One of the challenges facing the church in Africa is the lack of solid biblical education for pastors. As a result, many church leaders fall prey to shallow doctrine and false teachings that are sometimes only subtle variations of the Word of God. A listener from the southern Africa country of Botswana writes about this.

“We are an expatriate family of seven living in a closed diamond mining town of about 14 thousand people in central Botswana. The town is wealthy when compared with other African towns and villages. There are no beggars in the streets and medical care is excellent, just about everyone has good housing and many people drive their own cars. The diamond mining company takes good care of its employees.

Contrasted with the material wealth of the town, the spiritual poverty of the people living here is appalling. There are not many Bible believing Christians here. There are a few churches, but most if not all of these teach little in the way of sound doctrine. False doctrine is very widespread, and I think that many churchgoers here believe that God always wants them healthy, wealthy and feeling good about themselves. There is no place where people can go to have the truth of God’s word explained and taught to them, whereas false teaching is available everywhere.

Whether it’s coming from so-called Christian satellite TV stations, books, or a ‘Great Man of God’ who has popped into town for a miracle crusade, false teaching has greatly weakened the churches here.

This family is strengthened by the solid biblical teaching of programmes like Grace to You, Thru the Bible, Unshackled, Love Worth Finding, and others.

As there has been no church we could attend where the Bible is taught, we have been especially encouraged by the Bishop Joe Bell Programme and the programme Truth for Today on Sundays. We gather in the living room on most Sundays to hear a sermon, read the Bible and pray together. Our satellite decoder is used exclusively for listening to TWR.

We plan to begin meeting with another Christian family in town regularly for Bible studies and church services next month. Please pray that God will guide us and that we may be an effective witness for Him in Orapa. We are very grateful for this link God has given us to other believers in this world. It’s great to have you in our home every day. God bless you all.”

For more listener letters please visit our Listener Letters section on our web site.

Published 06 March 2008