South Africa

A. Introduction

At the southern tip of Africa, South Africa crosses into the temperate region in the Southern Hemisphere. It has an area more than 1,220,000 km2 and a population of 58,775,022. The distribution of the ethnic groups are: black 80.7%, white 7.9%, Colored 8.8% and Asian 2.6%. It is a country with an abundant supply of gold, diamond, oil, uranium and other minerals.

B. Economic and Social Situation

As South Africa was under a long period of British colonial rule, English is its official language. After the blacks regained the political power, a number of indigenous languages are also adopted as the country's official languages, also the political and social situation is considered stable. Christianity (Protestant) is the main religion, followed by non-belief. Roman Catholicism and Islam rank third and fourth respectively. The climate is savannah-type with less rainfall.

C. Establishment and development of True Jesus Church

Thank God for taking care of the churches in South Africa! Since 1995, some families of our believers from Taiwan and Fujian immigrated to South Africa for business, and they also brought the gospel in. At the initial stage, they held family services to sustain their faith, yet had not kept the Sabbath. During 23 years of God’s guidance and care, regardless of the limited resources, the brethren walked through all kinds of hardships and vicissitudes and finally established the True Jesus Church in South Africa. From none of Sabbath service to regularly having twice Spiritual Convocation per year (both in Johannesburg and Cape Town, respectively), the value and the importance of the commandment of keeping Sabbath has been more and more experienced.

As for the organizational perspective, in January 2018, the new South African Ministry Committee was reformed as a team of 3 people and officially succussed the work from the old. Church numbers: 2 churches in South Africa, including Johannesburg and Cape Town church; 4 worship points, amongst which the Port Elizabeth has the most numerous attendants. The total number of members in South Africa is around 700.