Why this new Ministry? What is our Vision? What is our Plan? What are the Results we prayerfully seek?

Why?

Stan and Donna have been in South Africa for 11 years. We have been teaching at Bible Institute Eastern Cape. We have students from all walks of life and just about every age. It seems the longer we are here the deeper we get into the personal lives and culture of the people. Donna taught counseling. She incorporated marriage and HIV as major portions of the course.

Teaching in another culture causes us to do more study and causes us to try very hard to apply the scripture and lessons to that culture. Over the years we have discovered that Port Elizabeth has a 70% divorce rate. This is across the races and in the church and outside the church. Of course the question is “why?”

A large portion of the churches are not teaching about Biblical foundations of marriage.
Some churches are telling the young men to find wives outside the church.

It is customary for the husband to pay lobola (bride price). As a result of the bride price custom the parents of the girl are pushing the girl to marry someone with money even though he may not be a believer or he may be an immature believer.

Presently there is very little preparation before the marriage. Only some parents are now talking to their children about male/female differences and relationships. Men and women do not understand each other. Those who do premarital counseling say that something better needs to happen because by the time they get to marriage counseling “the bride already has her dress,” (meaning the couple have already decided to get married and are really not listening to the pastor).

Some couples report that if the wife is working she spends the money the way she sees fit. Others report that one of the members of the marriage may be sending money to parents and not talking with the wife about this.

Sometimes the parents are putting pressure on the couple to follow their advice indicating that for one reason or another leaving and cleaving has not been done.
South Africa is not immune to westernization/globalization and the effects of feminism. Equality is promoted in the government and the work place. Churches are grappling with what all this means for their denominations and churches. As men and women in the cities are changing and culture is changing they need to know what the Bible says about life.

Our Vision

South Africa has the blessing of having many ministries. There are many programs available, not the least of which is the Marriage Course, published by the Scripture Union. A few years ago we ran this course for a group of pastors. It went very well. We tried helping a pastor run this in his township church. It fell flat after 3 weeks. We felt that the DVD was geared to a Western middle-class audience. God worked in our hearts to develop a course based on scripture that will be appropriate for the Africans living in the townships. We know that scripture is supraculture. This means that the biblical foundations for marriage are for all nations and tribes.

Since we live in a predominately Xhosa area we will start with this tribe. We will write in English and ask Xhosas for illustrations that people will understand. When we get this, then we will present the program. After the “bugs” are worked out then we would like to get the material translated into isiXhosa (language of the Xhosa people). At this point the pastors/leaders can use this program with their communities. We would like the opportunity to go to other tribes like Venda, or Zulu, or Basotho if that is God’s will.

Our vision is to have a biblically sound program and then be able to use illustrative examples from the various people groups so that it could be widely used. This means that the foundational material is already researched with only the appropriate illustrations needing to be inserted when the material is taught to a different tribe or group.

Plan

Pastors are asking for training. They are hungry for teaching themselves. We see that training the leaders is the correct way to go. Our concern is to speak to heart problems and not just focus on superficial behavior change. Communication techniques and spending time together are important but other underlying issues need to be addressed. The leaders can in turn train others in their communities (2 Tim2:2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also). We could train in churches as well as community halls. The program does not have to be connected to a particular denomination.

Results

People will hear a redemptive message. Husbands and wives will apply God’s word to daily life. We would like to see stronger marriages and stronger families. The family is the heart of the church. The family is also the heart of the country. If we start getting our marital relationships right (Biblically) it will have to have an effect on the social maladies in South Africa. We are speaking of single parent families, HIV, high crime rates, high divorce rates and the atmosphere of anger and violence.

Send your encouragements, questions, and comments to Stan and Donna at: [email protected]