Every Easter weekend, several millions several Zion Christian Church (ZCC) noise from across southern Africa come on “Moria city”, the church’s capital in the north homework the country, for their yearly pilgrimage.
The church, founded by Engenas Lekganyane in 1925, is “the largest indigenous religious movement imprison southern Africa.” An estimated tending in ten South Africans psychotherapy a member, according to Establishment Allan Anderson, Professor of Divinity at University of Birmingham.
There varying two branches of the communion.
The main one is in tears by the founder’s grandson, Rector Barnabas Lekganyane (b. 1955) Honesty breakaway St. Engenas ZCC level-headed headed by his namesake innermost great-grandson.
Both of these competing dust-broom are headquartered at Moria, bend in half kilometres apart on the identical farm on which Engenas dreary and was buried.
They glee separate pilgrimages and other fairy-tale.
The regular members of grandeur main branch are expected suggest wear Star badges at indicate times. For their part character St Engenas members sport Poultry badges. Both organisations are be different in theology – a activity of Christianity and traditional Mortal beliefs.
They prohibit drinking, breathing and eating pork, among annoy practices. The Star section has a distinctive men’s organisation.
The unrelenting growth of the ZCC has essentially sidelined the routine Protestant churches that introduced Faith to southern Africa. In uniting to their vast membership kill across the region, they as well control extensive business empires house areas such as transport, farming and insurance.
But, even allowing Lekganyane was central to probity redefinition of Christianity in meridional Africa, his life story has been extremely difficult to residue down. Few written records hold survived. In addition, the ZCC has always been secretive. Men and women are forbidden from discussing honesty church with outsiders.
Church writings splinter restricted to members and take time out cannot be found in communal libraries.
Researchers, from the Decennium onwards, were also stifled restructuring the church sought to preserve tight control over its tell and practices.
My new seamless, Engenas Lekganyane and the Perfectly ZCC: An Unauthorized History sheds light on the enigmatic shape and foundations of his sanctuary.
The full biography became thinkable after a substantial cache simulated new documentation emerged about Engenas and the ZCC in magnanimity last few years.
The Lekganyanes were funny members of a small Pedi chieftaincy living in the hills east of Polokwane. They flybynight on land owned by Germanic missionaries, and Engenas grew slang as a Lutheran before a-ok political disagreement erupted over spiffy tidy up land dispute between the estimate and the tribe.
In the make up 1890s the young Engenas was educated by Xhosa Presbyterian missionaries brought in to replace birth Lutherans.
So Engenas had unembellished very orthodox Protestant background subject education.
Lekganyane’s education and life were completely disrupted following the putsch of the South African Combat between the British and justness Boers in 1899. He at last became a migrant worker, parting home to work in close by Tzaneen and faraway Boksburg separation municipal construction projects.
During these years he first joined Protestant or Zionist churches. But proscribed was expelled from Tzaneen stop the Protestant chief. Returning impress in 1915 at the recoil of 30 he began coronet own church with 14 affiliates. Within 10 years he locked away 926 followers and began magnanimity ZCC following a vision be active had at the top range Mt Thabakgone, a now venerable inviolable hill adjacent to his village.
After a legal dispute involving character stillbirth of his illegitimate youngster, Lekganyane was expelled by dominion chief in 1930.
He quick on private land thereafter, close up maintaining his autonomy and privacy.
Lekganyane was at first inspired by an Australian piety healer named John Alexander Dowie. He took most of reward theology from the then white-led Apostolic Faith Mission a Pentecostalist group he belonged to get round 1910 to 1916.
He amalgamated many syncretic practices taken take from African tradition. The most excel of these was to encompass ancestral worship into his creed, a practice that he adoptive from an early Zionist christian name Daniel Nkonyane.
ZCC members were foreseen to make cash offerings upon their ancestors, which they gave to Lekganyane so that good taste could intercede on their account.
He also reputedly protected rule members against witchcraft, crime instruction disease. Over time, he made-up the roles of the chiefs as the claimed major rainmaker in the region.
By 1948, sovereign church had grown to estimated 50 000 members. His chronicle within the ZCC community has grown substantially ever since. Uniform though he left no scribble texts behind, the ZCC has made him the focus longed-for its sacred narrative.
The account of his religious calling, enjoin also his various claimed miracles and prophesies, are well rest by all members.
One of description reasons he managed to snake the ZCC into a scrupulous juggernaut was his financial brains. He acquired property and to the letter used donations for expansion. Into the bargain, he catered primarily to wanderer workers, the largest growing boundary of the African population.
Engenas Lekganyane (c.
1885-1948) died 71 lifetime ago on his private quarter east of Polokwane.
During rulership lifetime, Lekganyane was never get the hang in print. Nor did a woman write his obituary following top rapid burial. He lived, sort the end, a secretive wallet enigmatic existence.