Mary-Anne Plaatjies Van Huffel

The Belhar Confession in its historical context

In this article I work with the presupposition that the time has arrived that the Belhar Confession should be detached from being a document utilized for advocacy perusal only. The Belhar Confession should rather be interrogated as a historical document in the true sense of the word. This will be helpful in construing the Belhar Confession as a discursive instrument in the discourse on social justice issues both local and global. The article is divided into four parts. In the first part the focus is largely on the socio political context of SA during 1960-1990. In the second part the influence of the ecumenical movement on the discourse on social justice is being attended to. Thirdly I attend to the drafting of the Belhar Confession and lastly attention will be given to the reception of the Belhar Confession (1982-1990).

From justifying war to justifying peace : a historical overview of the discourse in ecumenical circles (1905-2014)

CITATION: Plaatjies van Huffel, M. A. 2016. From justifying war to justifying peace : a historical overview of the discourse in ecumenical circles (1905-2014). Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 42(1):1-21, doi:10.17159/2412-4265/2016/94.

Towards a theology of development in the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA): Embodying Article 4 of the Belhar Confession

The Belhar Confession gained shape following the social injustices that resulted from the policy of apartheid. Whilst the former mission churchs role during the apartheid regime was that of resistance, its role in a post-apartheid South African context was supposed to change to reconstruction and assistance. Given the current socio-economic situation and injustices, the Belhar Confession is now more than ever relevant and should therefore be the basis and motivation for the church to serve and be involved in the fight against poverty in South Africa. The church is therefore challenged to not solely depend on welfare projects in their role as poverty combaters but to move beyond a charity mode towards a mode of development.

The Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa’s enactment on church judicial and legal issues

In this article, I explore the enactment of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa on church judicial and legal issues. Part I of this article recounts the history of the Uniting reformed Church in Southern Africa. The second part of the article focuses on the legal framework and sources of the Uniting reformed Church in Southern Africa, the legal Status of the Uniting reformed Church in Southern Africa, the fundamental rights of the major and minor assemblies of the Uniting reformed Church in Southern Africa, Judicial procedures with regard to discipline, the scope of the application of Labour Law in Uniting reformed Church in Southern Africa, The Uniting reformed Church in Southern Africa and the protection of individual, the Uniting reformed Church in Southern Africa and financing. The third part of the article focuses on the Uniting reformed Church in Southern Africa enactment in the public discourse. Part IV presents two implications of my analysis, namely as a general rule that a church should dissolved properly by taking the steps required by their respective church orders or constitution. Secondly, that provision should be made in the Church Order of the Uniting reformed Church in Southern Africa on the application of Labour Law on employment relations in the Uniting reformed Church in Southern Africa.

Die kerkreg en kerkregering van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk (1881-1915)

The church polity and church governance of the Dutch Reformed Mission (1881-1915) One can discern five church polity principles in this article to adjudicate the church polity and church governance of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC): 1. The autonomy of the local church, 2. The character of the denominational ties, 3. The character of the power of the major assemblies, 4. The power to discipline church officials, 5. The right to appeal with regarding to the decisions of the major assemblies, This article deals cursorily with the church polity development of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (1881-1915). The foundational grounds and main notions on Doleantie Church polity are being drawn upon in this article. The Doleantie did not try to develop a new church polity system, but is rather a regression to a system of church polity as enacted by the National Synod of Dordrecht (1618-1619). The Doleantie church polity (oud kerkrecht) impacted the church polity and the church governance of the DRMC.