Introduction

At the inauguration of the Bantu Presbyterian Church, the Moderator of the first General Assembly, Rt Rev. William Stuart, commented:

Discussions, arguments, secessions and plans preceded this step. It had been a long, arduous and complex journey but one which eventually bore fruit. It was now up to the church to prove its worth by making its mark both in the ecclesiastical and wider context of South Africa.

Yet, this happened despite Elphick's (2012: 81) view that:

Whatever their personal reservations about Africans’ abilities, no missionaries publicly advocated perpetual European domination of the African church, although they demonstrated little confidence in the short- and middle-term prospects of the success of such ventures as the formation of autonomous back churches. In theory, the principles of Christian universalism and the indigenous church dovetailed neatly, since the proclamation of a single gospel throughout the world would give rise to churches equal in stature though implanted in different cultures. In South Africa, however, where white Christians had founded well-endowed and cohesive churches, the two principles were in tension. Universalism in South Africa meant close fellowship and effective equality between white and black Christians, while the doctrine of indigenous churches implied that Africans, with their distinctive cultures, would go their own way, as whites would go theirs (Elphick: 94–5).

Therefore, the Bantu Presbyterian Church of South Africa (BPCSA) was birthed in the midst of racial tension, but also in the context of dependency and the argument for independence, two themes at the core of the Missionary Movement.