South Africa is broken. Everyone is talking about it: Corrupt government, soaring crime rates, high unemployment, the erosion of the rule of law. Xenophobic attacks erupted again in the major cities, and especially here in KwaZulu-Natal. Eskom, the national electricity supplier, is struggling to keep the lights on. “Load shedding,” controlled and rolling blackouts are commonplace, and business is suffering as a result. South Africa is shirking its international commitments, and is now considering pulling out of the International Criminal Court.

Hugely troubling is the total failure of the school system to graduate educated students. South Africa is among the worst in the world for science and math literacy of high school students. The unions have succeeded in preventing the government from making any real change, and the government is putting pressure on schools to pass failing students into subsequent grades.

Poverty, teen pregnancy, HIV infections, substance abuse, poor public health care, poor food security, water shortages, and high school dropout rates all seem to be increasing. Despite having the highest GDP in sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa is in real trouble.

Where is the hope?

And where is the Church?

Unfortunately, most churches here have very little to say about social ills. They’re content with marrying, burying, baptizing and getting people to verbally confess Jesus as Lord so they can go to heaven. The preaching and teaching is aimed at the spiritual side of the person (what to believe), but peoples’ economic and social realities are left unaddressed. It’s as though, in church, humans are only spiritual.

So where is the hope? Is our hope simply to “hang on” until the “good life” in the afterlife? Or was the message of Jesus intended not just to transform individuals, or families, but also whole communities and even nations?

This is a subject on which whole books have been (and are being) written. But for sake of space, allow me to just touch on the idea of holistic ministry. Holistic ministry can be defined as the whole gospel, for the whole person. Through holistic ministry, the faith community responds to the world’s brokenness by proclaiming and modeling the joy of a right relationship with God in Christ. We also participate in the ongoing Kingdom work of social restoration and reconciliation. As Christ is making us whole, God’s Spirit works through us to bring wholeness to others.
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The whole gospel brings salvation in its fullest sense—forgiveness of sins, inner conversion of individuals in regeneration and sanctification, physical and emotional healing, the transformation of social and economic relationships, reconciliation and peace, and the ultimate triumph of Christ over the forces of evil on a cosmic scale.

God’s salvation is comprehensive. The church’s presentation of the gospel has often been fractured. Different segments of the church have emphasized different aspects of the good news — for example, grace to sinners versus justice for the poor.

Holistic ministry views people as body-soul wholes created to live in life-giving community. Thus the church ministers to every dimension of human need, and seeks wholeness at every level of society—individuals, families, communities, nations, and the global human family. Holistic ministry goes beyond short-term, relief-oriented aid. It means modeling God’s concern for the total well being of people and communities. It means an incarnational lifestyle of integrity, compassion, and invitation. It means sharing good news both for this life and for the life after death. It means loving neighbors both far and near with the same joyous abandon that Jesus displayed, especially those who are most needy and least lovable.

As the Father desires that all should have abundant life, we too should help others realize their potential for living as God intended. As the Father urges that “justice roll down like waters” (Amos 5:24), we too must work toward creating the kind of society that pleases God.

Is there hope for South Africa – or for any other nation for that matter? There certainly is: It is the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ, lived out by the Church. And the church is you and I.

(Some of the above was adapted from Ronald J. Sider, Philip N. Olson and Heidi Rolland Unruh, “Churches That Make a Difference: Reaching Your Community with Good News and Good Works,” chapter 2.)