Mokululi Ncube lives in Mbabane, Eswatini, and is the interim pastor at Mbabane Chapel and the coordinator for Langham Preaching Clubs in Eswatini. As a teen he encountered a pastor that ignited a fire in him for understanding the Word and to preach. After completing the Langham training, his love for reading the Bible faithfully continued to grow and he passionately teaches and encourages the next generation to understand and teach biblical truths in a challenging cultural context.
As a nation, Eswatini is described as mostly Christian, however the understanding of the gospel is minimal. Mokuli explains, “Eswatini is one of the remaining monarchies in the world and it’s a very beautiful country, mountainous, very traditional as well. People respect their culture, their traditions and people are also religious. So almost everybody here will tell you that they’re Christian. It is only when you have further probing and discussions that you discover that they’re just a nominal Christian.”
“A unique challenge in Swaziland, because it’s a traditional society and also very religious, you’ve got lots of syncretism here where people mix their African traditional religion and the gospel message that dilutes the gospel message in the end. And in most cases, when people have to choose between culture and the gospel, many of our people still choose culture over the gospel. Most probably because the gospel message is not clearly taught and its full implications are not clearly revealed to people.”
Teaching the Bible faithfully
“What Langham seeks to bring is very important to raise faithful handlers of the text. Because most people do not have full exposure to what the gospel is. What is presented to them as the gospel is not the gospel alone. The gospel is not about what we have done, what we can do to earn our salvation, but from our African traditional religion perspective, I have to earn the favour of the ancestors. I have to do good, I have to make sacrifices to earn the favour. So the African traditional religion will be similar to the Old Testament Hebrew religion..And I think that false bridge is also fed by a lot of prosperity gospel. So people are taught of this transactional relationship with God.”
Langham is passionate about teaching the Bible faithfully and equipping pastors. Mokululi first experienced the outworking of Langham as a teenager in high school, and the Bible came alive for him. He shares his experience, “When I became a Christian, I was in my second year of high school. I read the Bible but had many difficulties in understanding the Bible until I met a man, Reverend Dr. Femi Adeleye [African Director of Langham], who taught me how to read the Bible. I became very interested in preaching the message of the Bible. Every time I listened to him preach there was something that he offered which other preachers didn’t offer.”
“Many preachers would just read the text… to introduce their message and for the next one hour, you are asking yourself, ‘Where is he getting all this from?’ Some of them look like brilliant motivational points that will get you excited. But beyond that service, they don’t help you to meet with everyday reality of life and reflect on them as a Christian. So this man preached the Bible differently.”
Mokululi completed Langham preaching training, and was greatly impacted by the teaching and clarity of John Stott. He shares, “I was invited to attend a training seminar on Langham…We were learning how to preach through Paul’s letters. Reverend Femi said to the group of young preachers who were there, if you were preaching from Paul and all of a sudden Paul suddenly walked in, would you change your sermon notes? That hit me very hard… And I began to think about many sermons from Paul that I had preached and I realised, I would have to change.”
“I got exposed to John Stott and started reading his commentaries. I remember I started with the message on the Sermon on the Mount. As I read one sentence after another, the Sermon on the Mount became so clear…He communicated it in a language that I could connect with because then, I had not gone to seminary…This is what attracted me to expository preaching, as Langham teaches it. Walking people through the text, what it meant for the original hearers, drawing out from the text.”
Testament and impact
Langham Eswatini started in 2016, and they’ve trained more than one hundred people in all three levels. As the Preaching Club Coordinator, Mokululi oversees the training of new participants and refresher courses for the current facilitators. “Preaching clubs are places of mutual encouragement. Sometimes you really feel like you’re struggling, but when you come to the preaching club, a lot of preachers get encouraged,” he shares.
Langham is raising faithful Bible teachers all over the world. Mokululi has been directly impacted by the work of Langham and is now impacting the next generations. He shares his gratitude, “Thank you for giving and for praying and supporting Langham in different ways. I am a product of Langham. I came across a man who modeled faithful preaching before he even told me about Langham. I fell in love with his preaching. I fell in love with the integrity with which he handled the text of the Bible. And I asked him, “Where did you get it from?” He introduced me to Langham.”
“Over the years, I’ve received literature from Langham that has developed me as a preacher and as a Bible handler…God is multiplying the results across the whole world, and I’m one living testament of that. I’m doing my part in a small way in impacting future generations of preachers.”
Pray with us
- Thank God for the faithful teaching of Reverend Femi and the impact his life had on Mokululi. Thank God for Mokululi’s passion for sharing the gospel and equipping leaders in Eswatini.
- Pray for more leaders to be trained and equipped in teaching the Word, and for the people of Eswatini to understand the gospel and find their hope in Jesus.