The conference theme was Biblical Manhood and Womanhood with the following general outline:

1. Male and female he created them
Genesis 1:27; 2: 20-23; Genesis 3

Creation and fall. The original intention. Complementarity. The deformed relationship.
Judgment. Restoration. Men and women in the image of God.

2. What is marriage?

Leaving and cleaving. No longer two but one (after no longer one but two!). NaturreRole of
sec in marriage. Polygamy. Same sex unions. Biblical responsibility v cultural norms.
Marriage designed to show relationship of Christ with the church. Mutual love

3. Roles without relegation
(Part 1 – within the marriage)

Male headship. Christ-like servant leadership. Wives submit to your husbands – the nature of
biblical submission. Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. Responsibilities of
wives and husbands. The creation basis of roles. Male-female equality of status. Trinitarian
roles and equality. Decision making

4. Roles without relegation
(Part 2 – within the church)

Male leadership in the church. Teaching responsibility. What it means for women to keep
quiet. Head –coverings. The meaning of the man being the head of the woman. Galatians
3:28. The meaning of authority.

5. The gift of marriage and the gift of singleness 1 Corinthians 7

Our present state is the gift of God to us. Renouncing singleness. Different categories of
singleness – never having been married, single while young, single with the immediate
prospect of marriave, widowed, divorced... . The examples of Jesus, Paul etc and those much
used in history. Missionaries. The family of the church. God’s purposes. Biblical theology of
singleness. Self-control.

6. Women’s ministries in the local church

Teaching ministries approved by Scripture. Spiritual gifts. Harnessing the gifts of every
church member. Joint ministries with husbands. Evangelistic ministry.

7. The Christian Family

Fatherhood and motherhood. Raising boys to be men and girls to be women. Spiritual
leadership within the family. Family devotions. The family and the church – division of
responsibility. Qualifications for Eldership. Decision making. Caring and shepherding.
Family-integrated churches.

8. Marriage, divorce and remarriage

The importance of the marriage being the picture of Christ and the church. Old Testament
and New Testament teaching. Divorce is never God’s will – legal divorce does not destroy
the marriage bond. The so-called exception clause in Matthew .Divorce, remarriage and
Eldership. Pastoral concerns.

9. Conference sermon

Genesis 2: 24-25

Ephesians 5: 22-33

1 Timothy 2: 11-15

Titus 2: 3-5

2 Corinthians 5:21 – 6:9

Mark 10: 1-12

The conference took place in the Eternal Community Baptist Church in Port Alfred. This is a township church where, judging by the notice-board, there is a faithful bible-teaching ministry. The building in the middle of the township was a pleasant brick-built structure on a sizeable plot with an outside township-style toilet. The weather was very hot (the outside thermometer on the car registered 50C!) but the building was pleasantly cooler. It was a vibrant area complete with chickens and animals and many children. The conference was organized by Pastor Mike Tzonini from Alice for whom this was the third APC he has attended in the Eastern Cape. He was helped by Pastor Boyce Saleni who is now pastoring a new church plant in George which is some 600km away.

The Eastern Cape is a poor area of South Africa and men struggle to find the money to travel and even pay for food at the conference – most could not afford the R25 for lunch. One man came from way out in the Transkei (3 hours by taxi to East London and then a lift with Mike for the remaining 120km) and is passionate about the doctrines of grace. Because of the constraints on travel there were only 15 pastors there, most of them local – there would have been many more if it had been arranged as an evening conference, because most pastors have secular jobs during the daytime.
The theme, Biblical Evangelism, was the same as in Zimbabwe, but in addition to Irving Steggles (South Africa) and Laban Mwshekele (Namibia) the other speaker was Errol Wagner from George who most helpfully spoke on doing the work of an evangelist and also the marks of true conversion. There was a challenging question and answer session and Errol preached incisively from the resurrection appearances in John 21.

It is planned to have a follow-up session with these pastors in October (Errol and Boyce will teach).
The long search for a Western Cape conference seems to be reaching its end. We hope to have a conference in George in November (locally organized by Errol and Boyce, who have many local contacts) and next year to do Eastern and Western Cape conferences back to back.

The venue in Port Alfred is a good one, just the sort of venue we need for APCs – running the conference in a township with the most modest of accommodation is true incarnational ministry. The only problem here would have been how to accommodate people from wider afield – that must investigated if we are to maximize the usefulness of the conferences.
The books were much appreciated and it was good to see some pastors buying commentaries – in spite of their poverty. Pray they will read them. Most pastors have no cars – Mike, the organizer, had just bought his first car after 21 years in the ministry.

Again we thank God for all the prayer and financial support He has given through His people. There is no doubt that this is strategic work and the need of the hour is to raise up faithful, well-informed, courageous pastors who are willing to take a lead. Many are crippled by denominational links and pressures from the majority. There are signs here in the Eastern Cape that God is raising up men who are prepared to be different and to be strong for the truth. We must labour while it is yet day, for night will come when no man can work.

Please note:  The registration deadline in the document can be ignored.  Delegates can register on arrival.  Please refer to the map in the document for directions.

Dates:  Wednesday 20th, Thursday 21st ,Friday 22nd January 2010

Biblical Worship – Conrad Mbewe from David Peyton on Vimeo.

“Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48).

Pastor Kabwe Kabwe (picture below) of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Ndola, Zambia, and I were in Barberton, South Africa, last weekend preaching at the African Pastors Conference (formerly, the Evangelical Press Conference). We must have had slightly over 100 pastors and church leaders present, largely from the area around Barberton and from Swaziland. The theme of the conference was “Marks of a Healthy Church”. Pastor Kabwe handled the need to ensure regenerate membership, faithfulness to church discipline, a biblically qualified and working leadership, and a commitment to the work of missions. I handled the need to ensure biblically regulated worship, commitment to biblical preaching, and the need to ensure biblical dispute resolution. I also presented a biographical sketch on the life of William Carey, “the father of modern missions”.

Kabwe Kabwe

The chief organizer of this conference is Karl Peterson (seen below with his wife, Glynn), an American missionary living and ministering in Barberton. He is a very committed conference organizer and is also involved in organizing the annual FIEL Conference in Nampula, Mozambique, together with Dr Charles Woodrow. Erroll Hulse, who is part of the organizing team of all the African Pastors Conferences, also came down from the UK to lend his support to this conference. His indefatigable labours in ensuring that Publishers give a most generous discount on books that are sold at these conferences ensures that pastors and church leaders go back home with these books to help them in their ministry. Without this discount, most of the pastors who attend these conferences would only wistfully watch these priceless ministry tools on the book tables because many of them are too poor to purchase them at their real market value.

Karl And Glynn Peterson

These African Pastors Conferences are growing both in attendance and in number. About seven of them were held last January all over South Africa, where Pastors Choolwe Mwetwa and Raymond Zulu were the main preachers. Two more were held in Botswana and Zimbabwe last year, where Pastors Ronald Kalifungwa and Isaac Makashinyi were among the main preachers. There are plans to start another one in Swaziland soon. Enquiries have also been received from Tanzania. We need to pray for these conferences. The organizers would like to maximize on—though not limit themselves to—the use of Zambian pastors. So, we have a very heavy responsibility on our hands! Remember the words above: “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48). These conferences are a rare opportunity to introduce biblical Christianity to the many African pastors who are easy prey to false doctrines simply because of ignorance. I am grateful to God for the opportunity to participate in them and I gladly commend them to you for your prayer support.

Kabwe Kabwe Preaching

Six African Pastors’ conferences were held in South Africa during January. My portfolio was to see that these conferences ran smoothly and that included organising the display of the books which are sold at subsidised prices thereby bringing very considerable advantage to the pastors. This latter responsibility was made a pleasure by diligent workers at each conference who know the book trade. Cornerstone Baptist Church, Bolton, generously and whole-heartedly supported me in these travels in sunny South Africa. My first pastorate was in Mandini, Kwazulu and with that background I have great sympathy for the needs of African pastors who live in an economic climate very different to ours.

The first conference was held at Mseleni near the border between Mozambique and South Africa, Pastor Choolwe Mwetwa (Central Baptist Church, Chingola, Zambia) spoke very challengingly on ‘The marks of faithful ministry’, and Pastor Raymond Zulu (High Wycombe Evangelical Church, UK) with the advantage of preaching in his mother tongue soared wonderfully on the theme, ‘The Word of God as our sure foundation’.

Our second conference at Koinonia Conference Centre was nearby the town of Hillcrest which in turn is not that far from the city Durban. The Speakers included Choolwe, Raymond, Dennis Hustedt (Utah, USA) and myself.  The response was encouragingly very positive. Such is the increasing interest and edification that the pastors are calling for an extension to this work to reach the youth and from them so seek to build up a future body of able ministers of the Gospel. We will have our work cut out to wrestle with this challenge and act positively.

Our third stop was in the Eastern Cape in at the city of Port Elizabeth, where Dr Paul Stoltz (Bible Institute of the Eastern Cape) very capably organised the three day conference. Pastor Bob Dickie (Berean Baptist Church in Flint Michigan USA) also expounded the awe inspiring subject of Worship. We also had an outstanding Q & A session. Some interesting topics were discussed including the role of women in ministry. This cropped up at most of the conferences. It seems to be a recurring theme that may need to be addressed sensitively in the future.

The fourth conference (click here for sermons and photos) was near the beautiful city of Pretoria. This time the speakers included Pastor Irving Steggles (Birchleigh Baptist Church, Kempton Park). He spoke on revival and delivered the conference sermon (‘Motivation in the Ministry’). The conference was a tremendous success under the very capable leadership and organisational skills of Irving who was assisted by church members from Birchleigh Baptist and also from Constantia Park Baptist Church in Pretoria where Martin Holdt is senior pastor. The Book table ministry was also a great blessing here. The three days and two nights, including six meals cost each person the equivalent astounding sum of 70 Rand (£5.00). This is a admirable demonstration on just how far money given by churches in both the USA and the UK can go towards financing more APC’s in future years.

The fifth conference was in the large Free State town of Welkom. This once rich gold-mining  town is now not far from poverty. Even the local fire engines have been repossessed by the manufacturers. The local CESA (Church of England in South Africa which is a reformed denomination) minister, George van der Westhuizen, acted as host to the conference at his church building. There was tremendous response to the preachers Choolwe and Raymond. On a personal note heartbreak and challenge came to me the next day when the three of us visited Morning Star, a crèche for 85 local HIV positive children. What an inspiring work is done by the ladies there, especially Joan Adams who is responsible for running it.

Finally the last of the conferences took place at Newcastle. This was a first time event and was capably organised by pastor Paul Jacobs. Here we saw demonstrated what can be done when a whole church supports a conference like this. This practical backing came from the Newcastle Baptist Church. Apart from the books hardly any subsidy is needed when this takes place. Some were disappointed inasmuch that they did not have enough time to secure enough money to purchase more of the discounted books that were available. In Newcastle they all wanted us to stay on for a second day. Lord willing next year we will.

The following sermons were preached and recorded at the African Pastors’ Conference in Ora et Labora, January 2009:

• The Word Is Our Sure Foundation (2 Sermons) (Raymond Zulu)
  
• The Marks of a Faithful Ministry (3 Sermons) (Choolwe Mwetwa)
  
• Motivation in Ministry (2 Corinthians 5:6-16) (Irving Steggles)
• The Marks Of A Biblical Church (2 Sermons) (Gary Morrison)

A picture gallery is available here: