Sbonelo McDee, Oct. 20, 2011
The leaders of Nazareth Baptist Church-Ebuhleni in sequence.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents information about African Independent Churches (AIC) in Southern Africa as well as information about Nazareth Baptist Church denomination which may be the oldest AIC in Southern Africa. The Nazareth Baptist Church is known by several other names including Shembe's Church, after the last name of its founder.
Several videos of Nazareth Baptist Church are showcased in this post, with a focus on the garments worn by church members and other ways that the members presented/present themselves for religious activities and/or in the general public.
The content of this post is presented for historical, religious, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the founder, leaders, and other members of Nazareth Baptist Church in Southern Africa, and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/01/karen-h-brown-white-robes-for-worship.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "Karen H Brown - "White Robes For Worship: The Umnazaretha of the Nazareth Baptist Church In South Africa" (journal reprint with a few notes)."
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INFORMATION ABOUT AFRICAN INDEPENDENT CHURCHES (AIC)
From https://www.patheos.com/library/african-independent-churches
..."African Independent Churches, also known as African Indigenous Churches, African Initiated Churches, African Instituted Churches, or just AICs, represent well over 10,000 independent Christian denominations in Africa. African Independent Churches are found in every region and country in Africa, but they are more adequately documented in west Africa and southern Africa. Even though the denominational, ritual, and linguistic diversity of these churches makes it difficult to analyze and classify, the common thread uniting all of the Christian churches is that they were all established by African initiative rather than by foreign missionary agendas. Even though many of these churches have traditional denominational names and relationships, they are not defined by these traditions. These churches emphasize that they are established and led by Africans. In addition, all AICs place emphasis on the biblical warrant to include African cultural norms into their modes of worship, theology, and practice, though to varying degrees."...
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INFORMATION ABOUT NAZARETH BAPTIST CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazareth_Baptist_Church
"The Nazareth Baptist Church (Alternatively called "The
Nazarite Church" "iBandla lamaNazaretha") is the second largest,
African initiated church based in South Africa, founded in 1910.[1]
It reveres Shembe as a prophet sent by God to restore the teachings of Moses, the prophets, and Jesus. Members are Sabbath-observers and avoid pork, smoking, and premarital sex.[2]
It was divided into two groups after the 1976 death of Johannes Galilee Shembe. The larger group was led by Bishop Amos Shembe until his death in 1995, while Rev. Londa Shembe led the smaller group.[3]
As of 2009, it was divided into three factions in KwaZulu-Natal and one in Gauteng.[4]
The religion uses leopard skins as part of their ceremonies, which some activists are trying to stop or replace with synthetic leopard skin.[5]
On 18 October 2016, the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban
declared Vela Shembe the legitimate leader of the Nazareth Baptist Church after
a protracted court battle, which had dragged on since 2011.[6] Despite this,
the previous leader's son Mduduzi Shembe, who lives in the large village of
Ebuhleni, remains the de facto head of the church and most church members have
ignored the ruling.[7]"...
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The largest African Independent Church denomination in Southern African is probably Zion Christian Church (ZCC). Here's information about Zion Christian Church (ZCC) from https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Zion-Christian-Church/602331#:~:text=The%20ZCC%20was%20founded%20in,Edward%20took%20over%20as%20bishop.
"The Zion Christian Church (ZCC) is one of the largest
churches in southern Africa. Its headquarters are in Zion City, Moria, in the
Limpopo province of South Africa. The ZCC has about 7 million members in the
following African countries: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia,
South Africa, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Zambia, and Zimbabwe."
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Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion_Christian_Church for more information about Zion Christian Church in Southern Africa.
Neither Zion Christian Church members nor Nazareth Baptist Church members perform circular walking and spinning dances that are performed by some Zionist church denominations in Southern Africa.
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2: Nazareth Baptist Church-EBuhleni
[Warning- One very brief scene of female frontal nudity is included in this video.]
Sbonelo McDee, Sep 8, 2012
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3: Shembe Walk to God
[Warning- One very brief scene of female frontal nudity is included in this video.]
African Lotus Productions,
At the beginning of every year, thousands of members of the
Nazareth Baptist Church, or the “Shembe Church” as they are more commonly
called, embark on a 70km pilgrimage to a Holy Mountain in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal.
They leave from Inanda, just north of Durban, and walk barefoot in their
traditional white attire; braving KZN’s scorching heat or unpredictable rain.
They walk on searing hot tarmac or on the prickly dirt roads of the hinterland,
singing the praises of their founder Isaiah Shembe or of God stopping sometimes
for a break or overnight just in fields along the road. They travel for three
days until they finally reach Nlangakazi, their holy mountain, where it is said
God spoke to their founder almost a hundred years ago. The program looks at the
faith of Shembe people through the context of the pilgrimage - examining their
core beliefs and practices while showcasing their courage, perseverance and
strength of character that is evident in the Shembe Walk to God.
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