FMC IN SOUTH AFRICA
PRESENT MINISTRIES
The South Africa FMC has five conferences, all led by Africans. A nationwide evangelism program receives high priority. Greenville Hospital, established in 1955, is now entirel staffed by nationals and under the control of the South African government. Ubunye Urban Housing program and The Have (a shelter caring for abused women and children) continue to thrive.
OUTREACH TO THE WORLD
A mission team from South Africa established a church in Ndola, Zambia, in 2000.
ORIGINS
The first Free Methodist missionaries to South Africa arrived in 1885. Of the five persons in the group, one couple settled in Natal Province of South Africa. The South Africa Conference was organized in 1905. Schools were established and medical work begun. Missionary G. Harry Agnew, one of the first five missionaries to Africa, visited the province of Transvaal in 1895. He stayed two years, ministering to men from Mozambique who had come to work in the mines. Other missionaries followed, and the work spread to the cities of the Transvaal, now divided into three provinces: Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
Country Statistics
- Population: 59,178,00
- Evangelical Christians: 21.02%
- FM Work Opened: 1895
- FM Churches: 125
- FM Membership: 14,950
- Ordained Ministers: 59
- Ministerial Candidates:26
- Bishop: Simon Chánza
- Ecclesiastical Accountability: Free Methodist World Conference
General Conference
