The Lord wants His church on earth to be One, as He is One, âin order that the world may knowâ (John 17:23) â for the sake of the credibility and the effectiveness of the preaching of the Gospel and its testimony. This unity is first and foremost a spiritual unity of faith, but then also a visible unity in the institutionalising of His church. Churches relate to one another due to a common confession of faith and the main features of church institution and church government. In the first chapter it was indicated clearly that, in the resolutions of the Dutch Reformed Church family, there is a recognition of the Godly gift of and commission to visible church unity. Every member desires visible church unity, keeping in mind that there are obstacles that have to be removed first. Research has also been done about the understanding of the image of a church and the church doctrines of the members of the Dutch Reformed Church family, which showed resemblance to a great extent with the Dutch Reformed Church according to the reformed principles of the presbyterial-synodal church governing system. However, numerous influences from other governing systems could also be indicated. In chapter two the common, above-historical and universally accepted creeds, which linked believers together over time and space, was pointed out. True creeds stem from a certain situation, but formulates those truths of the Gospel which are of a core, timeless nature. Denominations are therefore the relation between congregations sharing the same confessions and the main principles of church institution, and is formed to strengthen their church-being, to enrich them spiritually and to save them from one-sidedness. The conclusion was also made that Belhar does not answer to the requirements of a reformed creed. In chapter three an analysis was made of the content and implications of the constitution, supreme court verdicts and legal opinions to point out several legal indications for the church reunion process in the Dutch Reformed Church family, from which it was obvious that the law in South-Africa sees the church as a âuniversitasâ which must be judged according to the law of contrasts. In chapter four, it was attempted to indicate the direction on the way forward with church reunion, and it was indicated that the Dutch Reformed Church family in South-Africa must urgently tend to the following matters: 1. To clarify a common foundation for a creed for the united church. 2. To clarify the structure and the form of governing of the united church. 3. To clarify the process through which church unity can be accomplished. 4. Clarification of the material matters of the churches at church unity. 5. Clarification of the RCAâs insisting on keeping its own identity. 6. Clarification of matters such as theological training, the mutual recognition of the legitimacy of clergymen, the name, the language and the liturgical matters in the new denomination. 7. Lastly that recognition in mutual relationships is of vital importance.

There is a possibility that in practising (church)history writing, certain perceptions about both the past as whole, as well as specific events in the past may be absorbed without evaluating them in the light of primary sources. Britz 7 shows that conscious and unconscious characterizations play a too significant role in South African (church)historiography to be ignored. These characterizational representations do not rest on what can be inferred from primary historical documents. A perception found in Dutch Reformed Church historiography â especially evident in discussions about the South African church development during the 19 th century â concerning the South African Baptists, is that the Baptist Church has had a negative influence on the South African ecclesiastical landscape. This perception can be found in the writings of Hanekom, Kotzé and Van der Watt. This study shows that this perception is not based on the study of primary sources. For the purpose of this study, an examination was made of 19 th century Cape Dutch ecclesiastical magazines.8 These magazines were examined as ecclesiastical documents which both in their nature and their readership, could provide an analysis of the influence which Baptist circles had on the Cape Dutch Church, whether positive or negative. These sources do not only give a good impression of the historical framework within which this research was done, but also of the theological framework with which the Cape Dutch Church identified herself during that time. Two keywords are used in these magazines to report on the (South African) Baptists: "Anabaptists" and "Baptizers." Although the magazines hold that both of these groups had their origin in the 16 th century Radical Reformation, and that both these groups reject infant baptism, a clear distinction is made between them. The "Anabaptists" were consistently portrayed negatively while the "Baptizers" were highly esteemed. The South African Baptists were reckoned under the "Baptizers." The official magazine of the Dutch Reformed Church, De Gereformeerde Kerkbode, even petitioned that the South African Baptists ("Baptizers") not be confused with the "Anabaptists." Finally, it will be shown that Hanekom and Kotzé did not take this positive evaluation of the (South African) Baptists into consideration. Furthermore, Van der Watt took their conclusions over almost verbatim. In this manner a perception arose which was, in all likelihood, based on theological considerations, without proper consideration of primary sources.

This thesis is a study of how the prophetic voice of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) has changed over time. The focus is on the relationship between the SACC and the South African government of the day. The thesis analyses central texts from the National Conferences of the SACC held from 1969 to 2004. The analysed texts are Minutes and Resolutions, General Secretariesâ Reports, and the Presidentsâ Addresses. The thesis asks how the prophetic voice has changed since 1990, which is chosen as the cutoff year. This choice was not a matter of course. 1990 was the year when Mandela was released and the liberation movements were unbanned; but 1994 could be seen as the more obvious alternative. The author argues that the role of the SACC had already changed by 1990. The period between 1990 and 1994 is different from both the time before 1990 and the post-1994 situation. With the use of a method built on hermeneutical and discourse theoretical premises, a number of orders of discourse are delimited. In the first reading the prophetic voice is analysed in relation to intersectionality (with ethnicity, religious diversity, gender, and social class as suborders of discourse), violence versus non-violence, HIV and AIDS, and the Zimbabwe issue. A number of different discourses are discerned, some of them based on terminology borrowed from the Kairos Document. One paragraph treats the HIV and AIDS pandemic as a case study that deals with how the prophetic voice has been articulated within the different orders and sub-orders of discourse. Special attention is also given to the relationship between a prophetic ministry and a moralising ministry (which also is a kind of prophetic ministry). With inspiration from Walter Brueggemannâs theories about Mosaic and Davidic trajectories in the Old Testament, the second reading deals with the relationship between âthe prophetic voiceâ and âreconciliationâ as two nodal points in the material. Discourses that are discerned here are the âDavidic Propheticâ, âMosaic propheticâ, âState Theologyâ, âChurch Theologyâ, âProphetic Theologyâ, âDevelopmentâ, âLiberationâ, âNation-buildingâ, âCritical Solidarityâ, and âCritical Engagementâ discourses. With the sub-title of the thesis, the author argues that the SACC is searching for a renewed Kairos (or focus). After the dismantling of apartheid, the question is whether or not this focus is found. In the final discussion, reconciliation (and unity) is put alongside justice, development alongside liberation, and liberation alongside reconciliation.