Anti-Apartheid Christian Witness (1915–2004)
Beyers Naudé was born into a proud Afrikaner family in South Africa. His father was a founder of the Broederbond, a secret society that worked with the Nationalist Party to erect the system of apartheid—strongly motivated by the belief that God had chosen South Africa as a homeland for white Afrikaners. Beyers followed in his footsteps. He was ordained as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church and became one of the youngest members of the Broederbond.
But his study of the Bible caused a gradual change, and finally a complete defection from any justification of apartheid. The final straw was the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 when police opened fire on demonstrators, killing sixty-nine. Naudé supported a resolution of the World Council of Churches condemning apartheid. And soon he had become a pariah among his people. Resigning from his church, he founded the Christian Institute to promote reconciliation and justice. From 1977–1984 he was “banned,” a severe form of house arrest. Afterward he served as general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, promoting the Church struggle against apartheid—a vital contribution to the victory of 1994, when apartheid ended.
Beyers Naudé died on September 7, 2004.
“If we believe that we are dealing with a God of justice and love, a God who wants to see the Kingdom become a glorious reality, then we know that whatever we are doing through God’s grace is part of that process of renewal. It takes time. I may not be able to see it all happen, but I know with the strength of my faith and my convictions that moment will come.”
—Beyers Naudé
