Zionism is a key movement within the African Initiated Churches and is particularly strong in southern Africa; research in 1996 suggested that 40% of all black South Africans belonged to a Zionist church. An African Initiated Church is an independent church or religious movement which demonstrates syncretism or partial integration between aspects of Christian belief and African culture. ... Categories: Africa geography stubs | Southern Africa ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

Origins

Zionist beliefs grew out of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth religious missions to southern Africa. In particular the churches owe their origins to the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church of John Alexander Dowie, based in Zion, Illinois in the United States. The Flat Earth Society was an organization based in England and later in Lancaster, California that advocated the belief that the Earth is not a sphere but is flat (see flat Earth). ... Dr. John Alexander Dowie (1848–1907) was a significant Scottish clergyman in the U.S.. Dowie was born in Edinburgh and moved to Australia as a boy but returned to Edinburgh to study theology. ... Zion is a city located in Lake County, Illinois. ...

A Zionist church was founded in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1895; however, the church quickly integrated into indigenous southern African life, and had an entirely African leadership within twenty years of its founding. , City motto: Unity in Development Province Gauteng Mayor Amos Masondo Area  - % water 1,644 km² 0. ... 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Succession disputes

Schisms and succession disputes during the twentieth century led to the foundation of thousands of different congregations, of which the largest is the Zion Christian Church, with around 3 million followers, led by Barnabas Lekganyane. The Star of David, symbol of the Zion Christian Church. ...

Characteristics of Zionist churches

Zionist churches are characterised by the following features:

• Syncretic mixing of Christian and traditional African religious beliefs
• Use of faith-healing and revelation through dreams
• Riverine baptism
• Wearing of garments, often mostly white

The church is unrelated to the Jewish political movement of Zionism. A Christian is a follower of Jesus, whom they regard as a/the Christ. ... Baptism in early Christian art. ... Poster promoting a film about Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1930s: Toward a New Life (in Romanian),The Promised Land (in Hungarian), in small (down) text is written First Palestinian sound movie 1844 Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews by Mordecai Noah, page one. ...

References

• Christianity in Africa South of the Sahara — Dr. Neil Lettinga
• Oosthuizen, G., 1996. "African Independent/Indigenous Churches in the Social Environment: An Empirical Analysis"; Africa Insight, 26 (4).