Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of

South Africa
The Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa
(REACH-SA), known until 2013 as the Church of England in
Reformed Evangelical
South Africa (CESA), is a Christian denomination in South Anglican Church of South
Africa. It was constituted in 1938 as a federation of churches. It Africa
appointed its first bishop in 1955.[4] It is an Anglican church
(though not a member of the Anglican Communion) and it relates
closely to the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church of
Australia, to which it is similar in that it sees itself as a bastion of
the Reformation and particularly of reformed doctrine.[6]

History

Before 1938 Classification Protestant

Orientation Anglican and
The first Church of England service on record in South Africa was
Reformed
conducted by a naval chaplain in 1749. After the British
occupation of the Cape in 1806, congregations were formed and Polity Episcopal
churches were built.[4] Associations World Reformed
Fellowship,
In 1847 an Anglo-Catholic bishop was appointed to lead the
GAFCON
church. He was determined to enforce Tractarianism on the
Church. There were those who preferred to follow the Region South Africa,
Reformation principles and teachings of the Church of England. Namibia,
Thus, when in 1870 Bishop Gray formed the Church of the Zimbabwe,
Province of SA (now the Anglican Church of Southern Africa), Malawi[1][2][3]
these evangelical Anglican clergy remained outside the new body.
Origin 1938
Separated from Anglican Church
1938–present of Southern
Africa (then the
The synod of the CESA adopted the church's present constitution Church of the
in 1938. The draft was prepared by Howard Mowll, the Anglican
Province of
Archbishop of Sydney in Australia. The preamble and declaration
Southern Africa)
of the constitution includes the following statement: "The Church
of England in South Africa, as a Reformed and Protestant Church, Congregations 150[4]
doth hereby reaffirm its constant witness against all those Members 100,000[5]
innovations in doctrine and worship, whereby the primitive faith
hath been from time to time defaced or overlaid, and which at the Official website reachsa.org.za (h
Reformation, the Church of England did disown and reject."[7] ttp://reachsa.org.
za/)
James Hickenbotham made an attempt to unite CESA and the Anglican Church in South Africa in 1953.
Hickenbotham presented proposals, known as the Thirteen Points, as a basis for negotiation. The 1954
synod rejected the proposals as their adoption would have placed the CESA in a weakened position
compared to the Anglican Church in South Africa.[7] In 1959, Fred Morris of CESA contacted Joost de
Blank, the Archbishop of Cape Town (Church of the Province of Southern Africa) suggesting that
negotiations take place between the two churches with a view to reconciliation. The CPSA rejected this
approach.[8]

Stephen Bradley served as presiding bishop from 1965 to 1984: he was a supporter of apartheid.[9] He was
one of three ministers to preside at the funeral of Hendrik Verwoerd, the "Architect of Apartheid".[10][11] In
the 1970s and 1980s, the CESA "became a haven for conservative whites fleeing the 'liberal' positions of
Desmond Tutu and others in the CPSA".[12]

In 1984, Dudley Foord was appointed by Synod as Presiding Bishop. He was consecrated by the
Archbishop of Sydney, Australia before taking up his episcopal duties in South Africa. George Alfred
Swartz, the Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman, representing the Episcopal Synod of the Anglican Church
of Southern Africa, attended the consecration. Despite the conciliatory tone at Foord's consecration, the
Presiding Bishop of CESA was not invited to attend the Lambeth Conference held in 1988 either as a
bishop of the Anglican Church or as a bishop of a church in full communion with the Anglican
denomination.[13]

From the mid-1980s onwards, discrimination in its constitution, national structure and practices were
"systematically removed".[10] This included the passing at their 1985 synod of a statement that included the
phrase: "Synod totally rejects discrimination on grounds of colour, sex or race as contrary to the Bible."[14]
In a 1999 statement to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, future presiding bishop Frank Retief
suggested the denomination's perceived support of apartheid was the result of a number of issues: believing
government propaganda, its objection to liberation theology, and that they should remain "a-political" to
concentrate on growing their small denomination.[10] He also claimed that senior leaders had met with both
P. W. Botha and F. W. de Klerk when they served as State President of South Africa to "express concern
about the wrongs in south Africa" but hid these from local leadership and their congregations which
"reinforced the view that we were supporters of the government and not critics".[10]

On 25 July 1993, St James Church Kenilworth was attacked by the armed wing of the Pan Africanist
Congress.[15] Eleven were killed but the three attackers were later granted amnesty by the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission.[16]

In 2004, the church was described as "most theologically conservative evangelical denomination in South
Africa".[12]

At Synod 2013 The Church of England in South Africa voted to change its official operating name to The
Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa, REACH-SA.[17] At Synod 2014 Desmond
Ingelsby resigned as the presiding bishop due to bad health. Synod appointed several bishops to do the
work of the presiding bishop until a presiding bishop was appointed. Glen Lyons was appointed the
Chairman of the group.

Namibia

Stephen and Aura Quirk moved to Swakopmund Namibia in the 1980's, to work at Rossing Mine. They
had become Christians at St. James Church, Kenilworth, Cape Town, under the preaching of Rev. Frank
Retief. In Swakopmund the local church had an Arminian Pastor and Stephan found himself at odds with
his teaching. Thus Stephan obtained cassette tapes of Franks sermons and bible studies and began CESA
Sunday Services and Bible Studies in a garage in Swakopmund. This fledgling church was named St.
Timothy's Church. In 1988 St. Timothy's called their first minister, Rev. George van der Westhuizen who
was a long distance Curate under Rev. Frank Retief in Kenilworth, Cape Town. When Rev. George van
der Westhuizen accepted a call to Welkom in the Free State to do his second term of Curacy in 1992 Mr
Ingo van der Merwe (a youth for Christ worker) took the reins at St. Timothy's Church. George and Ingo
were at Bible College together. The next minister at St Timothy's was Rev Johann van der Bijl Then Rev.
George van der Westhuizen came back to St. Timothy's in 1998 In 2005, St. Timothy's Congregation
Chose to leave CESA and join an American Denomination. St. Timothy's no longer exists.[18]

Right Reverend Lukas Katenda is the current Bishop of REACH Namibia after Bishop Kalangula Peter,
the first bishop.[19]

Organisation
Although REACH-SA has been excluded from the Lambeth Conference, its ministerial orders are
recognised by the Anglican Communion, and these orders derive from Bishop Fred Morris, a former
Anglican missionary bishop in North Africa, who moved in 1955 to South Africa, much to the irritation of
the then Archbishop of Canterbury. Several REACH-SA clerics have controversially[20] served in the
Church of England.

In 2009, the denomination was composed of just under 200 congregations, with a total of about 120,000
members. All churches must contribute 10% of their income to a central fund, but in practice some churches
do not. Christ Church, Midrand; Christ Church, Pinetown; and St James Church, Kenilworth all have
memberships of several thousand, with attendances on Sunday morning services at about 1000. The
average church size is about 150.

Presiding Bishops

Source:

G. Frederick B. Morris, (1955–1965)

Stephen Carlton Bradley, (1965–1984)
Dudley Foord, (1984–1987)
Joe J. Bell, (1989–2000)
Frank J. Retief, (2000–2010)
Desmond Inglesby, (2010–2014)
Glenn Lyons, (2015–present)

Interchurch organisations
The Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa is a member of the World Reformed
Fellowship.[21]

Practices
The church's canons allow for lay presidency at Holy Communion and also the use of grape juice instead
of fermented wine. All references to baptismal regeneration and absolution have been eliminated from the
denomination's alternative prayer book, as has the word catholic in the creeds (Nicene Creed and Apostles'
Creed).

Training colleges
George Whitefield College (GWC), the official REACH-SA theological training facility in Cape Town is
modelled on Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia. The founding principal of GWC was
Broughton Knox; the current principal is Mark Dickson. Another REACH-SA college is the Kwazulu-
Natal Missionary Bible College (formerly known as Trinity Academy) in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-
Natal.

Anglican realignment
The REACH-SA has been involved in the Anglican realignment and was one of the denominations that
participated at the launching of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in South Africa, on 3 September
2009.[22] The Presiding Bishop of REACH-SA, Glenn Lyons, consecrated the Rev. Jonathan Pryke, of
Jesmond Parish Church, as an overseas bishop, the first ever in Europe, on 2 May 2017.[23] This was
controversial due to REACH-SA's status outside of the Anglican Communion, and because the
consecration occurred without the knowledge of the Bishop of Newcastle. It wasn't also officially
sanctioned by the GAFCON UK.[24] REACH-SA justified the consecration because their bishops "have
regularly stood in to help with ordinations and other episcopal ministry to the Jesmond Parish Church due
to its members being in impaired communion with their own diocesan bishop".[25]

The REACH-SA was part of the South African delegation that attended GAFCON III on 17-22 June 2018
in Jerusalem.[26]

References
1. "Regions Archive | Zimbabwe" (http://cesa.org.za/regions/zimbabwe/). CESA. 9 August
2012. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
2. "Regions Archive | Namibia" (http://cesa.org.za/regions/namibia/). CESA. 9 August 2012.
Retrieved 16 October 2013.
3. "Regions Archive | Malawi" (http://cesa.org.za/regions/malawi/). CESA. 8 August 2012.
Retrieved 16 October 2013.
4. Inglesby, Desmond. "Presiding Bishop's Charge – 2011" (https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4298744/
CESA%20Website/02%20-%20Presiding%20Bishops%20Charge%202011.pdf) (PDF).
Church of England in South Africa. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
5. "Church Denominations in South Africa" (http://www.sachristian.co.za/church.html). SA
Christian. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
6. Ive 1992.
7. Long 1996, p. 10.
8. Long 1996, p. 11.
9. "REACH Speeds Past GAFCON" (https://livingchurch.org/2017/05/16/reach-speeds-past-ga
fcon/). The Living Church. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
10. "Church of England in South Africa. Testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, East London, 17 November 1999" (https://web.archive.org/web/202205072123
59/http://www.religion.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/113/Institutes/Archives/
submissions/Church_of_England_in_South_Africa_sub.pdf) (PDF). University of Cape
Town. Archived from the original (http://www.religion.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/i
mages/113/Institutes/Archives/submissions/Church_of_England_in_South_Africa_sub.pdf)
(pdf cite web) on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
11. Rt Revd John D. Davies. "Letters to the Editor: CESA's position during the apartheid
struggle" (https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/9-june/comment/letters-to-the-editor/l
etters-to-the-editor). Church Times. Retrieved 7 May 2022. "The CESA kept separate not
only from the CPSA, but from the whole ecumenical fellowship of Churches. With its handful
of congregations in white areas of the Western Cape, it kept aloof from the problems of
poverty and injustice which oppressed the majority of South Africa's people during the
apartheid years; in both theology and practice it was content to be part of the white-
supremacy culture. Dr Hendrik Verwoerd was the theoretical architect of the apartheid
ideology, and, as Prime Minister, was uncompromising in its application. When, in
September 1966, he was assassinated, three ministers officiated at his funeral. Two of
these, very appropriately, represented the churches of the powerful Afrikaans-speaking
Dutch Reformed communities; the third was Bishop Stephen Bradley, of the CESA, the one
English-language church leader who was acceptable to the apartheid administration."
12. Balcomb, Anthony (2004). "From Apartheid to the New Dispensation: Evangelicals and the
Democratization of South Africa" (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1581479). Journal of Religion
in Africa. 34 (1/2): 5–38. ISSN 0022-4200 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0022-4200).
13. Long 1996, p. 12.
14. Joe Bell (18 July 1997). "CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN SOUTH AFRICA: From the Presiding
Bishop" (https://web.archive.org/web/20220507225754/http://www.uct.ac.za/sites/default/file
s/image_tool/images/113/Institutes/Archives/submissions/CHURCH_OF_ENGLAND_IN_S
OUTH_AFRICA.pdf) (PDF). University of Cape Town. Archived from the original (http://www.
uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/113/Institutes/Archives/submissions/CHURC
H_OF_ENGLAND_IN_SOUTH_AFRICA.pdf) (pdf) on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
15. "The St. James' Massacre" (https://sydneyanglicans.net/news/the-st.-james-massacre).
Sydney Anglicans. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
16. "Decision AC/98/0018". Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (South Africa). 11 June 1998.
17. "About us - Denomination" (https://reachsa.org.za/about-us/). REACH-SA. REACH South
Africa. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
18. Memories of George van der Westhuizen
19. "Anglican bishop consecrated for Namibia | Anglican Ink © 2022" (https://anglican.ink/2019/
10/08/13733/). anglican.ink. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
20. "Bishop revokes licence of rogue Evangelical" (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syn
dication/article_051110bishop.shtml). ekklesia.co.uk. 10 November 2005. Retrieved
14 October 2015.
21. "Members of the World Reformed Fellowship" (https://web.archive.org/web/2012073001405
5/http://www.wrfnet.org/web/guest/aboutwrf/membershiplist). Archived from the original (htt
p://www.wrfnet.org/web/guest/aboutwrf/membershiplist) on 30 July 2012. Retrieved
15 February 2013.
22. Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans launched in South Africa, GAFCON Official Website, 3
September 2009 (http://gafconarchive.org/news/fellowship_of_confessing_anglicans_launc
hed_in_south_africa)
23. Holloway, David (May 2017). "JPC Press Statement – New Style English Bishop" (http://prin
tandaudio.org.uk/app/series/186/resource/3325/title/jpc-press-statement-new-style-english-b
ishop). Print & Audio. The Jesmond Trust. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
24. Jesmond Parish statement on Pryke consecration, Anglican Ink, 9 May 2017 (http://www.ang
lican.ink/article/jesmond-parish-statement-pryke-consecration)
25. Statement on the Jesmond Consecration, REACH-SA Official Website, 12 May 2017 (http://r
eachsa.org.za/2017/05/statement-jesmond-consecration/)
26. GAFCON III largest pan-Anglican gathering since Toronto Congress of 1963, Anglican Ink,
20 June 2018 (http://anglican.ink/2018/06/20/gafcon-iii-largest-pan-anglican-gathering-since
-toronto-congress-of-1963/)

Bibliography
Gill, Alan (1987). "Aust Bishop Steps Down From South African Post" (http://newsstore.fairfa
x.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?docID=news870628_0101_1383). The Sydney Morning
Herald: 4.
Ive, A. (1992). A candle burns in Africa. CESA Information Office.
Long, K.S. (1996). The candle still burns. CESA Information Office.

External links
Official website (http://reachsa.org.za)
Church of England in Namibia (http://www.reachnamibia.org/)

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