The need for training rural pastors in Sub Saharan Africa is enormous. The majority of churches in rural areas, especially those outside the mainstream denominations, are lead by men who have only a rudimentary understanding of God’s word. It is perhaps for this reason that Christianity in Africa is said to be “more than a mile wide but only an inch deep”.
This situation provides a fertile ground for syncretism and the many ethnic tensions reported among Christian communities in Africa. Syncretism is the state when Christians default to mixing Christian and cultural norms as a standard for their behaviour rather than God’s word only. This is rife among rural Christians in Africa. If this situation continues then the rural church in Africa will wither within a few generations as believers are exposed to error and they continue unfed by God’s word.

ART believes that the only effective way to reach the 800,000 untrained pastors in Africa is for those who have been taught to teach others. This is how teaching spread in the early church, as the Apostle Paul instructed Timothy “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others” (2 Timothy 2v2). Seven graduates of the ART training programme have committed to train others as Volunteer Trainers one week per month whilst they continue to serve as pastors in their churches. They receive only travel expenses and a small honorarium.

ART has seen the dramatic effect that God’s word has on rural pastors as they are taught to handle it correctly and they themselves are fed. Many have turned away from bad cultural practices such as FGM and changed their attitudes to relationships, especially family ones. Perhaps most encouraging is witnessing the massive change in their preaching and teaching ability as they better understand God’s word and have learnt how to apply it.

* This number is derived from Operation World’s data on the number of evangelicals in Sub Saharan Africa, the % located in rural areas, the % likely to be untrained and an assumption that a pastor has 100 people on average in his congregation. The number is interestingly similar if the estimate of AIC Christians is used instead!