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Africa: South Africa

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Region Updates

With the dramatic re-emergence of South Africa into the world community, cities such as Cape Town and Durban are experiencing population shifts, economic resurgence, and newly-opened doors for church planting.

Durban Region

ABWE’s church-planting efforts in Durban began in December of 1980. Ten churches now ring the city, five led by South African pastors, and five with combined South African and missionary leadership. An eleventh church, begun by church planters from Hong Kong is just beginning to reach out to the Chinese—an unreached people group in South Africa.

Ten churches barely scratch the surface of Durban’s need. Hundreds of thousands of Asian Indians, most of whom are Hindu or Muslim, must hear the gospel. This community poses a tremendous challenge to those who desire a cross-cultural ministry to Asiatic people. Only three of the ten churches have been established in Asian Indian communities. Another area of great need is work among the Zulu people. The proud Zulu nation is the largest of South Africa’s tribal groups. The ABWE family has also started a church-planting effort among the Zulu speaking population. The team is praying for specially equipped couples to assist them in ministering to this group.

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Durban lies in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, “place of the Zulu people.” In the Durban area, church planting and evangelism are conducted in English and Zulu, two of the country's eleven official languages. English and Zulu are commonly spoken in the region. There are small pockets of Afrikaans speakers in the area, but Zulu and English dominate in the Durban area.

South Africans must be trained to pastor and minister in their own churches. To meet this need, the fellowship of churches has established the Baptist Bible College of KwaZulu-Natal. Appropriately qualified South African pastors and missionaries conduct evening courses and disciple their students within local churches. The combination of rigorous classroom study and real church life produces well-equipped laborers to carry the work further.

Over the last 25 years, the Durban Field Council has matured into a ministry team of missionaries, South African pastors, and their wives. It is their daily prayer that God will raise up uniquely qualified coworkers to join them in evangelizing South Africa. Their vision is: “Working as a team to build churches that are actively reaching the world.”

Cape Town Region

Cape Town, a city of over four million people, is a microcosm of South African’s “rainbow nation.” Millions are spiritually lost and confused in this postmodern religious society, and there is a lack of biblically sound churches that are growing and effectively sharing the gospel.

Our vision is the development of a sustainable church planting movement in the Western Cape. In our commitment to strategically plant indigenous, self-replicating English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, and Multi-lingual Baptist churches that uphold the centrality of Scripture in Christian life and growth, we are dedicated to: evangelism, discipling of believers, the strengthening of Christian families, the development of competent leadership, and the support of missions.

In 1989, ABWE missionaries began ministering in the Cape primarily to the English—and Afrikaans—speaking people. These efforts have grown and reproduced to include four South African led churches, four established missionary-led churches, as well as three churches in the early stages of development. This includes a ministry that has recently begun within the Xhosa community. Partnerships with other American (5) and South African (4) missionaries, together with other South African (6) local churches and at least five special focus ministries add an important dimension to our work.

In 2001, a Cape Masterplan was developed to outline a clear strategy for planting new churches in the Western Cape. The fundamental element above all other strategy criteria in the Cape Masterplan is teamwork. Teams of American missionaries, South African missionaries and South African pastors and laymen and laywomen workers are formed to learn, grow, and discover together, share convictions and develop loyalty. Through this process, teams transform and become viable church-planting teams working in unity to plant a church wherever God sends them.

This commitment also includes the development of support ministries and partnership ministries aimed at strengthening the local church and the church-planting movement as a whole. These support ministries include the Church Ministries Institute, the Paardeberg Mountain Retreat, and the Good Hope Christian Schools. Other partnership ministries include the Vision in Action Trust, the Herald of Hope Ministries (SA), and the Ministry Resource Forum.

The Cape Church Ministries Institute is a church-based leadership development and Christian education ministry offering training to South African lay leaders: Sunday school teachers, Bible study group leaders, evangelists, deacons, pastors, and missionaries. The Church Ministries Institute is linked to the government education system for accreditation purposes through the Northwest University in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Paardeberg Mountain Retreat is a year-round facility that meets the needs of the Baptist/Bible churches in the Western Cape. The camping programs include youth and family camps, church retreats, special events, seminars—and facilities for church leadership meetings. The camp is located on the slopes of Paardeberg Mountain overlooking a beautiful vista and surrounded on three sides by a nature reserve. It is about 50 miles from Cape Town and within easy driving distance from all the user churches. This camp/retreat center has proven to be a great evangelistic and discipling support ministry for church planting in Cape Town. Here in God’s creation, individuals and families are challenged to know Him better and live for Him.

Since 2001, Good Hope Christian Schools have ministered to families and children in two Cape Town locations. The mission of each school is to assist families in educating their children in a biblical worldview, developing a foundation from which they can serve the Lord in all areas of life and work. Missionary and South African teachers have a vibrant discipleship program of teaching children in grades K-12, leading little ones to Christ and mentoring them to spiritual maturity. GHCS is looking for short-term teachers and career singles and couples committed to a ministry of teaching, evangelism, and discipleship. Many opportunities for teachers to minister in local churches and church plants add yet another exciting dimension.