Trauma and conflict as prerequisites for identity transformation – lessons from the South African Partnership for Missional Churches

This paper researches the process of identity transformation that is taking place in mainline congrega­tions in post-apartheid South Africa. I is a descriptive study of the growth in the South African Partnership for Missional Churches and describes the transformation by making use of the pattern found in the Psalms: orientation-disorientation-reorientation transition,The research will test the following hypotheses that are viewed as prerequisites for identity transformation:• Trauma and conflict caused by new power structures in society were the necessary disorientating forces that led to a theologically-based reorientation in churches;• The change in theological epistemology led to a new culture of doing theology (including the way church meetings are held);• Other prerequisites for a change in identity within the Southern African scenario are: leadership, the crossing of boundaries, the art of listening to “the other” and the mystery and motivation of the movement of the Spirit of God.