A Critical Evaluation of Unification in the Full Gospel Church of God in South Africa (1997-2024): Exploring Progress, and Future Directions

The Full Gospel Church is a Pentecostal denomination, founded in 1910 in South Africa. Apart from the shared etymological root of the respective terms ‘Pentecost’ and ‘Pentecostalism, the former refers to a day within a Jewish year, whilst the latter refers to a Christian religious movement which finds its doctrinal origin in Acts 2:1-13, and its modern historical origin in either the Azusa street revival of 1906, or the experiences which took place at the Topeka Bible College, Kansas 1901. The historical role of the church in South Africa with regard to the development of colonial racism and apartheid is well documented. Apartheid was ideologically underpinned by a Christian nationalist ideology, which, through a narrow and distorted reading of the Bible, attempted to justify racial separation in terms of the calling and mission of Afrikaner self -determination and self-preservation in an African context. During apartheid, Christianity used the Bible to defend apartheid, leading to hypocritical preaching that God and Christ supported the subjugation of Blacks. This compromised the integrity of the faith, leading to racially separated departments in the Full Gospel Church of God in South Africa. This research critically examines the progress and challenges faced during the unification process.