I spent nearly five hours with the Allisons between African Christian College in Swaziland and the home of Chris Burke in Benoni, South Africa (mentioned in a previous blog post). Their marriage ministry is unlike anything you’ll find among Churches of Christ in Africa, I’m guessing. The feature made a nice addition to our ongoing Global South series.

I’m returning from a two-week reporting trip for our Global South series to Swaziland, South Africa and Malawi. It will take me weeks to process all of the information I’ve gathered, but the one thought that sticks out in my mind is that we truly are a family of believers — no matter what continent we call home.

No dessert is more American than apple pie. And no dessert is more South African than malva pudding, or so I’m told. I got heaping helpings of both tonight at the home of Chris Burke. I’m here at his home in Benoni, a suburb of Johannesburg, in between reporting trips to Swaziland and Malawi. I rode here this morning from Swaziland with Fielden and Janet Allison, who teach at African Christian College and are beginning a 10-week road trip with their marriage enrichment ministry.

The tiny kingdom of Swaziland, nestled between South Africa and Mozambique, seems an unlikely place to hear a debate on whether or not Jesus violated the Sabbath when he healed a man. But that was the topic in Friday morning’s class on hermeneutics (the study of interpreting Scripture) at African Christian College. I’m here on a reporting trip, gathering more stories for The Christian Chronicle’s ongoing “Global South” series. Some students argued that, yes, Jesus was breaking the Sabbath law by “working,” but it didn’t matter because God made the law. Others said that Jesus only violated the Pharisees’ interpretation of the law.

No, I’m not talking about the sport with first downs and two-point conversions. I’m talking about the one with penalty kicks and yellow cards — the sport most nations outside the United States refer to as football. For the first time in history, the FIFA World Cup travels to the African continent. Fifteen years after shedding its apartheid policies, South Africa will host one of the biggest sporting events in the world. (Bobby Ross was in South Africa last year a posted a story about Churches of Christ in the post-apartheid era.) The official soccer ball of the tournament bears the word “Jabulani,” a word in the Zulu language that means “rejoice.” Back in 2002 African Christians gathered in the Dallas area for “Jabulani Africa!” celebrating 100 years of evangelism by Churches of Christ.

Norbert and Paula Taferner, members of a Church of Christ in South Africa, died in a Wednesday plane crash near the Tripoli airport in Libya. Norbert Taferner, 70, worked for Global Aviation. The Taferners attended the Boksburg church, located between Johannesburg and Benoni.