A Christian Perspective on Male Circumcision Schools

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Paul Schlehlein

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Male circumcision schools are as common throughout sub-Saharan Africa as they are dangerous. Recently in Zambia, for example, forty-eight boys were rescued from a circumcision school after parents complained that their children had been abducted. In Malawi among the Yawo people, this rite of passage is called jando, marking a new era of sexual freedom.

Among the Tsongas in South Africa, it is called madlala. I have watched nearly two decades worth of coming home ceremonies, including the days I lived at the chief’s kraal when the boys were met with cheers from the community and dances from hordes of topless women. The father of a strong young Christian in our church tricked his son by capturing him in a vehicle and forcing him to attend the school.

While differences in this practice vary widely between tribes and countries, I’d like to give a broad biblical perspective on male circumcision schools.

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The Breakdown of the Family in Africa: A Christian Perspective on Migration, Marriage, and Parenting

Posted on October 31, 2024 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Jonathan Klimek

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

The African continent is grappling with a significant challenge: the breakdown of the family unit. Economic necessity is a key driver of this issue, which compels many individuals to leave their home countries in search of work, particularly in South Africa, now a major destination for migrant workers. Although the financial support sent back home offers some relief, the long-term absence of parents and spouses creates deep and lasting fractures within families. This article explores the roots of this crisis, its devastating consequences, and how the Bible can inform our response.

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Why Don’t Men Go To the Rural Areas?

Posted on August 1, 2024 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Seth Meyers

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Have you ever met a man who preached the gospel of Jesus Christ and taught the Scriptures honestly and consistently on the Lord’s Day in one of Africa’s 2,000 black languages? Years ago I had the privilege of speaking to a black leader of an African denomination that had more than 400 churches, and he told me that the churches in his group are, generally speaking, all using English. At a different meeting with dozens of African pastors from several countries, I could not find a pastor ministering in a black language. If you have not met a man like this, that indicates relatively, that men are not commonly going to the rural areas.

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TARIF: The Most Unreached Place in Sub-Saharan Africa

Posted on October 8, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Friday, October 6^th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga.

TARIF: The Most Unreached Place in Sub-Saharan Africa

According to Joshua Project, the people group in sub-Saharan Africa that is least reached with the gospel is the Yao people in the eastern region of Malawi.

Joshuaproject.net is a research initiative seeking to identify the ethnic groups of the world with the fewest followers of Jesus. This Christian organization uses ethnologic data to help coordinate the work of missionaries by tracking the people groups with the least followers of evangelical Christianity.

Joshua Project breaks down the world’s population of eight billion people into over 17,00 people groups. Each of these people groups are then placed into one of five Progress Levels based on their number of evangelicals, defined as someone who believes the Bible and trusts in Jesus Christ as their sole source for salvation.

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TARIF: Choosing Between an iPhone 15 and Your Family

Posted on October 3, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Tuesday, October 3^rd, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Yamikani Katunga and presented by Paul Schlehlein

Choosing Between an iPhone 15 and Your Family

In our world of ever-developing devices and novel announcements, this time of the year has come to be coined as ‘Tech-tember and Tech-tober.’ Annually in September the biggest and most successful company in the world, Apple Inc.–which has surpassed a market cap of $3 Trillion– attracts global attention with the fanfare that covers the release of their latest phone.

With the hype bubbling around the brand-new iPhone 15, MyBroadband, a top African blog, reported the cost in terms of the average worker’s salary. According to their research, a South African employee must save 27 days’ pay to afford the lowest-priced iPhone 15. With South Africa being the third-highest peak of the African economy in terms of GDP, one can only imagine comparative challenges in countries like Malawi, Zambia, and Senegal which are less than a tenth of the size of South Africa’s economy.

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TARIF: The Holy Ghost Bartender’s Africa Tour

Posted on September 15, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Friday, September 15^th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga.

The Holy Ghost Bartender’s Africa Tour

Rodney Howard-Browne through Revival Ministries International has returned to his homeland for a 2023 Africa Tour. The popular charismatic preacher and evangelist has pastored in the United States since the 1990s, though he and his wife were born in the 1960s in South Africa and Zimbabwe, respectively.

Revival Ministries is publicizing heavily his preaching tour and has cast the net wide on the continent. In just the months of September and October 2023, Howard-Browne will visit most of the major cities in southern Africa, including Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Ekiti, Nigeria; Nairobi, Kenya; Lilongwe, Malawi; Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, South Africa; Manzini, Eswatini; Swakopmund, Namibia; Lusaka, Zambia; Kampala, Uganda; and Gaborone, Botswana.

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TARIF: Why It’s Always Good to Resist Bribes

Posted on September 1, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.Today is Friday, September 1^st, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga.

Why It’s Always Good to Resist Bribes

Late last year, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera vowed to crack down on the corruption and bribery so common in his nation. Chakwera took office in 2020 after becoming the first African opposition leader to defeat an incumbent in a return of a fraudulent election.

Bribery is not uncommon in Africa, just as in many other places around the world. Billboards dot the landscape with statements like: “Give corruption a good knock. Don’t give or take bribes.” Such signboards wouldn’t be necessary if bribery weren’t an issue. Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer—Africa 2019 has found that more than half of the 47,000 citizens in the 35 countries surveyed believe their nation is becoming more corrupt. And this bribery is hurting the poor.

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TARIF: African Women in Combat

Posted on August 4, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Friday, August 4^th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga.

African Women in Combat

Last month at the International Association of Women Police, Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa urged the women of his country to take a greater role in fighting his nation’s problems with crime. Under the guise of “women’s empowerment”, the conference gathered thousands of senior women police officers from around Africa, from countries like Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Malawi.

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