Please click here to read information pertaining to the upcoming African Pastors’ Conference in Ora et Labora, Pretoria, South Africa.   If you are unable to view the document, please download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Please note:  The registration deadline in the document can be ignored.  Delegates can register on arrival.  Please refer to the map in the document for directions.

Dates:  Wednesday 20th, Thursday 21st ,Friday 22nd January 2010

This was the fourth conference held near the beautiful city of Pretoria (click here for a report on the other conferences during January 2009). This time the speakers included Pastor Irving Steggles (Birchleigh Baptist Church, Kempton Park). He spoke on revival and delivered the conference sermon (’Motivation in the Ministry’). The conference was a tremendous success under the very capable leadership and organisational skills of Irving who was assisted by church members from Birchleigh Baptist and also from Constantia Park Baptist Church in Pretoria where Martin Holdt is senior pastor. The Book table ministry was also a great blessing here. The three days and two nights, including six meals cost each person the equivalent astounding sum of 70 Rand (£5.00). This is a admirable demonstration on just how far money given by churches in both the USA and the UK can go towards financing more APC’s in future years.

The following sermons were preached and recorded at the African Pastors’ Conference in Ora et Labora, January 2009:

• The Word Is Our Sure Foundation (2 Sermons) (Raymond Zulu)
  
• The Marks of a Faithful Ministry (3 Sermons) (Choolwe Mwetwa)
  
• Motivation in Ministry (2 Corinthians 5:6-16) (Irving Steggles)
• The Marks Of A Biblical Church (2 Sermons) (Gary Morrison)

A picture gallery is available here:

The following messages were preached by Pastor Raymond Zulu at the recent African Pastors’ Conference at Ora et Labora, South Africa in January 2009.

Raymond Zulu, previously at Newcastle in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, now pastors High Wycombe Evangelical Baptist Church in England. Many would testify to his helpfulness as pastor to pastors and his valiant stand for the truth.

The following messages were preached by Pastor Choolwe Mwetwa (Zambia) at the recent African Pastors’ Conference at Ora et Labora, South Africa in January 2009.

Pastor Choolwe Mwetwa brings to our conferences 20 years of pastoral experience at the Central Baptist Church in Chingola, Zambia. He is an associate editor for the magazine Reformation Zambia, maintains a weekly column in one of Zambia’s favourite newspapers and keeps a busy preaching schedule throughout Zambia and around Southern Africa. Pastor Choolwe is married to Marilyn, and they have two sons and a daughter.

The following messages were preached by Pastor Gary Morrison at the recent African Pastors’ Conference at Ora et Labora, South Africa in January 2009.

The following message was preached by Pastor Irving Steggles at the recent African Pastors’ Conference at Ora et Labora, South Africa in January 2009.

Irving Steggles, is Pastor of Birchleigh Baptist Church, Kempton Park, SA, and Chairman of the Board of the London Theological Seminary.

Dates and times:

Arrival and Registration from 10.00 a.m. on Monday 19th January.
Departure from 3.30 p.m. Wednesday 21st January.

Topics:

Applying Christ-exalting principles in pastoring those who have been saved out of traditional African religion; restoring the biblical view of the family and church; and preaching that changes lifestyles.

Aim:

To equip Pastors and Christian workers working in the Townships and rural areas to teach and apply the word of God in distinctively African situations.

Books:

The Conference Fees include a free voucher for books for each Delegate, and there will be additional books available for purchase at a massive discount of up to 90%.

Speakers:

Choolwe Mwetwa brings to our conferences 20 years of pastoral experience at the Central Baptist Church in Chingola, Zambia. He is an associate editor for the magazine Reformation Zambia, maintains a weekly column in one of Zambia’s favourite newspapers and keeps a busy preaching schedule throughout Zambia and around Southern Africa. Pastor Choolwe is married to Marilyn, and they have two sons and a daughter.

Raymond Zulu, previously at Newcastle in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, now pastors High Wycombe Evangelical Baptist Church in England. Many would testify to his helpfulness as pastor to pastors and his valiant stand for the truth.

Raymond’s previous conference messages are available here.

Gary Morrison (UK)

Registration:

Closing date for bookings:  9th January 2009

Those younger than 21 years of age will need to contact us to make a booking.  See below for contact details.

Please fill in the following form to complete registration (if you’re viewing this in an email or RSS feed, you will need to click here):

Enquiries:

Pastor Irving Steggles (+27 82 889 0987) (info@africanpastorsconference.com) or
Nick and Sheila Court (Step Wise Youth Ministry) (+27 72 959 5743)

How to get there:

From the south:
From the R21, pass the ORT/JHB airport and come off on junction 32, (Bronkhorstspruit), and go east on the R25, at the junction with the R50 turn right and then at the four way stop resume travelling on the R25. You will pass the Welbekend Police station on the right and a petrol station near to the four way stop intersection with the M30 Garsfontein Road, turn right towards Witpoort. The turning to Ora et Labora is approx half km from the 4 way M30/R25 intersection. The name sign is on the left in a small cluster of trees (Right OPPOSITE is a Shooting Range Sign which stands out more!) Take the Ora et Labora dirt track, rough road, pass the first set of farm buildings on the right, proceed and take the right hand fork of the road into Ora et Labora.
From the north:
From Pretoria – take the M30 Garsfontein Road, pass the Pretoria East hospital and keep going for approx 20 to 25 km, until you come to the M30/R25 intersection. Cross over the R25 to continue on the M30. (there is a petrol station on the right), the road is signed for Witpoort.  The turning to Ora et Labora is approx half km from the 4 way M30/R25 intersection. The name sign is on the left in a small cluster of trees (Right OPPOSITE is a Shooting Range Sign which stands out more!) Take the Ora et Labora dirt track, rough road, pass the first set of farm buildings on the right, proceed and take the right hand fork of the road into Ora et Labora.

Invitation policy

The APC are not in a position to send a formal invitation to attend the Conference to any outside South Africa. Pastors are welcome at Conference but will need to deal with their own immigration and travel arrangements. They may quote this website for confirmation that there is a Conference taking place. Please contact us if you require more information

Click here if you cannot view the above video gallery.
Click here for more information about the Ora et Labora Conference.
Click here to download the full quality, original of this video gallery.
Click here to view other video galleries.

Read specific news from Conferences in:

• Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
• Ora et Labora near Pretoria
• Mseleni, Hillcrest (Koinonia conference centre), and Port Shepstone, all in Kwazulu Natal
• Welkom, Namibia

African Pastors Conference at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, 11th-13th December 2007

It is impossible to overstate the pastoral needs in present-day Zimbabwe. Believers and unbelievers alike are suffering deprivation: people are dying of starvation (life-expectancy of men is down to 36 years), even a minor illness can become life-threatening, public and private transport have ground to a halt and for the godless there is no hope. Yet Christians are convinced that God is at work and that the present situation is for the good of his people and the advance of the gospel.

There are wonderful indications of blessing – to mention just two: a renewed sense of urgency concerning spiritual things even among unbelievers for whom issues of life and death are so real; Christians have been drawn together in love for mutual care and support as in the manner of the early church they share things in common (whether it be salt, or fuel, or meat, or maize or toilet rolls!).

It is in this context that the African Pastors’ Conference occurred in December. Until the last moment we were not sure whether there could be food available for this residential meeting, but by the grace of God and the initiative of his people, we ate well and were given inspiring hospitality by the Theological College of Zimbabwe. 50 pastors attended (the maximum who could be accommodated) and many more had to be turned away: because of transport problems we could only invite those from the Bulawayo area. Pastors came from all sorts of church and doctrinal backgrounds but with a great desire to learn to preach faithfully and minister biblically and effectively to their needy flocks.

Books are an essential part of these Conferences, and the men were delighted to take away a package of free books which had been kindly sponsored by churches in England and America and the publishing houses.

Ronald Kalifungwa of Lusaka Baptist Church, Zambia, spoke on ‘The Pastor and his Family Competence’: much of the teaching which so many of us have valued for years was new to many of these men. Laban Mwashekele of Monte Christo Baptist Church in Windhoek, Namibia spoke on ‘Establishing Biblical and Healthy Churches’ helpfully emphasising the need for spiritual health in the pastor, the pasture and the flock. The Conference Sermon on 1 Peter 1 was delivered by Victor Nakah, the President of TCZW, who gave a fine exposition and included the telling sentence ‘It is my greatest fear that Christians in Zimbabwe came away from the present situation spiritually empty-handed’.

We pray this Conference will have helped that fear not be realised. Please pray for our brethren in Zimbabwe and especially those with the responsibility of changing individuals and a nation by rightly handling the Word of God.

African Pastors Conference at Ora et Labora near Pretoria 17th-19th January 2008

43 pastors from Gauteng, Limpopo and even Botswana attended this Conference. Several enthusiastic and faithful pastors from Swaziland were unable to come at the last moment because of transport problems. The speakers were Conrad Mbewe of Kabwata Baptist Church Lusaka, Laban Mwashekele form Windhoek and Raymond Zulu from High Wycombe UK, and before that in Newcastle, KZN, South Africa. Erroll Hulse also gave us a biography of David Livingstone. The talks are available on the website.

This was a group of mature pastors eager to learn and to minister biblically. For some, errors had to be confronted and we are especially grateful to our speakers for getting alongside the men and giving good pastoral counsel. Raymond Zulu in particular has openings as a fluent Zulu speaker. Big issues were addressed in the talks with faithful and powerful preaching. God gave the three main speakers physical and spiritual stamina – some had spoken 15 times over the recent few days of Conferences.

Because of the kindness of the owner of the centre at Ora et Labora in not charging for its use and because of the faithful team of volunteers in the kitchens, the total charge to the pastors for 3 days was 50 rands (under £4 or $7) and the sponsorship could be used to offer great discounts on the excellent book table.

African Pastors’ Conferences at Mseleni, Hillcrest (Koinonia conference centre), and Port Shepstone, all in Kwazulu.

As indicated above the one-day conferences at Mseleni and Port Shepstone were first conferences and both revealed great potential for the future. Mseleni is in a game reserve area and as you drive to this remote place you expect to see rhinoceros in the bush. Fifty spiritually hungry pastors greatly appreciated the books in Zulu available and the fine array of books in English at the reduced prices. Everything was in Zulu or translated into Zulu. Shiloh Baptist Church was the venue at Port Shepstone. About seventy pastors and Christian workers attended.

First African Pastors’ Conference at Welkom, Namibia

The Pines Christian Care Centre for Children was an ideal venue for this conference at Welkom. The theme for the day was the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. Erroll Hulse expounded the meaning of Pentecost from Acts two, Raymond Zulu opened up the subject of Spirit anointed preaching and Dennis Hustedt concluded with an exposition of Acts chapter three.

Each conference has its own distinct character. Much improvement by the organisers is needed at the book tables. For instance we need to pay much more attention to having books which match and back up the topics that are dealt with in the sessions. Books which deal with how to handle grief are needed. Almost every conferee has lost a relative or relatives in the AIDS scourge. Books for children are needed. We also need to have a stock of Bibles in all the indigenous languages. An NIV study Bible is pure gold in Africa but far too expensive for most the people.

~ Irving Steggles