Misplaced Pages

#12987

61-736: In 1652 the Dutch formed a halfway station at the Cape , which was approximately halfway between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies , and introduced slavery by whites. Various foreign mission organisations started working in South Africa , which led to the formation of a number of denominations amongst those people who otherwise would have been excluded from the main churches, largely over issues of race. This process motivated

122-559: A subspecies of its own, the Cape lion as a population is now extinct in the wilderness , though descendants could exist in captivity . The Cape of Good Hope is an integral part of the Cape Floristic Kingdom , the smallest but richest of the world's six floral kingdoms. This comprises a treasure trove of 1100 species of indigenous plants, of which a number are endemic (occur naturally nowhere else on earth). The main type of fynbos ("fine bush") vegetation at

183-686: A claim that the Phoenicians had done so far earlier ). Dias called the cape Cabo das Tormentas ('Cape of Storms'; Dutch : Stormkaap ), which was the original name of the cape. As one of the great capes of the South Atlantic Ocean, it has long been of special significance to sailors, many of whom refer to it simply as " the Cape ". It is a waypoint on the Cape Route and the clipper route followed by clipper ships to

244-592: A wider sense, to indicate the area of the European colony centered on Cape Town, and the later South African province . Since 1994, it has been broken up into three smaller provinces: the Western Cape , Eastern Cape , and Northern Cape ; parts of the province were also absorbed into the North West . With its diverse habitat, ranging from rocky mountain tops to beaches and open sea, the Cape of Good Hope

305-612: Is a Christian statement of belief written in Afrikaans in 1982. It was adopted (after a slight adjustment) as a confession of faith by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) in South Africa in 1986 According to the Belhar Confession, unity is both a gift and an obligation for the church. This unity originally referred to non-segregation between Christians of different races, but after

366-536: Is home to at least 250 species of birds including one of the two mainland colonies of African penguins . "Bush birds" tend to be rather scarce because of the coarse, scrubby nature of fynbos vegetation. When flowering, however, proteas and ericas attract sunbirds , sugarbirds , and other species in search of nectar. For most of the year, there are more small birds in coastal thicket than in fynbos. The Cape of Good Hope section of Table Mountain National Park

427-495: Is home to several species of antelope. Bontebok and eland are easily seen, and red hartebeest can be seen in the grazing lawns in Smitswinkel Flats. Grey rhebok are less commonly seen and are scarce, but may be observed along the beach hills at Olifantsbos. Most visitors are unlikely to ever see either Cape grysbok or klipspringer. The Cape of Good Hope section is home to four Cape mountain zebra . They might be seen by

488-792: Is in the continuous tense) and its logo (which is an incomplete circle) reflects the Church's emphasis on unity, and its hope for an even greater church unification within the family of God. The Church consists of hundreds of congregations, these congregations belong to the regional presbytery and several presbyteries form a Synod. The Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa consist of seven regional synods, namely Namibia , Northern synod, Southern synod (The whole Gauteng except Tshwane and parts of North & Mpumalanga), Phororo (Northern Cape), Cape, Kwazulu-Natal , Free State and Lesotho . Each region has its own moderamen , and every congregation

549-604: Is represented at these synods. Congregations are grouped together in presbyteries. At the general synod level congregations are only represented through their presbyteries. The general synod determines the Church's policy, and the regional synods see to it that these policies are reflected in their various activities. In October 2018, the Southern Synod of the denomination voted to allow clergy to perform same-sex marriages as well as to ordain openly partnered LGBT ministers. From 6 to 8 November 2006, 127 representatives of

610-506: Is strictly enforced throughout the Table Mountain National Park , and especially in marine protected areas . Disturbance or removal of any marine organisms is strictly prohibited between Schusters Bay and Hoek van Bobbejaan, but is allowed in other areas during season and with relevant permits. Chacma baboons ( Papio ursinus ) are the mammals most intimately associated with the Cape of Good Hope. Baboons inside

671-590: The Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA) proposed to the 2012 Synod that the Belhar Confession be adopted as their fourth confession of faith. Instead, the CRCNA created a new, less-binding category for the Belhar, and adopted it as an "Ecumenical Faith Declaration" During CRCNA's Synod 2017, the church recategorized the Belhar Confession as a "Contemporary Testimony". The confession

SECTION 10

#1732771857013

732-590: The Early Modern Era , the first European to reach the cape was the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias on 12 March 1488, who named it the "Cape of Storms" ( Cabo das Tormentas ). It was later renamed by John II of Portugal as "Cape of Good Hope" ( Cabo da Boa Esperança ) because of the great optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India and the East. The Khoikhoi people lived in

793-700: The Far East and Australia , and still followed by several offshore yacht races . The term Cape of Good Hope is also used in three other ways: Eudoxus of Cyzicus ( fl. c.  130 BC ) was a Greek navigator for Ptolemy VIII , king of the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt . In or about 116 BCE, while returning from a voyage to India, Eudoxus found the wreck of a ship that appeared to have originated in Gades (later Cádiz), in what

854-563: The Indian Ocean . The Cape of Good Hope route took a toll on the sea freight industry; stretching the transit time, reducing carriers availability, and skyrocketing shipment cost and container hire. Carriers' attempts to resort to Red Sea route come at the expense of vessels and seafarers' safety; as the Red Sea witnessed multiple sunken carriers struck by Houthi movement . Many huge shipping companies and industries were afflicted by

915-670: The Moravian Church came to Cape Town to work amongst the Khoikhoi of the Overberg . Pressurised by the Cape church, he was forced to leave for Germany again after seven years. In the course of time various mission organisations from overseas started working in South Africa, which led to the formation of a number of denominations amongst those people who else would have been excluded from the church. This process motivated

976-742: The Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK) in South Africa to start its own independent mission work. In 1857 the NGK synod decided to have separate services for coloured (mixed race) members. A separate church, the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) was formed in 1881. For blacks, the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA) was formed in 1963. In 1974 the synod of the DRCA decided in favour of church unity. In 1978

1037-605: The Proteaceae family, of which up to 24 species occur. These include king protea , sugarbush , tree pincushion and golden cone bush ( Leucadendron laureolum ). Many popular horticultural plants like pelargoniums , freesias , daisies , lilies and irises also have their origins in fynbos. 34°21′29″S 18°28′32″E  /  34.35806°S 18.47556°E  / -34.35806; 18.47556  ( Cape of Good Hope ) Belhar Confession The Belhar Confession ( Afrikaans : Belydenis van Belhar )

1098-599: The Reformed Church in Africa , The Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa and Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk met at Achterbergh near Krugersdorp to discuss the reunification of the family of DRC churches and how this can be realized. The Dutch Reformed Churches Union Act Repeal Act 46 of 2008 lists one of its objectives as to 'remove obstacles in the unification process of the Verenigde Gereformeerde Kerk, Reformed Church of Africa and

1159-400: The humpback whale and Bryde's whale . Seals , dusky dolphins and orcas have also been seen. The strategic position of the Cape of Good Hope between two major ocean currents, ensures a rich diversity of marine life. There is a difference between the sea life west of Cape Point and that to the east due to the markedly differing sea temperatures. The South African Marine Living Resources Act

1220-524: The 2011 meeting of the General Assembly of the NGK, it was decided that processes to make the Belhar Confession part of the confessional base of the NGK should be initiated by its leadership. The Evangelical Reformed Church in Africa in Namibia (ERCA) adopted the Belhar Confession in 1997 and in so doing became the first non-South African Church which adopted the Belhar Confession. Apart from

1281-904: The Cape Colony that same year. The British relinquished control of the territory in 1803, under the peace of Amiens , but reoccupied the Colony on 19 January 1806 following the Battle of Blaauwberg . The Dutch formally ceded the territory to the British in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 . It would remain a separate British colony until its incorporation into the Union of South Africa in 1910. The Portuguese government erected two navigational beacons, Dias Cross and da Gama Cross , to commemorate Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama , who were

SECTION 20

#1732771857013

1342-657: The Cape of Good Hope and the Dutch government saw opportunities to settle Huguenots at the Cape. The colony gradually grew over the 150 years that followed until it extended hundreds of kilometers to the north and the north-east. During the French Revolutionary Wars , the Dutch Republic was occupied by the French in 1795. The Cape Colony then became a French vassal and enemy of the British, who were at war with France. British troops invaded and occupied

1403-487: The Cape of Good Hope is Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos , an endangered vegetation type that is endemic to the Cape Peninsula. Coastal Hangklip Sand Fynbos grows on low-lying alkaline sands and, right by the sea, small patches of Cape Flats Dune Strandveld can be found. Characteristic fynbos plants include proteas , ericas (heath), and restios (reeds). Some of the most striking and well-known members belong to

1464-486: The Cape of Good Hope section of the park are a major tourist attraction. There are 11 troops consisting of about 375 individuals throughout the entire Cape Peninsula. Six of these 11 troops either live entirely within the Cape of Good Hope section of the park, or use the section as part of their range. The Cape Point, Kanonkop, Klein Olifantsbos, and Buffels Bay troops live entirely inside the Cape of Good Hope section of

1525-495: The Cape of Good Hope). When following the western side of the African coastline from the equator, however, the Cape of Good Hope marks the point where a ship begins to travel more eastward than southward. Thus, the first modern rounding of the cape in 1487 by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was a milestone in the attempts by the Portuguese to establish direct trade relations with the Far East (although Herodotus mentioned

1586-450: The Cape region, the second all the other provinces of South Africa, including Namibia. In each province separate churches for blacks and coloureds were formed. The Free State had its own mission church already in 1910. In the Cape a separate "Dutch Reformed Bantu Church" was formed in 1951. All the coloured congregations eventually joined the DRMC, and the black congregations the DRCA. In 1974

1647-525: The Cape was the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian oceans. In fact, the southernmost point of Africa is Cape Agulhas about 150 kilometres (90 mi) to the east-southeast . The currents of the two oceans meet at the point where the warm-water Agulhas current meets the cold-water Benguela current and turns back on itself. That oceanic meeting point fluctuates between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point (about 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) east of

1708-696: The Clove Islands, the navigation of the Chinese and the Gores, with their rhumbs and direct routes followed by the ships, and the hinterland, and how the kingdoms border on each other. It seems to me, Sir, that this was the best thing I have ever seen, and Your Highness will be very pleased to see it; it had the names in Javanese writing, but I had with me a Javanese who could read and write. I send this piece to Your Highness, which Francisco Rodrigues traced from

1769-450: The DRC to start its own independent mission work. This new development started at the church's first synod of 1824, when it decided to allow missionaries within its own ranks. This was clearly a move to get control over the way in which mission work would be done in years to follow. "The Afrikaner abhorred the liberal views of equality, freedom and the social integration of many missionaries (from

1830-734: The DRMC decided likewise. In 1986 the Belhar Confession – with its strong emphasis on unity, reconciliation and justice – was formulated and adopted by the DRMC. In 1994 the DRMC and the DRCA united to form the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA). The joy which marked the formal unification of the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA) and the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) in 1994 to form

1891-538: The Dutch Reformed Churches without legislative intervention.' Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( Afrikaans : Kaap die Goeie Hoop [ˌkɑːp di ˌχujə ˈɦuəp] ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa . A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa , based on the misbelief that

Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa - Misplaced Pages Continue

1952-431: The Dutch language and prayers, they were rewarded with tobacco and brandy. The Dutch East India Company , as a matter of policy, had all their slaves baptised. The Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) of the time had no organised mission activity, with the result that the baptism of slaves were left to the wilfulness of their masters. Baptised slaves also did not necessarily become members of the church. In 1737 Georg Schmidt from

2013-743: The Park. The Groot Olifantsbos and Plateau Road troops range into the park. Chacma baboons are widely distributed across southern Africa and are classified as "least concern" in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . However, the South African Parks Department states in its publication Mountains in the Sea that the baboon population on the Cape is "critically endangered." This is due to habitat loss, genetic isolation, and conflicts with humans. Cape baboons have been eliminated from

2074-907: The URCSA, the Belhar Confession was also adopted by the United Protestant Church in Belgium in 1998. The Reformed Church in America (RCA) adopted the Belhar Confession as a fourth Standard of Unity (or confession ; alongside the Belgic Confession , the Heidelberg Catechism , and the Canons of Dort ) at its 2010 meeting of the General Synod, having adopted it provisionally in 2007. The 2009 Synod of

2135-411: The Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA), should be seen against the background of a very difficult road on which church unity often appeared as being an unattainable goal. Shortly after the Dutch formed a halfway station at the Cape in 1652, they introduced slavery. They started a school for slaves, with the purpose of transferring the Dutch language and culture. To encourage slaves to learn

2196-518: The attentive or lucky visitor, usually in Smitswinkel Flats. There are a wealth of small animals such as lizards , snakes , tortoises and insects . Small mammals include rock hyrax , four-striped grass mouse , water mongoose , Cape clawless otter and fallow deer . The area offers excellent vantage points for whale watching. The southern right whale is the species most likely to be seen in False Bay between June and November. Other species are

2257-721: The cape area when the Dutch first settled there in 1652. The Khoikhoi had arrived in this area about fifteen hundred years before. The Dutch called them Hottentots , a term that has now come to be regarded as pejorative. In 1652, the Dutch East India Company's administrator Jan van Riebeeck established a resupply camp for the Dutch East India Company some 50 km north of the cape in Table Bay on April 6, and this eventually developed into Cape Town . Supplies of fresh food were vital on

2318-477: The church should stand by people in any form of suffering. It claims that individual, racial and social segregation is sin, and that all forms of segregation always lead to enmity and hatred. The URCSA has made it a prerequisite for the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) to join the united denomination that all of its members adopt the Belhar Confession. Although the NGK is eager to join

2379-416: The denomination. The NGK's opinion of the Belhar Confession had varied over the years. Initially, the NGK rejected the confession as being a political document or as a statement of Liberation Theology . Some time later the NGK acknowledged that the document's contents were true, with the proviso that references in the Belhar Confession to "the poor" not be regarded as an implicit reference to non-whites. At

2440-456: The first modern European explorers to reach the cape. When lined up, these crosses point to Whittle Rock , a large, permanently submerged shipping hazard in False Bay . Two other beacons in Simon's Town provide the intersection. The Cape of Good Hope saw an increase of ship activity after the 2021 Suez canal obstruction , and the 2024 Red Sea Crisis with ships needing a different route from

2501-426: The foreign mission societies)". Although at its 1829 synod the DRC formally rejected discrimination on the basis of skin colour, it did not mean that in practice people of colour were not discriminated against, particularly at worship services and holy communion. The DRC synod's decision of 1857 about separate services for coloured members "because of the weakness of some", has become notorious. The next logical step

Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa - Misplaced Pages Continue

2562-529: The formation of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) in 1994, the word "unity" came to refer to administrative unity within the managerial structures of the denomination. Another key theme of the Belhar Confession is the dichotomy of reconciliation and the justice of God. According to the confession, God is the God of the destitute, the poor, and the wronged, and for this reason

2623-486: The fury of a tempest for 40 days out in the Sea of India, beyond the Cape of Soffala and the Green Islands towards west-southwest; and according to the astrologers who act as their guides, they had advanced almost 2,000 miles. Thus one can believe and confirm what is said by both these and those, and that they had therefore sailed 4,000 miles. Fra Mauro also comments that the account of the expedition, together with

2684-559: The long journey around Africa and Cape Town became known as "The Tavern of the Seas". On 31 December 1687, a community of Huguenots (French Protestants) arrived at the Cape of Good Hope from the Netherlands. They had fled from France due to religious persecution and gone to the Netherlands, before making the journey to the Cape Colony. Members of this group included Pierre Joubert , who came from La Motte-d'Aigues , as well as Jean Roy . The Dutch East India Company needed skilled farmers at

2745-446: The majority of their range across the Cape Peninsula, and the Cape of Good Hope section of Table Mountain National Park provides a sanctuary for the troops that live within its boundaries. It provides relative safety from nearby towns, where people have killed many baboons after the baboons raid their houses looking for food. Baboons are also frequently injured or killed outside of the park by cars and by electrocution on power lines. Inside

2806-462: The natives, Eudoxus concluded that the ship was from Gades and had sailed anti-clockwise around Africa, passing the Cape and entering the Indian Ocean. This inspired him to repeat the voyage and attempt a circumnavigation of the continent. Organising the expedition on his own account he set sail from Gades and began to work down the African coast. The difficulties were too great, however, and he

2867-424: The new denomination, it has decided not to compel existing members to submit to the confession. The NGK had offered to compel only new members of the NGK to submit to the confession, and to request existing members to submit to it voluntarily, but this offer was rejected by the URCSA. The URCSA's position was that all members of the NGK should be required to swear that the Belhar Confession is true, or be expelled from

2928-574: The other, in which Your Highness can truly see where the Chinese and Gores come from, and the course your ships must take to the Clove Islands, and where the gold mines lie, and the islands of Java and Banda, of nutmeg and mace, and the land of the King of Siam, and also the end of the land of the navigation of the Chinese, the direction it takes, and how they do not navigate farther." — Letter of Albuquerque to King Manuel I of Portugal, 1 April 1512. In

2989-457: The park, some management policies such as allowing barbecues and picnics in the baboon home ranges cause detriment to the troops, as they become embroiled in conflicts with guests to the park. At the Cape in particular, the baboon is known for eating shellfish and other marine invertebrates. In 1842, Charles Hamilton Smith had described a black-maned lion from the Cape under the scientific name Felis (Leo) melanochaita . No longer seen as

3050-497: The relation by Strabo of the travels of Eudoxus of Cyzicus from Arabia to Gibraltar through the southern Ocean in Antiquity , led him to believe that the Indian Ocean was not a closed sea and that Africa could be circumnavigated by her southern end (Text from Fra Mauro map, 11, G2). This knowledge, together with the map depiction of the African continent, probably encouraged the Portuguese to intensify their effort to round

3111-483: The rocks found at the two capes, and indeed over much of the peninsula, are part of the Cape Supergroup , and are formed of the same type of sandstones as Table Mountain itself. Both the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point offer spectacular scenery; the whole of the southernmost portion of the Cape Peninsula is a wild, rugged, scenic and generally unspoiled national park. The term "the Cape" has also been used in

SECTION 50

#1732771857013

3172-430: The ship went some 2,000 miles ahead until — once favourable conditions came to an end — it turned round and sailed back to Cape Diab in 70 days. The ships called junks (lit. " Zonchi ") that navigate these seas carry four masts or more, some of which can be raised or lowered, and have 40 to 60 cabins for the merchants and only one tiller. They can navigate without a compass , because they have an astrologer , who stands on

3233-468: The side and, with an astrolabe in hand, gives orders to the navigator. —Text from the Fra Mauro map, 09-P25 Fra Mauro explained that he obtained the information from "a trustworthy source", who traveled with the expedition, possibly the Venetian explorer Niccolò da Conti who happened to be in Calicut , India at the time the expedition left: What is more, I have spoken with a person worthy of trust, who says that he sailed in an Indian ship caught in

3294-443: The situation such as IKEA , Amazon (company) , Automotive companies, and Maersk . The Cape of Good Hope is at the southern tip of the Cape Peninsula , about 2.3 kilometers (1.4 mi) west and a little south of Cape Point on the south-east corner. Cape Town is about 50 kilometers to the north of the Cape, in Table Bay at the north end of the peninsula. The peninsula forms the western boundary of False Bay . Geologically,

3355-451: The southern tip of Africa, which he names the "Cape of Diab", describing the exploration by a ship from the East around 1420: Around 1420 a ship, or junk, from India crossed the Sea of India towards the Island of Men and the Island of Women, off Cape Diab, between the Green Islands and the shadows. It sailed for 40 days in a south-westerly direction without ever finding anything other than wind and water. According to these people themselves,

3416-561: The synod of the DRCA decided in favour of church unity. In 1978 the DRMC decided likewise. It took another 16 years for that ideal to be fulfilled. In the process, the Belhar Confession with its strong emphasis on unity, reconciliation and justice was formulated and adopted in 1986. This is still very much the motivating power by which the URCSA today lives. The Uniting Reformed Church consists of approximately 1,230,000 members of them about 500,000 confessing members (excluding all those who are only baptised) and 683 congregations. Its name (which

3477-413: The tip of Africa. In 1511, after Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Malacca , the Portuguese recovered a chart from a Javanese maritime pilot , which, according to Albuquerque, already included the Cape of Good Hope. Regarding the chart Albuquerque said: "...a large map of a Javanese pilot, containing the Cape of Good Hope, Portugal and the land of Brazil, the Red Sea and the Sea of Persia ,

3538-405: Was also instrumental in the RCA's efforts to found the Reformed Church in the Dominican Republic. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has added the Belhar Confession to its Book of Confessions . In 2014, the denomination's 221st General Assembly submitted the proposal to the denomination's 171 presbyteries for ratification. The required 2/3 approval having been received, the final step was a vote at

3599-402: Was obliged to return to Europe. After this failure he again set out to circumnavigate Africa. His eventual fate is unknown. Although some, such as Pliny , claimed that Eudoxus did achieve his goal, the most probable conclusion is that he perished on the journey. In the 1450 Fra Mauro map , the Indian Ocean is depicted as connected to the Atlantic. Fra Mauro puts the following inscription by

3660-407: Was the formation of a separate church. In 1881 representatives of five mission congregations assembled in Wellington near Cape Town for the first meeting of the DRMC. The DRC reserved the right to veto all decisions by this newly formed church. Also all its buildings had to be transferred on the DRC's name. The DRC decided to divide its mission work into a "home" and "foreign" mission. The first covered

3721-416: Was then Roman Hispania Baetica . At the time, the only way such a vessel could have reached the Indian Ocean was by rounding the Cape. When Eudoxus was returning from his second voyage to India, the wind forced him south of the Gulf of Aden and down the coast of Africa for some distance. Somewhere along the coast of East Africa, he found the remains of the ship. Due to its appearance and the story told by

SECTION 60

#1732771857013
#12987