Articles
Faculty Updates
Since retiring, faculty member, Ross Anderson, has registered at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) to do a PhD in missiology (church and society). His preproposal was accepted at the end of last year and he subsequently completed and submitted his Research Proposal in September 2021. This has been accepted by the University Committee for Higher Degrees and he will begin to write up his thesis, which he aims to complete by November 2024. His PhD title is The attack on St James Church: Assumptions on church-and- society in responses…
1 & 2 Kings comes alive for Bible academics and the church
GWC faculty member, Dr Nathan Lovell, is Director of Postgraduate Studies and senior lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew at the college. In 2019, Nathan was awarded a doctorate based on his thesis entitled, “The Book of Kings and Exilic Identity: 1 and 2 Kings as a Work of Political Historiography”, in which he proposes that 1 and 2 Kings might be read as a work of written history, produced with the explicit purpose of shaping the communal identity of its first readers in the Babylonian exile. In 2021, Nathan published a book, “The Book of…
My COVID Journey
In June 2021, GWC’s Accountant and Bursar, Allan Anderton, was diagnosed with COVID Pneumonia and admitted to hospital. Despite receiving supplementary oxygen, his blood oxygen count dropped to a dangerous level, leading to him being placed on a ventilator in Intensive Care. Still not getting sufficient oxygen, in the following week Allan was given a tracheostomy, which he believes saved his life. Allan says, “I was in ICU for about three weeks and then was moved to a recovery ward in the hospital for a further two weeks.Slowly but surely…
Explore travels to Uganda & Kenya
Explore Manager, Nevil Carrington, spent 10 days in Uganda and Kenya in October 2021. Firstly, to train delegates from the Faith Harvest Churches of Fresh Hope denomination in Tororo, Eastern Uganda and, secondly, to work toward finalising a Memorandum of Understanding between Explore and African Enterprise (AE) in the Southern region of Kenya. Nevil was joined in Tororo by GWC alumnus, Rev. Grace Kavuma, who spearheads Explore in Uganda, along with 15 delegates from Faith Harvest Churches of Fresh Hope, who were…
A Special Letter from the Principal
Dear Friends,
As the college has grown and developed, and as our programmes have increased in number, it has become increasingly difficult to find new donors each year to maintain the required funding. GWC is dependent on donations to meet 80 percent of its operational costs.
The GWC Board has created an Endowment for GWC called the “Ark Endowment Fund” to lessen this risk. This will reduce GWC’s current dependency on annual donations from 80 percent to half of that. This means that I would need to raise only 40 percent of the annual…
The Role Of Scripture In Children’s Mental Health
by Niki Hodson
Due to the global pandemic, mental health issues among young people and children have increased by as much as 31% (Panchal et al, 2021)[1] and although psychology has a necessary part to play, we shouldn’t underestimate the crucial role of scripture in helping our children and youth through these difficult times. When Children’s Thinking Becomes Faulty
Ross Anderson – Retirement 31 July 2021
The Bible calls us in Romans 12:13 to share with and support God’s people in need. The devastating events that occurred in Kwa-Zulu Natal and Gauteng in July this year created an amazing opportunity for the body of Christ – the Church – to actively work together in compassion, generosity and love towards those who have been worst affected. What started with a few Western Cape REACH churches
PSALM 27. WAIT FOR THE LORD
PSALM 27. WAIT FOR THE LORD
by The Rev Ross Anderson
If David is the author of this Psalm, the context is probably his pursuit by Saul (his king) or his flight from Absalom (his son). Whoever they are, he says his enemies are “evil men” who want to kill him (v2, cf. v12). He testifies that his confidence and security rest in the Lord (v1), so he overcomes his fear (v3).
PSALM 29. THE VOICE OF THE LORD.
PSALM 29. THE VOICE OF THE LORD.
by The Rev Ross Anderson
Whenever I read this Psalm, I am reminded of my childhood in eSwatini (Big Bend) and my youth in the Ntonjaneni (Mthonjaneni) District (Zululand). Both areas are characterized by fierce thunderstorms with their accompanying lightning, heavy rains and sometimes hail. My two older sisters (Gill and Dawne)
REACH SA Western Cape Churches assist KwaZulu-Natal
The Bible calls us in Romans 12:13 to share with and support God’s people in need. The devastating events that occurred in Kwa-Zulu Natal and Gauteng in July this year created an amazing opportunity for the body of Christ – the Church – to actively work together in compassion, generosity and love towards those who have been worst affected. What started with a few Western Cape REACH churches
Psalms For Our Troubled Land – Psalm 24
PSALM 23. JESUS OUR SHEPHERD AND HOST by The Rev. Ross Anderson
1. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD (vv1-4)
No doubt the psalmist was thinking back to the exodus from Egypt when God “brought his people out like a flock; he led them like sheep through the desert” (Psalm 78:52). But we immediately notice the psalmist claims that the Lord “is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1). We can’t
Psalms For Our Troubled Land – Psalm 23
PSALM 23. JESUS OUR SHEPHERD AND HOST by The Rev. Ross Anderson
1. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD (vv1-4)
No doubt the psalmist was thinking back to the exodus from Egypt when God “brought his people out like a flock; he led them like sheep through the desert” (Psalm 78:52). But we immediately notice the psalmist claims that the Lord “is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1). We can’t
Psalms For Our Troubled Land – Psalm 22
PSALM 22. ANGUISH AND PRAISE by The Rev. Ross Anderson
May God draw near to all the people of South Africa (Psalm 22:11, 19) in our need and deliver us (v19) from this present turmoil (vv19-21). We pray that the poor will “eat and be satisfied” (v26) and that “all the rich … will worship the Lord” (v29). May God have mercy on us and not despise us (v24, cf. v6) as we
Walk With John, 13 June, 2021 For Gwc Bursaries
The Comrades Marathon (90km) is widely recognised as the world’s oldest and largest ultramarathon. It was first run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban in 1921 to remember the comrades who died in World War 1.2021 is the Comrades Centenary but it cannot be run due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A virtual run of varying distances will be run around the world on 13 June instead.
In Memory of John Newby
In the providence of God, as I look back over John Newby’s (‘Doc’ to his students who loved and him) incredibly important and meaningful life, I am reminded of a brief conversation I had with him as a student, some 25 years ago, wherein I suggested God had not called him to be a bishop because He had bigger ideas: The singular call to influence generations of future Bible teachers and bishops!
Love and Gospel in the Time of Corona
We often say that God is in control, but we lose sight of the fact that he doesn’t place at the top of his agenda that everyone should live comfortably and happily. That is how it is until God steps in. The pandemic has swept through the continent of Africa and cut short many dreams and hopes. Why is God so hard on us?
The Legacy and the future of the church in Africa
In recent years, I have seen and heard a constant criticism of Christianity by young black millennials within the South African context as being a white man’s religion. While one may not fully understand the motive behind this statement, on the surface it appears to be informed by two factors that unfortunately lack historical accuracy. The first being that Christianity only arrived in Africa in the 1600s, and the second that Africa has not had any contribution in shaping the Christian faith, and thus the Christian faith is foreign to this beautiful land.
Getting Ready for Africa’s harvest: Theological Education as a Tool for Gospel Transformation in Africa
You may have heard, or not, but there is a shift of Christianity’s nucleus from the north to the global south (that includes Africa). This shift started at the beginning of the 20th century. You may also have heard about, have read or will be reading the 2019 United Nations’ population report, projecting that by the year 2100 the population in Africa would have quadrupled. Taken together, these two factors reveal the need for the church in Africa to be prepared for a great harvest.
The Explore Team Update for March 2021
Thank you for your support of Explore through prayer, payments or partnership, helping us to provide the programme in more African countries each year. Even with COVID upon us, we had 964 students complete 1564 modules last year (2020). We also held graduations in three different locations for 38 students.
Mission Minded
Our God is a sending God, a missionary God. And it is very important that we understand this – the Christian mission is based not simply on a few of our favourite verses like the great commission, it is based on the nature of God himself. And we must remember that it is not the church or mission organisations that send missionaries, it is God who sends his church into his world to bear witness to him. We need to grasp the full biblical basis for the Christian mission. We need a Biblical Theology of mission.