Embodying Belhar: Towards reforming the governance praxis of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa

Abstract

The social value of this article could be to initiate a reformation in the governance praxis of a Reformed church. Its academic value could be to suggest that an ecclesial imaginary could enrich reflection on church polity. The aim of the article was to identify weaknesses in the governance praxis of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) and to propose reforms to address them. The Belhar Confession shaped the formation of the URCSA and its Church Order (CO), but the supplementary stipulations, which contained detailed rules for the life of the church, did not reflect either the CO or Belhar. That gap between CO and stipulations has produced a number of challenges. By analysing URCSA documents, the article identified three challenges facing the church’s governance ‘architecture’ and suggested a way of imagining authority that could more faithfully embody the CO and Belhar. The shape of God’s authority in the church, as confessed in Belhar, is imagined as a circular canopy, held up by believers. That ecclesial imaginary was also employed to reconceive the relationship between the authority of church councils and broader assemblies. In conclusion, the article proposed the publication of a user-friendly manual that would contain all governance documents and enshrine Belhar and the CO at the heart of the church’s life.
Contribution: The article contributes to theological reflection on Reformed church polity by suggesting the use of an ecclesial imaginary to reconceive authority. It contributes to actual church governance by proposing a collaborative process to write implementing rules for the URCSA’s Church Order that flow from the Belhar Confession.