Zion Christian Church

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Zion Christian Church. The largest independent church in S. Africa. It was founded by Enginasi Lekganyane (d. c.1948), a Pedi who had been influenced by a mission from J. A. Dowie's Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion in Illinois; he separated from Eduard of Basutoland's Zion Apostolic Faith Mission in 1925 to form his own church in the Transvaal. Enginasi was succeeded briefly by one son and at his death by another, Eduard (1922–67), a progressive leader who in the 1960s attended the Dutch Reformed Church seminary at Turfloop near Zion City; his son, aged 13, became head in 1967, under a council.

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