and Tswana, but during church services Zulu and Sotho were mainly used interchangeably, invariably with some translation from one to the other for important parts of the service such as sermons and announcements and Bible-reading.
The emphasis in these services was on participation and the order of service was flexible. Hymns were sung by heart with drum accompaniment, and individual members were allowed to make public testimonies and confessions during services.
Every Sunday service ended with a healing ritual in the church, where the prophet and her prayer-women assistants came forward to the Holy Place (see figure) which was painted on the floor in the centre of the space, usually covered with skins. Healers and patients, having removed their shoes, stood in the centre over the holy place and most of the rest of the congregation danced round in a circle. Dancing is believed to call the Holy Spirit down on to the congregation, thereby assisting the healers, and individual members can temporarily become possessed. The Holy Spirit is believed to enter the person, who is caused to stagger and palpitate and sometimes to cry out. Spirit possession occurs most frequently among women and occasionally among children, particularly during dancing or during emotional services. No special notice is taken of this.
Healing is central to the church and takes place during services in direct consultations with the Prophet. Thus, in a survey of most of the active BBCAC members of the headquarters branch, 84 per cent stated that they had joined the church because they had been healed.
Bantu Bethlehem Christian Apostolic Church of SA (1). The President, third in the church hierarchy. See Martin West, Bishop s & Prophets in a Black City, pp 23-4.
