The Flores Journey

For the past two months, we have been working amongst the Xhosa people in the township of Khayelitsha. As we get to know the people in the community we have begun to uncover some very scary beliefs amongst the “Christians” here. One young man shared with one of our team members about his baptismal experience at his “Christian” church. He told us that a goat was slaughtered as part of the ritual and was given a goat-hair necklace by a witch doctor to wear after the baptism. He also shared very openly that prayers are made routinely to dead ancestors.

We talked with some people who have worked with the Xhosa for some time now and they affirm this practice. They told us that it is a very common thing amongst the Xhosa people, even the Christians. They also told us that when the young men go to get circumcised, (see this post), the people who actually perform this surgery are witch doctors. Prayers are offered to dead ancestors and every Xhosa boy has to perform this, or else they will not be respected in the community. When we heard this we were deeply shaken. Many of the young men we know in our Africa Jam group have performed these rituals. We ask that you would pray for us especially in regards to this matter. We are very much aware that to take on this issue we are going to take on a tribe’s sacred tradition. I am distraught that this is so widely accepted amongst the Christians here. We do have some hope in that we have heard of one church in particular that we have ties with in the community who we believe does not agree with the practice of ancestor worship. That said, the same missionaries who have been working amongst the Xhosa told us that some Xhosa Christian’s who don’t agree with the practice said this: “A Xhosa Christian must check their Christianity at the door when going to get circumcised. It’s Cultural and we won’t have any respect. We can’t even get married if we do not do this.”

During the ritual one of the teachings of the witch doctor is that after the circumcision the boy’s first emission is tainted. So they are told that the first girl they sleep with cannot be their wife because the girl would then be tainted as well.

I hope your heart moves for these people as much as mine does. Please pray for wisdom for Andy and me as we try to figure out how to shine light into this very dark area.