Nolte and Downing (2019:14–15) shared that, among Africans, the living values embedded in African spirituality help individuals preserve individual, family and community well-being. Such is the multi-dimensional nature, which includes aspects related to the ancestors, developing one’s life purpose, being cognisant of one’s life calling, a belief in a higher Gods, the use of traditional medicine and practices that connect with the transcendent (Brown, Muckaden & Mndende 2021:44–45). Bhekinkosi combines two isiZulu names, bheka – translated look and nkosi – translated king. Placed within the isiZulu cultural context and spirituality the name infer, look at/to the king, who is supposedly representing the supreme being in all spirituality matters.

A study by Olupona (2014:1–131) found that in African societies, kings were revered as sacred beings associated with Gods, responsible for state well-being and prosperity. Their role in maintaining social order led to frequent ceremonies to reassure people of their well-being.

The name anticipates the intervention of a supreme being – uMvelinqangi, who oral tradition describes as the creator of all and accessed through ancestors, nearer to him – in all aspects of life, as the African worldview does not dichotomise life because the supernatural influences the natural with the purpose of seeking and balance and harmony in all aspects of life (Von Kapff 2012:8–9). One word, Ubuntu, entails such spirituality. Knoetze (2019:8) further opined that this holistic approach promotes resilience, deepens Ubuntu, strengthens social bonds and secures the intergenerational transfer of cultural values.

Hence, Nolte and Downing (2019:15) posit that Ubuntu is a comprehensive ancient African worldview, founded upon the principles of profound humanity, sharing, caring, respect, compassion and related ideals, thereby enabling a more interconnected and healthy community life, in the spirit of family. Ubuntu can therefore be seen to serve as the bedrock of African spirituality (Mabvurira 2020: 74), where ancestors serve as mediators between a supreme being and humans. They are regarded as providers of security and are called upon to help during times of despair (Chidester 2014:3–5).

The Christian God is described as one eternal self-existing God, co-existing in three persons as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit (Williams n.d.:16–17). This existence is called the Trinity, a distinguishing aspect of Christianity among other religions. This aspect finds expression in the following:

The Bible also presents humankind as the crown of all creation by presenting the story of creation, the fall (Gn 1–3) and redemption through God the Son who died on the cross to redeem humankind (Mt 1:21), was buried and rose on the third day, and ascended to heaven after 40 days (Mt 27:45–66; 28:1–10; Lk 24:50–53; Ac 1:6–11). This redemption of those who believed in Jesus – the Son of God – will culminate at his return (Ac 1:11; Rv 1:7–9).

Bhekinkosi worked as a court interpreter (Lephoko 2018:87) at Durban before moving to Kimberly, where he continued with his nominal Lutheran faith and became an active member of the Communist Party (Lephoko 2018:200, 244). Later, these skills and experiences featured in his ministry as leader of the Back to God – Assemblies of God.

His conversion that happened at a Full Gospel crusade meeting at Kimberly (Lephoko 2018:45–46) in 1930 suggests that he was a nominal Lutheran Christian, as he gave up smoking and drinking to show that he had embraced Pentecostalism. His conversion introduced him to American Pentecostalism through the evangelistic ministry of the Full Gospel Church missionary. The Full Gospel Church is one of the oldest Pentecostal Churches in South Africa. The Full Gospel Church was established after the Bethel Pentecostal Assembly (Newark, New Jersey, United States) sent missionaries to South Africa (Hobe 2024:2886).

Pentecostal churches teach justification by faith, sanctification as a definite work of grace, baptism in the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues, divine healing ‘as in atonement’ and the personal pre-millennial rapture of the saints at the second coming of Christ (Khathide 2010:62). In a summary, like in all Pentecostal circles, the Full Gospel Church upholds baptism in the Holy Spirit and the function of the charismata are key in the Full Gospel Church (Hocken 1976:83). Chetty (2002) states that the Full Gospel Church and the Apostolic Faith Mission share the same teachings:

After his conversion in Kimberly, he later returned to Durban, Natal, where he served under the ministry of Job Chiliza (Lephoko 2018:49–50, 86), who was a member of the Full Gospel Church and leader of the African section. Chiliza later established the African Gospel Church in 1949.

Bhekinkosi’s second stint with Pentecostalism was with the Assemblies of God after his training at kwaDumisa Bible School and securing at a job as an evangelist in 1936 at Emmanuel Mission, a mission church H C Phillips led (Lephoko 2018:86–87, 200). This denomination emerged after a group of American and European missionaries, working in South Africa, decided to establish one umbrella organisation.

As mentioned above, Bhekinkosi served under Job Chiliza and appears to have begun preaching during that time before he joined the Assemblies of God in 1938. He attended theological training at Dumisa Bible School – South African General Mission Bible School (Lephoko 2018:48, 77) and furthered his theological studies at Taylor University, Indiana, in the United States (Lephoko 2018:48).

After serving for some time at H.C. Phillips’s Emmaneul Mission, he later began to work closely with James Mullan, an Irish missionary who was based in Tzaneen. The two pioneered church planting work among Africans, with Port Elizabeth being the most area they reached.

Bhekinkosi established the Back to God Crusade in the 1950s to continue his preaching ministry driven by his vision of people bound hands and feet in chains in an ocean crying for help, and how could he help them? then Jesus showed him an open Bible as a means to help these people (Lephoko 2018:78–79). This vision reflects the Pentecostal belief in continuation of the charismata, specifically, dreams and visions, which area also believed in the Ubuntu worldview that ancestors, who are closer to Umvelinqangi, communicate to humans through them. The appearance of Jesus points to the triune God and challenges the Ubuntu world view about the role of ancestors among the isiZulu speaking nation.

The Ubuntu worldview teaches that ancestors play an essential role in times of despair (Chidester 2014:3–5). To the contrary, the Christian God, through Jesus, the second person of the triune God, appeared to him and showed him that the answer in times of despair he saw in the vision is the Bible, not ancestors. This open Bible also points to the triune God. Therefore, Jesus, not ancestors, is the mediator between God and humans (Tm 1 2:4–6).

Undoubtedly, Bhekinkosi, was taught the essential truth to look at Jesus, not Umvelinqangi, to help people trapped in sin. The ancestors, though communicating to Ubuntu adherends, through visions and dreams, do not feature in addressing the sinful conditions of humans, only Jesus, who appeared to him in his vision, features. This only happens through his preaching the message of the Bible. Jesus and the open Bible show preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ that emphasises an essential truth that there is no continuity between the role of ancestors and Jesus (Tm 1 2:4–6). Jesus came to save humans from their sin (Mt 1:21; Lk 24:45–48; Jn 6:47). He is only way to the Christian God (Jn 14:6).

Consequently, he was indirectly taught, through this vision, that his name, Bhekinkosi, then and after translates ‘look at Jesus’ – who every knee will bow (Phlp 2:9–11) and shall come as the king of kings (Rv 19:16) – for help, not to an isiZulu king. This vision showed him that, though being an isiZulu speaking person with an isiZulu name – pointing to the Ubuntu worldview, his Pentecostal belief in visions and dreams should now be grounded on the Bible, not on Ubuntu teachings about visions and dreams. This shift is seen in his preaching and church planting ministry, where aspects of Ubuntu and Pentecostalism feature strongly.

Bhekinkosi entered ministry under the tutelage on Job Chiliza, an outstanding Pentecostal who then was affiliated with the Full Gospel Church after he had spent some time associating with the Zionist church of Ezra Mbonambi that was one of the churches that seceded from the Christian Catholic Church in Zion (Khathide 2010:102,119). By then, Job Chiliza had converted from Zionism (Khathide 2010:52–53) and later realised that Mbonambi and other African church leaders, who established independent churches, had fused ancestral veneration with Pentecostalism (Khathide 2010:108). He became a Pentecostal who then taught discontinuity between ancestors and Jesus. Even though ancestor veneration is an essential aspect of Ubuntu worldview.

Mzondi (2019:70–74; 2022b:80–84) labels such prepositions African Pentecostalism and its proponents Ubuntu Pentecostals, because they are Africans who displayed the Ubuntu worldview and embraced Pentecostalism without practising ancestor veneration and all practices related to it. Ubuntu Pentecostals refer to African Christian leaders who embraced William Seymour’s Pentecostalism and later fused it with ancestor veneration or opted to discard ancestor veneration. The first to fuse the two are Daniel Nkonyane and Elias Mahlangu, who seceded from the Christian Catholic Church in Zion to establish independent churches (Mzondi 2019:47–48, 66, 2022a:68, 74–75). Chiliza belong to the second group (Mzondi 2019:72–74, 2022a:81–84).

Bhekinkosi, who undoubtedly Chiliza influenced during his period at the Full Gospel Church in Natal, is counted among the latter group. He later left Chiliza’s church to begin working at Emmanuel Missions in 1938 and later developed a working relationship with an Irish Pentecostal missionary, James Mullan. This relationship birthed the Back to God Crusade, whose evangelistic efforts reached Port Elizabeth and East London and other areas in the 1950s (Lephoko 2018:114–117). The Back to God Crusade that was established a few years (Lephoko 2018:134) after Chiliza established African Gospel Church in 1948 continued to emphasise and popularise the following slogans: ‘back to God’, ‘Africa for Jesus’, ‘Jesus for Africa’ and ‘Cape to Cairo’. (Lephoko 2018: 134–136). This cry manifested in the two choruses Lephoko sung during my personal conversation with me:

(A)

(B)

His ministry and work undoubtedly contributed to three essential Pentecostal developments on the African continent: (1) the spread of Pentecostalism in Southern Africa; (2) and added to Enock Sontonga’s hymn and call of ‘Woza Moya’ – come Holy Spirit on Africa – thus, later contributing to the subsequent Pentecostalisation of the African church (Mzondi 2018); and (3) the concretisation of Ubuntu Pentecostalism among African Pentecostals (Mzond 2019; 2022).

Nolte and Downing (2019:15) have identified the following as Ubuntu principles: humanity, sharing, caring, respect and compassion, while Mzondi (2019:35, 2022b:39; see also Mzondi 2009:45–51) lists the following five Ubuntu values: caring, sharing, respect, seriti or isithunzi [moral force] and belief in the divine.

Bhekinkosi’s ministry calling and ministry was within the context of the manifestation of the Ubuntu value of belief in the divine among influential African Pentecostal leaders – Daniel Nkonyane and Elias Mahlangu. The two seceding from the Christian Catholic Church in Zion, the Wakkerstroom section African of the Apostolic Faith Mission. Later, two prominent Christian leaders who followed this trend were Engenas Lekganyane and Christina Nku. These experienced different visions and dreams, two essential events that adherents of Ubuntu perceived to be communication from the ancestors (Mzondi 2019:84–86, 2022b:95–98). Their visions and dreams became instrumental to fusing ancestor veneration with Pentecostalism.

On the contrary, two incidents helped Bhekinkosi not to be swayed by this practice namely, his association with Chiliza and the vision of people bound feet and hands with chains drowning in an ocean, and Jesus appearing to him and showing him an open Bible to help the drowning people.

This vision resonates with the Ubuntu value of belief in the divine. It was an essential starting point to being Christo-centric, as Christ was central to his vision. Lephoko (2018:256) posits that he was a crucicentrist – someone who emphasises Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. The sub-section (Bhekinkosi, Ubuntu values and Christo-centric emphasisis) of the article provides an additional perspective from his ministry through his African name and the Ubuntu worldview.

True to his name, Bhekinkosi, he displayed a commitment to looking to or at Jesus instead of ancestors and using the Bible to reach people with his ‘back to God’, ‘Jesus for Africa’, ‘Africa for Jesus’ and ‘Cape to Cairo’ slogans. His discontinuity with ancestors is heard in his sermon (Lephoko 2018) as he placed the cross at the centre:

It is important to emphasise that in reference to Philippians 2:9–11, he calls Jesus ‘the Lord’, a proclamation that sets Jesus above all on earth and heaven, including ancestors considered closer to Umvelinqangi. This echo: ‘Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, is the author and perfecter of our faith’ (Heb 12:2 a–b, NIV). He used the belief in as a point on contact to present the message of the gospel to Africans (Lephoko 2018:106). This demonstrates that he was aware of Ubuntu worldview and its value of the belief in the divine, yet he placed Jesus above this belief. He also attracted many people because he allowed lobola [bride price] and male circumcision (Lephoko 2018:168, 187) and was an advocate of Africans preaching to Africans because they knew and understood their worldview (Lephoko 2018:183, 194, 200).

He also displayed another Christo-centric emphasis after his vision of women in doeks as the strategy for generating financial resources instead of relying on missionaries (Lephoko 2018:140–143). His deep yearning for financial independence characterised his view on missionary funding (Lephoko 2018:145, 148, 195). This is an aspect that promotes the human dignity of believers by inculcating hard work that produces biblical prosperity that benefits everyone in the church, resulting in a holistic gospel that echoes the Ubuntu worldview does not separate the physical from the metaphysical. tangible. God provided a financial strategy to sustain the work of Back to God Crusade using indigenous approaches to raise money (Lephoko 2018:144, 249).

This non-binary fund-raising strategy anchored his trust in God and his Christo-centric stance. This stance is further seen in that he did not misappropriate the church’s finances (Lephoko 2018:174, 245); instead he promoted accountability by building an accountability system that hung around the teaching team (Lephoko 2018:216) and the various national and regional structures (Lephoko 2018:131–142). This organisational management (Lephoko 2018:131–142) seems to stem from his reverence for God and partly from his previous experiences as a court interpreter and member of the communist party. This development demonstrated his seriti or isithunzi [moral force], that is, he was a person of high integrity. A person of ‘impeccable character’ at the time he joined Emmanuel Missions (Lephoko 2018:87) who publicly declared before God and man that ‘I have taken no money from you for myself apart from what I take for the work of the God and other poorer countries’ (Resane & Lephoko 2026:5).

His ministry reflected that he was compassionate. The socio-economic conditions of people moved him as he ministered to them and taught that they should not only believe Jesus to turn their conditions around, but they should be economically independent and embrace working hard to earn a living (Lephoko 2018:248), a discipline that could have been learned during his time with Job Chiliza, who was a preacher and shoemaker. As a compassionate–visionary leader, he placed the interest of the community first, in this case, the development of young people in the church. He did so by promoting education in the church and established a bursary fund for youth in the church to pursue tertiary education (Lephoko 2018:246).

He displayed the values of care and respect as he interacted with different people when preaching to them (Lephoko 2018:110, 113) and was globally respected (Lephoko 2018:111, 112). He also shared his resources and life with others and opted to live a simple instead of an opulent life (Lephoko 2018:174, 245–246). He unashamedly wrote all assemblies’ pastors and district councils about his values, where he declared that ‘I have desired no high life, luxury, pomp, greatness, wealth, name, fame nor vain glory’ (Resane & Lephoko 2026:5).