 We are excited about the new people who will soon join the Mukhanyo team. On 30 August, the Board of Directors approved the following staff appointments:
Dr Greg Phillipswill join the faculty as Senior Lecturer and Academic Registrar. He comes to Mukhanyo with more than 15 years of experience in theological education, first serving as Lecturer and Academic Dean at the Bible Institute in Cape Town and later serving as Lecturer and in other Academic positions at Dumisani Theological Institute and Bible School in the Easter Cape. Initially trained as an engineer, Dr Greg later studied theology to obtain an Honours BA, MA in Theology, and PhD in New Testament. He and his wife Carol have two daughters. We welcome them to the Mukhanyo family. Pastor Glyn Williamsis the new Distance Manager, an upgraded position that is responsible for the oversight and coordination of tutors and facilitators in all distance learning support centres. He has a BTh Honours in Theology and is working on further studies. Many people know Glyn and his wife Linda as the managers of Grace Media, a supplier of Christian resources. Glyn was serving as a part-time lecturer at our Johannesburg location, but he is now the full-time Distance Manager and also Lecturer on faculty. We are thankful for Glyn’s additional responsibilities on the Mukhanyo team since we are preparing for further growth in this important area. We also welcome Dr Bryson Arthur– as previously announced – to as the programme manager of Mukhanyo’s new B.Th. Honours qualification. Dr Bryson has been serving in theological education since 1995, in Kenya, Israel, Jordan, and South Africa. In addition to pastoral ministry, he has served in various educational and academic leadership roles such as Professor, Academic Dean and Principal. He has presented many academic papers and published several books, the next to be a book on the theology of suffering with Langham Publishing. Dr Bryson’s wife, May Arthur, will also join the Mukhanyo faculty to assist part-time with formative subjects. Plans and appointments are being made to prepare for the new academic year beginning in January 2019. Mr Malcolm Buys has been appointed as the new technology manager and will start next month. Other appointments will soon be made in several other strategic areas, the Lord willing. Please thank the Lord with us for these appointments and pray for each of them as they begin serving the Lord in their assignments. The upgraded staff page on Mukhanyo’s website gives further information about these new appointments and the entire Mukhanyo faculty here
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We are thankful for the new people joining the Mukhanyo team! But we are still looking for people to serve in the following two positions (note the cut-off dates in the job adverts):
Communications Manager: This new position – probably based in Pretoria – is responsible for coordinating the following: prayer letters and newsletters, student recruitment, event planning, donor communication, fund-raising, marketing literature and social media, etc. The ideal candidate will have experience in these areas along with a passion to serve the Lord in Christian ministry. Read more Head of Educational Delivery: This executive level position is responsible for the management of all faculty and facilitators across all locations. Mukhanyo’s present Head of Delivery, Mr. Jackie Tredoux, plans to retire in April 2019. So the search has begun for his replacement to ensure a smooth transition and continued development in this important area. The ideal candidate for this position will have years of experience in management and/or school administration. Read more
No less than thirteen new distance learning support centres were established since the beginning of the year, bringing the total number to fifty-nine. Of these study groups, most are in South Africa but some are across borders.
Mukhanyo is very thankful for this development and is confident that the growth will continue, the Lord willing. To facilitate these groups, the internal support systems that work with distance groups have been restructured and more integrated with Mukhanyo’s entire team. Rev Glyn Williams has taken over as full-time Distance Manager. Since April a number of groups were visited with the purpose to build relationships, encourage the students, evaluate group operations, provide training where needed, and to offer support. At one of the visits, the tutor stated that there is nothing like the Mukhanyo programme out there and he believes this is the way to change Africa. We pray to God that he may be right. The facilitators and tutors at each learning support centre are very important. Their work is far more extensive than just being there. It means not only to make sure that study groups attend regularly, but it also implies helping students with their studies and sometimes with their personal problems, but it also means communication with lecturers, administration and management. Because the success of a study groups to large extent is dependent on the quality of the facilitator or tutor, a workshop was held last year to train facilitators and tutors. This highly successful event will be followed up by another tutor workshop this year in KwaMhlanga on 2-4 October. For more information, please contact Tunize Bezuidenhout at 083 743 1127 or Glyn Williams at 084 224 2204.  Mukhanyo is now open for theology student applications for 2019. Please contact Ms Sherley DeBruin for more information at 074 139 9348 or 074 137 7050 or by email at strecords.mtc@gmail.com. Alternatively, you can contact Renzke at 012 333 9993 (PTA) or Dr Japie Malan at 011 339 1223 or 082 654 4707 (JHB).
Church leaders are welcome to contact Rev Isaac Maleketo discuss how they can send and support students for study at Mukhanyo. We welcome such church-college partnerships in training the next generation of church leaders. Accredited qualifications Mukhanyo now offers the following qualifications at one or more of its campuses and learning support centres:
Small fee increases for 2019: Mukhanyo has been able to keep the tariffs low with only a small increase compared to the fees in 2018. The 2019 fees are as follows:
Register as soon as possible to reserve your place. Partial bursaries are availablefrom Mukhanyo in certain areas for qualifying students  Mukhanyo was honoured on 24 July to welcome Prof Arjan de Visser of the Canadian Reformed Seminary in Hamilton, Canada, as the preacher at the opening of the academic second semester of the year. He is a professor in practical theology and mission. Prof de Visser lectured at Mukhanyo 15 years ago, before he was called to the Canadian seminary.
Prof de Visser preached from Philippians 2:25-30, emphasising the bond between Paul and Epaphroditus, even though Paul sent Epaphroditus to the Philippians so that they would rejoice at seeing him again. This little history has three lessons for Mukhanyo:
When visiting Mukhanyo’s KwaMhlanga campus, Prof de Visser and his wife, Inge, took the opportunity to visit Nakekela in nearby Tweefontein, a palliative care centre for HIV/AIDS patients. This modern and well-looked after centre with its 20 beds was originally started by Mukhanyo in 2005. One of Nakekela’s donors is Word & Deed North America, of which Prof de Visser now serves on the board.  Very few Mukhanyo students are in a position to enjoy a real holiday. So what did they do during this year’s July winter holidays? We asked them, and here are some of the answers:
 Mukhanyo has welcomed Rev Gesse Rios, who joined the Mukhanyo faculty in July. He and his wife Iolanda also hope to plant a new church in or around Pretoria where there is not as yet much Reformed influence.
Though he is a new face at Mukhanyo, he has been involved in mission work in Southern Africa since 1995. He is now also serving as base director for Southern Africa of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil. He is a member of the Presbiterio Noroeste Da Bahia church in the Bahia State of Brazil, where he is an ordained minister. Why Mukhanyo? Says Rev Rios: “Because Mukhanyo prepares new generations of African Christian workers to serve the Lord, based on a sound and solid teaching of the Holy Scriptures.” In his studies in Brazil, Rev Rios specialised in pastoral theology with the focus on missiology in his post-graduate studies. One of his three children lives in Brazil; the other two in Cape Town.  While the students enjoyed the July holidays, Mukhanyo’s staff started planning for 2019, discussing all aspects of the college from new study programmes, to distance study groups and facilities, to marketing and administration.
In respect of the study programmes, it is expected that the newly accredited BTh programme and the BTh Honours will be launched at the beginning of 2019, and hopefully also soon thereafter several other new qualifications. The new church-focused certificates will follow soon (see the article below). All of this requires the development of additional study material and the appointment of the necessary staff where necessary. Several other developments include the following: Distance groups: The number of distance study groups has grown significantly in the past year – adding 13 new groups – bringing the total to 58 groups. This growth is expected to continue, requiring additional logistics, administration and management as well as the training of tutors. Tutor training has become an important annual activity. The next Tutor Workshop is planned for 3-5 October at Mukhanyo’s main campus in KwaMhlanga. Johannesburg: The Johannesburg campus has finalised plans for building additional three lecture rooms as well as a new library, offices and internet computer facilities. Sufficient funding has become available and construction is expected to start soon, with completion hopefully early next year. Mentorship: In the past year, the mentorship programme for students has continued in KwaMhlanga and it has been extended to the other centres as well. Rustenburg:Plans for the upgrading of the Rustenburg distance study centre now have been finalised and the vacancy of a full-time leader and facilitator will be filled soon. This plans are made in co-operation with the local churches and can become a model to be duplicated elsewhere. Support services: Also in the past few years, our computer facilities, administration and registration systems, as well as communication with students, have improved significantly. This progress must be continued, made possible with new technology becoming available and within reach of Mukhanyo’s resources.  Perhaps more than anything else, Africa needs practical Bible training for pastors and other church leaders. At present, literally thousands of them lack a good understanding of the Bible as well as many church matters, although they act as ministers in literally thousands of congregations.
That is why Mukhanyo Theological College was established nearly 25 years ago. Its main purpose was to train pastors and church leaders to preach the Bible in the way God wants it taught: reformed, evangelical, fully submitting to the authority of the Bible. This was done firstly in the old KwaNdebele region northeast of Pretoria. But over the years Mukhanyo’s activities spread all over Southern Africa and beyond. Another development was that Mukhanyo developed into a registered institution of high repute, with a number of programmes accredited by South Africa’s higher education authorities. However, the required academic standards presented Mukhanyo with a problem. Only students who had certain educational qualifications could be allowed. But statistics show that most church leaders and pastors in South Africa and in other countries in Africa have no or very little formal training. Even worse, many know not much of the contents of the Bible or how to prepare a sermon and to preach. Over the years Mukhanyo had different ways to approach this matter, such as to offer an entrée certificate or a number of short courses over and above its accredited programmes. In addition there is the diploma programme for students, also at the distance study sites. Then the question arose: why not use all these centres to offer a number of courses which are not accredited but which are very important to un- or under-qualified practising pastors and other church leaders who do not qualify for Mukhanyo’s other programmes? That is why the new Focus Programme is now in the process of being developed, to be available at all teaching sites. The programme includes thirty modules in the five categories: The Study of Basics, Bible Foundations, Church Growth, Church Leadership and Church Life. The plan is to prepare the modules first in English and later in at least two other languages. The Focus Programme is practical-oriented and seeks to avoid abstract material. The courses have to be good and helpful in the practice of a Christian’s life and the functioning of a church. The presentation of the modules will be fairly flexible. Tutors will either do all the presenting or the presenting will be done through lecturer-presented seminars or DVDs. The tutor will also facilitate discussions, other group work, assignments and exams. Tuition time per module is estimated at 16 hours, spread over 12 weeks. Half of each study unit should be for supervised exercises and group discussions. It is envisaged that these programmes will meet the most important training needs of church leaders outside of higher education, with a balance between providing all-round practical training and other specific training needs felt by churches. At present the development of these modules is in its early stages with outcomes and outlines of about half the modules completed, and with a limited number of draft study guides. A lot of prayer and hard work still needs to be done over the next few years. May God also provide the necessary manpower and funds! |
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