Conference 2025: Faithful to the Five

The 2025 annual Sola 5 Conference, hosted by Antioch Bible Church in Johannesburg, South Africa, was held from 3–5 September 2025. This celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the association, which was formalised in Heidelberg, Gauteng, on 8 April 2005 with a declaration of Intent signed by some 37 founding members.

An initial steering committee—comprising Christo Beetge, Nico van der Walt, Jeff Gate, Ronald Kalifungwa, and Bruce Button—was elected to serve between the founding and the inaugural conference, which took place from 29 September to 2 October 2006 at Antipas Reformed Baptist Church in Pretoria.

At the conference, the initial steering committee was re-elected, and four more men—Errol Wagner, Joachim Rieck, Conrad Mbewe, and Hein Strauss—were elected to join them. The association comprised twelve churches (listed below alphabetically) and 26 associate members. (Note that associate membership has since been discontinued.)

1. Antipas Reformed Baptist Church (Pretoria, South Africa)
2. Antipas Reformed Baptist Church (Vereeniging, South Africa) (since renamed Vaal Reformed Baptist Church)
3. Brackenhurst Baptist Church (Alberton, South Africa)
4. Eastside Baptist Church (Windhoek, Namibia)
5. Emmanuel Baptist Church (Roodepoort, South Africa)
6. Free Grace Baptist Church (Boksburg, South Africa) (no longer operational)
7. Germiston Baptist Church (Germiston, South Africa)
8. Grace Baptist Church (Walkerville, South Africa) (presently not a Sola 5 church)
9. Lynnwood Baptist Church (Pretoria, South Africa)
10. Newcastle Baptist Church (Newcastle, South Africa)
11. Reformed Baptist Church (Harare, Zimbabwe) (presently not a Sola 5 church)
12. Wapadrand Baptist Church (Pretoria, South Africa) (presently not a Sola 5 church)

Delegates arrived throughout the day to wonderful hospitality from Antioch Bible Church. Dinner was enjoyed at 5:30 pm and, at 7:00 pm, after a congregational song, Tim Cantrell, pastor of Antioch Bible Church, welcomed delegates to the twentieth anniversary conference.

Michael Sargeant, current pastor of founding church Emmanuel Baptist Church read from Revelation 5:1–14 and opened the session in prayer. After more congregational singing, Phil Hunt, chair of the steering committee, invited Christ Baptist Church to share about three potential partnerships:

• A church strengthening opportunity at Chief Shepherd Baptist Church in Chikombedzi, Zimbabwe
• A church planting opportunity at Shivani Baptist Church in Makhanini, Zimbabwe
• A church planting opportunity in Southern Gateway, Polokwane, South Africa

Tim Cantrell was invited back to pray for these works before Antioch Bible Church’s choir presented a special music item.

Phil Hunt, pastor of Kitwe Church in Zambia, preached the first sermon of the week, in which he introduced the theme of the conference, and reminded delegates of the mission of Sola 5, from Romans 10:1–21.

Anchoring his message in Romans 10:1–21, Phil demonstrated how the five solas are not merely historical doctrines but living truths that derived from Scripture itself.  He argued that the purpose of God flows through the people of God to the glory of God and presented four key truths:

1. God’s purpose is to call out a people from every tribe and nation
2. God’s purpose is accomplished through gospel proclamation
3. God’s purpose is accomplished through the church
4. God’s Purpose results in eternal joy and glory

Phil concluded with a powerful formulation of the five solas as active commitments:

1. Scripture alone gives our message—but only if we proclaim it.
2. Christ alone provides our hope—but only if we share him.
3. Grace alone motivates our method—but only if we preach it.
4. Faith alone describes our goal—but only if we call others to it.
5. The glory of God alone defines our purpose—but only if we live for it.

The session concluded with corporate singing before Tim delivered a benediction and dismissed delegates until the next day.

The session concluded with corporate singing before Tim delivered a benediction and dismissed delegates until the next day.

Paul Schehlein from Trinity Baptist Church led the opening song of the second plenary session before Newton Chilingulo, pastor of Reformation Bible Church in Malawi, welcomed delegates to Day 2 of the conference. Newton invited Joachim Rieck, pastor of Robertson Reformed Community Church to read Scripture (2 Timothy 3:1–4:8) and open the session in prayer.

Paul Schehlein from Trinity Baptist Church led the opening song of the second plenary session before Newton Chilingulo, pastor of Reformation Bible Church in Malawi, welcomed delegates to Day 2 of the conference. Newton invited Joachim Rieck, pastor of Robertson Reformed Community Church to read Scripture (2 Timothy 3:1–4:8) and open the session in prayer.

After two more congregational songs, Eastside Baptist Church in Namibia was invited forward to share about Antioch Baptist Church, a church planting partnership opportunity in Otjiwarongo, Namibia.

Newton prayed for the work at Antioch Baptist Church before a choir item, after which Brino Kumwenda, pastor of Christlike Reformed Baptist Church in Mzuzu, Malawi, was invited to preach from 2 Timothy 4:1–5 on faithful adherence to Sola Scriptura through faithful preaching.

Brino showed that Paul’s final charge to Timothy emphasises that preaching God’s word is a divine commission that requires utmost seriousness, constant readiness, and proper methodology. He highlighted three key elements of faithful preaching:

1. The seriousness of preaching
2. The seasons of preaching—in season and out of season
3. The style of preaching—reprove, rebuke, exhort

Brino noted that church revitalisation workers need special encouragement for their difficult task. Preachers must examine their communion with God, time management, and motivations. The fear of man must be overcome through proper fear of God. Success is measured by faithfulness to God, not human approval.

The task of faithful preaching is impossible by human strength alone. Preachers must run to Christ, confessing their insufficiency and relying on his strength and presence. The charge is serious, the task is constant, and the method is clear—but Christ provides both the example and the power for faithful proclamation.

The annual business meeting followed the early morning plenary session. Phil Hunt, chair of the steering committee, chaired the meeting.

After welcoming delegates to the business meeting and opening in prayer, Phil took attendance of churches represented. All 56 existing churches had renewed membership, and all but nine were represented at the conference, which constituted the necessary quorum to both constitute the meeting and to vote on the proposed constitutional amendments.

Churches represented were as follows:

1. Antioch Bible Church (South Africa)
2. Antipas Pretoria (South Africa)
3. Birchleigh Baptist Church (South Africa)
4. Brackenhurst Baptist Church (South Africa)
5. Central Baptist Church (Botswana)
6. Central Baptist Church (South Africa)
7. Christ Baptist Church (South Africa)
8. Christlike Baptist Church (Malawi)
9. Coastal Bible Church (South Africa)
10. Comunhão dos Crentes em Cristo (Mozambique)
11. Eastside Baptist Church (Namibia)
12. Elim Baptist Church (South Africa)
13. Emmanuel Baptist Church (South Africa)
14. Florida Baptist Church (South Africa)
15. Free State Bible Church (South Africa)
16. Germiston Baptist Church (South Africa)
17. Glenvista Baptist Church (South Africa)
18. Glorious Gospel Christian Fellowship (South Africa)
19. Goodwood Baptist Church (South Africa)
20. Grace Baptist Church (South Africa)
21. Grace Baptist Church (South Africa)
22. Heritage Baptist Church (South Africa)
23. Hillcrest Baptist Church (South Africa)
24. Houtkruis Bybelkerk (South Africa)
25. Kabwata Baptist Church (Zambia)
26. Kitwe Church (Zambia)
27. Living Hope Bible Church (South Africa)
28. Living Hope Church (South Africa)
29. Living Stone Bible Church (South Africa)
30. Lusaka Baptist Church (Zambia)
31. Lynnwood Baptist Church (South Africa)
32. Malelane Bible Church (South Africa)
33. Manzini Fellowship Church (Eswatini)
34. Midrand Chapel Baptist Church (South Africa)
35. Moletsane Baptist Church (South Africa)
36. Mooi River Baptist Church (South Africa)
37. Mount Makulu Baptist Church (Zambia)
38. Mountain View Baptist Church (South Africa)
39. Nelspruit Bible Church (South Africa)
40. Pretoria West Bible Church (South Africa)
41. Reformation Bible Church (Malawi)
42. Reformed Community Church (South Africa)
43. Robertson Reformed Community Church (South Africa)
44. Swakopmund Baptist Church (Namibia)
45. Sydenham Baptist Church (South Africa)
46. Trinity Baptist Church (South Africa)
47. Vaal Reformed Baptist Church (South Africa)

Churches without a delegate present were as follows:

1. Calvary Avenue Revival Evangelical Church (South Africa)
2. Emmasdale Baptist Church (Zambia)
3. Grace Bible Church (Malawi)
4. Hope Baptist Church (Zimbabwe)
5. Kabanana Faith Baptist Church (Zambia)
6. Kraaifontein Baptist Church (South Africa)
7. Makhaza Reformed Baptist Church (South Africa)
8. Sovereign Grace Baptist Church (South Africa)
9. Tzaneen Baptist Church (South Africa)

Applications for membership had been received from four churches—two renewing lapsed memberships and two applying for first-time membership. All four churches received the required number of votes to affirm them as members.

1. Berean Reformed Baptist Church (Zimbabwe) (recommended by Brackenhurst Baptist Church)
2. George Baptist Church (South Africa) (recommended by Brackenhurst Baptist Church)
3. Kafue Reformed Baptist Church (Zambia) (renewing lapsed membership)
4. Newcastle Baptist Church (South Africa) (renewing lapsed membership)

Three members of the steering committee had resigned by rotation but all three had made themselves available for re-election. No new members had been nominated. The three retiring members were Phil Hunt, Paul Schlehlein, and Chipita Sibale. All three were re-elected to serve another term.

Stuart Chase, administrator of the association, delivered brief financial feedback. He noted that the financial summary had been verified by Chipita Sibale, the association’s treasurer.

Phil asked founding members of the association who were present to stand, and expressed appreciation for the work put into the founding of the association. Phil then invited four individuals forward to briefly share ministry testimonies or opportunities.

1. Mario Maneville offered brief feedback from Imprint, a ministry receiving financial support from Sola 5.
2. Billy-Joe Zwart, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in South Africa, shared about a digital church mission seminar and encouraged churches to participate.
3. Shaun Robertson, an elder at Mooi River Baptist Church, shared about a need for Christian teachers at Treverton College in Mooi River.
4. A South African representative of African Christian University shared about the need for church partnerships in the University’s vision.

Phil then briefly shared about the work of the steering committee over the past year before calling for a vote to ratify a proposed purpose statement for the association:

The proposed purpose statement was heartily affirmed.

Phil invited Ronald Kalifungwa to deliver comments on behalf of the original writers of the Sola 5 Constitution before working through the proposed amendments to the Constitution, which had been circulated to the churches ahead of the meeting. After some brief discussion, particularly around steering committee terms, delegates affirmed the proposed changes by the required majority and the revised constitution was adopted.

Phil briefly shared the vision for the future of Sola 5.

Intentional effort would be expended in fostering the three main goals of Sola 5: prayer, fellowship, and partnership.

Weekly prayer updates would continue.

Fellowship would be fostered by the annual conference, local pastoral fraternals, and encouraging personal interaction between ministries.

In terms of partnership, Phil quoted the words of Joachim Rieck, an earlier steering committee chair.

The partnership opportunities shared at the conference, which would all be posted on the website, were designed to promote partnership between churches. Phil addressed some common objections and barriers to partnership opportunities and encouraged churches to consider how to be involved with one another in gospel advance.

Phil further shared some practical plans for developing methods to facilitate such partnerships. These included:

• information gathering via an anonymous poll;
• a partnership opportunities page on the website;
• an interactive map of all Sola 5 churches on the website; and
• ongoing articles, posted three times a week on the website.

Phil encouraged every church to contribute to the articles, either by sharing a sermon transcript that could be adapted for an article or by church planters and churches sharing about struggles, joys, victories, etc. in gospel work.

Phil went on to address some ways in which member churches could be involved in this initiative:

1. Praying corporately for the Sola 5 church of the week.
2. Submitting church planting or revitalisation partnership opportunities to the steering committee for inclusion on the partnership page.
3. Regularly reviewing the partnership page, which would be updated as regularly as updates were received.
4. Setting aside funds in the church budget to allow for partnerships.
5. Sending other ideas to the steering committee chair that would further facilitate partnership and gospel advance through Sola 5.

Phil concluded the meeting by announcing the dates for the 2026 conference (venue to be confirmed)—2–4 September 2026—and dismissed delegates for lunch.

Following a hearty lunch, delegates had opportunity to attend one of four breakaway workshops:

1. Conflict Resolution in the Church: Biblically Addressing Discord among the Sheep (Francois Koch)
2. Media and Ministry: Navigating Technological Blessings and Pitfalls in the Church (Stuart Chase)
3. Heresies: Knowing and Overcoming the Greatest Errors in the African Church (Conrad Mbewe)
4. Managing Melancholy: How to Honour God in Discouragement (Telda Peskett)

The afternoon was given to free time and delegates gathered at 5:30 pm for dinner.

Graham McFarlane led the congregation in an opening song before Paul Schehlein welcomed delegates to the Thursday evening session. Paul invited Christo Beetge to share a brief history of Sola 5 before reading Scripture and praying (Acts 4:1–12).

Among other things, Christo highlighted the various venues in which the conference had been held over the preceding twenty years:

1. 2005—Antipas Reformed Baptist Church, Pretoria
2. 2006—Eastside Baptist Church, Windhoek
3. 2007—Lusaka Baptist Church, Zambia
4. 2008—Goodwood Baptist Church, Cape Town
5. 2009—Brackenhurst Baptist Church, Johannesburg
6. 2010—Reformed Baptist Church, Harare
7. 2011—Trinity Baptist Church, Livingstone
8. 2012—Manzini Fellowship, Eswatini
9. 2013—Eastside Baptist Church, Windhoek
10. 2014—Lynnwood Baptist Church, Pretoria
11. 2015—Goodwood Baptist Church, Cape Town
12. 2016—Kabwata Baptist Church, Zambia
13. 2017—Antioch Bible Church, Johannesburg
14. 2018—Brackenhurst Baptist Church, Johannesburg
15. 2019—Manzini Fellowship, Eswatini
16. 2020—No Conference (COVID-19 lockdowns)
17. 2021—No Conference (COVID-19 lockdowns)
18. 2022—Brackenhurst Baptist Church, Johannesburg
19. 2023—Eastside Baptist Church, Windhoek
20. 2024—Goodwood Baptist Church, Cape Town
21. 2025—Antioch Bible Church, Johannesburg

After two more congregational songs, Free State Bible Church was invited to share about a Kuruman Reformed Baptist Church, a church planting opportunity in the Northern Cape of South Africa. Paul Schlehlein prayed for this work before inviting the Moletsane Baptist Church choir to share a special music item.

Doug Van Meter preached from Acts 4:1–37 on Solus Christus, emphasising its historical importance and contemporary relevance for evangelical churches.

The Reformation’s recovery of solus Christus was a response to Roman Catholic additions of human mediators. Doug framed this as “moving ancient landmarks” that threatened gospel inheritance. He made three primary observations from the text:

1. The message of Christ alone will face opposition.
2. The message of Christ alone is divinely authorised.
3. The mission of Christ alone must advance.

The doctrine of Christ alone had relevance to the priesthood of all believers, warning against pastoral hierarchies that undermine this principle. It was relevant to evangelistic confidence, driving bold evangelism. It was key to sacrificial giving, encouraging generosity toward missions endeavours.

Graham led the congregation in a closing congregational song before Paul Schlehlein dismissed the congregation with a benediction.

Delegates gathered Friday morning for the final day of the conference. After opening with a corporate song, Francois Koch, pastor of Swakopmund Baptist Church welcomed delegates for Day 3 of the 2025 conference. Francois invited Conrad Mbewe to read Scripture (Romans 3:19–28) and open the session in prayer.

Paul led delegates in two more songs before Kitwe Church shared about Redemption Bible Church, a church planting opportunity in Angola and Oasis Baptist Church, a church revitalisation opportunity in Tanzania. Francois prayed for these works before choir ministry.

Jonathan Tempies preached from Romans 3:21–26 on Sola Fide, addressing the fundamental question, how can a person be declared righteous by God. He argued that the answer to that question—by faith alone—forms the foundation of Christian doctrine.

After establishing a definition of solus Christus, and the importance of this doctrine, Jonathan laid the biblical foundation for the doctrine. He addressed cultural challenges to this truth before launching into an exposition of Romans 3:21–26, focusing his exposition on key issues:

1. What God Did—he revealed righteousness apart from law-keeping.
2. How We Receive It—through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
3. Why We Need It—because of the universal sinfulness before a holy God.
4. How God Gives It—freely by grace through Christ’s redemptive work and propitiation.
5. Why God Did It—to vindicate his justice while justifying sinners.

Paul led the congregation in a final song for the session before Francois dismissed delegates with a benediction.

Delegates returned for the Friday mid-morning session as Paul Schehlein led a congregational song before Charles Woodrow welcomed delegates back and invited Ronald Kalifungwa to read Scripture (Ephesians 2:1–10) and pray.

Two more congregational songs followed before Vaal Reformed Baptist Church presented Orange Farm Baptist Church as a church strengthening partnership opportunity. After Charles prayed for this work, special music was delivered by choirs before Tim Cantrell, pastor of Antioch Bible Church, preached from Ephesians 2:1–10 on Sola Gratia.

Tim offered a thorough exposition of sola gratia from Ephesians 2:1–10, emphasising that salvation is entirely God’s work without human contribution. He carefully presented the relationship of justification to sanctification and the distinction between a monergistic and synergistic view of salvation.

Structuring the text, he showed that salvation is (1) by grace through faith (v. 8a), by grace and not by works (vv. 8b–9), and by grace for works (v. 10). He warned against the danger of cheap grace, connected the doctrine to practical Christian living and ministry, and concluded with worship and wonder at God’s grace.

Paul led the congregation in a final song before Charles dismissed delegates with a benediction.

Following lunch, delegates had opportunity to attend one of four breakaway workshops:

1. Sangomas and Salvation: The History of and Solution to Witchcraft (Gideon Mpeni).
2. Budgeting and Stewardship for the Church: Practical Tools for Managing Church Finances (Chipita Sibale).
3. Working Two Jobs: Helps on Sermon Preparation for Tentmakers (Jeff Gage).
4. Busy Hands: Balancing the Work of Home and Ministry (Megan Woolley)

The afternoon was given to free time and delegates gathered at 5:30 pm for dinner.

Delegates gathered at 7:00 pm for the final session of the conference. After an opening song, Chipita Sibale welcomed delegates and invited Frans Brits, pastor of Eastside Baptist Church, to read Scripture (Romans 11:26–36) and pray.

After two more songs, Comhunão dos Crentes em Cristo presented an opportunity to partner with in strengthening the church for ministry in Mozambique. Chipita Sibale prayed for the church before a choir item ministered to the congregation.

Ronald Kalifungwa was invited to preach from Romans 16:25–27 on Sola Deo Gloria.

Ronald concluded the by examining Paul’s doxology in Romans 16. He presented Soli Deo Gloria as the crescendo toward which the other four solas build, demonstrating how all of God’s work in creation, providence, and redemption ultimately serves his glory. He addressed:

1. the identity of the God who deserves glory;
2. why glory belongs to God alone; and
3. how we give glory to God.

With reference to the third point above, Ronald highlighted several ways in which we can give glory to God: refusing to glorify false gods; doxological praise that responds to divine revelation and unites theology with worship; preaching that exalts God’s attributes and redemptive work; worship through prayer, thanksgiving, and substantive praise; and living reflectively through obedient Christian conduct in all areas of life.

He concluded by addressing the eternal nature of God’s glory and applied the truth of the text to individual believers and the corporate church.

We thank Antioch Bible Church for its hospitality and the excitement with which it approached the 2025 conference, and we look forward with great excitement to the next conference in September 2026.