Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa

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Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa
NEC TAMEN CONSUMEBATUR
Classification	Protestant
Theology	Reformed
Polity	Presbyterian
Associations	All Africa Conference of Churches; World Communion of Reformed Churches; World Council of Churches; South African Council of Churches
Region	South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia
Origin	26 September 1999 Port Elizabeth
Merger of	Reformed Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa & Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa
Congregations	473
Members	80,000 [1]

The Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA) was formed and constituted in 1999 as the outcome of the union between the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (RPCSA) and the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa (PCSA).

These two churches shared the same origin dating back to the 19th century when Britain took over the Cape Colony. Their distinctive characters were that the Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa was constituted among soldiers and settlers who arrived in the Cape in 1820, spreading North into Zimbabwe and Zambia. The Reformed Presbyterian Church on the other hand was a product of Scottish missions intended for the indigenous Africans, which started at Lovedale Mission in Alice. It became autonomous in 1923.

In 1896 the first Presbyterian congregation was founded in Rhodesia at Bulawayo, and later in 1903 in Salisbury (now Harare). Now there is one presbytery of Zimbabwe, used to be 2 Presbyteries in Matabeland and Mashonaland. Currently there are more than 40 congregations and 100,000-300,000 members.^[2]

The motto Nec tamen consumebatur is adapted from the Latin translation of Exodus 3:2 "...The Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet it was not consumed."