AFRICONNECTION: November 2007

As we’ve said other times, one of the reasons our blog is called “Africonnection” is because we want to introduce Africans and Americans to each other. In this post, we’d like to tell the story of another new African Nazarene friend, Rev. Mashangu Maluleka, whose journey took him from an infamous African slum to a position of leadership in the church and community.

At the time Mashangu Maluleka was born in 1959, the South African system of apartheid and so-called “pass laws” were severely limiting the freedom of black African and mixed race residents. His earliest memories are of living with his widowed mother in the house of his uncle in Soweto. It is a notorious slum township southwest of Johannesburg South Africa which also features the homes of Nobel Prize winners Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu on a single street.

Because only male workers could apply for identity papers allowing them to live in Soweto, Mashangu and his mother lived a fugitive life. She earned a little money as a “hawker”, selling small items on the street, but the lack of acceptable identity papers meant the police regularly harassed her and confiscated her merchandise. At night, she had to sleep in a cubbyhole between the top of the toilet and the roof, hidden by baskets and boxes from the police who spoke roughly and shined flashlights during late-night raids. Even though her life was hard, Mashangu's mother encouraged him to read the Bible and pray.

When it was time for him to begin school, his mother sent him to live with his grandmother in Hammanskraal, a rural area less accessible to government control. Even so, as the government imposed still more sanctions, he continued to hear from his family in Soweto.

Although Mashangu was away from his mother’s religious influence, other people continued to point him toward God. One of his teachers at Sekitla High School read the Bible and encouraged him to buy a Bible of his own. A Nazarene uncle invited him to visit and helped him buy school uniforms and his first bicycle. Even so, the turmoil in the country and in his life increased.

In 1976, the government proposed what he described as the “last straw”: that all instruction must be done in Afrikaans, the mixed Dutch and African language of the white minority. As the struggle continued for a number of years, concerned high school students in Soweto began to meet at Orlando High School. Troops broke up meetings and fired on a march, killing a 13-year old student. Many of Mashangu’s friends and acquaintances died as the government attempted to stop the protests. He and other students were spiritually searching but troubled—where was the God of justice in these difficult times?

In the middle of these challenges and questions, his Nazarene uncle invited him for a visit and he discovered to his dismay that the church was having a revival featuring Rev. Nelson Ngobaeni, an elderly but very passionate evangelist. Out of respect for his uncle he attended even though the crowds were small and it seemed the evangelist had received detailed information about his sinful life. Out of desperation, he lied to his uncle about needing to go back to school. On his way out of his uncle’s gate he met the evangelist who asked to speak to him for five minutes.

When he reluctantly agreed, the evangelist invited him to the church that was opposite the uncle's house. He then handed him the Bible open to Galatians 5:19-20 and asked Mashangu to slowly out loud: “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Mashangu was amazed to find how specific and personal the Scripture was. When the preacher asked him to read the Scripture again, he started to do so, but then, in frustration, threw the Bible at the evangelist and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

The evangelist asked him to turn to 1 John 1:9-10: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ...” The preacher led him in a prayer of repentance and asked him to write his sins on a piece of paper. As Mashangu completed his list, the preacher took the paper from him and symbolically set it on fire. In spite of the political challenges in his country, Mashangu left that meeting with a new direction in his life.

He enrolled in Bible school in 1978, and in rapid succession became the youngest Bible school graduate, the youngest pastor (1982) and the youngest District Superintendent (1990) in the country. Today he is the principal of the Nazarene Theological College in Muldersdrift, South Africa (see picture, right), a few miles outside of Johannesburg, leading the preparation of young people for the ministry. The frightened and oppressed Soweto boy has become a respected and influential Nazarene leader through the impact of a godly mother, high school teacher, Nazarene uncle and through the prevenient grace of a loving and persistent God.

Prayer request: NTC Muldersdrift is launching a new distance learning undergraduate degree, the first ever authorized by the South African Department of Education. Please pray that God will use this new degree to prepare men and women for the growing pastoral needs in Africa. Also that God will make the hearts of the African Nazarenes to be generous as the school raises the 2.5 million South African rand they need to provide scholarships to under-privileged students. If you get a minute, please send a note of encouragement to this South African brother in Christ at the e-mail address below.

Contact information: Rev. Mashangu Maluleka, malulekamashangu@gmail.com