According to reports, black delegates have said if their “Zion’s hymns” are not added to the acceptable psalms and Bible passages by a special deputation set up to tackle the issue, it could jeopardize the reunification of congregations that had been traditionally “black” and “white” in the apartheid era.
The Gereformeerde Kerke in Suid-Afrika (Reformed Churches in South Africa) completed its general synod, held every three years, and that started on January 4 in the agricultural town of Potchefstroom. It was the first time delegates from black and white congregations attended its national synod together.
One of its final decisions was to allow women to become deacons, and also to allow them to lead church services. The synod decided to suspend a decision on another perennial problem: Whether common beakers or separate glasses should be used during the Communion service.
Nicknamed the “Doppers” (drinkers) because of strict prohibitions on alcohol consumption and dancing, the church broke away from its “mother church”, the Dutch Reformed Church (Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk), 150 years ago.
This was during the time of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, one of two Boer republics in the 19th century, and the main reason for the break was the singing of hymns in the DRC, which the Doppers said were unbiblical and therefore did not express the spirit of the Word of God.
However, a number of black congregations were formed in the British colonial era and later in the time of apartheid, when the three “sister churches” in the Dutch Reformed family prohibited any common worship with black congregations. Although keeping in the main to the customs and beliefs of the white churches, the black congregations developed their own ways of singing during church services.
The black churches also incorporated their own versions of hymns, called “Sionsgesange” (Zion’s hymns, used in the other Reformed churches. “We sang them since before I was born,” said Abel Modise from KwaThema, near Johannesburg, a newly elected deputy scribe of the GKSA. “I grew up with them.”
Modise dismissed concerns that the hymn singing issue could trigger a split.
A deputation was tasked to find a framework for vetting hymns and songs that did not refer directly to the Bible and it would “have no problem” in accommodating the Sionsgesange, he said.
In a long debate with about 40 speakers, some delegates argued that heretical ideas could be “smuggled in” by such songs, while others stated that congregants wished to sing directly about their God, and not “through the fog of the Old Testament”. New songs and hymns could be “tested” first, the latter group said Some delegates said, however, the debate was irrelevant as many congregations sing what they like.
