The fourth revolution world turned our comfortable lives into a rollercoaster ride of challenges, changes and choices. Apart from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Fourth Communication Revolution and the Fourth Self-awareness Revolution brought major disruptions to our world to which we were just coming to terms with when coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) struck and brought a firm halt to almost everything, including the way we were used to practice our faith. This confluence of circumstances has provided Christians in South Africa with an opportunity to do introspection and carve a new way forward for
A call to discuss the pillars of faith that could assist the traditional or mainstream institutional churches to do introspection at the current crossroads. Four pillars of faith are identified to assist in carving a new path forward for South African Christianity, drawing from the disciplines of Church History, Practical Theology and Missiology.
The church of God indeed,
is not so common a thing as this term, ‘church of God’
(Luther
Christianity used to play a key role in the history, politics and social development of South Africa. However, since the late 1980s, the Protestant Christian religion began to decline, finding itself at crossroads without clear indications on which direction to take, often resulting in in-fighting, schisms, identity crises and more unsolved issues (Hofmeyr
The COVID-19 era emphasises the urgent need to rethink and redefine what it means to be church, and the role Christians should play in a broken and suffering world and society. However, denial and stagnancy in comfort zones (as mentioned here and in the following sections) can no longer go unchallenged. The need to provide Christians with clear and direct guidelines regarding how to
The concept of pillars of faith is not new. A literature search shows that depending on their perspective, Christians have already identified a wide variety of pillars as foundational anchors to indicate the most important aspects of faith. The Catholic Church identified four pillars of faith, namely creed, prayer, mass and sacraments, and Christian living and morality (Pope John Paul II
Turning back to the South African context, Du Plessis (
Apart from the three major fourth revolutions, there are in fact a myriad of so-called fourth revolutions
Regarding the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), there are two groundbreaking works, namely Klaus Schwab (
The Fourth Industrial Revolution represents a fundamental change in the way we live, work and relate to one another. It is a new chapter in human development, enabled by extraordinary technology advances … The speed, breadth and depth of this revolution is forcing us to rethink how countries develop, how organisations create value and even what it means to be human. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is about more than just technology-driven change; it is an opportunity to help everyone, including leaders, policymakers and people from all income groups and nations, to harness converging technologies in order to create an inclusive, human-centred future. The real opportunity is to look beyond technology and find ways to give the greatest number of people the ability to positively impact their families, organisations, and communities.
The 4IR is changing our way of living and of relating to one another. This revolution should bring us to a better understanding of who we are, who our fellow humans are and how we can find and use more and better ways to serve the Lord. In this way, we will grow into positive agents of change in society and in our commission as followers of Christ. Therefore, the 4IR links directly to both the ‘who we are’ and the ‘what we do’ pillars of faith.
The Fourth Communication Revolution (4CR) (cf. Harnad
There is broad consensus among educators, communication scholars, sociologist, and economists that the development and diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) are having a profound effect on modern life. This is due to the affordances of new digital media, which bridge the interactive features of speech and the archival characteristics of writing; allow many-to-many communication among people without regard to time and space, including mass collaborative editing of texts; facilitate the creation of a global hyper-indexed multimodal information structure; and enable content production and distribution in both writing and multimedia on a scale previously unimaginable … For all these reasons, computer-mediated communication can be considered a new
Digital, multimodal global communication options can be used to proclaim the good news to the world and to support people and the environment with the key principle of Christianity: Love and care. ‘On-line’ is complementing ‘in-person’ borderless and has a potential global reach. Therefore, the pillars of faith can assist Christians to bring love, care and hope to the world by implementing the opportunities provided by the 4CR.
The Fourth Revolution of Self-understanding (4SU) was started by Alan Turing. Floridi (
Previous revolutions have made us realise that we are not immobile, at the centre of the universe (Copernican revolution), that we are not unnaturally separate and diverse from the rest of the animal kingdom (Darwinian revolution), and that we are very far from being Cartesianly transparent to ourselves (Freudian revolution). We are now slowly accepting the idea that we might be informational organisms among many others, inforgs that are going to live and interact with other smart, engineered artefacts often not so different from biological agents (Turing revolution).
Turing displaced us from our privileged and unique position in the realm of logical reasoning, information processing and smart behaviour. We are no longer the undisputed masters of the infosphere. Our digital devices carry out more and more tasks that would require some thinking from us if we were in charge. We have been forced to abandon once again a position that we thought was ‘unique’. (pp. 231, 232)
As followers of Christ, we are unique, both as a group and as individuals, but we also need to be humble and in service of others and the environment. To succeed, self-understanding plays a major role and basic pillars of faith can assist Christians to promote their self-understanding that will flow into positive actions.
Hopefully, more people, including the followers of Christ, will identify and implement the opportunities and developments that the 4IR, 4CR and the 4SU provide us with to rethink our Christian identity and strengthen our faith and the impact thereof within our specific circumstances (see
As already discussed, pillars of faith can be identified and tagged through the use of an array of biblical texts, dogmas, actions and ideas, linked to the Christian faith. Each individual and each congregation, denomination and church would probably identify unique and overlapping pillars. The aim here is not to select the most important or most popular pillars but to provide a few possible pillars that can be used to assist Christians in a fast-changing and demanding world to be and do what their faith requires of them. The pillars chosen are not final or unnegotiable. By identifying these pillars and showing their links to the challenges and opportunities provided by society, the aim is to stimulate debate and further development of the ideas presented to contribute towards positive reformation and transformation of South African Christianity.
The four basic pillars of faith identified and shortly discussed here were selected to provide a usable and relatable answer to the questions ‘Who are we?’, ‘What are we doing?’ and ‘How do we function?’ To a large extent neglected by South African Christianity, the selected pillars – two from the New Testament Scriptures and two from the Reformation movements, link Christian identity and life with real-world challenges.
The two pillars upon which Jesus founded the kingdom of God, namely the Great Commandment (cf. Mt 22:37–40) and the Great Commission (Mt 28:18–20), ensured that the search is commenced first by focusing on the Bible and not on institutions or structures. From a reformed point of view, through history and with the current situation of the church and society in mind, the author wants to add two pillars, emanating from and building on these two foundational pillars – therefore not on the same level as the two biblical pillars – which are
Building upon these pillars, the followers of Christ can think from a different starting point (away from the institutionalised church structures) and maybe build a ‘new’ and different movement of being ‘church’ that could also serve and assist the ‘Churchless Christianity’ (Oosthuizen
To be a follower of Christ – to receive eternal life – is a gift from God. In grateful response to God, we want to obey and serve him (Carlson-Thies
Crowther (
The second biblical pillar is taken from the well-known words of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:[18]19–20 (also Mk 16:15–16; Lk 14:47–48; Jn 20:21; Ac 1:6). To ‘proclaim’ forms part of every believer’s ministry, in the sense that we should live our Christian life in such a way that it would become a proclamation, a form of witness to all who we come into contact with.
In Matthew 28:19–20, the focus is on ‘making disciples,’ as the latter (μαθητεύσατε) is the main verb (command) of the first sentence, with ‘go out,’ ‘baptise’ and ‘teach’ as participles, referring back to the main verb (cf. also Hesselgrave
The mission encompasses all that the church is sent into the world to do, including humanitarian service, and the quest for better social structures. In short, according to this view, social and political activities are partners of evangelism and church growth in the Christian mission. (p. 74)
Interestingly, Luther and Calvin, to some extent, did not apply the Great Commission of Jesus to anyone else than the early apostles. Could this be why the strong Calvinistic protestant Afrikaner churches that came to South Africa, for so long did not show a missionary spirit? (cf. Oliver
That the apostles entered strange houses and preached was because they had a command and were for this purpose appointed, called, and sent, namely that they should preach everywhere, as Christ had said, ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature’. After that, however, no one again received such a general apostolic command, but every bishop or pastor has his own particular parish. (pp. 201–211)
Calvin, in his
[
However, the Great Commission of God can also be understood in the sense of
Just like
We must want to be called Reforming, and not simply Reformed, so that we must always be reforming if we want to be Reformed [i.e. if we want God to reform us]
Reformation, in the sense of
Faith (
[
The church’s confidence should therefore always be in God, and not in its dogma, its ‘forms, traditions and habits’ (cf. Bush
We are bound to read the New Testament in its own first-century context … The more we know about first-century Judaism, about the Greco-Roman world of the day, about archaeology, the Dead Sea Scrolls and so on, the more, in principle, we can be on firm ground in anchoring exegesis that might otherwise remain speculative, and at the mercy of massively anachronistic exegesis, into the solid historical context where – if we believe in inspired Scripture in the first place – that inspiration occurred.
As our actions, perceptions and worldviews are built on our interpretation of God’s word, it must therefore be biblically shaped (Vorster
As Christ is its Head, justification its source and sanctification its goal, the church presents the main location for the formation of a Christian lifestyle. [The followers of Christ therefore become the] body of Christ, God’s flock, God’s family, the elect people of God, a royal priesthood, holy people, people of the way, priesthood of God, God’s temple, God’s vineyard, letter of Christ, salt of the earth, people of God who proclaims his mighty deeds, etc. (pp. 5–6)
The followers of Christ should have public relationships – like Jesus had – and not only private ones (Adams
In many church institutions, stagnancy was the order of the day during the old normal – the pre-COVID-19 era – and when changes did take place, it was at a slow pace and normally accompanied by great resistance. This resulted in the current death spiral that is threatening the Afrikaans-speaking churches (Oliver
‘When reformation stops, deformation sets in … this is a basic biblical principle’.
‘Reassertion is reactive, reformation is proactive’. If a church stops reforming, it loses its initiative.
‘Reassertion locks us into the past, reformation connects us with the present’.
Semper reformari … does not mean always to go with the time, to let the current spirit of the age be the judge of what is true and false, but in every age, and in controversy with the spirit of the age, to ask concerning the form and doctrine and order and ministry which is in accordance with the unalterable essence of the Church … It means never to grow tired of returning not to the origin in time, but to the origin in substance of the community. (p. 705)
This is (should be) faith in practice
The
In order for us to do all these things, God has gifted each of us with a spiritual gift
In addition to these and other Scriptures that can serve the basic pillars of faith (like living the fruit of the Holy Spirit – Ga 5:22–25), there are numerous other things that we as Christians need to do regularly or constantly. Most of these, including most of the actions mentioned earlier, such as prayer, obedience, selfless love, forgiveness, self-discipline, gratitude and worship, can be attached to the pillar of our priesthood.
Finally, a few words on the ontology of the church. In this article, the author has mostly referred to the followers of Christ or believers who are God’s people. Other scholars refer to them as ‘Christians’ or ‘church’. Per implication, the church of God is not a specific church institution with specific dogmatic instructions or a church building or a place where we attend worship services, but in fact it is an
The church is capable of existing without formal public worship, clergymen, offices and buildings, even though people may think it impossible.
Hunt (
These are people rich and poor, black and white and every shade in between who were estranged from God and one another, but who now share something profound in common: The Lord Jesus Christ. (p. 2)
All the followers of Christ need to increasingly become like and display Jesus in their lives (Jesus-centred), in the way he revealed God to us (Dever
Currently, we are living between the COVID-19 and the so-called post-COVID-19 era. What people need most during these troubling times are love and care and hope. Bishop Maponga correctly argued:
The very form of church is the individual, and without a church in your heart you are wasting your time in a building. Right now we have been told that churches are a holy place, but I am so glad churches have finally been closed. People can finally look for God for themselves. (Mathe
His conviction is that digital ministry will prosper in the future, with pastors who have a real relationship with their congregants and with vibrant cell groups. The building will fall away and people will contribute to specific programmes of the church.
Through the grace of God, we have the right to be called and identify ourselves as ‘children of God’ (Jn 1:12). Therefore, we can live our lives in grateful obedience to do God’s will, giving love and care and proclaiming hope. The basic pillars of faith provide answers to our Christian identity and how we should put our faith into action.
The four basic pillars of faith on who we are and what we do as Christians.
The four pillars | Christian implementation of the pillars |
---|---|
Who we are? | What we do? |
Children of God | Love and care |
Christ-like through the grace of God | |
Who we are? | What we do? |
Witnesses of God’s grace | Proclaim the good news through service of love and care |
Who we are? | What we do? |
Christ-like believers | Agents of positive change and continuous transformation under God’s guidance |
Reapplying principles of faith to current circumstances | |
Who we are? | What we do? |
Priests |
Apply our ministry and gifts in service of God, to others and the environment |
The fourth revolution world and COVID-19 pandemic environment.
Require a response from Christians | Challenges | Which pillar does it connect to? |
---|---|---|
Who we are? | Change what it means to be human | The Great Commandment |
What we do? | Change the way we live, work and relate to others | Semper reformanda |
Opportunities | ||
What we do? | To get the greatest amount of people to make a positive impact | The Great Commission Priesthood of believers |
Challenges/Opportunities | ||
What we do? | Borderless communication has potential global reach, without time and space limits | The Great Commission |
Challenges | ||
Who we are? | Humans are not the undisputed masters of the infosphere | The Great Commandment |
Opportunities | ||
What we do? | Humble service to others and the environment | Semper reformanda |
Challenges | ||
Who we are? | Stay true to our faith in difficult times | The Great Commandment |
What we do? | Show and give love and care and hope | Priesthood of believers |
Opportunities | ||
What we do? | Stay true to who we are by serving God and others in a borderless environment (without buildings and dogmas and other church limitations) in turbulent times | The Great Commission |
The fourth revolution world has already changed the way in which we live and relate to others, what it means to be human, our self-understanding, how we communicate and how we impact others and the environment. These changes and challenges provide us with opportunities to change our minds and adjust our attitudes in order to become active bearers of God’s Great Commandment and his Great Commission and bring positive change, love and care as his priests through our ministries and gifts.
The four basic pillars, identified here, relate to our identity and actions as Christians. The pillars also provide guidelines about who we should
God provided the first pillar or guideline through his Great Commandment to love and to care, to love and serve him primarily and also to love and care for one another. The second pillar complements the first. This is Jesus’ Great Commission – to witness to everybody that we encounter in a Jesus-like manner through love and care. These two pillars imply that the believers will have to constantly turn their entire life and ministry to focus on God, to constantly reform themselves and their actions according to the third pillar of
The author declares that she has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced her in writing this article.
E.O. is the sole author of this article.
This article followed all ethical standards of research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.
A few examples are: The Fourth Food Revolution (D’odorico & Rulli
Many followers of Jesus wrongly think that obedience to God implies a task-oriented life above all (Crowther
For many churches
The full phrase is
This movement is called Pietism in Europe and Puritanism in England and America (Bush
The part between brackets is the (correct) interpretation made by Bush (
For a recent discussion on the inerrancy of Scripture (outside the scope of this article), read Biesbrouck (
Here the three offices are called
Wright (
It is imperative to notice that God has gifted each follower with one gift. The passages quoted here do not state that one can be gifted with two gifts or what one should do when being gifted with more than one of these gifts (in stark contrast to the popular ‘Discover your spiritual gifts’ course).