Bible Study in the Townships: Soweto, Alexandra, and the Church That Lives Where It Is

In 2021, a woman named Mamariti started a Bible study in her mother's kitchen in Orlando West, Soweto. Three years later, that kitchen Bible study has rotated between three different homes, has a regular attendance of about fourteen women and four men, and has read through the entire book of Romans twice. It is the most under-resourced Bible study we have ever visited. It is also one of the most faithful.

What Township Bible Study Looks Like Up Close

If you have only ever been to a Bible study in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, the first thing that surprises you about a township Bible study is the noise. The second thing is the welcome. The third, and the part that does the real work, is the depth.

Five Things We Have Learned From Township Bible Study

1. The Bible Study Is the Building

In the townships, the Bible study is primary. The building is whatever room is available — a kitchen, a shebeen at 11am, a taxi parked on open ground, the shaded area outside an RDP house, a school classroom.

2. The Discussion Goes Longer Because the Stakes Are Higher

In the suburbs, a Bible study discussion runs about forty-five minutes. In the townships, it runs for two hours. The questions being asked are bigger.

3. Hospitality Is Part of the Bible Study

The tea and the vetkoek and the magaru — those are the sacraments of the gathering. To refuse them is to refuse the gathering.

4. The Leader Does Not Need to Be a Theologian

The leader is often a woman in her sixties who has read the Bible three times through. She does not need a degree. She has the authority that comes from having walked with God for forty years.

5. The Resources Flow Both Ways

The Bible studies we have visited in Soweto and Alexandra have resources we do not have. They have depth. They have songs we have not heard. They have a kind of prayer life that is rarer in the suburbs.

How to Visit a Township Bible Study Well

Ask first, do not just show up. Bring something, but not a sermon. Stay for the meal. Be honest about where you are from. Follow up. Do not take photos without asking.

What We Are Trying to Build Across Johannesburg

What we are trying to build, slowly, is a Bible study community across Johannesburg that knows the Bible studies in the townships are not outreach projects. They are sister communities. They are equals.

Johannesburg Bible Study Church meets every Wednesday at 7:30pm for an online Bible study. We also have relationships with Bible study communities in Soweto and Alexandra. Call +27 77 487 1295 or +27 67 442 4461 to find out more.