Zambia Hunt

By: Sandala Mwanje – smwanje@cabuniversity.com

Every church everywhere needs to fulfill the demands of 2 Timothy 2:2: “… the things you have heard from me among many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” This mandate must be executed by every church, and it’s the collective responsibility of the church universal to contend for “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

However, rural Africa faces very unique challenges regarding “passing on the things we have heard from many witnesses” and later passing it on to others who are able to teach others also. Here are three of the major challenges:

1. Lack of Access to Theological Knowledge & Conversations – Some terrains of rural Africa are extremely difficult to access. These areas lack accessible roads and basic needs such as clean drinking water, decent shelter, and electricity. These challenges mean that the church in rural Africa is cut off from benefiting from much of the knowledge acquisition that urban churches enjoy. The result of these challenges is theologically malnourished churches. Malnourished churches cannot fulfill 2 Timothy 2:2!
2. A Form of “Brain Drain” – Sometimes, sociologists talk about Africa being drained of its finest minds, who opt to migrate to Europe for a better life or better use of their expertise. What’s true of secular Africa is certainly true of its church, especially in rural areas! Most of the theologically trained minds, including those who were part of the rural system, rarely return to give back once they obtain their theological degrees. This leaves the rural churches theologically drained or starved!
3. Failure of The Urban Church to Deliberately Send Missionaries to the Remotest Parts of the African Continent – I don’t have to labor on this point because statistics speak for themselves!

The three reasons outlined above have left our rural churches extremely vulnerable to religious vultures. Cults are having a field day in rural Africa because we have neglected the rural church! I implore every Bible-believing and preaching church in urban Africa to seriously consider the church in rural Africa!