African Pastors Conferences Mid-Year Update 2025

Dear UK Supporter,
 

During the first half of 2025, African Pastors Conferences have been staying busy, carrying out conference runs in several nations: South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Zambia. 


For each run, our conference manager, Herman Swart, writes a helpful overview with reports on each conference, pictures, and links to interviews and more information. If you haven't already subscribed to his email updates, they will fuel your prayers and warm your hearts!

Subscribe to Monthly Conference Updates: africanpastorsconferences77@gmail.com  Here are three highlights to share from Herman's updates:

Mokopane, Republic of South Africa (26-27 Feb)

The APC team for this run consisted of Ps. Sechaba Legoete from Barberton.

Community Church, Andrew Mostert from Birchleigh Baptist Church, and  

Ps. Herman Swart from South Coast Reformed Fellowship in Port Shepstone, KZN. The run included five conferences in Gaborone, Francistown, Bulawayo, Harare, and Mokopane.
 

The journey to Mokopane (fondly called "Potties") was long and exhausting. We arrived at 2 AM after experiencing significant delays at the border. Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong. Despite this, after a short rest, we preached on grace on the first day.

Attendance was good, and engagement was excellent. The local organisers, Koos Basson and KJ, did a fantastic job coordinating the conference. In all my years at APC, this was one of the best conferences I have had the privilege of attending. The Lord was truly gracious, and His blessing was evident at this gathering.

Book sales in Mokopane were also exceptionally high, and most attendees were pastors from across the region.

Interview with three attendees: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16yCd3Kxa9/ 

Ibadan, Nigeria (17-18 March)

We arrived in Ibadan on the evening of the Lord’s Day ahead of the conference on Monday. This was APC’s second time in the city, and recalling the great turnout in 2024 (325 delegates), we knew that we had to make an early start.

As expected, the delegates came pouring in, mostly Baptist pastors from far and near (this region is the hub of the Nigerian Baptist Convention). In the Lord’s kindness, a team of young people from a Reformed fellowship (overseen by SGBC Lagos) were on hand to support Sixtus with the registration and other admin responsibilities.

The conference itself was a good one. The Lord gave Rusty and me liberty to preach His glorious truths, and the feedback, both in the Q&A and generally, was good. Sadly, book sales did not match the huge attendance.

Some pastors met with me afterwards and requested that we come to their cities.

Major highlight: Rusty interacted with a group of reforming young people and was moved by what they were reading and their grasp of sound doctrine.

Number of delegates: 463   

Solwezi, Zambia (16 - 17 June)
 

The run kicked off in Solwezi. Brian Mutale had done an excellent job in organising using a conference committee from a wide scope of denominations, and we had a group of 50, almost all of them pastors, attending. This was the original vision of APC founders Irving Steggles and Erroll Hulse: to reach the full scope of African pastors with these conferences, and this came to fruition in Solwezi this year.

There was a hunger and thirst for the Word, good questions, and good engagement. Book sales were exceptionally good, as the pastors here have not had access to good Evangelical and Reformed books.

The pastors in Solwezi also expressed their need for good theological education in this area on a more consistent basis. Please click the button below to listen to some interviews we had with some of the brethren there.



Interview with three pastors:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AV9RMsb9k/ 

Planned Visit Of Thapelo Mpai To The UK 

We are in the process of applying for a visa so that one of the team from South Africa, Thapelo Mpai (pastor of Birchleigh Baptist Church in Kempton Park), can visit the UK and report on the work being done. If you are interested in having him visit, hopefully in November this year, please let me know by sending me an email at otas@stormguard.co.uk.

Please join us in praying that the visa will be granted and Thapelo will be able to visit.

Support Update 

Our UK fundraising goal for the second half of 2025 is to raise an additional £20,000 GBP to set us up for 2026. This will enable us to purchase books more in advance, at a cheaper cost with lower shipping charges. It will also enable us to reduce the stress on the team as they seek to have all the books in stock well in advance of each conference run. Please consider what you might be able to contribute to this goal.

In the UK through Reformation Today:
 

By PayPal at https://reformation-today.org/donations/
 

By cheque made payable to 'Reformation Today' and posted to Reformation Today, 9 Ffordd Trem y Foel, Mold, CH7 1NG.

By bank transfer: Reformation Today; Sort code: 537000; Account: 01176226
 NOTE: Please indicate that the donation is for African Pastor's Conferences, since Reformation Today also runs conferences and a magazine – we need to know that the contributions are for the Conferences. 


Please Pray 

We are deeply thankful for the prayerful support given by so many churches and individuals in the UK. It has been a special joy to see giving increase in the past year and to witness a growing level of interest in APCs. Please continue to pray for God’s blessing upon the remaining conferences in 2025. The doctrine of God is so vital to these pastors since the devastating errors of “Word of Faith” ministry with its emphasis on “deliverance and prosperity” thrives on a small view of God. Pray that all the attendees will be gripped with the truth about our infinite, immutable, transcendent and holy God and the wonder that this same God should appropriate humanity to himself in order to be our champion and redeemer.

Please pray for us as we make plans for 2026. We are working on the theme at this stage and seeking to put together the schedule. A lot of work goes into such planning, and we greatly value your prayers.  

If you require any further information about APCs or would like to speak further either in person or by Zoom, please email me at otas@stormguard.co.uk.