PRINCIPAL MATTERS - GWC Library catalog
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
In this issue…
PRINCIPAL MATTERS CHILDREN’S MINISTRY WORKER SPREADS THE GOSPEL IN TEMBISA
FOOD FESTIVAL CULTURE DAY @ GWC SPREADING THE GOSPEL IN MALAWI STUDENTS RECEIVE THEIR OWN GREEK AND HEBREW BIBLES
OVERSEAS COUNCIL AUSTRALIA PARTNERS WITH GWC IN BUILDING OUR POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMME
EXCITING LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT PLANS SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY THE ITUMELENG (HOPE) MOTLHOPE CENTRE—THE PROJECT IS UNDERWAY!
MARTIN LUTHER: SPEARHEAD OF THE REFORMATION UPCOMING EVENTS & INFORMATION
PRINCIPAL MATTERS
The highlight of this year has been the recent Luther conference led by some world class speakers. We were pleased
to have in excess of 200 people attend and we were inspired in regard to Luther, and received insight into the man
himself, including his failings. The talks all had challenging application which stimulated ongoing conversations. Many
thanks to Dr Ben Dean (GWC Head of Postgraduate Studies) who championed this event.
GWC is in the process of implementing our new strategic plan. There is much growth and development in the
College, as you will read in this newsletter: The Hope Centre is being built; our student numbers look to be almost
25% higher in 2018; the postgraduate department is growing; the Library has received funds for its next stage of
development; Explore is expanding rapidly across Africa; and our founding denomination, REACH-SA, continues to
focus on ‘Reach500’ challenging each church to have 500 Gospel conversations, which will grow churches therefore
resulting in a growing need for more trained leaders. This growth and development makes our friendships and
partnerships with individuals, organisations and churches of paramount importance. Thank you to all who support us
with your prayers and finances, and those of you who send students. If you do not already receive our prayer letter,
please sign up online as we value your prayers. If you would like to support us, please contact our Development
Manager, Alison Lee, or visit our website at www.gwc.ac.za - we do need to raise further funds to enable this growth and expansion to continue.
In the midst of all the business, and hustle and bustle, we are so thankful that God is our foundation, our cornerstone. This is His work, not ours,
and we take comfort in that. Rev. Mark L. Dickson (Principal)
CHILDREN’S MINISTRY WORKER SPREADS THE GOSPEL IN TEMBISA
Dudu Mkhize is one of GWC’s children’s ministry alumni. Dudu serves as one of the children’s workers at Christ Church, Midrand, where the team
have a 10-year vision to see sixty Sunday schools planted in the local township area of Tembisa in Gauteng.
The team have partnered with The Love Trust, an organisation whose primary goal is to provide quality Christian education to disadvantaged
communities and to offer support to these educators across South Africa.
From the commencement of this mission in 2014, ten Sunday schools have been set up. Dudu and her co-workers host regular monthly training
for those who have volunteered to teach, equipping them with Bible-handling skills, and training on how to use children’s church material. The
training takes place on Saturdays at Nokuphila Primary School - one of the schools supported by The Love Trust.
Christ Church Midrand is also involved in supporting existing REACH-SA Sunday schools, who need extra formal training and have also begun
extending this training to churches in need outside of the denomination. Dudu credits this entire project to the providence of God, saying, “Being
led to study at GWC was all part of God’s preparation for what I am doing now. I would never have been exposed to the kind of ministry I am
currently involved in if I hadn’t studied at GWC.” The College helped Dudu get to know God and His Word better, and to gain an understanding of
how best to teach children. “I’m putting everything into practice now, after being shaped by God at college”, she says. Please pray for Dudu and
her team, that God would continue to open the doors to new locations and that more volunteers would step forward.
SPREADING THE GOSPEL IN MALAWI
In July Nevil Carrington, GWC’s External Studies and Business Manager, visited Malawi with
faculty member Ross Anderson. Their purpose was to investigate the use of the Explore
programme among pastors in Malawi, while Ross was invited to preach at the graduation
ceremony of the Evangelical Bible College of Malawi (EBCoM).
The graduation took place at Africa Evangelical Church, located on campus at the Evangelical
Bible College of Malawi at which several lecturers are GWC alumni. Fifty-six graduates were
rewarded for their achievement that day, with certificates handed out amidst much singing
and dancing.
Having travelled from Blantyre to Makanjila, Nevil and Ross met Explore members, Pastor
Givertson and Pastor Jeremiah, along with twenty new potential Explore students. With
translation by Pastor Givertson, Nevil gave a brief overview on how to use Explore as a tool for
FOOD FESTIVAL developing a deeper understanding of God and His Word, and Ross taught through the second
unit of Explore the Bible. When the students were invited to complete enrolment forms, all but
CULTURE DAY @ GWC one signed up to study Explore. Most of those students will study in Chichewa but about six will
undertake the course in English. The need for Bibles was noted and Nevil undertook to find the
By Daniel de Freitas (3rd Year student) students Chichewa Bibles. Pastor Barnet, an Explore member from Liwonde, expressed interest
in Explore books in Chichewa and enrolment forms have been sent to him for pastors in his
A day set apart with great food, vibrant music, a area. Nevil, Innocent and Charles Mapira from EBCoM spent an afternoon planning a five-day
host of countries, and friendly people is a Explore the Bible training for 45 rural pastors.
guarantee of a great celebration, which is exactly
what our GWC culture day turned out to be! Despite many hurdles along the way, God was in control and extended His grace to the
It was so encouraging to step back and look at the travelers. The journey was a success as seeds were planted. Abel Sauti-Phiri and Innocent
auditorium as it was transformed into an Wachimwa will facilitate new Explore groups along with Pastor Givertson and Pastor Barnet,
international food fair filled with smiling students, with the assistance of GWC’s postgraduates. Isaac Chiumia has started a group in Lilongwe and
faculty, staff, and family members, laughing and is planting a new church.
enjoying the atmosphere.
The team gave thanks to God for the protection they received throughout the journey, and
they prayed that there will be much fruit produced in Africa in line with our vision: “That Africa
Food is incredibly important to a culture, so it was
be filled with preachers and teachers who deeply love the Lord Jesus, and who have a
an honour for us all to share in this experience
profound understanding of Scripture, in order that Africa may increase its share in the Kingdom
together. This was a treasured time for our
of God.”
students!
STUDENTS RECEIVE THEIR OWN GREEK AND HEBREW BIBLES
GWC's commitment to teaching the Biblical languages stems
from our conviction that God builds His church on His Word.
We teach Greek and Hebrew to every student, because we know
that people in ministry need confidence that they can read the
Bible accurately, interpret it faithfully, and apply it well within
their contexts. If we aren’t able to equip them in that way, then
they will always be tempted to locate authority in the church
somewhere other than the Bible. So the only way that we can
build a church that truly believes in "God's Word above all
things," is to teach the languages. But, it's much more than a
necessity. As we learn to unpack God's Word together, our
students discover both value for ministry, and joy in the study.
In August this year, the Bible Societies in Australia and South
Africa cooperated to donate a copy of both the Hebrew Old
Testament and the Greek New Testament to each of our
students. The excitement in the room was palpable, and the
students' enthusiasm was evidence of just how much this gift
meant to them. One student reflected: "Do you know that these
are the most important documents in all the world? It's such
a privilege to have my own copy of them." For many students,
the cost of Greek and Hebrew Bibles would be otherwise
prohibitive, so we are very grateful to the two Bible Societies,
and to God, for such generosity.
EXCITING LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT PLANS
The Library is a key feature of GWC, one that attracts students and scholars from
across Africa and overseas. Thanks to overseas support the Library is set to
undergo some much needed changes to its operations and infrastructure.
Upgrades include:
An efficient, comprehensive and up-to-date Library Management System to
be installed, enabling greater control of our resources and offering improved
service to patrons of the Library.
A new book detection system will enable better tracking of the collection,
and will enable the College to have more strategic management of our
collection.
A much needed new air conditioning system will service the two existing
floors and, down the line, the top storey which will house a Knowledge
Commons with a media centre, areas for group work, additional individual
study spaces and further bookshelves.
With this continuing development in the media and technological resources
offered by the Library, it will be more and more possible to extend the use of this
resource across Africa.
It was a joy to welcome Executive Director Stuart Brooking and his team
from the Overseas Council Australia (OCA) to GWC earlier in the year.
Stuart and his team, who are long-term gospel partners of GWC, met with The GWC campus, which has been developed over the last 27 years, is in
faculty to discuss the growth of GWC’s postgraduate department. OCA vital need of further development to provide much-needed additional
now has funding, which will be made available in 2018, for faculty facilities. We are grateful to the Lord for His faithful provision of funding,
development in a number of theological colleges in Africa - GWC included. that has enabled us to begin the construction of the Hope Centre, now
well underway. 25% of the funds still need to be raised to complete this
As a part of their wider Africa Mile Deep Strategy, currently in project.
development, OCA’s aims for this funding are to assist several key The Hope Centre will provide:
Anglican theological colleges in Africa to advance their faculty to master’s
Accommodation for 50 students
and doctoral level qualifications, to promote evangelical scholarship and
to fund programs that allow scholars to remain in Africa, or have short A dining room that can accommodate the whole college
stays in western countries. The central aim of a classical evangelical community
theological education is to train preachers who will pastor local churches. Recreational and social spaces for the students
A life-long program of study born out of first-hand knowledge across the Much-needed parking for students and staff
theological disciplines – languages, history, theology, philosophy and Freed-up space in the existing buildings for renovation and re-
ethics – is vital for the task, and postgraduate degrees offer immensely development
valuable preparation for it. The postgraduate programmes which GWC Student recruitment for 2018 is looking very positive, so far growth in the
facilitate– especially at master’s level and above – are aimed at equipping overall number of students is up by 25%. We praise God for the expansion
graduates for denominational leadership and educational ministries, that the Hope Centre permits, which is an urgent necessity.
marked as they are by a wide-ranging syllabus, and informed by a classical
approach with an emphasis on biblical languages and exegesis, biblical
theology, history and systematic theology.
We thank God for the gospel partnership between GWC and OCA and
consider ourselves blessed to be a part of God’s greater work taking place
across the continent of Africa. Africa is the zone of Christianity’s greatest
growth. UN population growth data suggests a growth in population from
1.1 billion to 4.1 billion Christians in Africa, from now to 2100. In line with
predicted population growth, Christianity’s population in Africa is
estimated to double in the next 30 years and quadruple in the next 80
years. Seen in the light of this rapid growth, with God’s help, GWC is
strategically placed to assist in equipping the continent’s evangelical
Christian teachers and leaders - in line with OCA’s aims “to build a strong
theological enterprise in the Anglican systems in Africa, which results in
the blessing of the church and its mission in the continent, and the world.”
MARTIN LUTHER: SPEARHEAD OF THE REFORMATION
All at GWC would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all the speakers at our conference, "Martin Luther: The Spearhead of the Reformation—Celebrating
500 Years"
We were encouraged and strengthened by the various papers presented to us over the week. It was a blessing to learn more about Martin Luther and his
contribution to the reformed Church today. If you missed the event all the talks are available online www.gwc.ac.za under Resources.
“I appreciated the speakers for sharing from a convicted heart with regards to the papers they presented. They spoke with passion and revealed their love for
the Lord and His work.” (Conference participant)
UPCOMING EVENTS & INFORMATION
The NEW online donation
platform on our new website
enables you to make quick and easy
contributions. We also have three new accounts
in South Africa in US$, Aus$ and PoundSterling so
that donations in these currencies can be
transferred directly to GWC. Please note these do
not qualify for tax certificates.
We have 8 places available on the GWC team for 2018. Follow us on
For more details contact Charmaine Erasmus at cerasmus@gwc.ac.za
Tel: +27 21 788 1652 Email: info@gwc.ac.za Website: www.gwc.ac.za
34 Beach Road, Muizenberg, 7945, Cape Town Post: PO Box 64, Muizenberg, 7950, Cape Town, South Africa
GWC is authorised to issue a tax certificate for donations subject to Section 18A of the Income Tax Act
George Whitefield College NPC (Registration No. 2003/003197/08) Registered as a non-profit organisation (NPO No. 042885)
Registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training as a private higher education institution, under the Higher Education Act, 1997, Registration Certificate No. 2007/HE08/002
Registered as a public benefit organisation (PBO Ref No. 18/11/13/3148)
You can also read
