Mauritius And Reunion Island
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)
Fred
Shabalala is one of the leaders in our African assemblies. In 1984
Fred and I went together on a ministry tour of Mauritius. We found
there a thriving movement consisting of more than 90 congregations,
some of which were several hundred strong. The leadership was in
the hands of an elected committee of Mauritian ministers, but the
real dynamics came from two brethren, Lindsay Blackburn and Jim Henry.
At that time these men earned their living as senior officials in
a government department.
Mauritius is an island roughly 38 miles long and 28 wide with a population
slightly over one million. At its centre there is an extinct volcano where
visitors are invited to spend a few hours sightseeing. The island lies
several hours flight east of Durban, being one of a group of Indian Ocean
islands called the Mascarines.
David & John Cezerone
Forty minutes away by air from Mauritius is Reunion Island, twice the size
of Mauritius with half its population. It too is volcanic, but Reunion’s
volcano becomes active every four or five years. It towers 11 000 feet
above sea level. One can motor almost to the top enjoying the superb
scenery of lush forests, orchids, yawning gorges and lacy waterfalls
plunging into deep ravines. Each eruption of the volcano adds acres
to the island by the lava it spills into the ocean.
Legally Reunion Island is a province of France, linked to the mother country
politically, economically and culturally. It too has a thriving group of
Assemblies of God Churches led by a French family, the Cezerones.
Aime Cezerone, the father, had been a deep-sea diver in France where he
attended a congregation of the French Assemblies of God. At the age of
more than 50 he felt called to pioneer assemblies on Reunion Island, there
being no Pentecostal churches there at all. The predominant church on this
French-speaking island is Roman Catholic. Besides that, there is a comparatively
small Baptist denomination.
The Assemblies of God leaders in France thought that at the age of 50 Aime
Cezerone was too old to launch into pioneering ministry in a distant land.
But he went anyway and God blessed his efforts. His testimony is that he
and Mrs Cezerone had nothing to support them other than the anointing of
the Holy Ghost. “But”, he testifies, “the anointing was
enough!”
I have preached in a number of the Reunion Island congregations. Generally
they are more numerous than those in Mauritius, housed in fine buildings
seating about 1 000 worshippers. Once a year they meet in a stadium where
20 000 members from congregations throughout the island gather for a celebration.
There must be a constitutional structure for the Reunion Island Assemblies
of God, but I am not certain of what it is. What does seem clear is that
the Cezerones, as the founders of the work, keep a firm and protective
hand on it, thus lending it a healthy stability, but not without some risk
of paternalism perhaps.
I sometimes reflect when comparing the two large groups of assemblies in
Reunion Island and Mauritius respectively, that together they would present
an interesting case study for some missiologist to investigate for a doctoral
thesis. Their roots are practically the same, but circumstances have dictated
that their history and structural development should be different.
After establishing a base in Reunion Island, the senior Cezerone in 1966
moved across to Mauritius to pioneer assemblies there. Reports indicate
that a wonderful revival attended his ministry. Surprisingly when all the
converts were added up, there was not a huge number after the excitement
of the revival meetings died down, but there were enough to form a nucleus
of four small congregations. Missionaries were imported from France to
help establish the work.
In 1968 Mauritius, then a British possession, though French-speaking, was
given its independence. The population consisted of Hindus, Moslems, Afro-Mauritians,
some Chinese and a sprinkling of very wealthy Franco-Mauritians. At independence,
a Hindu government came into power. Euphoria flooded across the newly independent
colony. Even the young Mauritian churches were affected.
Apparently there was some friction between the French missionaries and
the local Mauritian Christians. Instead of dealing with the problem as
a church, reports were made to the Hindu government. In consequence, visas
and work permits were withheld from the missionaries, including Mr Cezerone.
The new church was plunged into crisis as its founder had to leave the
island. He made what provision he could by appointing a committee of local
Christians with Lindsay Blackburn and Jim Henry assuming a prominent role.
Far from the trouble proving to be a setback it actually seems to have
been used by God to indigenise the Mauritian Assemblies of God. Led by
Blackburn and Henry the work exploded into life, the leaders operating
in apostolic power.
When Shabalala and I ministered there in 1984 our meetings were packed
to the doors. Everywhere scores responded to the Gospel appeal and thronged
the healing lines. Invariably a number would fall down under demon power
as we prayed in the name of Jesus. This no doubt was a fruit of the many
Hindu temples erected everywhere across the island, hideously decorated
with images of the so-called Hindu deities.
The Mauritian believers were only too pleased at demonic manifestations
occurring, for it gave them an opportunity to cast out the demons, thus
demonstrating the authority of Jesus Christ over the false spirits of Hinduism.
Sometimes they even went beyond merely spiritual conflict. They opposed
physically by smashing Hindu idols in the temples, an act of zeal severely
frowned on by the Hindu government.
In Mauritius the experience of having a black Christian from South Africa
touring together with a white proved intriguing, the year being 1984 and
Mr PW Botha’s apartheid government seeming to be well ensconced.
Shabalala and I were invited to appear together on Mauritian television.
The event was welcomed by the Assemblies of God leaders. Jim Henry asked
me what I had said on television. Jim Henry is a cultured, reserved and
conservative person. When I answered him I could not resist pulling his
leg. I said, “Well brother, I told them that every Christian should
make a point of smashing at least one Hindu idol.” For a moment he
was appalled at my apparent fanaticism, then he laughed, realising I was
having him on.
To me the really funny thing about this bit of silliness on my part came
when I gave the same answer to Lindsay Blackburn, a far more militant character.
He chortled in glee, saying, “Amen brother! Amen!” I’m
sure he was a bit disappointed when I let on that I was only joking. Lindsay
Blackburn is the dynamic pioneer in the Mauritian situation. Through his
zeal the churches have grown in number year by year. Now there are about
120 congregations in Mauritius.
It was he who set out to establish churches in the neighbouring island
of Rodriques. This was before he retired from his position in the civil
service. He would board a plane every weekend at his own expense to preach
to the somewhat remote population of fishermen on Rodriques. Now they have
their own group of assemblies placed under the care of their own leaders.
Evangelism is the key to growth in the Indian island churches. From Reunion
Island too, there is a reaching out. One of the Cezerone sons, John, felt
burdened to launch a crusade in Mayotte, an island of the Comores, where
the population is predominantly Moslem. The Moslems are notoriously hard
to convert. Notwithstanding, the Pentecostal fire leapt across barriers.
Significant conversions were recorded, and churches planted.
Testifying about the crusade, John Cezerone made specific reference to
the work done by three ladies who had laboured for many years in Mayotte
with little success evangelistically. Yet they had worked faithfully at
translating the Scriptures into the local tongue. Without a copy of the
Scriptures, John said, he could not have preached to the people. With the
Scriptures in his hand he could preach and he made converts.
His testimony brought a joy to me, for one of these consecrated lady missionaries
is Heather Simpkin from the Harfield Road Assembly in Cape Town. In the
1970s Heather had gone out with our blessing to work in Mayotte under the
auspices of an evangelical missionary group. Some might have thought that
it was fruitless for Heather to spend years working in a non-Pentecostal
mission, making little headway. John Cezerone’s testimony casts a
different and glorious light on that viewpoint. Truly one sows and another
reaps!
There is no organised link between the Assemblies of God in South Africa
and those in the Indian Ocean islands, but we need to mention them in talking
of our own movement, for God brought us into fellowship with them, and
in them we found a kindred spirit. We have sent some of our ministers to
help the work in Mauritius on certain occasions. The Mauritians like to
have us preach at their celebrations too. The contact has extended beyond
Mauritius as far as France. Peter Watt has preached in France. He found
the French Assemblies of God were quite numerous and strong. Were it not
for the language barrier we could cultivate even closer fellowship with
the Indian Ocean island churches. As it is, we have found fellowship with
them to be enriching and we hope they have benefited from the cross-pollination
we have been able to contribute to them.