Foreword by Michael Cassidy
Profile by Dr CUTHBERT CHIDOORI
My First General Conference of the Assemblies of God
The Congress on Mission and Evangelism held in Durban
W F P Burton and some Congo Missionaries
Nicholas
Bekinkosi Hepworth Bhengu
– His Youthful Dreams
– His Preaching
- Bhengu
and Education
- Bhengu and Money
- Miraculous Experiences
- Spiritual Happenings
- The Sanctifying Spirit of
God
– His Departure
Bhengu’s “Isinthunzi”
- Government and Politics
– Some Faults, Virtues and the Burden of
His Heart
President Lucas Mangope of Bophuthatswana
William
Frederick Mullan
The Fairview Assembly
Fred Mullan and the Gifts
of the Spirit
A Miracle and a Vision
The Revival in Norwood
James E Mullan
Paul
O Lange
William Branham in Durban
Oral Roberts
in South Africa
Billy
Graham in Salisbury and Durban
The American Missionaries
from Springfield, Missouri
C. Austin Chawner and the Portuguese
Work
August Kast and the Mount Tabor Mission
Station
Colin
La Foy and the Coloured Leadership
The Work in Zimbabwe
Mauritius and
Reunion Island
Special
Answers to Prayer – 1
Special
Answers to Prayer – 2
A
Beautiful Square with Good Vibes
Prayer and the Hippie Revival
The Young Turks
Tensions within
the Group
The
Split of 1981 – Part One
The Split
of 1981 – Part Two
The Beginnings of the Faith Movement in South Africa
The
Statement of September 1989
The Charismatic Renewal
The Start of the Pentecostal Revival World Wide and The Swedish Pentecostal Assemblies
Epilogue
APPENDIX 1 : How to be Filled with
the Holy Spirit
APPENDIX 2 : The National Church by Nicholas Bhengu
APPENDIX 3 : Article from the Argus 5/02/1981
APPENDIX 4 : Pointers to the future of the Assemblies of God in the New South Africa (10/06/94)
I feel honoured to have been asked by my friend, John Bond, to write this forward to his book, For the Record – Reflections on the Assemblies of God. Having known John for many years now, I have come to admire both him and the work of the Assemblies of God with which he is primarily associated.
In his prologue, he indicates the basic purpose of the book when he says “numbers of people have urged him to set down what I remember of the history (of the Assemblies of God) before the Lord takes me too and it all slides into oblivion.” And to be sure, John has set down a marvelous catalogue of memories. There is probably no one else who could have done so with the same kind of historical grasp, attention to detail, and spiritual comprehension as John.
Inevitably the book will be of primary interest to those who are members
of the Assemblies of God throughout Southern Africa. Others in that denomination
in other parts of the world will likewise find this volume instructive,
illuminating, and full of fascinating yarns. The book will also be of interest
to theological and missiological students keen to know something of both
the missionary and ecclesiastical history of a prominent Pentecostal movement
of this nature. I suspect that students doing Masters or PhD theses in
South African colleges and universities will for a long time draw on this
material when they give attention to the Pentecostal sector of the Church
of Christ in South Africa.
I have to say that I find quite a few points of personal identification with
the author. First of all, he grew up as an Anglican, though for the life of me
I can’t think why he forsook the fold! Or maybe I can! Secondly, he was
very keen on boxing, which was my own childhood passion. So we each have a healthy
pagan streak in us! But more seriously, my identification with and appreciation
of John comes in the way he has sought in a biblically balanced way to be true
to the challenges of evangelism, the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, and the
necessity of bringing a socio-political application of the Gospel to society.
Actually, when I first got to know John, I would not have thought of him as being
strong on the holistic components of the Gospel, or on socio-political concern.
But therein lies one of the features of the man which I most admire, namely his
capacity to seek out the truth and fullness of the Word of God and to grow in
understanding of the biblical text and its implications, even when such growth
was difficult or perhaps even personally costly in term of his own constituency.
In this regard John does me a gracious favour in sharing a little of what the
1973 South African Congress on Mission and Evangelism in Durban meant to him
in terms of his progress to deeper understandings and wider relationships, along
with a more committed dedication to working out the contextual implications of
the Gospel in society. Being someone who followed through on what the Spirit
of God showed him, John worked hard after the Durban congress to ensure that
the Assemblies of God would move away negatively from any forms of racial discrimination
in their own structures and positively to a much greater nonracial cooperation
and fellowship amongst all members of all races within the movement.
In this regard it is both instructive and illuminating to realize from the pages
of this book that the Assemblies of God actually have probably succeeded better
than many other more politically vocal denominations in bringing forth a truly
racially integrated fellowship of Christian ministers, mission workers and church
members.
But John’s book does not confine itself just to the South African context.
Indeed it ranges in its storytelling and historical reporting across South African
boundaries into the old Rhodesia, then to Zimbabwe, with anecdotal episodes over
to places such as Congo, Lesotho, Swaziland, Bechuanaland (now Botswana), Mauritius
and so on.
In fact, talking of the anecdotal, what one really has here is a delightful opportunity
to eavesdrop on a storyteller reminiscing with tender affection, immense human
interest, and spiritual perception about a whole generation of missionary and
Gospel endeavours in the subcontinent. And John is a good story teller too, many
of his tales coming through with an effervescent twinkle of humour or a chortling
aside by which he scores some useful points of theological conviction.
One interesting and more than prominent thread in the book relates to the life
and ministry of Nicholas Bhengu, whom I also knew well. Nicholas was one of the
giants of his time and one of the prime movers in the development of the Assemblies
of God in Southern Africa. As John says: “We felt he was an instrument
of God raised up to bring the Gospel to the African people of our land.” And
so closely did John work with Nicholas that between the two of them they really
set forth one of this country’s special models of interracial partnership
and cooperation, almost all of it happening so naturally and unselfconsciously
that its true significance at the time was probably lost on many people. Maybe
at the time they saw it as unremarkable when with hindsight one can see that
this kind of partnership was very remarkable, given the context and the spirit
of the times. In any event, one has in this volume almost a biography within
an autobiography as one sees the threads of these two splendid men of God being
woven together for the work of the Kingdom and the blessing of God’s people
in this part of the world.
In this regard it should also be registered that we all owe these two men and
others around them a real debt of gratitude for stressing and emphasizing the
work of the Holy Spirit, the place of the gifts of the Spirit, the primacy of
evangelism, all being backed up by the fruit of the Spirit in personal life.
This gives us in a nutshell an explanation as to why the Assemblies of God has
been a movement that has grown so spectacularly both in the subcontinent and
around the world. Surely the key lies in the stress on the Person and Work of
the Holy Spirit. To be sure, researchers, students, missiologists, and readers
from denominations other than the AOG would be missing everything, and surely
the heart of this book, if they miss this particular truth and emphasis. Yes,
the key to Gospel growth lies in releasing the Spirit of God into our lives and
ministries. In this regard, John Bond and Nicholas Bhengu certainly bring forth
fine evidence of this.
Our author summarises it all in this way: “And so the work of God goes
on, not without controversy, and even the taint of heresy, but with unstoppable
dynamism, and thank God with a capacity to be renewed, refined, chastened, and
purified. Christ builds his church using fallible instruments, achieving his
purposes through them and often in spite of them. Whether or not one understands
everything that happens, overarching all is the “Holy Spirit factor” working
in the church as it is to make the church as it should be.” In many ways
that sums up the story and the stories of this book.
But there is something final to mention that is important in these days of marital
breakdown, and that is John’s precious relationship with his wife Enid.
It is lovely to sense in this volume the testimony that John and Enid bring to
the importance of maintaining a sound and deep marriage as credible backup to
the preaching ministry. John sums this up simply when he says: The blessedness
we have enjoyed together for more than 50 years is a testimony of God’s
goodness and faithfulness to His children.”
And so, dear reader, there is for you here a fine story and within it a host
of fine stories, along with fascinating vignettes and humorous anecdotes all
of which, when combined with the historical thread of the unfolding AOG story,
make this a volume of significance for the history of the church in these parts
in these times.
This has to be required reading for all members of the Assemblies of God, but
it is also recommended reading for many beyond the boundaries of that denomination
who wish to understand more about the exciting movement of the Holy Spirit in
our generation.
Michael Cassidy
Pietermaritzburg
November 2000