One Way to Correct False Teaching in South Africa: Plant the Seed of Good Literature

The Classroom Is a Greenhouse

Gardeners may arguably be some of the most patient people. From start to finish, the gardener’s job can last the majority of a year, and not until the harvest at the very end of the year is there a reward from the hours of hard work. Gardeners take tender care of something that starts as a tiny seed, and when they plant it in the ground, all of their energy goes toward the health and flourishing of that seed, because they have faith in what it will become at harvest time.

Did you know that the word seminary comes from the Latin word seminarium, which means seed bed?¹The process that occurs in a seminary is remarkably similar to the process of planting and tending to a garden. A well-tended garden promotes growth and flourishing for the seeds to grow to become plants and to produce good fruit. Brian DeVries sees similar growth happening in the classrooms at Mukhanyo Theological College (MTC) in South Africa: “The classroom is a greenhouse, so it’s a safe space for growth to take place, especially in a society that’s so divided and broken and full of challenges. We need this safe space where students can challenge one another—as iron sharpens iron—and challenge their lecturers too.”

With God’s help, Crossway has partnered with MTC to provide theological resources to students to support Brian and other lecturers as they provide safe spaces for growth and learning. Through the God’s Design for the Church in Africa Initiative, donors to Crossway helped provide copies of Conrad Mbewe’s God’s Design for the Church to MTC students, challenging them to consider how to lead their churches in a way that honors the Lord.

The Result of a Lack of Theological Resources

Through his classes, Brian teaches pastors and church leaders to come to know and love the Bible more as they are equipped for work in ministry. Ecclesiology is a specific subject in their training that has been a priority for Brian. Though South Africa is labeled as a primarily Christian country, the term “Christian” should be used loosely. The practice of what some claim to be Christianity can often be inconsistent, unbiblical, or outright heretical.

Ecclesiology is no exception to this reality, and many church leaders therefore don’t accurately understand what God’s design and calling are for the church. Brian provides a practical example: “The church’s bank account may be in the name of the pastor, the pastor’s wife, and a trusted deacon, but that third person keeps changing every six months because they don’t always trust the same person for more than six months. The money is collected and all of it goes into the pocket of the pastor.”

Brian’s explanation of the way some pastors handle church giving is only one example of why pastors and students need good books on ecclesiology. Thankfully, MTC staff and students alike have received Mbewe’s book and are reading it to better understand how different aspects of church life and leadership have often strayed from the Bible’s teaching. Directly addressing the kind of example that Brian gave, Mbewe points out that in many African churches, the pastor is in charge of the money that’s given to the church and he’ll take it home to decide what to do with it. The Devil loves these situations and will use them to tempt the pastor away from stewardship that honors the Lord. Instead, Mbewe argues, “We should have basic accounting systems in the church that make it impossible for us to misappropriate the funds without being immediately found out. This raises the confidence of God’s people that their money is going to the end for which they gave it.”²

Beyond providing a biblical perspective on churches’ financial practices, God’s Design for the Church covers a wide range of topics, including church governance and leadership, the sacraments, and church growth. By God’s grace, this book has sparked opportunities for students and faculty at MTC to challenge one another in conversations about how to lead their churches in a godly way. Crossway’s hope is that this book will encourage both heart change for pastors and students and be a catalyst for practical changes in their churches.

Flooding Africa—and Other Places of Need—with Good Literature

Brian echoes Crossway’s desire to provide pastors with theologically sound resources that are applicable to their contexts and faithful to the Bible. “We’re trying to flood Africa with good literature. We want pastors to have access to good literature—in the end, this doesn’t mean that these pastors will have many full shelves of books, but we want them to have at least some good literature.”

Through supporting the distribution of Mbewe’s book, donors to Crossway have helped provide faithful, theologically sound books to pastors seeking to lead their churches well. Far beyond the God’s Design for the Church Initiative, this continues to take place through the support and distribution of numerous Crossway-published titles distributed in South Africa and other places like Myanmar, Fiji, India, and Kenya. We invite you to join us as we seek to support our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world through the written word!

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