For the past 17 years I have lived with the Tsonga speaking people in Limpopo, South Africa.

Tsongas comprise our church body. I preach in the Tsonga language each Sunday. Our Christian School teaches mostly Tsongas, along with a few Vendas and Zulus. All eight of our children have been born in South Africa. I lived with the chief’s family for two years as I hauled my drinking water. I learned the language the old fashioned way. I have preached countless sermons in the neighboring villages and cities of Mozambique, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. I love the people I live among.

This background gives me at least some authority to answer questions about challenges in the black African home. I recognize that not all black Africans are the same. There are many differences between the Zulus and Sothos in South Africa and even more so between the Hausa in West Africa and the Bemba in Zambia.

A Kenyan friend, professor and pastor asked me a question the other day. With a broad brush, here’s how I would answer his question: “What are the hinderances to God-honouring family life within black South African families?”

1. Christ-less homes

I deny the common assertion that Christianity is sweeping unencumbered through Africa. I deny that South Africa is predominantly Christian. It is Christian in name only. How can SA be Christian when it has about the highest crime rates in the world? The thieves aren’t stealing Bibles.

More than anything else, what the African home needs is Christ. Homes thrive when Christ is the authority over its finances, morals, entertainment, work ethic, education and goals. Yet the overwhelming evidence shows that Christ is not enthroned in most black African homes.

Operation World says that 75% of South Africans are Christian, defined as anyone that calls themselves a Christian. They also say that 21% are evangelical, defined as Protestants, Independents and Anglicans that embrace faith alone, in Christ alone through Scripture alone. So right off the bat, based merely on personal testimony, these 2010 statistics show that 80% of South Africans deny that Christ alone is the only way to salvation. My experience tells me 80% is far too low.

South Africa is religious but not Christ-centred. As Samuel Kunhiyop has said, Africans are incurably religious. True. But religion doesn’t save. Religion alone only damns. The ZCC is the largest African initiated church denomination in South Africa. The ZCC is not Christian. It is a cult mixing fragments of Christianity with pagan African traditional beliefs, such as worship, prayers and baptisms often directed toward Lekganyane  (the founder of the ZCC) and not toward Christ and the Trinity.

The Prosperity Gospel engulfs the nation of South Africa. Conferences and churches model their programs after “get rich” charlatans instead of “get saved” shepherds. The names that dot the ecclesiastical landscape are Pastor Chris, not Pastor Calvin; Bushiri, not Baucham; Makandiwa, not MacArthur; Benny, not Bunyan.

If you increase the number of churches that teach the Five Solas, with Solus Christus as the bedrock, the morality will increase in black African homes, a demographic making up the vast majority of South Africa. As Paul said: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8).

2. Fatherless homes

Statistics from the Institute of Family Studies in 2014 ranked countries by how likely children are to live with two parents. The country of Jordan was the best at 94%. South Africa was the worst at 36%. This means roughly only a third of children in South Africa grow up in a home with both parents. In rural settings where I live, the numbers are probably even worse. Fathers in the home are not extra, they are essential. Fathers are not a bonus, they are basic to the fabric of society.

Visit one of the thousands of villages that dot the South African landscape. Observe how few men are in church. Notice how few fathers reside permanently in the home of their wife and children. When fathers flee, families flounder. Scripture commands the father, not the mother, to lead the home and instruct the children. The Psalmist said, “He commanded our fathers to teach their children” (Ps. 78:5). Paul wrote: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).

What causes fatherless homes? Point 1 above is the overarching cause. Christ-less homes are more likely to be fatherless homes. Government grants to single mothers are another cause. It encourages young ladies to have children out of wedlock. Alcohol is another chief source of fatherless homes. Drunkenness steals the pay check from the home and the father from his children. Research at Boston University concluded that South Africa consumes more alcohol than most countries in the world.

What is the solution? Preachers must model and preach what biblical fatherhood looks like. Governments must never subsidize sin, like money to single moms. Schools must only teach abstinence, and should reject every form of “safe sex” that encourages unwed couples to use condoms, the pill and abortion to prevent unwanted children. In short, the solution to fatherless homes is a biblical worldview of the family.

3. Book-less homes

According to the 2016 PIRLS Literacy Test, South Africa is a catastrophe when it comes to cognitive reading. Consider these finding. South Africa finished last in reading among 50 countries surveyed. Eight of 10 children in Grade 4 cannot read. The gender gap between girls that can read and boys that can read is second highest in the world. This means not only can SA fourth-grade girls not read, but SA fourth-grade boys really cannot read. This is more than an issue of literacy. It is not so much learning to read, but loving to read. South Africa is not a nation that loves to read.

This is a problem for any society but particularly a problem for soil where Christianity is being planted. Christianity is a religion of a Book, far more than Islam, for example. According to the University of Pennsylvania, the Quran has been translated into 47 languages. The Bible has been translated into over 700, with the NT into well over 1,500. You tell me which is a religion of the book.

Families that read, and especially families that read the Bible, will rise to the greatest heights in society. Many of the history’s greatest scientists, composers and writers were lovers of Christ and lovers of his Word. They were readers before they were leaders. Psalm 119:97 says: “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.”

Conclusion

Homes that honour God most are those with Christ, fathers, and the Book at the centre. The solution is preaching Christ, avoiding premarital sex, loving your wife and children forever and a day and prizing the Bible above all possessions. Buying books for your kids every birthday and Christmas will also help.