The official name of the churches is the Free Reformed Churches of South Africa (FRCSA).
We acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord of the church. We believe we are part of the one, holy, catholic Christian church that Christ is gathering in this world.
The word “Reformed” indicates that these churches were influenced by the Reformation of the 16th century. The Reformation was an influential movement that had a healing effect on Christianity in Europe. Prominent figures were men such as Luther, Calvin and Zwingli. Thanks to the Reformation, superficiality in the church and the absolute authority of traditions were replaced by the authority of the Bible for personal life, the church and society. The influence of the Reformation also spread to South Africa in recent centuries.
The FRCSA is not the same as the Reformed Churches of South Africa. We use the word “Free” to distinguish ourselves from that federation.
Where is the word “Free” derived from?
The first Free Reformed Church in South Africa was established in 1950 by Dutch immigrants. The addition Free may be better understood as ‘liberated’, meaning we believe each individual congregation functions as the body of Christ and that the local church council is the highest authority, not the synod. This distinction emphasises that congregations and members are bound to one another only through the Word of God, and that a synod cannot prescribe how the Bible must be interpreted. The synod takes decisions only on matters that the local congregations have in common, and even then the local church council must approve those decisions. This distinguishes us from other churches, for example the Roman Catholic Church.
The local churches chose to unite in a federation called the Free Reformed Churches of South Africa.
Later developments
For many years there were only three churches in the FRCSA, namely in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town, where members consisted mainly of Dutch immigrants. Today, however, the church landscape is multicultural.
The federation expanded with the founding of FRC Pretoria-Maranata after FRC Pretoria had grown too large and a second congregation was deemed desirable. In the 2000s further expansion took place when three churches were established through mission work in Mamelodi and Soshanguve-North in Gauteng, as well as in Belhar near Cape Town. Since then, ongoing mission work has borne fruit and another church was established in October 2019 in Wesbank, Cape Town.
Despite differences in race, language and culture, we experience a strong unity in Christ and his Word.
Recent developments
Since 1976, ongoing talks have been held with the Reformed Church of South Africa with a view to possible unification. This has resulted in much greater cooperation between the federations and is a promising development in both Gauteng and the Western Cape.
Characteristics of the FRCSA
The FRCSA accepts everything written in the Bible as the Word of God. This means, among other things, the following: in the churches there is respect for the reliability of the Bible, which in turn means that personal thoughts and feelings are continually tested against what is written in the Word. It also means that the Bible is accepted as a guideline for daily life.
Other noteworthy characteristics of the FRCSA are:
- just like any congregation, they consist of sinful people who must continually be called back to God and reminded of his Word;
- their desire is to remain faithful to the Reformed confessions, which are a summary of Scripture;
- they strive for good conduct in church life as set out in the church order adopted by the general synod of the federation;
- they feel responsible for society;
- they are called to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to others through mission and evangelisation activities; and
- they sincerely wish to strive for unity with other churches and church members who desire to serve the Lord according to his Word.