Abstract:
During the past nearly 30 years the epochs of democratisation and globalisation became
intertwined with the South African society, determining its spirit of the age. The
democratisation of South African since 1994 has its own history of radical rather than
evolutionary transformative measures which brought about constructive changes to
the political and social fibre of a secularised South Africa. In conjunction, globalisation
as dominant worldview became evident in the transposition of South Africa into a
secular, liberal, capitalistic, pluralistic society. Over this period the Afrikaans-speaking
churches of reformed tradition were not immune to these influences, channelled via
their members’ experiences of and responses to their changing social and economic
setup. These churches have since also changed. Their influence on society and social
matters has dwindled. The contexts of their congregations changed. Their traditional
collective forms of institutionalised religion are changing due to the influence of a
plurality of different personal, religious beliefs and practices. These developments
challenge these churches to rethink their denominational identities and consider the
way in which they approach society and what they can contribute to the ecumenical
church.
