Iviyo loFakazi bakaKristu (in English: The Legion of Christ's Witnesses) is an evangelical and charismatic movement within the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.
History edit
Iviyo had its origins in Zululand, in 1944, when Anglican priest Philip Mbatha had a vision of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.[1] At more or less the same time, another priest from the Diocese of St John's, Alpheus Zulu, (who later became bishop of Zululand), was experiencing a crisis in his ministry. The two priests met periodically for the next few years and in 1948, founded Iviyo. The priests were motivated to start the movement on the basis of their visionary experiences and their view of the Anglican church as dry and equivocal. The movement they formed was essentially extremely high church,[2] incorporating pentecostal evangelicalism. Iviyo is a Zulu Anglican movement that is expressly high church, charismatic and evangelical. The high church roots can be explained by the founders' close association with the Community of the Resurrection.[3] Its aim was to promote Christian proficiency — living a disciplined Christian life of prayer, fasting, sacraments, Bible reading, confession and evangelism.[1]
During the Apartheid era in the 1980s, Iviyo was seen as being aligned with the Zulu Nationalist/Inkatha/right-wing political forces.[4]
In 2018, the Diocese of Grahamstown started a Xhosa language version of the movement, named Ibutho Labavakalisi Bakakristu.[5]
References edit
- ^ a b Shorten (1985), p. 38.
- ^ Ward (2006), p. 149.
- ^ Worsnip (1989), p. 19.
- ^ Worsnip (1989), p. 20.
- ^ Anon (2018).
- Anon (June–July 2018). "Diocesan Launch Conference of iButho lwabavuseleli baKristu" (PDF). Umbuliso - the Greeting. 3. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
- Shorten, Richard (July 1985). "The Legion of Christ's Witnesses, a Research Report". Religion in Southern Africa. 6 (2). Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa: 37–50. JSTOR 24763726.
- Ward, Kevin (2006). A History of Global Anglicanism. Cambridge University Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-521-00866-2.
- Worsnip, Michael (January 1989). "A Little Light on the Legion". Reality. 21 (1): 19–20.
Further reading edit
- Bompani, Barbara (2016). "South Africa". In Goodhew, David (ed.). Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion: 1980 to the Present. Taylor & Francis. p. 138. ISBN 978-1-317-12442-9.
- Hayes, Stephen T. (1990). Black Charismatic Anglicans: The Iviyo LoFakazi BakaKristu and Its Relations with Other Renewal Movements. Pretoria: University of South Africa. ISBN 978-0-86981-631-8.
- Hayes, S.T.W. (1994). The iviyo lofakazi bakakristu and the Kwandebele mission of the Anglican Diocese of Pretoria (Masters). University of South Africa. hdl:20.500.11892/139212.
- Heaney, Robert S. (2018). "Anglicanism in Southern Africa during the Twentieth Century". In Sachs, William L. (ed.). Global Anglicanism, C. 1910-2000. Oxford University Press. p. 328. ISBN 978-0-19-964301-1.
- Hexham, Irving; Poewe, Karla O. (1994). "Charismatic Churches in South Africa". In Poewe, Karla O. (ed.). Charismatic Christianity as a Global Culture. Univ of South Carolina Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-87249-996-6.
- Hill, Jean (July 1989). "Bishop Zulu and Iviyo - A Response to Michael Worsnip". Reality. 21 (4): 19.
- Hocken, Peter (1991). "Stephen Hayes, Black Charismatic Anglicans: The Iviyo lofakazi bakaKristu and its Relations with Other Renewal Movements. (Pretoria: University of South Africa, 1990), xvi + 227 pp. ISBN 0-86981-634-4". Pneuma. 13 (1): 89–90. doi:10.1163/157007491X00079. ISSN 0272-0965.
- Naidoo, Marilyn (January 2008). "Iviyo as contextual spiritual direction in an African context : spirituality and well-being". Practical Theology in South Africa. 23 (1): 219–236. hdl:10500/14753.
- Wingate, Andrew (1998). "African Anglicans and/or Pentecostals". Anglicanism: A Global Communion. Church Publishing, Inc. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-89869-717-9.