Mukhanyo Theological College is a multi-denominational evangelical Christian institute dedicated to preparing men and women for the manifold ministries of Christ through His church. The College provides in-depth Bible teaching and training to church leaders and young people who want to prepare themselves for the ministry of God's Word as pastors, as teachers in churches and as witnesses to the world. The goal is to equip leaders to preach, teach and proclaim the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. The College also wants to enrich and enable all Christians to become more knowledgeable and profitable servants in God's kingdom. By letting the brilliant light of the Word of God shine, the teachers of the College and the students in the ministry of their churches want to bring glory to God.
Historical Overview
In 1985 (the now retired) Rev. Bob Rebel, who was a missionary planting new churches in the KwaNdebele area, decided to start working in one of the villages. According to custom, he first went to the local traditional chief to pay his respects and request permission to work in the area. The chief asked him to come back the Sunday afternoon to appear before him and his "advisors in religious matters". When he returned on the Sunday afternoon a whole group of leaders of the African Indigenous Churches (Apostolic and Zionistic types of Churches) were waiting to meet him. They requested him to inform them exactly how he intended to go about in his work of planting a new church. He carefully explained that he would start with preaching and visiting people in their homes and teach baptism classes to those who show signs of interest and conversion. After their baptism he would continue to teach them to become his co-workers in teaching new members. Later he would identify those who seem to have the gift of preaching and teach them how to preach.
 |
| Rev. Bob Rebel unveiling a plaque during the dedication of the building. |
After listening carefully to him for some time, they responded enthusiastically with the request: "Why don't you teach us as well. We are pastors, bishops and archbishops of churches, but we have never had any training whatsoever! Some of us cannot even read. We feel that especially the youth who have had more opportunities to become educated are looking down on us. We are afraid that we cannot reach them on their level of thinking any more." These leaders formed an umbrella organization, which they called the KwaNdebele Churches Board.
In KwaNdebele the leaders of KwaNdebele Churches Board (now Masakhane Churches Board) requested the Mission Deputies of the Christian Reformed Churches in the Netherlands to assist them in founding a Bible School. The main objective of their request was to provide training to their people (leaders and lay people) to understand and handle the Bible properly.
The Christian Reformed Churches in the Netherlands saw this request as a Macedonian call and responded positively by allowing Rev. M. Rebel, one of their experienced missionaries, to teach courses at several villages in KwaNdebele. This decentralised training, in which he met groups of leaders for two hours per week, was maintained for almost ten years. The church leaders soon declared that they now really "saw light!" This ministry became known as the Mukhanyo Bible School (Mukhanyo being the isiNebele word for light).
After some years the church leaders requested: "Why don't we start a centralised Theological College which our young people could attend a few days per week and receive more advanced training?" Dr P.J. (Flip) Buys was called to start this extension of the ministry. In July 1994 he started teaching a group of five students studying for the Diploma in Theology. There was no library or facilities and a small church in Thembalethu offered their vestry free of charge.
Since then the Lord has really blessed the college. The student numbers have grown and training is offered on four levels: Certificate in Christian Ministry, Diploma in Theology, the BTh degree, and the Honours BA (Theol) degree. All our lecturers are academically qualified and are experienced pastors in the KwaNdebele and Pretoria areas. The principal, Dr. Flip Buys, also preaches in African churches every Sunday and acts in an advisory capacity in several church planting ministries.
While the students initially came mainly from the African Independent Churches in KwaNdebele, students now come from many more Church associations throughout Africa.
Current Events
In October 2007 the Board of Directors, together with staff and student representation, assessed and refined our mission vision, goals, and values as a college. An expert in educational and strategic planning facilitated the process of strategic planning.
God has provided a well-equipped new Vice-Principal to us in the person of Dr. Brian de Vries, supported by the Heritage Reformed Congregations in North America. His administration skills, kingdom vision, passion for missions, and energy for church planting promise to take Mukhanyo to the next level of growth.
With the assistance of the Free Reformed Churches in South Africa two additional recent Mukhanyo graduates have been appointed as staff members in capacity building posts. We are also considering improvements to the management structure, curricula, and even extended study programs to fulfil our vision of giving glory to God by serving Christian Churches and communities in Africa through equipping church leaders on a variety of levels.
Our ideal of offering in-service training to provide opportunities of real hands-on learning through field experience to our students has also been improved by assisting our sister organization, Mukhanyo Community Development Centre (MCDC), with students involved in the youth ministry and Christian counselling to orphans and vulnerable children. Some of our students also serve in local church planting ministries.
Various training institutions in other African countries - like Botswana, Zambia, Burundi and even Sudan - have asked to us to assist them with establishing and strengthening theological education in their own areas. These requests remind us of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few and that we all - together with our supporters - need to pray the Lord of the harvest to use us to send out faithful and equipped workers into his harvest field in Africa.
|
|
 |
|
