Dr be lekganyane biography of martin

Founder of the Zion Christian Church (–)

Engenas Barnabas Lekganyane (c. &#;) was the founder of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC). He first formed the ZCC in , and by the time of his death the church had at least 50, members.

Under the leadership of his descendants the ZCC has gone on to have more than a million members primarily located in southern Africa.^[1] It is now by far the biggest of the various Zionist Christian sects that account for roughly half of all Christians in southern Africa.

Early experience and education

Engenas Lekganyane was born at Mphome Mission in the Haenertsburg region of the Transvaal in the mids. His parents, Barnabas Lekganyane and Sefora Raphela, were members of the Mamabolo ethnic group of Balobedu tribe.

DR BE LEKGANYANE (ZCC BISHOP) SERMON AT FNB STADIUM 01 ...: Engenas Barnabas Lekganyane (c. –) was the founder of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC). He first formed the ZCC in , and by the time of his death the church had at least 50, members. Under the leadership of his descendants the ZCC has gone on to have more than a million members primarily located in southern Africa. [1].

The Raphela family were the first Christian converts among the Mamabolo and had been instrumental in getting a Lutheran mission established by the Berlin Missionary Society in ^[2]

Drought, disruptions, and the violence associated with the South African War in , led the Mamabolo chiefs to abandon their homelands for some years.

The Lekganyanes appear to have left with them, but then returned home when the Chief purchased Syferkuil Farm in next to the original reserve.

Soon after the move support, an Anglican missionary built a mission and school called St.

Andrews adjacent to Syferkuil.^[3] This was the school where Lekganyane received three years of awareness, which had been disrupted in the previous decade. During this time Lekganyane spent considerable amounts of time working on construction projects, including the building of a church, a school, and a dam.

He did not choose to receive baptism or confirmation as an Anglican, although many members of his family, his future wife, and many residents of Syferkuil did.

Then he met the tshoma's family in Botswana during the South African war.

The tshoma's family brought him to shelter, after the war there was no more contact with them .

After leaving institution, Lekganyane began working around the Transvaal—"he had to go to work and make a living, like many of his era, on the farms and in public works schemes."^[4] In his early adulthood Lekganyane joined a new Presbyterian church in the Mamabolo reserve—according to his earliest known statements he had been "a member of the Free Church of Scotland in teaching as (or actually being) an evangelist under the missionary in that Church."^[5]

Conversion to Zionism

Engenas Lekganyane thus had a diverse Protestant background, with Lutheran, Anglican, and Presbyterian experiences.

He is also said to have been seal with his grandfather and uncle on his mother's side, both of whom were pagans and renowned traditional doctors.^[6]

Around , though, Lekganyane split from Protestantism with the arrival of the Apostolic Faith Mission in his house area.

At this time the AFM reported that some of its members traveled on foot from Louis Trichardt to Pietersburg, during which “the most unusual manifestations of healing” occurred. The blind, deaf, and crippled were healed, and in Pietersburg “the natives came in vast numbers to be prayed for.”^[7] According to ZCC lore, Lekganyane began to suffer from a grave eye ailment at this moment and nearly went blind.

He then had a vision and was instructed to travel to the Lesotho, where he was told that he would be cured by "triple immersion".^[8] Lekganyane claims to have followed this vision, and went to Lesotho and met two Zionist preachers in They then baptized him using the Zionist method of "triple immersion", and curing his eyesight ailment in the process.

From until Lekganyane was a member of the Mahlangu's company, the Zion Apostolic Church (which itself was a part of the Apostolic Faith Mission). Around he returned home to Thabakgone where he was the deputy of the ZAC congregation.

In he became the official commander of this congregation, although he fell out with Mahlangus rapidly over issues that are not clear.^[9]

Not long afterwards, Lekganyane seceded with his congregation and went with his new bride, Salfina Rabodiba, to Basutoland in to join Edward Lion's utopian society under the auspices of the newly formed new Zion Apostolic Faith Mission (ZAFM).

Lekganyane and his wife stayed in Basutoland for a short time before he was appointed ZAFM's Transvaal leader. By Lekganyane had a sizable membership in the Transvaal with some seventeen congregations. Tensions between the two arose and came to a head over the name on the ZAFM's Transvaal membership card.

After a tension-filled trip to Basutoland, Lekganyane returned home, and soon had a vision on the superior of Mt. Thabakgone that instructed him to form his hold church. He then split with ZAFM to form the ZCC in , taking most of the Transvaal ZAFM members with him.^[10]

Lekganyane and the ZCC, &#;48

Although Lekganyane had belonged to two Zionist organizations before starting his own church, the ZCC was noticeably different from its predecessors due to innovations that he brought.

During this time he used his charisma and organizational abilities to expand the ZCC from about 50, to[ 1 ] members, while also reshaping numerous facets of the church. During his tenure as bishop, the ZCC emerged as South Africa 's largest independent church, while Lekganyane became arguably the wealthiest and most powerful African in apartheid-era South Africa. Edward was the second-born son of Engenas Lekganyane and his senior wife, Salfina Rabodiba, and was born in Thabakgone in the Mamabolo Reserve east of Polokwane. Although his exact birth meeting is unknown, he is acknowledged to have been born during a smallpox epidemic that led his father to quarantine his household for some time.

Lekganyane's ZCC was similar to other Zionist churches in that it emphasized faith healing to conquer converts. Lekganyane himself is acknowledged to have healed a massive number of people. During the early years of the ZCC he allowed his followers to engage in faith healing as well.

In , however, he took sole control of all faith healing as the church expanded.

The Kganya Group renowned its 31 st anniversary in March of Zion Christian Church has celebrated over years of existence, and this is indeed a remarkable era for both organisations. I have come to the realisation that much has been achieved from very down-to-earth beginnings and both the Kganya Group and Church Officials must be commended for the style in which they continue to be of service to you the individual member and committed follower of Zion Christian Church. I exhort the Kganya Team to continue to execute its mandate for the benefit of the congregation.

Items such as water and paper were “blessed” at his home base, and then sent out to distant congregations where they were ingested or touched by the afflicted. Lekganyane also sanctioned traditional practices such as polygamy and ancestor worship.^[11] The latter practice, in particular, was to prove powerful in turning the ZCC into a dynamic fund-raising machine.

Throughout Lekganyane's lifetime the church was primarily oral in nature. The ZCC did not generate revered writings, and Lekganyane's sermons and pronouncements were not written down. Faith healing, testimony, singing, and dancing were instead the emphasize of worship services.

Smoking, drinking, adultery, western medicine, and engaging in witchcraft were all forbidden. In addition, the ZCC took strong measures to protect all its members against the effects of witchcraft by planting charms around their residences.

Lekganyane was seen as having strong powers to protect his flock from external malevolence.^[12] Lekganyane introduced the distinctive Star badge to his members in , and all his members were required to wear it in public thereafter.^[13] The ZCC's distinctive khaki uniforms were not introduced until the s, however.

The ZCC grew rapidly after its establishment. It had a strong base in the northern Transvaal, but spread due to its members' involvement in migrant labour.

Chairperson, the ZION CHRISTIAN Church was born after the Anglo Boer War just before union in The founder of the Church, Bishop Engenas Barnabas Lekoanyane had by then become acutely aware of the attempt by missionaries to erode African value systems and cultural beliefs.

Lekganyane's reputation as a "prophet" and a dude of immense "spiritual power" began to spread far and spacious, and a wide variety of people from across southern Africa began to journey to his headquarters to consult him. By the s he had congregations in most parts of South Africa, as well as in Lesotho, Botswana, and Rhodesia.^[14]

Lekganyane sought to obtain land and in the late s and preceding s purchased three farms situated fairly close to his ground in Thabakgone.

One of these, Maclean farm, would eventually be turned into “Zion City Moria” by Lekganyane's successor, Edward, in the s, and would grow Africa's biggest pilgrimage site, attracting millions of visitors every Easter.

Lekganyane and his senior wife Salfina had several sons, all of whom were well-educated and who vied for the governance of the ZCC after his death.

Salfina tried to contact the Tshoma's family after conclusion out that he related with them ^[15]

References