I have just completed three full days of workshops in rural Malawi: Kawamba, Juma and Chinkhoma, in the Central Region. I leave Malawi on Friday. Most of the pastors have not been to college, but they recognise their need for instruction and are hungry for it. In one particular location, the pastors sat on the floor for 5 hours with one short break.
In conversation with other missionaries and missionary organisations, as well as local pastors, church leaders, and educators, the same questions come up: how can we make training accessible and resource distribution consistent in rural areas? The situation is “critical”, said one pastor on the level of training among rural pastors, and another said the consistent distribution of materials is a “nut that has not been cracked.”
Several factors collide to make this such a difficult issue.
The Difficulties
- Isolation – these pastors are in remote rural communities. Many do not have smartphones, so we cannot even reach some pastors digitally.
- Travel – getting to these remote areas is extremely difficult and affected by seasonal conditions. Poor roads lengthen journey times and sometimes require suitable transport.
- Finance – transport, food and accommodation make it difficult for these pastors to attend workshops.
- Schedules – pastors must balance pastoring responsibilities with providing for their families.
- Language barriers – even with a translator, theological terms and biblical concepts often take time to explain.
- Educational Opportunities – educational backgrounds vary, and many struggle with a reading culture and theological language.
- Limited follow-up – Workshops are incredibly beneficial and rewarding, but follow-up and opportunities to review, question, and practice what they have learned are difficult.
The Krapf Project offers some solutions.
There is no silver bullet. However, we have dedicated ourselves to finding solutions that will enable us to resource and train rural pastors. Will you pray with us for faithful local teachers that we can support, for flexible, workable approaches and methods, and for patience to strengthen pastors over time?
- We train local (national) pastors who can, in turn, train other pastors in their area (2 Timothy 2:2). The Krapf Project currently provides financial support to three pastors in Kenya and covers travel expenses for trips to teach other pastors.
- We encourage and support small, locally grown groups, led by local pastors who can arrange their own schedule.
- We share content, mentor, and interact with pastors daily through our WhatsApp groups. Our WhatsApp community is growing, with around 1,500 pastors from 19 African countries across 22 languages.
- Our workshops are accessible and drawn directly from the biblical text, helping pastors return to Scripture as the final and complete authority and learn theology through concrete examples from biblical stories. Krapf Academy Workshops are interactive and dynamic, with questions, discussion, and practical exercises that help us assess understanding and prepare pastors to teach others.
- These national pastors provide an excellent network for distributing The Pastor’s Study magazine. In addition, when the local pastors are strengthened, they become the evangelists to their own people.
Training pastors in Africa must be seen as a priority in the face of the Prosperity Gospel and the rise of African traditional religions (ATR). Many resource and training ministries operate in Africa, and the Krapf Project partners with some of them. I would encourage you to support missions, churches and resource/training ministries in the Global South. It is a very needy work. If you feel that the Krapf Project is a ministry you could support, you can find our UFM donation page on the ministry website.