African Pastors' Conferences



What is African Pastors' Conferences?

North Africa was full of churches in the first centuries after the apostles. Churches, Bible schools, libraries and missionary enterprise flourished across the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. Before the apostles set foot in Europe, the church in Africa was advancing. It grew for 600 years. Then suddenly in the mid 600s the visible Church was almost entirely snuffed out. (Ethiopia and what is now Northern Sudan escaped this demise). The forces of Islam extinguished entire swathes of Christian congregations. How could this happen? Why did this happen? Why did professing believers line up to renounce their church memberships and receive tax benefits for converting to Islam? In his excellent book The Kingdom of God in Africa (Baker Book House) Church historian Mark Shaw tells us that not only had the Church become lifeless and ritualistic but the leaders were no longer trained for Christian ministry. Many had become merely church functionaries and not passionate evangelists and shepherds grounded in God’s truth.

What is to preserve the professing church in Africa today from being swept away by another wave of false teaching? Liberal theology has devastated the Western Church and is still a threat in Africa. The prosperity gospel already predominates in many parts of Africa. This false gospel sidelines repentance from sin and offers materialistic self-centred values far removed from the blood of the Cross. There is considerable syncretism with African traditional religion under the guise of contextualization. The lesson we must learn from the past is clear. It is imperative that church leaders be grounded in biblical truth and trained for Christian service. Those on the front line of church life must have their roots sunk deeply in sound theology and in a biblical understanding of Christian ministry.

Without Bible-based expository literature this is not going to happen.

The need to equip pastors to teach the Word of God faithfully is clear. Many of those who have the great responsibility of ministering in the urban and rural areas of Africa have received little training. Few have adequate libraries and few receive ongoing teaching support for their ministries. Even those who have received such training tend in the course of time to yield to the pressure of preaching what people want to hear rather than faithfully expounding the Word of God.

Purpose

The purpose of the African Pastors’ Conferences is to supplement the work of faithful Bible colleges and seminaries by providing basic doctrinal preaching. Together with expository preaching is the supply of theological books. The majority, who have not had the privilege of seminary training, struggle because of the lack of biblical literature. In addition to this we seek to revive those who are weary and who need to be refreshed and re-equipped for the exacting work of faithful pastoral ministry.

Grace Baptist Church at Castlewoods

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV