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Verbum et Ecclesia

versión On-line ISSN 2074-7705
versión impresa ISSN 1609-9982

Verbum Eccles. (Online) vol.33 no.1 Pretoria  2012

http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ve.v33i1.425 

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

The rediscovery of the role of the laity in the mission of the Church - with reference to the Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA)

 

 

Peter Christofides; Piet G.J. Meiring

Department of Science of Religion and Missiology, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 


ABSTRACT

The role of the laity is at the cutting edge of Christian missions today. The author conducted a number of interviews and questionnaires to determine the status of the laity across denominations of the Christian faith in South Africa. His findings are in a number of instances startling: The picture of the laity, and what lay Christians in South Africa believe, run against general expectations. Some suggestions and proposals on how to empower the laity in general, and the churches of the Baptist Union in Southern Africa (BUSA) in particular, are made. The underlining motive for the research is to encourage the BUSA churches to become truly missional churches that make a difference in the world in which we live.


 

 

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