Most people visit Melville Koppies for its indigenous open space just four kilometres from the CBD, or for the historical significance of its 1600AD Iron Age furnace. But there is another reason for visiting the Koppies - to participate in an outdoor church service.

Looking out towards Northcliff from the northern side of Melville Koppies

THERE are several dozen church circles on the western section of Melville Koppies, and every Sunday you can take a walk to them, and sway along to the hypnotic, repetitive clapping and singing, and afterwards get an explanation to understand this outdoor church service.

The church groups on the Koppie belong to a broader movement known as the African Independent or Initiated Churches (AICs), which have their origins in Pentecostalism, a worldwide charismatic Christian movement with roots in early 20th century America.

Pentecostalism is based on the The Book of Acts (chapter two), where Christ's disciples were baptised in the Holy Spirit, with accompanying glossalalia or speaking in tongues, prophecy, healing and exorcism as signs of the baptism.

Today there are some 400 million Pentecostal members worldwide, or one of every four Christians, according to Africana, the Encyclopedia of the African & African American Experience.

Birmingham University researcher Dr Allan Anderson in his 1998 paper Pentecostals and Apartheid in South Africa during 90 years 1908-1998 indicates that "South Africa was one of the first countries on the continent to receive Pentecostalism, in 1908". In less than a century, he says, from 10-40% of the population have become Pentecostals.

Within the 10% are denominations including the Assemblies of God, the Apostolic Faith Mission, the Full Gospel Church of God and the International Fellowship of Christian Churches, known as Rhema Church, led by Ray McCauley and Mosa Sono, and based in Randburg, Johannesburg.

But, says, Anderson, the other 30% are made up almost entirely of black "Zionist" and "Apostolic" churches, which includes the largest denomination in South Africa, the Zion Christian Church or ZCC. The larger grouping of black churches is mostly due to blacks being given subordinate status in the white-dominated churches throughout the apartheid years, and as a result, forming breakaway church groups, according to Anderson.

Anderson estimates that there are, in addition, between 4 000 and 7 000 smaller church organisations of a similar type, spread out in the rural areas but more so in the urban areas, where they are a major source of support for domestic workers and the unemployed.

According to the 1991 census, there are some eight million members of the myriad AICs around the country, possibly two million of those belonging to the popular ZCC, its members easily recognisable by the green felt and metal ZCC badge they wear. The ZCC broke away from the original Pentecostal movement around 1920, largely because of racism, and formed its own group.

Worshippers quick-walking in a church circle

The AICs reflect a combination of traditional Christian one-God worship together with traditional African ancestral spirit worship. In a belief system where ancestral spirits "speak" to believers, a religion where baptism takes place together with "speaking in tongues" and the holy spirit offers divine healing, it was easy for the AICs to attract new converts.

On any Sunday afternoon Melville Koppies is filled with the rhythmic repetitions of singing, clapping and ululations echoing from the hillside, exuding energy, and by the look on the faces of the participants by the end of the afternoon, utter exhaustion. All groups are dressed in ankle-length robes of bright bold colours, most often bright royal blue with a white cross embossed on the back and sashes tied around the waist.

A circle breaking up after an afternoon's worship

 The service on the Koppies normally starts at 2.30pm with a formal prayer reading and sermon but within half an hour men and women are formed in two circles and to a repetitive drumbeat, those in the inner circle keep up a fast walk, at times almost a run, around and around, working themselves into a trance state.

This circling continues for up to two hours, with participants receiving divine power to ward off evil, at the same time undergoing a cathartic experience.

Those in the middle - often women - are usually ill or filled with a bad spirit and need the group's spiritual leader to exorcise the problem. This involves laying hands on the person, at times even hitting the person, which sometimes involves the person falling to the ground, and at times, falling outside of the circle.

The day I was a spectator I found the rhythm and repetitive chanting singing hypnotic, aided by the continually circling figures. It obviously also affects the participants in the circle - one of them fell out of the circle and tumbled down the hill, over rocks and clumps of grass.

The Melville Koppies Management Committee is hoping to take tour groups to the circles to observe and participate in the early part of the service. The afternoon will start at 2.30pm, with a leisurely 15-minute walk to the northern koppie; this will be followed by spending 20 minutes with the group; then spending half an hour in discussion with tour guide David Mathole. Tourists are encouraged to bring along a snack and a drink. The return 15-minute walk will take them back to the starting point.

David Hirsch, a Committee member who is promoting tourism to the Koppies, says the tourists have to be "a benign influence", and have to be small groups of around 15 people.

Hirsch says both parties must be comfortable with the interaction, and there must be as little distortion of the experience as possible. "There'll be no language adjustment - the service will be in the vernacular," says Hirsch.

The plan will create jobs - as numbers of tourists increase, tour guides will be trained to take the groups to the circles and conduct the discussions.

In an effort to arrest erosion in the areas the groups occupy the Committee has cemented the circles. Hirsch is hoping to persuade groups to use abandoned circles, in an effort to conserve the Koppies.

The groups that use the Koppies have signed an agreement with Hirsch and once a year provide their services to clean the Koppies or help place rocks on pathways to prevent erosion.

Phone David Hirsch on 011 643 3293 or Deanna Kirby on 083 266 9949 to arrange a tour to the Koppies. At this stage the tours will be free but donations are welcome.