by Dr Kelebogile Thomas Resane (Research Fellow, University of the Free State).
Bhengu was clearly a church planter and a missional leader. He believed in the autonomy of the local assembly. Through Back to God Crusade, formed in , he envisaged an evangelistic arm of the Assemblies of God.
According to Lephoko (), Bhengu was determined to build ‘a movement that would be a vehicle to reach out to the continent of Africa by building momentum and multiplication processes through his churches and managing the results.’ Anderson () agrees that ‘The Back to God Crusade was the name given to Bhengu’s evangelistic organisation whose main activity was evangelism and the planting of Assemblies of God churches.’
The vision of ‘Cape to Cairo’ and the rallying call of ‘Back to God’ is in its character missional. ‘Bhengu used Back to God Crusade to plant missional churches. Multiplication was achieved when new churches were planted. These churches became the source of support for future mission and evangelistic outreach’ (Lephoko ).
The Back to God Crusade was an evangelistic tool used to give birth to new churches across the sub-continent especially in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Eswat
When Nicholas Bhengu completed his schooling he was employed in various capacities -- as a clerk, a teacher, a health inspector and a court interpreter. For a while he involved himself in the struggle for African advancement when he became a member of the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union and worked in their Durban offices. He later moved to Kimberley where he joined the Communist Party.
Nicholas Bhengu tried various denominations without feeling at home in any of them until, when he was about 21 years old, he was converted at a Full Gospel revival in Kimberley (Dubb , 9). He was convinced that he had found his own salvation and felt called to reach his fellow his Africans. Soon after his conversion Bhengu returned to Natal where from he worked under the auspices of the Full Gospel Church.
From to he attended the South African General Mission Bible School at Dumisa (today, the Union Bible Institute, Sweetwaters). During these years he became friendly with two other preachers, Albert Gumede and Gideon Buthelezi.
By a church called the Assemblies of God in South Africa had come into being. This was a predominantly black church with only a few white members (Watt , 15)
Nicholas Bhekinkosi Hepworth Bhengu’s Lasting Legacy
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This is a scholarly book that commemorates the legacy of Rev. Nicholas Bhekinkosi Hepworth Bhengu who was born on 05 September at eNtumeni, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He was the founder of the Back to God Crusade in the s that has become institutionalised within the Assemblies of God. He taught his church to be self-sustaining and also encouraged material independence through hard work. He died on 07 October at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, leaving many people in Africa influenced by his rich legacy as an evangelist, pastor, teacher and church planter to this day. Bhengu combined evangelism with development, which was critical for the black people who were under a repressive regime in South Africa and in sub-Saharan Africa. He was a religious revolutionary who ‘planted’ more than churches in South Africa and neighbouring countries by emphasising non-denominationalism without pressurising converts to discard their churches and join others. He was determined to
Bhengu, Nicholas
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Pentecostal
South Africa
Nicholas Bhengu was one of the most successful twentieth-century Pentecostal church leaders in South Africa. He was born on 5 September at Entumeni, KwaZulu-Natal, where his father was a pastor of the American Lutheran Mission. He received his early education at the mission school but later attended two Roman Catholic schools, at Inkumama and Mariannhill respectively (Dubb , 9). When Bhengu completed his schooling he was employed in various capacities – as a clerk, a teacher, a health inspector and a court interpreter. For a while he involved himself in the struggle for African advancement when he became a member of the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union and worked in their Durban offices. He later moved to Kimberley where he joined the Communist Party.
Bhengu tried various denominations without feeling at home in any of them until, when he was about 21 years old, he was converted at a Full Gospel revival in Kimberley (Dubb , 9). He was convinced that he had found his own salvation and felt called to reach his fellow his Africans.
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