Angus Buchan

Angus Buchan
Born 5 August 1947
Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
Residence Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Occupation Farmer, evangelist
Spouse(s) Jill Buchan
Children Robyn, Jilly, Lindi, Andrew and Fergus
Website www.angusbuchan.co.za

Angus Buchan is a Christian charismatic revival evangelist based in South Africa.

Early life

Buchan was born in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The son of white immigrants from Scotland, he farmed maize and cattle in Zambia[1] until he moved in 1976 to farm in Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. His wife, Jill, explained their decision to leave Zambia in a 2009 video: "We always agreed that when we had children we'd bring them up ourselves and not send them away. That's actually why we left Zambia. We didn't want to put them on a plane and send them far from home".[2]

Shalom Ministries

In 1980, the Buchans started Shalom Ministries to preach in his local community.[3] Its main purpose later became to go out to preach around Africa. In time, he became a full-time evangelist and so handed over to his sons the day-to-day running of his farm business.

In 1998, he wrote a book about his life, Faith Like Potatoes, which was turned into a film in 2006, with the same title.

Angus Buchan's Ordinary People was a 2012 semi-biographical film about the growth of his ministry since the 1970s and how three fictional characters who attend one of his conferences then have their lives changed.

Beth-Hatlaim

Beth-Hatlaim (meaning "House of the Lambs") was founded by Shalom Ministries in 1995 and is a home for 25 orphaned and abandoned children.[4]

Halalisani Farm School

Halalisani Farm School is a Christian farm school that is also administered by Shalom Ministries, with approximately 200 pupils.[5]

Mighty Men Conference

The Mighty Men Conference was organised by Shalom Trust and was an annual gathering of Christian men and boys who camped in the beautiful outdoors. The conference's sole purposes were to worship and to connect with God as well as to grow spiritually. The conference began with only 40 people but grew exponentially. By the sixth conference, in 2009, more than 200,000[6][7] attended. In the seventh and final conference the next year, more than 400,000 attended.

Since then, other believers have been inspired to hold similar events.

Current work

He now presents a religious show, Grassroots, on e.tv on Sunday evenings at 6:30 to 7:00 and Thursday afternoons from 5:00 to 5:30, which is mostly filmed from his own farm.[3][8]

He is also a full-time evangelist who travels around Africa and draws very large crowds.[9] Most of his audience is white middle-class men.[10]

He is also known as "Uncle Angus",[11] the name that is used by Afrikaans-speakers to address him.

Criticisms

  • His teachings reinforce male relational power and present a "soft patriarchy", with men assuming leadership roles that demand submission and obedience from women.[12]
  • His teachings fail to address the key issue of political or economic reconciliation between black and white South Africans. The fact that his followers are mostly white has been suggested to be a response to the fear of black leadership and the diminishing white control of political and economic power.[13]
  • He has made unsubstantiated claims of healing the sick at his services.[13]
  • In 2010, Bruce Winship, a Durban businessman and a trustee of Shalom Ministries was quoted as saying: "Not one cent goes to Angus. He lives in the same wattle and daub house that he built on his farm. He drives the same old car. He doesn't even have medical aid".[14] However, in 2014, Winship's relationship with Shalom Ministries came under press scrutiny, with reports revealing that Winship's companies routinely withheld payments with a total of 30,000,000 rand from smaller construction contractors. In response, the Shalom Trust established a 12,000,000 rand fund to pay Winship's creditors.[15]
  • Buchan's conservative views on topics such as homosexuality and female equality led to a local council in Scotland banning him from preaching in council-owned property in 2016. A representative of the Scottish Borders LGBT Equality Association said, "Buchan's views that LGBTI people are diseased and can be cured, and that men should dominate women and physically punish children in the family unit are extremely damaging. In my view this crosses the line between freedom of speech and hate speech".[16]

Bibliography

  • Faith Like Potatoes: The story of a farmer who risked everything for God. Monarch Books. 2011. ISBN 978-0-85721-085-2.
  • The Booth (eBook): Finding quiet time in the presence of God. Christian Art Publishers. 2013. ISBN 978-1-4321-1006-2.
  • Revival
  • The Seed Sower
  • Jesus... a Farmer... and Miracles
  • Is Jesus Enough?
  • Hard-Core Christianity
  • Passing the Baton
  • A Farmer's Year: Daily truth to change your life. Monarch Books. 2013. ISBN 978-0-85721-414-0.
  • A Mustard Seed
  • Fathers and Sons
  • A People Saturated with God
  • Grassroots
  • Come of Age: The Road to Spiritual Maturity. Monarch Books. 2011. ISBN 978-0-85721-021-0.

References

  1. ↑ Angus Buchan's Biography Archived July 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Buchan, Jill (10 November 2009). "Leaving Zambia". God's Farmer (extract). Retrieved 6 March 2017. Jill Buchan
  3. 1 2 "Shalom Ministries". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  4. ↑ Shalom Ministries blog - In the beginning
  5. ↑ Halalisani combine at the Wayback Machine (archived 2010-07-19)
  6. ↑ Feedback from MMC'09 at the Wayback Machine (archived 2009-06-05)
  7. ↑ Buchan 'brought back by Jesus' at the Wayback Machine (archived 2009-04-30)
  8. ↑ Grassroots at the Wayback Machine (archived 2011-07-19)
  9. ↑ 70 000 pitch for prayer meet
  10. ↑ Simpson, R.B. (23 November 2016). "Blown away by Angus Buchan's powerful message of hope". The Star. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  11. ↑ Uncle Angus on Facebook
  12. ↑ Nadar, Sarojini (1 April 2010). "The Wrong Kind of Power". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  13. 1 2 3 Vels, Neil (June 2012). Things yet unseen: a critical analysis of how the teachings of Angus Buchan and Richard Rohr offer alternative messages of Christian hope (Masters thesis). UKZN. hdl:10413/8591.
  14. ↑ Arde, Greg (18 April 2010). "'I have seen the change Angus has made'". iol.co.za. Retrieved 2016-08-15.
  15. ↑ Foster, Gavin (1 May 2014). "Payback Time for Bruce Winship". Noseweek #175. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  16. ↑ Littauer, Dan (12 August 2016). "Scotland says no to homophobic Pastor Angus Buchan". KaleidoScot. Retrieved 2016-08-15. Susan Hart
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