page_title: Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa
section_title: Recent history
hierarchical_section_title: Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa / History / Recent history
caption_attribution_description: English: Exterior of the AFM Word and Life in Boksburg South Africa
context_page_description: The Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa is a classical Pentecostal Christian denomination in South Africa. With 1.2 million adherents, it is South Africa's largest Pentecostal church and the fifth largest religious grouping in South Africa representing 7.6 percent of the population. Dr. Isak Burger has led the AFM as president since 1996 when the white and black branches of the church were united. It is a member of the Apostolic Faith Mission International, a fellowship of 23 AFM national churches. It is also a member of the South African Council of Churches.
  The AFM is one of the oldest Pentecostal movement is South Africa with roots in the Azusa Street Revival, the Holiness Movement teachings of Andrew Murray and the teachings of John Alexander Dowie. The AFM had an interracial character when it started, but, as in American Pentecostalism, this interracial cooperation was short-lived. The decades from the 1950s to the 1980s were marked by the implementation of apartheid. After 1994, the white AFM moved rapidly towards unification with the black churches. By 1996, all the AFM churches were united in a single multi-racial church.
context_section_description: Since 1919, the black, coloured, and Indian sections of the AFM had developed as separate "daughter churches" or "mission churches". These were, however, dependent on the white church; the AFM's missions superintendent was the ex officio chairman of the daughter churches' Workers and Executive councils. After 1991, the white and black churches remained separate, but blacks were made legal members for the first time. In 1996, the two sections came together to become one operational unit, and the church's newly elected president, Isak Burger, apologized for the past treatment of non-whites.
  The AFM is a growing church that prioritize church planting and growth. It has spread to all towns and villages in South Africa. More than 2000 assemblies and branch assemblies have been established.
caption: A modern AFM mega-church in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg
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