The paper examines the life of seven rural churches at Jakalasi 2 village in the
North East of Botswana. Using these churches, the paper outlines some of the key
characteristics of rural churches, their problems, and advantages. The paper argues
that while these churches are small in size, they are not only very influential in their
community, but also rooted in two dominant cultural traditions: the Ndebele heritage
and syncretism, a form of Christianity that mixes the Bible and the cultural
practices of the people. While the theoretical position of some of these rural
churches is against the worship of ancestors, in practice, however, the members take
part in family ancestral activities, thus mixing Christianity with cultural religious
practices, especially during funeral rites.