About us
Foundations
The ACN (Africa Christian Network) was formed in answer to the question posed in Psalms 11:3, namely “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” We experience that this is exactly what is happening in our own time. The foundations of the social, academic and moral structures of society, which were built upon Christian values, are currently being undermined and even overturned. The question is what we as Christians could do about this challenge.
Banners: Revival & Equipment
During our first meeting in Bloemfontein in September 2019 we experienced that the Lord called upon us to raise two banners around which believers could gather and through which we could lead the charge in His name. The first banner is one of spiritual awakening and revival: To encourage and challenge the body of Christ on a spiritual level so as to trust the Lord to work powerfully through His Spirit in our midst and push back the powers of darkness. Yes, to call upon the church to live a fully consecrated life for our Lord and King. The second banner is one of equipping academically: To help equip the church within both a grassroots and a tertiary context.
Revival & Prayer
The roots of the ACN go back to a group of likeminded brethren who have been praying for some time for a spiritual awakening in South Africa and further afield. God’s Word clearly states that our struggle is not against humans sharing flesh and blood but against the powers of darkness who are trying to discredit the saving gospel of our Lord and the revealed truth of the Word of God. We cannot fight this battle on our own and are often called upon to find our strength in the Lord through prayer and confidence and trust in Him. This is why we take every step of the way in prayer, deeply dependent on the Lord to guide His church with divine wisdom and strengthen us with power from on high.
Concern
We are part of a large group of believers in the country who are concerned about the onslaught against the faith of both young and long time believers brought about by the new ways of thinking characterizing our era. Cynicism against the Christian faith and open atheism seem to be the new fashion in the media. At our universities and theological faculties the faith of our students and young people are being destroyed rather than strengthened and built up. The gospel is compromised to fit the postmodern culture of our time. Many believers are not capable or equipped for these challenges and become confused or misled. We cannot passively sit and watch while these things happen. This is why we strive to equip the body of Christ throughout the land and beyond to overcome the onslaught and challenges of our time.
Equipment: Academic & Grasroots
During the ACN meeting of September 2020 two task teams were established, one to further explore the possibilities of equipping on a grassroots level and another to investigate the challenges of academic education as the education provided at universities is more and more done in keeping with postmodern ideology. The latter also investigates the problem of liberal theology at the DRC seminaries.
As far as our own identity is concerned, we would like to form a network of evangelical-conservative (behoudende) Christians from all theological persuasions who could reflect on these challenges together and formulate viable proposals which could find practical expression throughout the body of Christ. We would like to create a space where the church of Jesus Christ could join forces to form a dynamic network. Within this space existing and new “tools” are discovered and made available to equip the church and believers to live up to the challenges of our time. Within this space believers are discipled and empowered to make disciples, disciples who in turn will make more disciples so that the kingdom of God could be realized with joy.
We are Evangelical-Conservative
What do we understand by evangelical-conservative? We are evangelical in the sense that we believe that the good tidings of salvation should be brought to all peoples and conservative (behoudend) in the sense that we stand with the traditional core truths and values of the Christian faith. We would like to work with all believers in the body of Christ to promote unity but also to address the dangers of false teaching and deviation from sound doctrine. As a basic non-denominational statement of belief we have decided on the Nicene Creed.
We are Evangelical-Conservative
What do we understand by evangelical-conservative? We are evangelical in the sense that we believe that the good tidings of salvation should be brought to all peoples and conservative (behoudend) in the sense that we stand with the traditional core truths and values of the Christian faith. We would like to work with all believers in the body of Christ to promote unity but also to address the dangers of false teaching and deviation from sound doctrine. As a basic non-denominational statement of belief we have decided on the Nicene Creed.
The Nicene Creed
This confession of faith is called after the town of Nicaea (Asia Minor), where an ecumenical council was held in 325 AD and where the false teachings of Aries were rejected. The final form of this creed was, however, only formulated during the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (381 AD).
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
We value unity throughout denominations and would like to accommodate all streams within the evangelical-conservative (behoudende) community with regard to theology, the sacraments (e.g. baptism), eschatology and so forth. This does not imply that everybody within the ACN agrees with everybody on everything; it simply means that we allow everybody the freedom to formulate their articles of faith as long as they are in agreement with the Creed and the way of the church of Jesus Christ over the last few hundred years. Accordingly, we are careful to steer clear of the rocks of both liberalism and fundamentalism, the former in which we observe the negation of the core truths of our traditional Christian faith (implying a compromised faith) and the latter in which we observe unessential issues being raised with regards to core truths, resulting in intolerance towards other evangelical-conservative (behoudende) Christians (negating our unity in Christ).
Evangelical Roots in Southern Africa
We recognize the contribution of our predecessors, men like Andrew and John Murray, who through their life and teaching had a great impact on later generations of conservative (behoudende) Christians. Andrew Murray could be regarded as the spiritual father of the evangelical-conservative (behoudende) tradition in South Africa. He laid a strong foundation for evangelical theology, missions and revival which we would like to build on.
Apologetics & Dialogistics
We are convinced of the fact that more than good theology is needed for the effective functioning of the body of Christ; apologetics and dialogistics are just as important. These disciplines enable us to effectively defend the Christian faith and explain it in such a way that it makes sense to the informed and educated people of our generation. Whereas we, on the one hand, strive to protect sound doctrine, we, on the other hand would like to create a safe haven where all aspects of our faith could be pondered on in an intellectual way with the purpose of developing nuanced and sophisticated Christian narratives to serve as alternatives to other popular narratives of our times. While standing with the traditional Christian truths we at the same time believe that the “packaging”, so to say, of these truths in a convincing manner in our current context is just as important.
The Body of Christ
Eventually, the ACN would like to facilitate the equipping of believers in all areas, within their congregations, within the wider society and especially within academic context so that the body of Christ could be spiritually as well as intellectually equipped to live up to the challenges of our time. There are many gifts and many ministries in the church; we would like to cooperate so as to bring believers together through these ministries, equipped and networked in the service of our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ, who bought everyone of us so dearly with his blood.