The Church Confronts Apartheid

South Africa. Just to say the name conjures up vivid images and strong feelings. It is a land of such pain and promise. And yet one has to wonder if South Africa is really so unique. Or is this tortured country a stark and illuminating parable of the rest of the world—a place where the issues, divisions, and critical choices facing us all are displayed in sharp relief?

For years we had hoped and prayed to go to South Africa, but we couldn't find a way. Then last spring, unexpectedly, a way opened up for us.

We went to South Africa at the long-standing invitation of Allan Boesak. We were hosted throughout the country principally by the country's black church leadership. That perspective is therefore strongly reflected in these pages.

The issues at stake in South Africa are quite simple and at the same time very complicated. We recognize that to write about them is a risky thing. Our 40-day sojourn had both the personally transforming power of an in-depth experience and all the limitations of a brief stay. While we were treated as friends, we remain outsiders like anyone who does not walk in the shoes of those who must carry on the struggle every day.

Our days were full, intense, and rich in both the breadth and depth of contact with people and events—a rare opportunity. Yet the report we offer is just that—a report on what we saw, heard, did, and felt-and cannot pretend to be a comprehensive analysis. The church leaders themselves, interviewed in depth on these pages, provide the best background, analysis, and vision for the future.

We were graciously welcomed into homes and church services and strategy sessions. In squatter camps and townships and migrant hostels, from Cape Town to Soweto to Johannesburg to Pretoria, from Durban to Pietermaritzburg to East London to King William's Town, we listened and gathered up pieces of the story of this troubled land.

We walked into the middle of an escalating church-state conflict, and therefore that is the primary focus of this special issue of Sojourners. But much more can be said about South Africa—and will in issues to come.

In particular, this issue profiles some of the principal church leaders in the present struggle, all of whom are men. However, undergirding the resistance is a stream of energy and strength from women that spans several decades. Without their testimony the story of South Africa is incomplete.

The December 1988 Sojourners will be devoted to the women of South Africa, whose courage and commitment reflect the life of Christ and make them an ideal subject for this year's "incarnation" issue. That issue will include interviews with longtime activists Albertina Sisulu, Helen Joseph, and Ellen Kuzwayo, as well as Mrs. Mzimgayi Biko, the mother of Steve Biko, and others.

SINCE WE RETURNED FROM South Africa, the apartheid regime extended the country's state of emergency, millions of black workers stayed home during a three-day strike and again during a commemoration of the June 1976 killings in Soweto, and church leaders met in a national convocation to strategize for the future.

Some things are quite clear. The white South African government's policy of reform is a sham. The changes made have been mostly cosmetic; they fail to deal with the central issue of political power, which remains entirely in white hands.

Meanwhile, the repressive brutality of the Pretoria regime has steadily grown. With successive states of emergency, government crackdowns, massive detentions, uncontrolled police violence, the elimination of a free press, and the banishing of international media, South Africa has virtually become a military dictatorship and a terrorist state.

As other institutions and voices of democratic protest have been silenced, the churches have felt compelled to act in a new way. Because of that, the struggle for freedom and justice in South Africa has entered a new stage. It is the faith of the South African churches and a compassion for the people in their suffering land that is calling forth a deeper level of risk and sacrifice. With the powerful weapon of nonviolent resistance, the churches are preparing to confront the "vicious dog" of apartheid, as a recent Anglican statement named it.

If the white government does not respond to the moral initiative now being undertaken by the church leaders by beginning a process of real political change, more serious confrontation will follow. And it will be costly.

If the "moderate" or "liberal" forces in white South Africa don't act soon to try to prevent the inevitable catastrophe, their time will pass forever. If the ruling powers continue to harden, crush all democratic possibilities, define "reform" only on their terms, and rely on their preferred military options, the conflict will only deepen and finally simply erupt.

There is now the real possibility of a martyred church in South Africa. That reality places a new responsibility on the rest of the church worldwide. What is the moral claim of a suffering church on the rest of the body of Christ? The issue before us now is not simply what the South African churches do, but also what we are prepared to do.

The South African churches have launched a new campaign of nonviolent direct action aimed at removing the apartheid regime. That courageous effort deserves and desperately needs unequivocal international support and involvement right from the beginning.

The white South African government must clearly understand that to attack the South African churches is to attack the whole church. If that is not yet clear to Pretoria, it is our responsibility to make it clear. The time has come for the faith, prayers, and energy of the worldwide church of Jesus Christ to be clearly focused on bringing to an end the diabolical system known as apartheid.