In the past year Mukhanyo was evaluated in various ways.  It has proved to be above expectations. Just look at the following:

• The Council for Higher Education has accredited Mukhanyo’s new BTh and BTh Honours degrees. This means that the Department of Higher Education & Training (DHET) and the Higher Education Qualifications Committee (HEQC) of the CHE – the government agencies that review all higher education in South African – have found that Mukhanyo’s academic quality is on the same level as those of similar qualifications at universities.
• The students from other African countries, who are studying at Mukhanyo, are impressed with Mukhanyo’s standards. And similar colleges elsewhere in Africa make use of Mukhanyo’s programmes. Mukhanyo’s annual consultation of Bible Colleges unites and builds cooperation among reformed evangelical theological institutions.
• Many church groups all over South Africa and beyond make use of Mukhanyo’s diploma courses which are fast becoming a benchmark for effective biblical training for church leaders, also enabling students to progress to higher levels of theological training.
• Many local visitors and international ministry delegations in the past year have been impressed with the quality of Mukhanyo’s facilities, including its computer facilities, recording studio, lecture rooms and the fast expanding libraries in all three locations.
• To maintain our high standards and to continue improving, the Board of Directors had approved several audits by professional consultants for early 2019: The annual financial audit will soon be completed, a governance and legal compliance audit has been started, and a comprehensive ministry audit will start in a few months.
  

We thank the Lord for all these improvements and we pray that He will send more and more students to make use of all that Mukhanyo offers.

The annual general meeting (AGM) of member churches is expected to take place on
​11 May. This will also be the day when Mukhanyo gives thanks to the Lord for 25 years of ministry as a Christian college involved in many spheres of training and mission work.
Plans for the day are still in the making. But it will be a day worthwhile participating. Work is being done on a history book about Mukhanyo’s first twenty-five years of ministry.

There were many other developments in 2018. To mention a few:

• About a dozen workshops, seminaries and conferences – including the highly successful Bible College Consultation in June. Topics on these occasions included the role of pastors and church leaders, the role of pastor’s wives, facilitator and tutor study groups, as well as personal evangelism workshops, Bible counselling, alumni support, youth ministry and the training of support staff.
• The growing number of distance study groups for the first time surpassed 60, with over 600 students. The study material sent to these groups requires further updating, something on which a serious start was made during the past year, so far with impressive results, also according to the donors supporting the project.
• After years of hard work, a number of programmes were fully accredited by the CHE and DHET, and two new programmes conditionally accredited in preparation for next year.
• The Johannesburg Study Centre was renovated with special funding of R1 million and started 2019 with much better facilities, including a large library and media centre with recently donated books, as well as work stations for students.
• A new initiative was started: the compilation of a number of modules to add up to an unaccredited certificate in theology (“Project FOCUS”) which will take the form of short courses especially designed for local church communities.
• The Pretoria Study Centre relocated to a much larger, modern and better location. With funding specially received for this purpose, the venue was turned into an ideal place for future growth.
• A quick survey after the mid-year holidays showed that most students were doing ministry work in one way or another. Which not only shows the practicality of the Mukhanyo model (combining study with practical ministry work), but also shows that students are already deeply involved in church work and their communities.

Plenary topics will address the following sub-themes:

• Who is a quality Bible lecturer according to Scripture?
• Conducting a self-assessment of quality and working improvement
• Designing and maintaining a quality teaching and learning experience
• Learning from history of educational missions in Southern Africa
• Promoting quality in governance, management and administration
• Promoting an undergirding biblical worldview for quality education

 
Afternoon discussion workshop themes include:

• Promoting both academic quality and missional excellence
• Strategies for maintaining financial support without dependence
• Accreditation: how to satisfy requirements without losing vision
• Should our schools seek to “decolonialize” theological education?
• Developing a quality teaching staff for Bible education in Africa

The curators of the Theological School Potchefstroom of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (RCSA) and Mukhanyo Theological College late in 2018 decided on closer cooperation. The curators will oversee RCSA students studying at Mukhanyo and such students who complete Mukhanyo’s BTh Honours will be ready for the next level of theological study in Potchefstroom.

This has already born fruit right at the start of 2019. An intensive course in the Pauline letters was held from 7 to 11 January at Mukhanyo’s new centre in Wonderboom-South, Pretoria. It was presented by Prof Risimati Hobyane of the Theological School Potchefstroom to twenty-five theological students of Mukhanyo’s Johannesburg and Pretoria centres. This course is one module of Mukhanyo’s BTh degree.

Prof Hobyane is very enthusiastic about this cooperation and has far-reaching views on where this will lead to in due course. Fact of the matter is that there is a huge shortage of ministers and other church leaders in the Reformed Churches in South Africa and beyond. A close relation and co-operation between these two institutions will benefit the Reformed Churches and also many other church communities in southern Africa.

Dr Brian DeVries, Mukhanyo’s principal, sees this growing co-operation as the result of years of hard work and good developments. He also refers to the synod of the Reformed Churches a year ago when the decision was taken to initiate the first steps in this process, the first part of which now has become a reality. He hopes that the next synod, in January 2021, will be able to already bless two years of working together of the two Reformed institutions, for God’s kingdom and to the benefit of His Church.