In the context of this article, community engagement is the approach to help society with communal problems and challenges. Holland and Malone (2019:1) defined community engagement as the process of involving communities in decision-making, implementation and collaboration. Polat and Yildiz (2019:71) indicated that community engagement is an integral part of the planning and designing in developing communities. Through community engagement, faith communities can be reached through intervention, community programmes and projects. The term faith communities refer to people who belong to a particular church or a particular religious group. These people share a particular set of religious beliefs or religious faith. There are varying levels of commitment in any faith community.

The need for collaboration between the North-West University and faith communities is crucial, especially in rural areas like the Christiana district. Rural communities are often underserved because of a variety of challenges (Baldwin & Poje 2020:16). Mashau’s (2019:6) article stated that the role of faith communities should be emphasised as important because there should be a home for the homeless, a voice for the voiceless, and protectors for those who are marginalised in society. In so doing, they need to work to avoid conflict amongst community members (Moon 2019:99). In addition, faith communities are being recognised as important leaders in communities because they address the problematic factors that shape religious life and communities (Hardison-Moody & Yao 2019:363). Furthermore, faith communities should become an enabling environment that makes it possible for communities to acquire knowledge (Chifeche & Dreyer 2019:4).

In the context of this article, biblical knowledge should be an ideal approach to the fatherhood concept. A community engagement programme such as the Biblical Fatherhood Training and Equipping Programme from the North-West University Faculty of Theology emphasises the concept of fatherhood according to biblical truth and guidelines. The concept of fatherhood can be derived from the Bible, and this notion provides exceptional guidelines that attest to the distinctiveness of God as Father. In terms of the human fatherhood, the value of an earthly father within a household system is significant. The apical nobility God can grant on a man is to call him a father (Munroe 2001). ‘The fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children’s teeth are set on edge’ (Jr 31:29). This verse symbolises the dominion of the father as the key authority of the family. However, there have been progressive changes in the activity and architecture of the family and remarkable shifts in the authority of the father (Oliker 2011). The words ‘The fathers have eaten …’, appeared also in Ezekiel 18:2 where it is mentioned as a proverb. Men complained that they are being punished and that they suffered for the sins of their previous generation. The same words are attached to the second commandment in Exodus 20:5 and these fathers found in their generation a plea for their own recklessness.

Jeremiah and Ezekiel felt that these specific words clothed with a divine authority. Each man is responsible for his own acts. The ‘eaten of the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge’ is an emendation of the proverbial saying. For no guilt, they shall pay the forfeit of their fathers’ sins.

Christiana is a district with residents of at least 21 000 and mostly agricultural workers. It is located on the banks of the Vaal River in the North West province of South Africa. Christiana is on the N12 between Bloemhof and Warrenton, on the way to Kimberley in the Northern Cape. This town is the administrative centre of Lekwa-Teemane Local Municipality (Wikipedia n.d.). The Christiana is a marketplace where people congregate, connect and experience a way of life together and where Jesus Christ can invade through the Bible (Wyngaard 2015:413).

The farming communities in the Christiana District struggle with issues such as broken families, father absenteeism, fatherlessness, unemployment and violence (Freeks 2018). The researcher has observed that with support from the North-West University and the Faculty of Theology, communities such as Christiana have been enriched through a Biblical fatherhood training and equipping programme, irrespective of the challenges.

This programme trains and equips faith communities with biblical knowledge about the Fatherhood of God and human fatherhood. Furthermore, the programme is an ideal buffer against the challenges of father absence in faith communities being faced their daily lives.

The Biblical Fatherhood Training and Equipping Programme has been implemented in this district since 2011.

The programme has been offered to 10 different farms in the Christiana district to approximately 486 participants (Nieuwoudt 2013). Four hundred and eighty-six farm workers have already participated. In the nine years of its implementation in the Christiana district, it has been proven that the programme has made an impact and is still making inroads in alleviating family challenges.

In this article, the Biblical Fatherhood Training and Equipping Programme is proposed as a contribution to support and reinforce faith communities so that they can stop the social issue of father absence (Freeks 2011a, 2011b). Why is the Bible incorporated in a training programme? The Bible is approximately 2000 years old. Because of its antiquity, many authors, researchers, academics and even the general public question the applicability and relevance of the Bible’s moral teachings to contemporary life. Even some Christians are not fully confident or assured of the importance and relevance of the Bible to the problems and issues of modern society such as father absence, fatherlessness, un-involvement of fathers and broken families.

The author, being the initiator of this study and a Christian, very clearly regards the Bible as a reliable, authoritative and trustworthy standard for morality and the mentioned issues. It is not because the Bible has been used as the source and foundation for human issues such as moral values with which many, including the author, were raised and which have dominated cultures, traditions and civilisation. Instead, it is because the author relies on the Bible as the standard and foundation for issues and morality because he is persuaded that biblical principles, ethical norms and moral teachings come from God the Father and the Bible is the Word of God. This author’s argument may seem obvious and even irrelevant, but it is worth reflecting on its significance specifically in our walk and lived experience with God and the Bible, as well as our engagement and dealings within a secular world or context.

The Biblical Fatherhood Training and Equipping Programme has been used to train and equip faith-based communities in the Christiana district in the North West province who grapple with fatherhood matters. The view of fatherhood has changed tremendously over time and, according to research and academic studies, most families struggle with severe problems and challenges in society. A devastating problem and challenge is the father absence amidst dilemma, which is detrimental to society because of its increase within communities, which has brought an unforeseen and incredible social tendency, namely, the downturn of fatherhood (Popenoe 1996).

Father absence is a societal malice challenging the nation of South Africa (Salami & Okeke 2018:2). Father absence is furthermore a serious concern, which Carstens (2014) identified in his research as the fourth-ranked problem of the world. Research consistently confirms that the notion of fatherhood and the issue of father absence are crucial matters in society (Freeks 2019:1–3; Londt, Kock & John-Lanba 2017:154–155; Matlakala et al. 2019:6–7; Salami & Okeke 2018:4–7).

Research has also shown that a dysfunctional family life is a major societal problem, with father absence being the locus (Carstens 2014:10). Father absence is a tendency and world-wide phenomenon in many communities in the world (Freeks, Strydom & Bartlett 2015:46; Dobbs 2013:2; Williams 2014). Statistically, there is a tendency akin to a ‘fatherhood disease’ globally and a rapid increase in single parenting (Freeks 2019:1–3; Goodsell & Meldrum 2010; Statistics South Africa 2011). The fathers’ absence is the ultimate cause for the rising incidence of single mothers in South Africa (Bertelsmann 2016). Single-parent households have become the norm in South Africa, where the ‘typical’ child is raised by only the mother. The number of children living without their fathers has increased unabatedly in the almost two decades of democracy in South Africa. The absence of father has been constructed as socially detrimental and a dilemma for most children in South Africa, as the lack of a father figure means the child has no positive male role model in the home. Father absence not only has a severe impact on family life but also is a worrying social trend second to major diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) (Freeks 2019:2). The HIV epidemic is mentioned by Yi and Nel (2020:2) as one of the main reasons for father absence.

Furthermore, father absenteeism holds negative consequences for families and communities and many families experience a difficult family life because of these problems. When these problems are detrimental and devastating to families, family members may blame God for ills and misfortunes in their lives. Hence, the call for biblical fatherhood is needed and important for families, communities and parents. Children are a gift from God to parents, but numerous children have been raised in families where fathers have been neglecting their responsibilities (Freeks 2008). South African society has strayed from recognising the importance of fatherhood because of father absenteeism.

In addition, the trend of fathers being absent and not fulfilling their role is a serious challenge for fatherhood and the current fatherhood debate including the fatherhood dialogue does not look favourable either (Eddy, Thomson-de Boor & Mphaka 2013:10). The latter in South Africa is associated with the idea of masculinity and based on the socio-economic history (Richter & Morrell 2006). However, even if fatherhood is masculine, it has ample distinctive forms (Leopeng & Langa 2017:438).

In the sociological context, fatherhood is regarded as socially constructed because family and fatherhood are not seen as entities but as social institutions (Thunsteadt 2017:4). Moreover, studies conducted in South Africa about fatherhood have focussed mainly on violence, gender power, masculine control, paternal maintenance and family provision (Ratele, Clowes & Shefer 2012). Fatherhood goes beyond the themes of violence, gender and provision. In the author’s opinion, the element of biblical or Christian fatherhood is very rare in certain research and some academic studies. Yi and Nel (2020:1), for example, mentioned in their studies that adolescent children who are distant or absent from their fathers have difficulty in sensing God the Father’s closeness and they may also experience a negative concept of God.

The research objective of this article is to discuss the fatherhood training and equipping programme and its biblical impact on farm workers (faith communities) in the Christiana District and to reflect on the spiritual life, lived experiences and growth of farm workers.

This article followed on from a reflective discussion where training and equipping were conducted through a community engagement strategy based on a practical theological research on biblical fatherhood (cf. Freeks 2011a). The discussion evolved through research, theory, training, equipping and reflection. Reflection as a methodology enables researchers and practitioners to theorise from their own practice, improving and developing their work (Morley 2013:166). Reflection is a very significant mental activity. It is also a turning back onto ‘a self’ where the researcher (inquirer) is an observer (Mortari 2015:1). The context of the reflective discussion was the Christiana District and its participants, the farm workers, also referred to as the faith communities, and this approach aimed especially to reflect on farm workers’ lived experiences, behaviour, spiritual life and the idea of the Bible with regard to the fatherhood programme.

The fatherhood concept is the main emphasis in the programme. Fatherhood from a biblical perspective is what the programme is all about. The notion around fatherhood, parenthood and family life is shifting greatly as people find themselves caught between traditional and contemporary understandings of fatherhood (Richter, Chikovore & Makusha 2010:2). In South Africa, the fatherhood concept is generally related to manhood or masculinity (Meyer 2018:4; Morrell 2006:15), which is a human and cultural role (Richter & Morrell 2006:8, 18).

There is, for example, the traditional manner in which the emphasis is placed on the biological aspects and the modern time concept where the emphasis is on two dimensions, namely, the economic and social dimensions (Morrell 2006:14). However, fatherhood cannot be understood outside the paradigm of patriarchy (Meyer 2018:7) because fatherhood is more than the concept of patriarchal fatherhood. Authors like Dowd (2012:917–919) said that fatherhood should be defined as the manner of caring for children, which relates to the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual care.

Other authors stated that fatherhood alludes to the paradigm that certain men are granted the role of being a father and have responsibilities for children (McCarthy & Edwards 2011:95). Fatherhood can also be defined as the attending to the needs of children by providing spiritual and physical care and attending to intellectual and emotional matters (Dowd 2012:917–919; Freeks 2019: 692–696; Makofane 2015:24). The concept of fatherhood can be understood and lived out in many ways. There is no agreed-upon concept or definition of fatherhood and researchers and academics understand the concept differently (Rabe 2006:25).

With the exception of the above-mentioned, other research consistently confirms that fatherhood is essential in society and fathers still play an important role within the family (Vaughan 2010). Abraham Lincoln confirmed the importance of fatherhood over two centuries ago in his statement that the strength of a nation is found in the home where the father and the mother function together (Family Life 1998:2).

The most profound shift in understanding fatherhood will come from knowing God as Father (Smail 1980:10).

Fatherhood originates in the Fatherhood of God. He is the Father of his creation and his people, and the attributes of his Fatherhood should be perceived as protection, provision, warmth, gentleness, forgiveness, and involvement so that human parenting can adopt and flow from this concept. The biblical analogy comparing the human father and Father God suggests a view of human fatherhood that requires the man to adjust to biblical fatherhood.

Over the last few decades, fathers have become an increasing presence in research, but there is still much to learn and discover about fathers and their roles. Most studies (including Cabrera 2020; Meyer 2018; Pekel-Uludagli 2019; Peyper, De Klerk & Spies 2015; Sieber 2008; Wood & Brownhill 2018) consider father involvement, father attachments and fatherhood models from the psychological, social and physical sciences with the human father at the centre. Few studies show the meaningful effect from the Fatherhood of God. One significant study from the second perspective is that of Popenoe (1996).

The author’s initial argument in terms of the concept and definition is that fatherhood stems from the Bible and this is key to comprehending the concept from a biblical perspective. Fatherhood is also about the role of the father in the family with particular viewpoints such as responsibilities, accountabilities, respect, discipline and obedience. Family in this context is God’s structure in society to restore brokenness within a community.

According to Nel (2018:56), we learn about the emphasis of a family in Genesis 17 where God is dealing with households. Nel also indicated that the Bible is the book of family stories. God as the Trinity is a divine family and the family unit as a trinity of father, mother and children is a representation of that divine community. Our world is in need of a perfect Heavenly Father. But the notion of fatherhood has changed over time and as a result, most families are battling with serious issues and challenges in their respective communities.

One of the serious issues in family life currently is precisely the fatherhood problem. The concept of fatherhood is as old as Christianity itself but not limited to the Christian religion (Meyer 2018:1). This simply means that the solution to fatherhood concerns, such as father absenteeism, fatherlessness and father hunger, lies in God through his Son Jesus Christ with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The biblical fatherhood notion is not exclusive to an authoritative source of admonition, connection, teaching, training and equipping. It instead provides significant measures and guidelines that corroborate to the uniqueness of God as Father whilst underlining the value of an earthly father within a family system.

The author is strongly of the opinion that this biblical way of expressing fatherhood has, however, declined and died out. This biblical way should be reinstated. The revelation of God through Scripture as the Father through his son Jesus Christ and his saving grace provides not only knowledge but also basic help, advice and meaningful insight into fatherhood in an era of broken families and father absence. The earthly father should fulfil this biblical role because he is called by God to do this in the context of the family.

In addition, the biblical analogy comparing the human father and God the Father suggests a view of human fatherhood that requires the man to adjust to biblical fatherhood. The father should fulfil his role of a figure of authority and is called upon by God to fulfil this role and calling in the context of the family, especially the children.

This article about farm workers (faith communities) and the Biblical Fatherhood Training and Equipping Programme in the Christiana District led to these recommendations:

The core aspect of the Biblical Fatherhood Training and Equipping Programme teaches farm workers (faith communities) to be effective parents, involved in their own families, especially teaching them from the Bible about God as Father. This is a major challenge for farm workers because many are sometimes intimidated and the popular views of community members even challenge their role. Human fatherhood should be taken seriously because it is anticipation of what and who God the Father is; if human fatherhood does not exist, then all truth and knowledge about God the Father is void and insignificant. Fatherhood today is an element and perhaps the most threatened element in the world. This is why faith communities have a crucial and relevant responsibility regarding fatherhood.