Southern African Churches of Christ
All the churches of Christ send greetings
Romans 16:16
Our
Vision
In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus provided a compelling and clear vision for all disciples and churches in all countries and in every generation. He instructed his followers to go and make disciples in every nation, baptise them and teach them to obey everything he had taught. That vision of Jesus, still drives us. Beginning in 1986 with one church in our family of churches in Johannesburg, we now have over 100 churches across sub-saharan Africa. We continue striving to plant and establish thriving churches in all the 12 countries of Southern Africa. This is a stepping stone towards fulfilling our lifetime African continental dream of establishing a Bible Talk within walking distance of every African.
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Southern African Churches of Christ
Imagine you are at a neighborhood barbecue. Your new neighbor arrives late, dressed casually, and barely speaks. Someone whispers, “She thinks she’s too good for us.” You feel the quick sting of that snap judgment. Later, you learn she just lost her husband and is quietly grieving. In that moment, you sense the discomfort of judging wrongly, a rush to conclusions that harms relationships and reveals more about our own hearts than the other person. Yet, the same evening, when another guest makes a racist joke, you feel an inner nudge to speak up. Is that also “judging”? This everyday tension captures what Jesus presents in Scripture: a divine balance between grace-filled restraint and righteous discernment. The two commands in tension “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” – Matthew 7: “Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.” – John 7:24 At first glance, these seem contradictory. Don’t judge. Judge correctly. Which is it? Matthew 7 warns against a critical, hypocritical spirit that condemns others while ignoring our own faults. The context continues: “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). Jesus then uses the vivid image of someone with a plank in their own eye trying to remove a speck from another’s. Notice the aim: “then you will see clearly to remove the speck.” Self-examination is not a reason to stay silent. It is how we become safe enough to speak (Matthew 7:3-5). John 7, however, shows Jesus defending his healing on the Sabbath. He challenges the religious leaders: stop superficial, appearance-based judgments and instead apply right, truthful judgment aligned with God’s character and Word. This is not a contradiction but a divine tension, two truths that must be held together. We are called to humility and self-examination (do not judge harshly or hypocritically), while also exercising discernment and moral clarity (judge correctly, according to truth). Christianity rejects both naive permissiveness (“anything goes, no one can say anything”) and harsh legalism (constant condemnation without grace).
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about next year’s trip to Mt. Kilimanjaro.
The physics of the pendulum Picture an old grandfather clock in a quiet hallway. Its long brass pendulum swings steadily: tick, tock, tick, tock. Now give that pendulum a hard shove to the right. It does not simply glide back to the center and stop. It races right past the middle and sways just as far to the left. Left to its own momentum, a pendulum never rests at either extreme; it finds peace only when it hangs still at the center, held by gravity and its fixed point. The church behaves in much the same way. Push her too far toward one side of a truth and she does not gently settle into balance, she swings. Often for a whole generation toward the opposite error, and then back again, wounding people at both ends of the arc. And here is the crucial thing the clock teaches us: the pendulum comes to rest not by being frozen in place, but by being held. Balance is not the absence of force; it is the fixed point that keeps opposing pulls in tension so that the weight can finally hang still.
Johannesburg church appoints Mpho and Pumla Khalo as evangelist and women's ministry leader. They serve in the Soweto region.
Campus minister Jake Graham shares about Johannesburg’s campus ministry and highlights Campus Encounter 2026 filled with teaching, fellowship and fun.
In the messy arena of human relationships, whether in marriage, the workplace, church family, or the volatile world of online discourse, we constantly feel the pull of opposing forces. One voice urges us to defend truth fiercely; another calls us to extend grace generously. This is the divine tension of disagreement: holding both conviction and compassion without letting go of either. Today, we turn to a passage that cuts to the heart of how we handle differences: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” – James 1:19-20 (NIV) James, writing to scattered believers across the nations, doesn’t offer fluffy advice. He gives a practical, counter-cultural blueprint for godly relationships: Be quick to listen. Slow to speak. Slow to anger. These aren’t suggestions for better conversations; they are directives for producing the righteousness God desires. This passage applies to husbands and wives, children and parents, bosses and workers; everyone from the pulpit to the pew. We all need to train ourselves to be better listeners. The divine tension in James’ command Here lies the tension: Listening requires humility and self-control, while speaking (especially in defense of truth) feels urgent. Anger can arise when we perceive injustice or error, yet James holds these in balance. We must lean into listening first, restrain our tongues, and guard our hearts against hasty wrath. Why? Because “human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” This isn’t a ban on all anger; Jesus displayed righteous anger in the temple (John 2:13-17). But human anger, tainted by our flesh, tends toward self-justification, escalation, and sin. It rarely births the fruit of the Spirit. The tension calls us to slow down enough for the Holy Spirit to lead, rather than our adrenaline. What science reveals about anger and “hearing” Modern neuroscience echoes what James knew by inspiration. When anger flares, our brain undergoes an “amygdala hijack.” The amygdala, the brain’s alarm system tied to fight-or-flight, floods the body with adrenaline and cortisol. This redirects resources: our heart rate spikes and oxygen flows to muscles for action, but our higher reasoning centers in the prefrontal cortex – responsible for judgment, empathy, and nuanced thinking – get suppressed. In this state, our ability to truly “hear” another person diminishes dramatically. Active listening, the tool that clarifies, disarms, and seeks understanding, becomes nearly impossible. We filter everything through threat detection, empathy drops, and we stop processing the other’s words for their actual meaning. Instead, while they are still speaking we start crafting rebuttals or counterattacks. This explains why conflicts escalate so quickly: we literally cannot hear well when flooded with anger. James’ call to be slow to anger is not just spiritual wisdom; it aligns with how God designed our brains to function best when governed by self-control rather than unchecked emotion. Recognizing our physiological limits isn’t about suppressing feelings, it’s about guarding our capacity for reason so we don’t accidentally sabotage the very justice we seek to defend. Even if the other person is operating out of a completely hijacked, high-emotion state, our calling to maintain self-control and clear thinking remains. When our prefrontal cortex goes offline, our hijacked brain defaults to intellectual shortcuts. This emotional flooding is precisely what predisposes us toward constructing caricatures, like the straw man, rather than engaging with the actual person.
