10 Apr 2023

Scholars within the Old Apostolic Church (OAC) have been advised to create accurate and authentic documentation of the church’s history in Botswana.  

Furthermore, there is need for collaboration of scholars to explore and documenting the abundant oral information about the church, especially that some of the pioneers were still alive.  

The OAC overseer, Professor Paul Nleya, said this in his keynote address at Kanye branch official opening during the Easter Holidays. He said the church history was critical for the congregation to understand the present.

 “Oral legends have varied versions of OAC origins. We need to compile such and come up with a consistent version of such history,” he said. Prof Nleya noted that such writings were critical as they could reveal the church’s humble beginnings in Botswana.

“We have current and former elders who can be interviewed through usage of oral history that exist, and establish the methodology that can be applied in conducting such documentation,” he said. He then expressed gratitude to the church for building a hall with a sitting capacity of 1 000 people, adding that it formed part of the 77 churches nationally.

Prof Nleya noted that the logistics leading to the successful building of the hall was not easy as they had to consolidate three plots and transfer the title of the plot to being civil, which was a tedious process that took more than 10 years to complete.

Relaying the history of the church, Lobatse OAC’s evangelist overseer, Mr Polokano Malomo indicated that the church came to existence in Africa in 1880 through an Australian named Carl Klibee.

He noted that the first congregation was established in Southernwood, East London in South Africa.

Mr Malomo noted that the church began in 1960 in Botswana.

“When the church began in Botswana, we used to fellowship in shelters made up of card boxes until we got assisted by the some schools that leased out their classrooms,” he said He noted that the classrooms were used for a short period of time as the churches were later barred from using classes, which led to churches being left with no option but to have their own buildings.

Mr Molomo shared that the church building was open to everyone, adding that the OAC did not discriminate on race or colour.

He said the facility was open to government use when rendering services to the public.

“Our buildings can be used by the clinic or any other public gathering of national interest. We offered our premises during COVID-19 vaccinations,” he said.

Other than that, he said the church was active at giving back to the community through OAC Innovative Projects Initiative, adding that they had assisted in building houses for disadvantaged, literacy project for the community, disaster and welfare project. Ends