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The AFM and the Rise of Zionist and African Initiated Churches
Many of South Africa's Zionist churches and African Initiated Churches (AICs) trace their origins to secessions from the AFM and to the shared Zion heritage. This page outlines that family tree, including the emergence of the Zion Christian Church.
Secessions and the spread of Zion
From its earliest years the AFM saw groups of African believers establish independent churches. Daniel Nkonyane and a large part of the Wakkerstroom congregation acquired property at Charlestown, Natal, where they built what is often regarded as the first South African 'Zion.' A great many later Zionist denominations emerged as secessions from the AFM, growing through the 20th century into a vast movement of African Initiated Churches across southern Africa.
The Zion Christian Church
The best-known church in this lineage is the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), founded by Engenas Lekganyane in the mid-1920s. Lekganyane had earlier joined the AFM (in the Boksburg area) before moving into the Zion Apostolic Church stream, and he founded the ZCC following tensions with that leadership around 1924-1925. He later acquired farmland in the Polokwane area of Limpopo, where the farm later named 'Moria' became the ZCC's headquarters and the site of its mass Easter pilgrimage. After Engenas Lekganyane's death in 1948, a succession dispute led to a permanent split: the main ZCC continued under his son Edward, while another son, Joseph, formed the St Engenas Zion Christian Church in 1949.
A defining feature of South African Christianity
The Zionist and AIC movement that grew out of this shared Zion-AFM heritage became one of the most significant strands of Christianity in South Africa. Studies in the late 20th century indicated that a very large proportion of black South African Christians belonged to a Zionist-type church, underscoring the historical importance of the AFM's early years as a seedbed for these communities.
Described factually and respectfully from documented sources. Corrections welcome.