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A separatist church: Ibandla Lika‐KrestuL. Mqotsi a & N. Mkele aa South African Native College , Fort HarePublished online: 19 Jan 2007.

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A SEPARATIST CHURCH: IBANDLA LIKA-KRESTUL. MQOTSI AND N. MKELE

INTRODUCTION

Of late years there has been >a phenomenalgrowth in the number of African separatistchurches, which in 1918 were estimated at 76, in1932 at 320 and today at 800. This has causedgrave anxiety not only among leaders of Africanthought but also among some Europeans.. Un-fortunately no thorough study of this movementhas hitherto been made, although the seriousness-of the position definitely calls for attention.1

The separatist movement began in 1884 andcaused a great deal of perturbation among theEuropeans for in it they saw the first stirrings of anationalism which might in the end overwhelmthem. The Europeans had reason to be anxiousbecause the movement (the Ethiopian movementas it is called) was a revolt against European con-trol in religion arid it might as easily have turnedinto a revolt against European control in politicalmatters. *

" The Church of Christ," which was foundedabout 1910, was also a revolt against the so calledapostasy of the European churches which brokeaway from the Apostolic simplicity. It was souncompromising in its attitude as to throw awayhymnals, prayer books, robes and vestments, in aword, everything outside the Bible, which itpledged itself to observe to the letter. It is thissect with which our study concerns itself for ithas met with such phenomenal success that it

The following are among the few books, reports, andarticles dealing with the African separatist move-ment :The Native Separatist Church Movement in SouthAfrica, by Rev. Allen Lea.The Colour Problems of South Africa—E. H.Brookes.

1 Report of the Native Churches Commission, U.G.39,1925.Report of the Native Affairs Commission on theIsraelites, A.4,1921.Trek, Vol. 10, No. 2, July 27, 1945, an article byDr. Edward Rou'x on The Ethiopian Movement.Libert as, Vol. 5, No. 10, September 1945, an articleby Dr. B. G. M. Sundkler on The Black Man'sChurch.

would be a point of interest to know to what itowes its prosperity,

It has been suggested that the ebb and flow ofthe wave of religious enthusiasm, in any peoplecorresponds to that of the social conditions.During a period of frustration and depression thereligious temper of the people tends, to be high,whereas in periods of prosperity and plenty it is ata low ebb. The period of the greatest growth inthe membership of the Church o.f Christ coin-cided with the depression of the 1930's.for afterall, as Joseph Kerrin points out in an article inTrek of December 31, 1943, "religion is a non-practical means of satisfying needs that cannot besatisfied through ordinary practical means."The l : Church of Christ" with its fervent promiseof liberation certainly offered the people a way outfrom their helplessness. It rode on the crest ofthe wave of despair.

. In Port Elizabeth, where its leader settled in1928, it must have found the soil well preparedfor the Masabalala incident of 1920 and the Bull-hoek massacre near by were still fresh upon thememories of the people. And then the depres-sion came. With all rivals eliminated, except theestablished or European controlled churcheswhich in any case had failed to save the peoplefrom frustration, the sect had the field to itself.

It is striking that this sect has not, during thelast twenty years, "suffered from an inherenttendency to split and keep on splitting," as Dr.Edward R6u.\ so aptly, describes the process inhis article on " The Ethiopian Movement" (TrekJuly 27,1945). This leads on to the question wehave already posed : To what does the Church ofChrist owe its prosperity ? And it was to attemptto answer this question that this investigation waslaunched. For whatever else may be said, theChurch of Christ as a representative of the separa-tist movement has been one of the most success-ful. If only for this reason it warrants study. Itis not that Limba has been able to dupe the people

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to follow him so much as it is that he understandstheir desires and does not fail to express themsomehow, religiously, ii' not politically.

HISTORY OF THE CHURCHThe Church of Christ was begun by an African,

W. Oliphant, in Cape Town about 1910. A littlelater he joined the Israelite movement underEnoch Mgijima with the object of winning theIsraelites over to his own movement, because hedid not see why they should lead a separate exist-'ence when they were guided by the same principleas himself. But the man who had set out to con-vert the Israelites was himself converted by themso that when he returned to his Church in 1914 hehad shaved his beard, which even today is regardedas sacrilege by the Church of Christ, and preachedthat water be used instead of wine during thecommunion service, thus contradicting his formerteachings. As a result he was excommunicatedin terms of Deuteronomy 4, 2 and 12, 32 andGalatians 1,8-9. Afterthishe formed the BaptistChurch of the Seventh Day Adventists of Africa.

Oliphant's excommunication left Charles Si-gxabayi head of the Church until 1927 when he,tod, was excommunicated. At this time theChurch had already a membership in the neigh-bourhood of 130.

Briefly, the story of Sigxabayi's excommunica-tion is that in 1925 he left Cape Town for hishome in the Cofimvaba district of the Transkei,while the young James Limba1, who had joinedthe Church in 1914, remained in charge. InSigxabayi's absence James Limba was accused ofhaving embezzled the funds of the Church.-Limba demanded to know what funds he hadmisappropriated and asked Sigxabayi to return inorder to have the dispute settled. Sigxabayiwould not come even after messengers had beensent to him.

It would appear that he was the instigator ofthis accusation, possibly with the object of gettingLimba out of the Church in order to eliminatehis growing influence with the members. Thisview is' strengthened by the fact that even on hisretumjo Cape Town in 1927, Sigxabayi did notgo back to the Church but instead took up the

matter with the Langa Township Advisory Boardand the Location Superintendent. Limba refusedto discuss Church affairs before the AdvisoryBoard, asking Sigxabayi whom he had left in chargeof the Church—the Advisory Board or himself—and argued that Sigxabayi would be well advisedto go and settle Church disputes where he hadleft the Church, with those he had left in charge.Sigxabayi would not come. Instead he beganpreaching against Limbsr. By now matters hadcome to a head and the same texts that Sigxabayihad used in excommunicating Oliphant were neweffectively used against him. A minority follow-ed him, a great majority remaining with LJrcbawho since has become the sole head of the Churchof Christ. .

It is perhaps significant of the character andability of these two men that Limba's group hasgrown to embrace the whole of South Africaextending even beyond'the borders of the Union,while Sigxabayi's following has never tetn tny-thing but a mere handful.

Even though the cleavage occurred so manyyears ago, and though there is no essential doctrinaldifference between the sects, unity hss hilhti-to been impossible. So bitter is the etmily be-tween them that it is not uncommon that whenthe sects encounter oncanother in the streets intheir iimvuselelo (revival services) they engage, inviolent altercations, which at times have culmin-ated in blows. None the less the name ofSigxabayi has clung to Limba's Church, for thepeople outside the Church still regard it as Sigxa-bayi's Church, calling Limba himself Sigxabayiand each individual member uSigxabayi (a Si-gxabayi) in the sense that he belongs to Sigxabayi'sChurch.

James Ngcanjeni Limba, as his full name is,was born at Ngqele in the district of Middledriftand is now about fifty-eight. He is of humbleparentage, one of six sons, and received semeelementary schooling. In 1910, while workingon the railways, he was an enthusiastic Methodistpreacher.?

• For the biography of J. Limba and the history ofthe Church readers may consult the African •Horizon Christmas of Inkokeli Number 1941,published in Cape Town.

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In 1914 he had reached Cape Town where heheard of a man; Charles Sigxabayi, who had awonderful knowledge of the Bible and was at thehead of a new sect, the Church of Christ. Limbawas seized with a desire to meet this man and tochallenge him to an open debate on the Scriptures.He was outclassed and converted. Fronvthen onLimba became as ardent in preaching this newGospel as he had been in preaching Methodismuntil today he has become the supreme head ofthe Church of Christ.

In 1927 Limba and another member, JohnsonPlaatjie, were sent out from Cape Town to preachin the Eastern Province (Cape). A sum of £133was collected to cover their travelling and otherexpenses. From this amount a van was boughtfor their use. By the time they left Cape Townthe old van had used so much of the money that theyhad only £12 left. When they arrived at King-williamstown they found the going very hard andwith the £12 used up, they were faced with starva-tion. It was at this time that they were picked upby another member of the Church who broughtthem to Port Elizabeth where the Church had afoundling branch. This was in the latter part of1928.

So desperate was their'plight at this time thatthe members of the Church decided to contribute2s. 6d. weekly towards the support of these twomen and their families while Limba, who livedwith one of the men, received an extra 15s. to 20s.The members also began to pay tithes (izishumi).They bought a property at Korsten whither theytook Limba and Plaatjie. A new car, for the useof Limba, was bought and the old van which hehad brought from Cape Town was discarded.From now on Limb'a's future was assured.

At this time the Port Elizabeth branch of theChurch was still very small and workers to takethe field were needed. This task fell naturallyupon Limba and Plaatjie while the other menassisted whenever they were free to do so, espe-cially on Saturdays and Sundays and also duringpublic holidays and in the mornings and evenings ifthey could afford it. They had to face the bitterop-position especially from the established churches.So great was the appeal of this sect with its strange

doctrine of baptism by immersion in water and itsutter contempt for the doctrines of other Churches,that it could not but arouse the hostility of thoseother churches who regarded it with a great dealof anxiety as they saw not only their erstwhilemembers but also those who had formerly notattached themselves to any Christian denomina-tion on, flocking to it. Their even stranger songsand the bearded men only aggravated the position.Skirmishes were not infrequent.

Limba, however, continued to preach his Gospelallowing " the people to ask questions freely onthe Scriptures". In this way he attracted moreand more adherents and within a short time thesect had grown in strength and numbers becominga force to be reckoned with. As we have shown,he profited from the depression of the 1930's andfrom the local political situation.

When he saw that the Church was firmly estab-lished in Port Elizabeth, Limba organized toursfor the purpose of propagating his message. Hisfirst tours, through the Transkei, were on foot.Here he managed to win a number of adherents.By 1933 the congregation had grown so large thathe could afford to tour the whole Union by bus,establishing branches here and there. In 1941another trip, this time to Johannesburg, wasarranged. In addition to a special omnibus Cstillto be seen in New Brighton today) built for thistrip, there was a fleet of cars, Limba (now calledBishop) and his wife driving in a dark greenChrysler. Again in August 1945 the Bishop andhis people paid another visit to Johannesburg,this time by train, owing to wartime restrictionson the use of petrol. They returned at the end ofOctober after having visited branches along theline.

By 1936 the congregation had grown largeenough to warrant the construction of a temple.The choice of New Brighton as the site was" to alarge extent determined by the fact that the PortElizabeth municipal sub-economic housing pro-gramme for Africans was in full swing and thepeople were coming over to New Brighton. Thestone was laid by Bishop Limba in April 1936,using the text taken from Acts 20, 27-28. It wasopened in 1937 before a large gathering which

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i ncluded people from the other^hurches and someleading public figures. At last the people had.realised that the Church 01 Christ had come tostay.

The temple is an imposing structure, 100 feetlong by 60 feet wide with accommodation for1,400 people. The Bishop says that it cost£5,750 to build, although in The African Hoiizcn1941, the figure is given as £4,125. The temple,like other church buildings in New Brighton, ison grounds leased from the Port Elizabeth muni-cipality.

In the same grounds there is a Mission House,the " Bishop's i'alace," which was completed in1933 and cost over £2,000. It is a fine modernhouse, of about 14 rooms—all of them well fur-nished. All these buildings are supplied withelectricity and have been paid for by means ofcontributions from members of the Church.

The members of the Church had long recog-nised Limba as Bishop (umVeleli) but it was notuntil 1937 that the public accepted this.

With the growth of the Church in membershipthere was a corresponding growth in its commer-cial activities. The first of these consisted in thesale of firewood which was brought from farmshired in Alexandria. Later they included thecultivation of maize and pumpkins until todaythey have extended to dairy and poultry farmingand the running of shops and butcheries.

THE ORGANISATION OF THECHURCH

At the headfof the Church of Christ (iRandlaUka Krestu) is the Bishop himself, upon whomeverybody looks with awe and veneration. He isan exceedingly powerful personality, extremelyegotistic with an egocentric sense of humour, fondof gesticulating when speaking and not very re-fined in manners. No doubt he is an organisinggenius for without any education but the Bible hehas, through sheer personal force, won, reformedand held together so many adherents, to say no-thing of successful business enterprises.

He is obeyed by his people with unquestioningsubmission. They may not enter the Churchgrounds with their hats on, especially if he is in

sight, as this is a sign of insubordination. Kvcnin the streets if he happens upon them they haveto remove their hats. When speaking with themthey have, unless the Bishop orders them other-wise, to stand on their feet with both handsclenched together as a sign of unswerving respect.Wherever they are gathered, in the temple, inconcerts, etc., they have to stand up when theBishop enters or leaves.

The Bishop is looked upon as the father of thecongregation. He is in fact called Tata (Father)by his people and his wife Mama (Mother)*When speaking to any of them he constantlyrepeats Mntari am (My child) while the latterfollows with a repeated Ewe, Tata (Yes, Father).When addressing their gatherings or even otherpeople he may call upon one of his men to repeatwhat he says, all the time saying Eaxelele tnnlariam (Tell them, my child) while the transmitter cfthe message keeps up a refrain of TJthi uTata(Father says).

From observation it appears that the word,Tata (Father), as used by Bishop Limba's peopleis not of purely religious significance as may bethe case, perhaps, with the Roman CatholicChurch. There is some sort of parental signific-ance attached to it, which expresses itself in pro-prietary and parental relations. The possessionsof Bishop Limba, for instance, the so calledChurch property, are looked upon as commonpossessions accessible to all the members of theChurch, in the same way as the property of a fatherin a typical Bantu family is looked upon as thecommon property of the family.

Another factor which associates the word Tatawith parental relationship is the fact that he islooked upon as the grandfather of all the childrenof the adult members of the Church. They callhim Tat' omkhulu (Grandfather) and refer to hisplace as ktvaTat' omkhulu (at Grandfather's place)while their parents refer to it as clihaya (at home).This arrangement reflects relations obtainingbetween the members of an extended family •among the Bantu groups. There we have thefather with his'married sons living in separatehouses, but still the father's house being the centralpoint on which all the other houses converge.

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Actually Limba's name is taboo even to themen. Nobody is expected to pronounce it onpain of punishment from the Bishop who decreedthat the members should call him Tata. Oneman at Kroonstad, a member of the Church,was, during the recent visit of the Bishop toJohannesburg, discussing the. growth of theChurch with other brethren when in admirationhe exclaimed, Aunt! iyaqhuBa It nlo kaLitnba (In-deed this son of Limba is progressing). Theresult was a severe harangue at the platformof the Kroonstad station administered by the

• Bishop himself, who, it must be said, is givento showing off. This is'a new departure, for inXhosa society only the women are not expectedeven to mention their husbands' surnames; it isan honour for a man to hear other men addressinghim by the names of his forbears. Jt might bethought that this is a contradiction of what hasalready been said on the significance of the use ofTata in addressing the Bishop, but actually it onlysupplements it for, even without tthe need ofdecrees, most members of the Church consider itquite in order that the Bishop be addressed asTata, and, in fact, the decree was issued after thepeople had started calling the Bishop Tata.

The Bishop has recently received a salutationname such as is used by the Nguni in addressingtheir chiefs. He got this name from the late Mr.S. E. K. Mqhayi, the author of ITyala lamdWele,Don Jadu and other books, and a poet laureate(Imbongi yeSirwe). He alluded to him as Nga-ngcgunya ar>d the salutation takes the form of A INgangegtmya! This is how his people salutehim. As a matter of fact this has to be done everyday in the mornings and evenings, at concertsespecially, where there are strangers, when thegreeting is repeated thrice.

This name is probably derived from his verypowerful influence and authority over his peoplewhich he seeks to maintain by all the means at hisdisposal. The word igunya can be translated as" authority", the translation of ngangegunyabeing " equal to authority ". It is likely indeedthat this is the signficance attached to the namesince in the eyes of his people the Bishop is all-powerful. They look upon whatever he says as

law and may hazard to undertake any venture,however risky, at his bidding. It is true that this ispartly due to their great respect for him, but it isalso the result of their confidence in the justice ofall-that is done in his name.

In the matter of religion the Bishop is believedto be in direct contact with God and no one canget to Heaven except through the correct proce-dure and his mediation. He possesses, so tospeak, the keys of Heaven in the same way as theBishop of the Middle Ages claimed to be anauthority in the matter of leading the people tcHeaven by administering to them the SeverSacraments of the Church.

Bishop Limba holds that the path to Heavengoes through Baptism by immersing the repentantright under the water. The latter has to confesshis God publicly, Whom he has seen through theBishop, and to Whom his people refer as ThixokaTata (God of our Father). All those so bap-tised are supposed to be the true followers of JesusChrist whom John, the Baptist, immersed in theRiver Jordan. Only those who have gone throughthis procedure can be acceptable to their Maker.The procedure followed in the other Churches inthis regard is looked upon by Bishop Limba'speople as a travesty of the Holy Writ and is des-pised and defied as-anti-God and symbolic ofadherence to the Beast.

Some of the functions of the Bishop are theblessing of children, the confirmation of adults,ordination of archdeacons, deacons and so on, andthe conducting of the Holy Communion.

Below the Bishop are the archeacons, calledaBayali- (admonitors). They conduct baptismalceremonies in conjunction with aBaphathisua(representatives of the Bishop). These repre-sentatives are put at the head of the branches ofthe Church outside Port Elizabeth, as at Bloem-

• fontein, Johannesburg, East London, Cradoctf,Grahamstown, Bedford, etc. ABayali are localpreachers whose duty it is to preach in the Churchand outside when representatives are absent.

Port Elizabeth, the Headquarters of theChurch,is.the largest unit with a membership of about1,500; this includes the districts around PortElizabeth. Johannesburg follows with a member-

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ship of about 900, then comes Cape Town,Durban, and so on. There are branches all overthe country and temples have been built at Cra-dock, Somerset East and Bedford whilst it is in- .tended to build others at Fast London, Cape Town,Jphannesburg, Graaff-Reinet, and Grahamstown.Unfortunately it has not been possible to getmembership figures for the branches because theChurch keeps hardly any records, but the total .membership is estimated at 15,000.

The Church is not recognised by the Govern-ment.

To enable the Bishop to exercise proper super-vision over his business concerns and to facilitatehis visits to Branches, a fleet of cars has beenbought—one a de Soto 1945 model valued at£600, another a Chrysler which has been in usefor the last eight years without ever having seen agarage, and a miscellany of others. All cars areinsured.

The Position t-f Men.The control and management of Churrh affairs

is in the hands of men. Only men may be appoint-ed as deacons or Bishop's representatives; onlythey may conduct Bible classes; only they maypreach ; only they may discuss at meetings ; in aword men alone with their characteristic beardmay guide the destinies of the Church.

The beard is sanctioned by Leviticus 19, 27and 21, 5 and appears to have been an importantpart of the man's make up, for in Isaiah 15, 2 andJeremiah 48, 37, being without one was a symbolof disgrace, misfortune, and calamity. Thereforeall men in the Church of Christ wear a beard,although they may shave their heads. It is arather striking coincidence that of all the men wehave seen in the Church the Bishop is not only thebiggest but has by far the richest beard.

Our informants gave conflicting statements inregard to the attitude of the Church towards cir-cumcision. Some say that it is a matter of obli-gation for every man to be circumcised if he is toplay a leading part in Church affairs, irrespectiveof his cultural background, while others expressthe opposite view.

It is possible, however, that at the beginningwhen the members of the Church were all drawn

from the Xhosa-speakihg Nguni, circumcisionwas stressed as one among other prerequisites forparticipation in the control and conduct of Churchaffairs (cf. Joshua 5, 2-3 ; Acts 16, 3 ; Genesis 17,10-27). But as .the Church grew in membershipand attracted even those Nguni groups e.g. theZulus, in whose culture circumcision is not animportant item, this condition was amended {cf.Romans 2,25-29 ; Galatians 5, 2-6 ; etc.).

Apparently the Church still makes it obligatoryupon the Xhosa, .whose custom it is to circumcise,to undergo this rite, for not only are boys excludedfrom taking a leading part in Church affairs, butthe writers actually came across an umkhKelha (aninitiant) who was well over sixty and enjoying aGovernment old age pension !

We learnt that when a boy is to be circumcised,the father may take the boy either to his heme inthe country where he performs all the necessaryrites, or he may hand the boy over to the Bishopwho, on payment of a fee of fj 10s., caters for therequirements of the initiant, feeds and clotheshim, and on the day he leaves the initiation schoolbuys him a khaki suit and blanket.

The Position of Women.Bishop Limba and his people claim to be

staunch adherents of the Scriptural precepts andthey argue that according to these, women areinferior to men. ..They may not participate inpublic discussions with men. They may how-ever pray in the Church.

The place of women in the Church is that whichSt. Pauls dictated in 1 Timothy 2, 8-15 andEphesians 5, 22-33 as well as Genesis 3, 16 andrelevant passages in the Scriptures. Children tooare governed by similar texts.

If a woman feels she could raise a point inconnection with any discussion she keeps it toherself until such time as she is alone with her 'husband (1 Corinthians 14,34-35). The husbandraises the point in the next meeting as trough itcame originally from him. Men are looked uponas the natural guardians of womr n (1 Corinthians11, 3). But if a man "does not go to Church or hasno faith in God it is still permissible for his wifeto uphold religious beliefs, for her husband, if hedoes not ill-treat her, is thereby blessed (1 Corin-

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thians 7,12-14) although he may not go to Heavenexcept by his own exertions (Hezekiel 18, 20).This also applies to the woman if she does notbelieve.

These strictures are supposed to apply also tothe Bishop's wife— the head of the women'ssection of the Church. It was rather strange thatshe should occupy a seat inside the altar area,which in all churches is reserved for men, andthat, special men. In some matters the Bishopis apparently arbitrary, for by putting his wifeinside the holy area he violates the very teachingsof the Bible he pretends to follow. Apart from'thisthe Bishop's wife is no more than a figureheadwhich is pampered, dressed, fed, has everythingdone for her and has girls to do even the walkingfor her, for she is pushed around in invalid chairs.

Clan Names.As the Church draws its membership mainly

from the Xhosa-speaking Nguni group the use ofclan names recalling traditional enmities, mightlead to internal conflicts and even disruption, forit must be remembered that the fires of dissen-sion kindled by Sir Benjamin D'Urban away backin 1834, when he separated the Fingoes from theXhosas, have not yet died down. Every littledisagreement is likely to set them ablaze.

To avoid friction the Bishop has successfullydiscouraged the use of clan names amongst themembers. Instead, his people are expected toaddress each other as mzalwana (brother) anddade (sister) for men and women respectively.This holds good even in the case of husband andwife but occasionally one hears the use of marriednames for women, an important element in thetradition of the Xhosa-speaking Nguni. Nosayini,Nouayini, Nokhaya, etc., are among the namesgiven to a woman by the groom's people on theday she is accepted into her new home, and it isby such name that she is henceforth called. Thisis apart from taking her husband's surname whichin any case she may not even mention. Amongthe Pondo and Zulu the woman is called by herclan name.

This use of married names in addressing wo-men need not be wondered at since it is apparentthat the Bishop himself is steeped in the traditions

of his people. ' His wife's married name is No"mayithi (No-might), her salutation title, receivedfrom the late S. E. K. Mqhayi, being A ! No-mandla ! (We greet you Nomandla). This salu-tation is made together with that of the Bishopbut of course after it, and is a translation of hermarried name. It is significant that this proce-dure is observed even in her absence in the sameway that in the traditional Court Africans salute achief even when he is not present. No otherwoman in the Church has a salutation name. Wehave not come across a single instance where anyof Bishop Limba's men used a clan name inaddressing his wife. Alternative to dade they useNkosikazi.

That the Bishop has a feeling of obligation to-wards his kinship relations is shown by his kind-ness and generosity to them, even when they donot belong to his Church. With such people theBishop uses the clan names freely. This is infact his general attitude towards all non-membersof the Church.

To avoid marriage between fellow clansmeneverybody is asked to what clan he or she be-longs before engagement takes place. Marriagebetween fellow clansmen is forbidden.

Marriage.In the matter of marriage regular negotiations

must have taken place between the two familiesand an agreement arrived at before the Bishopcan sanction it. It must be clear that the twofamilies have agreed to the union and that thebridegroom has paid the requisite lobolo. More-over the girl may not be forced to marry somebodyshe does not like. Thus we have heie a violationof the traditional system of forcing a woman tomarry anybody whom the parents approve orfavour especially if he brings a lot of cattle.

The Bishop is, however, known to withhold hisconsent with girls under his control for no reasonother than that the man is not fit to marry a parti-cular girl even when they have agreed. UliqaBawena, dkunakuUhata nala ntombazana; thathaleya {You are an ignorant man, you cannot marrythat girl; take that one). Recently a man in theChurch eloped with a girl living under the Bishop

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because the Bishop would not agree to theirmarriage.

The procedure followed in the case of girlsliving with their parents is that the young maninforms his people, if he has any, of his intentionto get married. He tells them whom he wouldlike to marry. Then the two families negotiateand if they come to an agreement the couple isallowed to meet and discuss the matter. Shouldthey agree then the formal procedure of passingof cattle or money {lobolo) follows.

Although the Church does not categoricallyexpress any objection to either Christiar or civilmarriages, yet it would appear to favour custom-ary unions holding that they are biblically right-eous. Moreover, some of the Bishop's peopleargue, that there seems to be something arbitraryabout Christian marriages, in that in the event ofdivorce or separation the minister of religion whohad sanctified the marriage, does not figure at allin its dissolution or semi-dissolution, only themagistrate is in the limelight. In passing it mustbe remembered that the Bishop, being unlicensedas a minister, may not solemnise marriages.

Nobody can be debarred from enjoying theprivileges of the Church by reason of his havingmarried by customary union or otherwise, thecriterion is full membership. Urban regulationsare among the underlying factors which militateagainst prescription of any particular form ofmarriage, for some of these regulatiprs penalisethose married by customary union. One mantold us, for instance, that one of their meirbersvas forced to approach a certain minister of reli-

gion (a licensed marriage officer) in order to bemarried, because he could not otherwise getaccommodation in an urban area.

No woman belonging to the Church is allowedto marry an outsider, for this would mean thatshe would go back to the old evil ways, whereas aman may marry a woman from outside becausethat would mean " saving " her. Marriage with-in the Church is however favoured. A man maymarry an outsider, firstly, because it happens thatbefore he entered the Church he had alreadypromised to marry someone. Secondly, because

his people who may not be members of the Churchmay require him to .marry a particular girl.

From what we'could gather apparently theChurch does hot explicitly discourage polygamyalthough polyganous rren, while participttir.g irthe activities of the Church, may not take any partin the conduct of its affairs; for instance they maynot preach.

DISCIPLINEAs in all other spheres in the life of the Churth

the Bishop is the unchallenged authority in thematter of discipline. This state of affairs findsBiblical justification, according to the membersof the church,in the precedent cf the Judges andProphets of Israel.

So able is he in disciplining the people that rotonly those who belong to his Church but alfothose outside it are agreed on one thing, that theBishop has been able to change those people whowere once regarded as incorrigible hooligsns intodecent, dignified, an d respectable men and women.

Below we give a free translaticn of the old dis-ciplinary and moral .cede of the Church when itsheadquarters was still Cape Town. The latercode, (which was not available) is almost identicalexcept that it adds one or two points not mention-ed in this one, such as the avoidance of smokingand drinking and so on :

" Here is the law of the Church :—Matthew16, 18 ; Acts 20 : 28 ; Ephesians 2 : 20 ; Colos-sians 1:18 ; 1 Peter 2 :4,5.

(1) The Church makes this law :—A brotherwho has anything against znother should goto him at that moment and talk with him ;if the other brother does rot take heed heshould take another and go with him ; if hewill not heed still he must take a third cne,and if he continues not to heed they mustbring him before the congregation and if hewill not heed the Church then he shall beexpelled. Matthew 18 : 15 to 19.

(2) A brother in the Church who will not obeythe one in charge will be admonished twotimes, on the third occasion he will be expelledif he continues not to heed. But if (anotherbrother who has seen him do wrong) do- -

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not bring him after having seen Kim they shallboth be-expelled. Hebrews 13 : 7.

(3) It is not permitted in the Church thatministers should be many. Matthew 23: 10to 12 and 18-: 14 ; 1 Corinthians 12 : 29 ;Jacob 3 : 1 to 3. Further there must be nobrother in the Church, who, when he finds apoint that is not being taught, begins teach-ing it himself, he should go to the one incharge and ask him. 1 Corinthians 4 :15 ; 2Timothy 3 : 14, 15 ; 1 Timothy 6 : 3-5.Further, backbiting is not wanted in theChurch. Leviticus 19 : 16, 17; Psalm 101 :5 ; Proverbs 18 : 8, 22 : 10, and 26 : 20-22,28; Deut. 27: 24. And again preachingrudely is not allowed Psalm 75 : 5 ; Romans1: 30-31; Ephesians 4 : 29; Colossians 4 :5-6. A brother wh6 is found doing any ofthese will be warned twice, the third time heshall be expelled.

\A) The money from the tithes (izishumi) isnot to help us out of our domestic difficulties,it is for the promotion of the work of God.1 Corinthians 9 : 7, 16 : 1-3 ; 2 Cor. 9 :6-7;2 Thessalonians 3 : 8 to 12.

l5) Here is the law relating to sisters :—It isnot permitted that a woman should controlher husband, neither to preach to him, shemust bear herself quietly with all due respect;if she wants to know something she must askit of her husband. The one who has noneshould go to the one at the head. Proverbs14 : 1 ; 1 Corinthians 14 :34, 35 ; 1 Timothy2 : 9 t o l 5 ; l P e t e r 3 : l t o 6 .

(6) In all the sections of the Church if theman appointed to be at the head is charged it isnot correct for the section to discuss the case,it should be taken to the elders in Cape Town,that is, if it is evident that such man is guilty(sic) 1 Timothy 5 :19."

In addition to this the members of the Churchare expected to be humble, quiet in their bearing,courteous, kind and obedient. They must neithersmoke nor take intoxicating liquor as this wouldbe defiling the temple of the Lord, and must livea clean and healthy life, be decently dressed, avoid-ing the use of obscene language and all rowdiness

and needless self-indulgence. The Chuichteaches moderation and abstinence in all things.It requires a strong moral fibre to do any of thesethings as, for instance, to stop drinking and smoking, for most of the men in the Church joined itat a mature age when smoking and drinking hadbecome a fixed habit—at any rate in most Churchessmoking and drinking are not discouraged foreven ministeis smoke.

In this connection Rev. Allen Lea contends that" the standard of morality in the SeparatistChurches is lower than in the European controlledchurches."1 This is a sweeping assertion to make,for hitherto no statistical evidence has been avail-able to show that the standard of morality in theEuropean-controlled Churches is in any waysuperior to that in the Bantu Separatist Churches.'The case of the Church of Christ, which is arepresentative of the separatist movement, andwhich we have studied closely, does not supportthis generalization. It compares favourably withEuropean controlled Churches in Port Elizabethin this respect. The Limbaites are ready tofight any show of immorality. They do not takeintoxicating liquor, they shun excessive self-indulgence, and, as we show elsewhere, girls livea chaste life. They are active in trying to rootout immorality. This reproving of immoralityhas raised the standard of morality ^mong theLimbaites considerably.

Settlement of Disputes within the Church.Bishop Limba discourages his people from

going to Court for disputes arising between onemember and another. There are men, usuallytwo, who are appointed by him for the purpose ofhearing cases between one member of the Church

' and another. Their chief aim is reconciliation.They do not, however, give the final word: this isdone by the Bishop himself.

Even in the case of members not "resident inPort Elizabeth the practice is to report all mis-understanding arising between members to theBishop-who thereupon advises the complainantshow to deal with the point at issue. Our inform-ants told us that hitherto no dispute arising be-1 Rev. Allen Lea, op. cit. p. 1.

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tween Bishop Limba's people has been of suchseriousness as to warrant a litigation or a lawsuit.All disputes have been effectively settled withinthe Church.

Even in the matter of dispute arising betweenhusband and wife, the Bishop has the final say.It is he who decides whether the two parties arecompatible or not. Cases have been reported ofmen and women respectively who have beenthrown out of the Church by the Bishop thuscausing separations sometimes leading to divorce,but outside the Church.

The important thing about Bishop Limba'smethod of settling disputes is that the chief aimis to seek reconciliation rather than retaliation orpunishment.' It is especially stressed that theprosperity of the Church lies in good fellowshipamong its members. Thus Bishop Limba'speople do all in their power to maintain amicablerelations among themselves.

Disputes with Outsiders.

The general attitude of the Church towardsoutsiders is dictated by the necessity to maintaingood relations with them in order to uphold tl.ename of the Church and gain their respect.Members are not expected to go out of their wsyto molest outsiders, nor are they supposed touse angry words even when insulted by them.When the Church was in its infancy there was noend of disputes with outsiders and the Churchattempted to put into practice the policy of turn-ing the left cheek also to him that slaps the right,but later they began to retaliate.

If an outsider commits an offence against anymember of the Church it is expected that suchmember will first of all, before taking any actionin the matter, reprove the offender. If the manwill not heed, the Churchman may call other6azalv>ana and with their help bring the (Jffenderbefore the Bishop who may or may not punishhim. The punishment usually takes the form ofa sound thrashing administered by the Bishop orone of his men : the Bishop is known to administer

. corpoial punishment even to members of theChurch. Generally, no respectable person everoffends the Church, it is only the hooligans who

do. So far none of the disputes have led to a lavcourt.

Excommunication.

As there is no. written constitution it is hardl;likely that members know when excommunicatiotis likely to follow from their actions. This isprobably why they display such unblushing servi-lity to the Bishop even in his absence, for it roustnot be forgotten that the Bishop is highly arbitraryand his actions may not be questioned—in factthe very questioning might lead to excommunica-tion. What is more, very few members ha\ e everseen the code of discipline included in this report.Evidently a man who preached against the Churchor cut his beard, the Bishop not excepted, wouldbe excommunicated in much the same way that \Oliphant and Sigxabayi were excommunicated.It is known that a certain man was excommunicat-ed for embezzling funds.

THE RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES OFTHE CHURCH

Observance of Sabbath.

The Church, unlike what it chooses to call theApostate Churches in contradistinction to itself,the Apostolic, does not recognise Sunday as a dayfor worshipping God, but recognises Saturday,the last day of the week, the Sabbath which Godhimself observed by retiring from his work(Genesis 2, 2-3 ; Exodus 20, 8-11; Leviticus 23,3). On Saturday Bishop Limba's people maynot make any fire before sunset as ordained bythe Scriptures. The meals arc prepared onFriday, so that nothing hot is taken on Saturday.Not even a visitor can be served with hot tea onthis day.

No work must be done on Saturday except bythose who are in European employment and who.̂therefore cannot escape working on that day. Thisis perhaps contributory to the tendency on thepart of Bishop I.imba's people not to work foranybody butto employ themselves in some sort ofindependent means of obtaining a livelihood.Even the shop and butchery are closed on theSabbath elay and no financial transactions of anykind may be conducted. Although the Bishop

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might like to open the shops on Sundays, yet likeother commercial and industrial concerns theshops remain closed.

The Ordinary Service.

Ordinary services arc held en Saturdays, theday being divided into two sessions—a morningand an afternoon session. On the stage sits theBishop (who occupies the pulpit) and his wifewith a number of children and two elderly wo-men. The congregation sits in the main body ofthe. temple, and, as in other churches, the r-̂ enoccupy the right side, the women, the left. Inboth services this is the procedure that isfollowed:—

(1) Hymn.(2) Notices and opening remaiks by Bishop.(3) Kneeling in silent supplication for about

a minute.(4) Hymn from Lamentations 3, 40-46.(5) Chanting of the Lord's Prayer and a prayer

by member of congregation.(6) Litany, led by Bishop, the congregation

chanting " Amen ", taken from Deuto-ronomy 27 : 15 to end.

(7) Sermon.(8) Short hymn followed by prayer from two

members of congregation.(9) Bishop's remarks and comments.(10) Closing hymn : Lamentations 3, 4(M6.(11) Benediction.(12) A ! Ngangegunya ! (A Song).The whole service takes about two hours. It

is interesting to note that during prayer or sermonall are quiet except the Bishop, who groans andexpresses approval as befits a mediator betweenhis people and God.

As an expression of their strict adhererce tothe teachings of the Bible, the Limbaites do nothave any hymnals or prayer books which theyregard as distorted, but their songs are derivedfrom the Bible, the music having been suppliedspontaneously by the members ot the Church.This has tended to make the music more Africanthan Western. The hymns are sung on a veryhigh key. The service closes with the singing ofA ! Ngangegunya ! a song in praise of Bishop

Limba, which was composed by an African musi-cian, the words having been supplied by a memberof the Church.

Prayer is also an extemporaneous affair with theBishop playing almost the same r61e as that playedby Christ in the other Churches. He has totransmit the prayer to God in the same way asJesus Christ is regarded as a mediator by theother Churches. UTata umi phakathi kzvethunoThixo toakhe (Our Father stands' between usand his God) as one man said during the courseof a sermon. Little wonder, therefore, that allprayers are directed to Thixo kaTata (God of ourFather). -

The Bishop alone may occupy the pulpit, aspecial table being set aside for those he may callupon to preach. Both for the preachers andordinary members there are no vestments or robessuch as those worn by Roman Catholics, Anglicans,Methodists, and Zionists, nor do we find anybright crosses, holy sticks or brilliant altars in thetemple : there is an air of.severe simplicity aboutthe place—the Bishop however, wears a longblack frock coat. At the end of the sermon,which is nothing but a panegyric on Tata, theBishop makes his own remarks and observations.It may be noted in passing that no offerings aretaken during the service as is the case in otherChurches as, for instance, the Anglicans.

In the interval between the two services, thosepeople whose homes are outside New Brightonremain in the Church grounds, where they havetheir lunch, on payment to the Bishop of a smallfee.

The Church choir is divided into two : thewomen sit on the left facing the men who sit onthe right. It is interesting to note that boys arenot included in the choir because they are unclean,that is, have not been circumcised and may nottherefore participate in the conduct of Churchaffairs.

It will be seen from the above that in the con-duct of their services the Limbaites are unlike the" Ethiopians " for they have no use for hymnals,prayer books, and vestments of the " mother "churches, while they have avoided the Zionistextreme of talking in Pentecostal tongues, dancing

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and all forms of religious emotionalism ; they arein fact a very dignified community, indulging inneither extreme, their dignity deriving from theirvery conviction that theirs is the only correctway. Thus they have no need for externalappendages of godliness for it is just these that aresigns of worldliness.

Baptism.

This takes place in an approved place in theriver. There is a special song for the occasion,taken from St. John's Gospel chap. 3 beginningfrom verse 3 : " Verily, verily I say unto thee,except a man be born again, he cannot see theKingdom of God. . . ." Verse 5 goes thus :" Jesus answered, Verily, verily I say unto thee,Except a man be born of water and of the spirit."The congregation sings these and other relevantpassages taken from the Scriptures.

On the day of the baptismal ceremony thepeople are arranged in rows, Bishop Limba andthe deacons being in the front row. The secondrow consists of the choir (men), the following rowsare composed of women and the last rows of men.They then proceed to a river where thcie isenough water.

Special performers are chosen from the deaconsand appointed by the Bishop. For every numberapproximating fifty there are two performers.Formerly the Bishop used to do the immersinghimself. The Church rejects infant baptism andholds to immersion as the only righteous way ofadministering this Sacrament.

Relevant passages taken from the Scripturesand read on this occasion include : St. John 3,1-5and 22 ; St. John 4,1-2 with special emphasis onverse 2 " Though Jesus himself baptise not buthis disciples ", hence the Bishop baptises not;Acts 8 verses 12, 26 and 37 ; Acts 10, 44-48 withspecial emphasis on verses 47 and 48 ; St. Mark16, 15-16; St. Luke 3, 1-6; St. Matthew 28,18-20; St. Mark 1, 1-11 ; St. Matthew 3, 1-10.

The person having been baptised has to serve aprobationary period of two years during whichhe has to attend preparation classes in the evenings.In these classes the probationers are taught the

Bible and later the history of the Church and whatthe Church stands for. On completion of thiscourse, if the Bishop or his representative deemsit fit, the laying of hands or confirmation takesplace. The candidate has to take the Oath thathe shall dedicate the rest of his life to the serviceof God. Then Scripture reading follows, theobject being to admonish the penitent and to showhim the " ways of life". No payment is requiredfor the ceremony. The penitent is henceforth afull member of the Church and is entitled toreceive the Holy Communion and, if he is a man,to preach.

Communion Service.

The Communion Service takes place quarterlyin the night, starting from 8 p.m. to about 11 p.m.The Communion consists oi wine and breadwhich are symbolic of the blood and body ofChrist. The Ceremony includes the washing offeet by the Bishop or his representative as was doneby Christ and his disciples during the last Supper.

The Scripture readings are taken from thefollowing: St. Matthew 26, 26-30; St. John 13,1-14 ; 1 Corinthians 11, 23-24 ; St. John 6, 53-56,etc.

Blesiing of Children.

This takes place when these is a good numberof children, approximately thirty. Contrary tothe custom in other churches infants and childrenare not baptised, the argument being that a childcannot appreciate the significance of baptism.Further, it is argued, Jesus Christ himself wasbaptised at thirty. Therefore to baptise a childbefore maturity would be to commit it to a con-tract with God the obligations of which it is un-aware (Acts 2, 36-38 ; Romans 10, 0-10). Inview of this all that the Bishop or his representa-tive docs is to bless the children (St. Mark .10,13-16 ; St. Luke 2, 21-34). Neither in this norin the baptismal ceremony is there anything paid_

No water is used in the blessing of children.When the child reaches the age of sixteen he maythen be baptised. After two years confirmationtakes place admitting him into full membershipof the Church with the approval of the leaders.

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limvuselelo. (Revival Services).

As a means of propagating its Gospel to theoutside world and thus attracting new adherentsthe Church holds iimvuseleh every Sunday .andduring public holidays—sometimes at Korstenand others in New Brighton (these are Nativelocations in Port Elizabeth).

In these mvuselelo the women are in the middlewith the men in front and behind possibly as aprotective measure. This contention wouldappear to gain strength from the fact that everyman carries a kerrie. It is possible that the kerneis a relic of those days when the growing Churchhad to face a hostile public. At a service weattended one man mentioned in the course of aprayer how some of them had to abandon theirhomes because of the hostility of their peopleagainst the Church. Of course the public hasnow become reconciled to the Church but thekerries live on.

The people wake up early in the morning,assemble at an appointed place, open the service,march up and down the streets singing andpreaching, special emphasis being laid on baptismby immersion- in the river. ' It is quite possiblethat the people regard Tata and baptism as neces-sarily complementary becuse they do not mentionone without mentioning the other. Only the menmay preach. Here, as in the Church choir, thereis a precentor and the songs, such as the wordsfrom Isaiah 26, 1-7, Psalm 118, etc:, are takenfrom the Bible.

Towards midday the people break up forlunch, to resume the mvutelelo in the afternoon.The service closes with the so called song ofNtsikana, UloTkix' omkhulu. In New Brightonbefore the people disperse they have to assembleat Headquarters to greet the Bishop and hear hiswishes.

Lastly mention must be made of the fact thatthe Church of Christ, unlike the European con-trolled churches, does not have Women's Manya-no, Y.W.C.A., Y.M.C.A., and Sunday Schools.This is explained by the attitude of the Churchtowards women and children.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

The Day School.

This is a private enterprise run by the Churchnot aided or recognised by the Government. Itwas instituted, so we were told, because at thetime public opinion was very strong against theChurch, so much so that children belonging to iti'elt quite embarrassed in the public and mission-ary schools in the thick of jeering by teachers andother children. It is interesting, however, tonote that it is only in New Brighton that such anestablishment exists and not in any other part ofthe country, where it could not be pointed out inany case that such conditions as had necessitatedthe instituting of one did not arise.

The parents are supposed to pay one shilling foreach child attending school in compliance withthe decisions arrived at at the inception of theschool. Many however do not fulfil this obliga-tion chiefly because of the feeling that publicschools exist where education is free, that is, whereparents do not have to contribute towards pay-ment of teachers' salaries. The result is thatthere is always a deficit and the Bishop makes thisgood from the so called Church funds.

The school is understaffed and the teachersunderpaid, the roll being about 200 with onlythree teachers, one male and two female assistants.The head teacher receives £7 10s. a month; hisfirst assistant £5 and his second assistant £4 10s.All of them are qualified teachers.

The school goes as tar as Std. V. and thereaftera child may proceed to any of the public or mis-sionary schools for Std. VI.

The inevitable result is that the school cannotmake headway in any direction. The teachers'salaries in the first place are not encouraging andsecondly, hardly any improvement can be effectedon the school in the way ot materials since nofunds are forthcoming for the purpose. The factthat the school is Understaffed is a serious obstacleto development of any kind. Besides, classes areheld in the Church building, no separate schoolbuilding having been provided.

Since the school owes its origin to inter-deno-minational antagonisms it is an expression of

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those antagonisms and might have even reinforcedthem had not the Inspector of Schools tor thePort Elizabeth district refused it recogrition.Had he done otherwise he might have created aprecedent which the other Churches would havegladly iollowed. The warring religious factionswould have thus found an outlet for expression onanother plane.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIALACTIVITIES

Collection and Allocation of Funds.

Chuirh dues.

A due to the amount of 6d. is payable wee klyby every head of a family Cthere are over 400 suchheads in Port Elizabeth). This money is collectedin every centre where there is a branch of theChurch and each branch sends the money thuscollected to the Bishop. This money has to betransmitted at least once monthly. Followingthe terminology of the Bible, the members of theChurch call these weekly dues *' tithes " which inXhosaisfs/rAi/mi. Asumof over£l,300 annuallyis raised in this way, but this hardly offers a guideas to the membership for many of the people donot pay their dues regularly since this is a volunt-ary subscription.

The theory is that all wealth collectively pro-duced by the members of the Church belongs tothe Church and not to any particular individual.It is a theory of communal rights over what takesthe form of family property, since the Bishop iscalled Tata and his place ekkaya. The Bishop issupposed, as a father, to spend liberally for hischildren. His property is their property byvirtue of his being their father and will revert tothe Church when he dies irrespective of the non-existence of documentary evidence. This is areflection of kinship relations in Bantu societywhcreoraltradition is sufficient evidence in respectof the distribution of property at death. But thedifference here lies in the fact that the conditionsand laws regulating inheritance of the so calledChurch property are not defined.

Tea-Parties (Concerts).

Tea-parties or concerts of a sort, by means ofwhich large sums of money (at one time,£2,000 in

a single night) may be raised, are held once ortwice a year. Before such parties take place greatmonetary preparations are undertaken by themembers'of the Church. They divide themselvesinto competitive groups.

The function lasts from the previous day,right through the night to the following morning.Various choirs are attached to the various compe-titive groups so that each group has its own choirand they pool their money together to see thattheir choir alone does the singing. In this way agreat deal of money is realised. Such days are infact days for financial parade for one may seemen with 10s., £1, and £5 bank notes pinned ontotheir coat lapels in an arrogant fashion. A largenumber get small change which they shower ontothe stage by way of applause.

Contributions by Members.For many of its undertakings the Church raises

funds by soliciting contributions irom themembers. For such purpose the Bishop issues acircular instruction stating the amount of moneyeach member is expected to give and for whatpurpose the money is to be used. The men, as arule, pay more than the women. When suchmonies have been collected they are transmittedby branches to the Bishop who keeps a register ofall monies received. As much as ,£10,000 wasrecently collected for the purchase of a farm.The result is that all financial transactions of theChurch are on a strictly cash basis. Whatever isleft over from such money is used by the Bishopat his sole discretion.

This method of raising funds has long been inexistence in the Church. In 1927 Cape Towncollected money for Limba's journey to theEastern Province; in 192."? the property at Korstenfor the use of the Bishop (now used for housingthe indigent, orphans and destitute women) wasbought in this way ; members of the Church con-tributed 2s. 6d. for the purchase o' the first lorry.,the one used as a bus during the 1033 tour'; inorder to build the temple at New Brighton menhad to pay £2 10s. each and women 10s. and laterwhen it was realised that the amount collectedwas not sufficient each man had to contribute anextra £1 10s. and each woman 10s.; the manse

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that is, the " Bishop' Palace " cost each man £2,and each woman 10s. to build, while for the storeand butchery similar amounts were collected. Inthis way the Church has acquired various assetsand property at present used by the Bishop at hissole discretion and registered in his name.

The money thus collected is supposed to belongto the Church for the upliftment of the nation.The Church itself is called the '' National Church''{iNkonzoyeSizvie) and it is the belief of its votariesthat if the Bantu intelligentsia could support it theblack race would march faster to freedom.

It may be true that a good number of themembers of the Church have joined it because ofreligious motives and still regard it as the onlyright channel to heaven. But many, however,look upon the Church as the key to salvation fromthe oppressive laws imposed by the White man,and from exploitation. This is made clear by thefactthat a great deal of emphasis is laid on materialstrength; and business enterprise as a means toindependence is encouraged. " We cannot wor-ship God genuinely if we are hungry ", someonesaid to us. Material wealth is the key to spiritualwealth.

Commercial Undertakings.(a) Farms.The Bishop has long cherished the idea of buy-

ing himself at least one farm but the restrictionsplaced on the purchasing of land by Natives inthe Union have prevented him from acquiringlanded property. As a result he has had to hirefarms from European farmers, except at Veeplaatswhere, besides those hired from other Africans,he has been able to buy one.

The Bishop has leased three portions of farmsin the Alexandria districts, one at Buyskloof whichwe visited, another at Zuney and the third at DeKol.

The farm at Buyskloof, for which the Bishoppays a yearly rental of sixty pounds (£60), isfairly big. Part of the farm has been turned intoa cattle paddock and fenced by the Bishop at hisown expense. The cost of fencing amounted toabout £200, We were made to understand thatin order to recover the expenditure on the fencingthe Bishop and the farmer have agreed to a reduced

yearly rental over a number of years. The lowerportion of the farm, about 14 acres in extent, isused for arable purposes. The Bishop has work-ed in this particular area for ten years, five ofwhich have been spent on this farm.

The farm is used mainly for the production ofpumpkins, wheat and maize, while those at DeKol and Zuney are used solely for the productionof firewood. All this produce is taken to PortElizabeth by lorries of which the Bishop has abouthalf-a-dozen, plus a light delivery van which costhim £550.

There is a man in charge of this farm who untilquite recently has been earning a wage of £4 amonth plus food from Headquarters and someproduce from the farm. Recently a portion of thefarm has been set aside for his use but he stillenjoys his wages which have now been increasedto £6. The man expressed satisfaction with thismode of life. In the other farms also there aremanagers earning a similar wage. They areassisted by a number of men, some to fell thewood, others to help in ploughing and generalfarm work, while women, at any rate at Veeplaatsdo the hoeing. All are members of the Church.

On the farm we saw various implements includ-ing ploughs, planters, and an old waggon. It isinteresting to note that the cattle bore the brandJL (James Limba). As a matter of fact all faimsare stocked with agriculturalimplements: ploughs,harrows, planters, and two tractors—the last arcused on the various farms as the need arises, andthey cost£680 each. About a year ago the Bishopbought himself atractor-drawn threshing machinewhich he hires out to European farmris.

At Veeplaats, a little place about ten milesfrom Port Elizabeth, the Bishop has boughthimself a farm, a portion of which is used as apoultry farm. The Bishop indicated that thefowls brought him a good deal of profit and that hedesired to have more fowls. Some of the bestbreeds had been bought for him by one of theChurch men from a poultry dealer in Johannes-burg. There are some turkeys and ducks too.

The remaining portion of the farm was simplycovered with pumpkins leaving only a smallsquare for mealies. The Bishop said that the

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pumpkins brought him more money: thereforehe cultivated more pumpkins. At the time ofthe visit there were some women hoeing the fields.When they saw the Bishop they all cast theii ejesupon the ground trying to avoid meeting his eyes.On shaking hands with him they, like the othermembers of the Church, used both hands as asign of respect for the greatness of the Bishop.

Attached to the farm are a number of smallhouses erected by the Bishop whichhe leases outto his people. Incidentally Veeplaats is a verydry place and hitherto the Port Elizabeth munici-pality has not extended the water supply systemto it. As a result the people have to buy water atRedhouse, a place about four miles away. Thoseof them who have carts go as far as Port Elizabethin order to obtain water which they sell to theirneighbours. To obviate this difficulty for thoseresident on his premises the Bishop has built adam.

Besides this farm there are three others, two ofwhich the Bishop has leased, while the third isoccupied on a share-crop basis. These farmswere also covered with pumpkins. Although theBishop would have liked to buy these farms un-fortunately the owners were not willing to sell.

At Kirkwood the Bishop rents anothertwo farmswhich are used for cattle raising purposes. Fromthese the Bishop gets stock for his butchery as wellas butter.

At Lake Farm, a place about fourteen miles tothe west of Port Elizabeth, the Bishop rents yetanother farm where he cultivates pumpkins andmealies.

The produce from these farms, as has alrep.dybeen pointed out, is carried to Headquarters bymeans of lorries. In addition there is a fleet ofwaggons—some horse drawn and others cattledrawn.

AtHeadquarters.A little uutside, to the east of New Brighton,

there are stables where the Bishop keeps a numberof horses, mules, and cattle. The animals are ingood condition and are looked after by servantswho are also members of the Church. Particularlyattractive is a thorough-bred Afrikander bull witha golden ring in the nose. There is also a fine

Friesland bull. Both are stud animals. Thereare also some thorough-bred Friesland cows whichyield a lot of milk from which the Bishop makesbutter. This butter together with that producedat Kirkwood is sold mainly to his people.

Firewood is stacked in the store yard. Someof it is taken up by members of the Church andthe rest is sold to members ot the public at Is. 9d.per bag. Lorries and mule drawn waggons playan important part in the distribution not only offirewood but also of pumpkins, and competefavourably with other merchants for this product.

The food products are consumed mainly by themembers of the Church. The surplus, especiallyof pumpkins, is sold to the public. Incidentallythe pumpkins are a very profitable investment.It is estimated that in the Buyskloof farm aloneover 600 pumpkins produced in 1944 soldat an average price of 2s. each. Some of themaize is ground into mealie meal from which abeverage (maretiu, umdoko) is made for Sale exclu-sively to the members of the Church especiallyon Saturdays and Sundays. In 1945 the wheatfrom the farms was threshed at Headquarters andthe straw therefrom is being used as cattle fodder.The wheat is also ground into meal and put onthe market for sale.

(b) Stores.A tew yards from the "Bishop's Palace" there

are two stores—one a butchery and the other ageneral dealer's shop—both of which go underthe name of " The Bantu Trading Store " with"Bishop J. Limba (Prop.)" below the name.These stores were started in 1940 and, with theexception of the butchery today which, like otherbutcheries, has been hard hit by the drought,have been doing flourishing business, for theBishop finds a ready market especially among themembers of the Church.

It is unfortunate that we could not get anyfigures relating to the capital invested in the storesand the returns accruing therefrom. It must benoted, however, that these stores are well stocked,,especially the general dealer's shop. It vyould besafe to estimate the turnover at about £1,000 permonth. At theendof each day thetakings, whichrange from £50 on other days of the week to £150

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on Fridays, are handed-over to the Bishop. Asin all other enterprises of the Church only thosewho are members of the Church are employed inthe stores.

The Church is handicapped by a serious lackof skilled and competent personnel in its commer-cial undertakings : in fact there are none with theexception of a casual European book-keeper. Thislack of accountants, qualified book-keepers, etc.,is, in a way, an expression of the level of educationto which the members of the Church have attained,for only the members participate in the commer-cial life of the Church. So far the Church hasmade no attempt to train the necessary personnel,possibly because the Bishop contends that educa-tion is a thing of this world. In fact he holds alllearning in contempt because his Church is livingtestimony of the fact that a man can succeed in lifewithout education, with only God as his inspira-tion.

Material wealth has come to play a dominantpart in the mentality of the members of the Churchof Christ. The Bishop is himself imbued withthe ideas of wealth, so much so that a greater partof his conversation is about his riches, the desireto accuiiimulate more and how much the Whiteman envies him these.

Because Bishop Limba's people look upon allhe says and does as right and exemplary, the ideaof the importance of economic independence haspermeated through the entire group. This isexpressed in the fact that whenever it is possibleto do so Bishop Limba's people hazard tc under-take any sort of business enterprise so long as itcan assure them livelihood without having to goand work for wages. Such occupations rangefrom the selling of bones and bottles, and second-hand clothes to the running of shops and taxiownership. We met some successful and veryenthusiastic business men among them.

Artisans, such as shoemakers, masons, qualifiedhandworkers of various kinds, etc., are particu-larly, encouraged to develop their skill, not only bythe Bishop, but also by their fellows. We havenot heard of any instance, however, where theyhave been backed up financially. The backingtakes the form of encouraging talks and buying

from them. At New Brighton there are twocarpenters' shops, run by the members of theChurch, which turn out quite good articles andfurniture of various kinds, and they are doing goodbusiness.

SOCIAL AND OTHER ACTIVITIESEconomic Reciprocity.

It is said that if a member of the Church can-not find work, Bishop Limba provides him withfood until such time as he finds employment.Such expenses as the Bishop may incur on hisbehalf are not recorded and no compensation issupposed to be paid by the man concerned if hestrikes a job. When one is out of work one mayreceive assistance from the Bishop, but all expensesare recorded.

But everybody is expected to render free serviceto the Bishop if it is in his power so to do. Onefrequently sees men lounging about the Bishop'splace, eager to help when their help is required.This is especially the case during holidays whena large number of people are at home. Thosewho are not in employment are sometimes takenin lorries to work at the farms. This is especiallythe case during the harvesting season when eventhose who are employed are called upon to helpwith the work on Sundays. This effects a greatsaving for they are not paid. Every night men doguard duty around the Church and the girls'quarters. They are not paid for this service.

Representatives of the Bishop, we were told,who from time to time are sent to visit branchesoutside Port Elizabeth, do not receive any remu-neration except that the Bishop defrays theirtravelling expenses from the Church funds.

Some of the members of the Church havejoined the Bantu Benevolent Society where theyreceive some charitable assistance. At Korstenthe Church uses the property purchased in 1928,for the use of the Bishop, for housing the aged,indigent and orphans and widows.

The degree of exchange of gifts is not well. marked. But there is some giving and receiving ofgifts at marriage, although this is not as organisedas it is among the Bantu people at large, both

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belonging to the other Churches and those notaffiliated to any sect.

Our informants told us that when the Churchwas still in its infancy there was considerablemutual Jielp among the members of the Church.But as time went on and the desire for individualprosperity gained root more and more, this phe-nomenon gradually disappeared, until now it hasbecome almost negligible. People have becomebusiness-minded and profit-making is now adominating feature in their lives.

Girls at the Bishop's Place.

Manageable girls live with their parents, butshould any girl get out of hand and becomeimpossible, she may be, and is generally taken toekhaya by her parents to learn good behaviour.Such girls, with the Bishop's consent, may go andwork in town but their earnings must go intohelping their parents.

But besides these girls there are others whohave become orphaned and have nobody to carefor them. These are regarded as belonging tothe Church. All their earnings plus the lobologiven for them are spent at the discretion of theBishop. Should their husbands ill-treat or inany way desert them, or die and leave them un-provided for, they may go back to the Bishop'splace—their home—and are accepted and pro-tected.

In the case of those girls who live afthe Bishop'splace who still have parents, the hhazi goes totheir parents. And if they are working in townand only come to sleep at the Bishop's place (theyare not allowed to sleep at their place of work),they are expected to pay something for theirevening meals, which they get there.

The girls are strictly guarded at night—thereare night guards for this purpose. If seen with aman even during the day, they are reported toTata who harangues them. All girls in theChurch are expected to live a chaste, clean andupright moral life.

DOCTRINEThe Church believes the Bible to be the only

true and inspired word of God, the precepts ofwhich it purports to follow without modification

(Deutoronomy 4, 2 and 12, 32; Joshua 1, 7 ;Proverbs 30,6 ; Ecclesiasticus 12,13 ; .Revelations22, 18-19). It believes itself to be the onlyChurch that follows these precepts not only in thespirit but also in the letter.

From this derives its outlook and attitude notonly in regard to itself but to other Churches,Black-White relations, and to Bantu customs andtraditions generally. This acceptance of theBible almost literally gives the Church its peculiarcharacter and enables it to find justification in theBible for all its acticns.

The Church believes itself to be in the directline of descent from the Church of the Apostlesand therefore that of Christ. Hence the nameThe Chuich of Christ. The other churches,including the Separatist, do not fall into thiscategory forthey have deviated from the sanctionsof the Scriptures by giving themsehes nameswhich are the product of man's imagination (Acts4, 11-12; St. Matthew 1, 21 ; 1 Timothy 2, 5-6).The only name for any Church that is trulyChristian should therefore be The Church ofChrist.

The history of Apostasy, that is, the movementwhich fell away from the Church of the Apostles,is believed to have started with the establishmentof the Church of Rome. The Roman CatholicChurch is therefore .branded as the mother ofApostasy, the Pope (Vicarius Fillii Dei giving thenumber 666,1 the mark of the Beast referred to inRevelations 13, 18) being the Apostate-in-Chief.

The ministers of religion, who are looked uponas false prophets (2 Peter 2 , 1 ; Acts 20, 30; etc.),have tieacherously misled the Arrican people,teaching them " doctrines of devils " (1 Timothy4, 1). They must be exterminated.

Like all other Christian Churches, the Churchof Christ believes in God-^-albeit a particularGod, differing from that of the White man. ThisGod is almost indentical with the Qamatha of the1 The number 666 is arrived at in the following manner:

All the letters In VICARIUS FILII DEI repre-senting numbers in the Roman numeral systemare added together. Thus V represents 5 ; 1 ,1 ;C, 100; I, 1; U, 5 in VICARIUS, while the threeI's in FILII gives 3, the L, 50; the D in DEI 500,the I another 1—all working out at 666 when addedtogether.

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Xhosa and Nkulunkulu of the Zulu (not in theChristian sense of the word) with the Bishop play-ing a r61e parallel to that of Christ. Between thisGod and the people stands the Bishop himself,who the more powerful he becomes the more hearrogates unto himself mystic attributes even tothe extent of withholding and bringing about therain in order to bring humanity to the realizationof the abundance of its sins. UThixo kaTatauqumbile ; tlTata umiBucala (Our Father's God iswrathful; Tatastandeth aloof); UThixo kaTatauyiBambile imvula, angayinisa ethanda (Tata'sGod withholdeth the rain, he may cause it tofall when it pleaseth him). Thus the menpreach. In short, UTata umi phakatki kwethunoThixo wakhe {Tala stands between us and hisGod). This is a national God (Micah 4, 5).

CONCLUSIONS

From the fact that this sect has an exclusive Godwho can be tapped only through the mediation ofTata and the fact that it has a purely Africanfollowing, it follows that its doctrine cannot beuntainted by nationalistic tendencies. And itdoes preach nationalism of a sort with Tataoccupying a position analogous to that of Moses inrelation to the children of Israel. YiyoV indod"ethunywe nguYehova ukuBa ize kukhulula isizwe(Here is the man whom Jehovah has sent todeliver the nation). All activities of the Churchare thus directed towards exalting Tata—the na-tional leader.

According to Bishop l_,imba s people the truthsof the Bible reveal that the customs approved ofby Christianity, especially the old Testament, arein no way different from those practised by theirforefathers. Ntsikana, the African " prophet"foreshadowed this. In short the Bible is meantfor the African (Isaiah 18:1, 2).

As this is supposed to be a national church whatattitude does it adopt towards Bantu traditionand custom ? We have every reason to believethat for all that the Church has to say, it has notactually divorced itself from these institutions.It is not that it practises these traditions covertlyor covers them with a Christian coating, but thatmany things in the (Bible do find analogies in

Bantu tradition. To illustrate this point, itshould be mentioned that the Church discouragesthe use of clan names and belief in witchcraft. Inthis it differs from many an otherwise Christiansect including the European controlled churches.' From this it is possible to say that the Churchhas added nothing new to Christianity since it ispart of its doctrine neither to add to nor subtractfrom the Scriptures. It has merely taken overthe Bible and discovered in it a justification fornationalism and Bantu ancestor cult. Even suchdivine services as the blessing of children andbaptism by immersion in a river do find parallelsin Bantu practices. It was customary to kill agoat for an infant on its tenth day of life as ameans of thanking the ancestral spirits for thenewborn and to ensure that they would showertheir blessings on it. Incidentally this custom iscalled ukuBingelela (blessing). ABakhvetha (maleinitiants) and intonfane (female initiants) had toperform their final ablutions in a river before theycould be accepted into the community in muchthe same way that baptism is regarded by Chris-tians as a prerequisite to participation in theChristian way of life. Thus the Church reinforcesBiblical teachings bv reference to Bantu practices.

"The Church of Christ" is different from allthe other Churches for it stresses not only thespiritual but also the material well-being of itsmembers. As we have constantly pointed outthe spiritual life of the whole Church pivotsaround the Bishop. Therefore the spiritual andmaterial prosperity of each individual member isbound up with the spiritual and material pros-perity of the others, collectively finding concreteexpression in the spiritual and material prosperityof the Bishop. So that the prosperity of the ind i-vidual is-nothing to the prosperity of the whole asrealized in the Bishop. In the prosperity of theBishop the members see their own prosperity inthe same way that a child sees his own prosperityin the prosperity of his father.

The position of the Bishop in the Church hasthe blessing of the members who regard Deuto-ronomy 28, 1-14, as sanctifying his position,verses 11-13 being particularly pcitircnt.

This philosophy more than anything else has

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contributed to the stability of the CJ.urrh.W ether this co.-.dition will c ntinue indefinitelyis a matter for speculation. Below we give whatw: consider as some of the reasons which havecontributed to the stability of the institution.

Reasons Jor Stability.

1. The Bishop is the centre of attraction andinspiration and is a commanding personality.

2. There is also the belief that he is a prophetsent b G d t deliver t!\e sadly misled Africanmillions.

3. He is the richest man in the Church, and,no doubt, this adds considerably to his power.

4. The Church property is looked upon as acommon possession of all members and no doubtthere is the belief by individual members that itwill devolve on them in the event of the Bishop'sdeath.

5. It is also believed that the Bishop is thefather of all and will look after.their interests at alltimes, although as we have seen, when it comes tothe payment of lobolo and marriage this is notstrictly adhered to ; he merely sanctions anapproved arrangement.

6. The Bishop violently opposes back-biting,so that even if someone may have something tocomplain about he finds it difficult to express it tohis Bazahaana (brethren) or Bodads (sisters) forfear that they may take the matter to the Bishop,who punishes such severely and may even excom-municate persons guilty of such offences.

7. Accusations of witchcraft are commonamong the Bantu especially where they live to-gether in big numbers. ' These more often thannot lead to quarrels. To guard against suchquarrels, which might upset the stability of theChurch, the Bishop actively discourafes accusa-tions of witchcraft by insisting that the complain-ants bring the mpundulu (lightning bird) or hilt

(hobgoblin) on leash before the matter can bedealt with. In the course of an inspiring sermon,a preacher related how Tata once settled effective-ly the case of a certain woman who complained ofnocturnal visitations by an tmpundulu. Tata senta man one night to keep watch in order to rope the" bird " if it should make an appearance. In duecourse the woman screamed and the man, hearingthis, jumped into the room where she slept only tobe told by the woman that the " bird " had flown!

8. Another factor which we think contributesa great deal to the stability of the Church is thediscouragement of the use of clan names and kin-ship terms. Kinship groups bound together bva number of mutual obligations would tend toweaken centralization. The Limbaites do notuse clan names amongst themselves. They aremzalwana and dade to one another. It is only incase of marriage that the question of clan namescrops up and this by way of guarding against clanendogamy.

9. ' It is true that some members stick to theChurch for religious considerations but even thispivots round Tata, for the God they worship istheir Father's God—Thixo kaTala, they say insupplication. The extremely religious ones be-lieve that there is something mysterious aboutthe Church as a whole. They argue that it isimpossible for one to know about the Church ifone does not belong to it, if one has not beenbaptised in their fashion. It requires divine in-spiration to master the complexities of the Churchof Christ. One man told us that even the Bishophimself does not know where his power comesfrom, for it is ordained by God, who is also re-sponsible for the Church's being what it is. " Itis difficult even to me ", he said, " being in it, toknow all the ways and secrets of the Church.How much more difficult must it re to anoutsider ? "D

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