(reading time 3 minutes)
Mukhanyo is the Ndebele word for 'light'. It is apt that a Bible school in South Africa was given that name. It speaks of vision. That Bible school was more or less spontaneously born. The school has now been in existence for 30 years. At the annual general members' meeting held in April, this was gratefully remembered.
Church planter and teacher
It began, more than 30 years ago, with a courtesy visit by missionary Rev Bob Rebel to the local traditional chief to pay his respects and ask permission to work in the area. Bob Rebel had been working in South Africa for a number of years: he had worked in the homeland of Venda, and since 1975 had been working in the homeland of KwaNdebele, as a church planter.
Rev and Mrs Rebel
So, as mentioned, Rev Rebel paid a courtesy call on the local chief. The latter asked him to return on Sunday afternoon to appear before him and his 'advisers in religious matters'. When he travelled back to the chief's house that Sunday, he was met by a whole group of leaders of African independent churches. They were bishops and elders from the typical Apostolic and Zionist Churches that you come across all over South Africa. Dressed in beautiful robes.
The local leaders responded enthusiastically, saying: 'Why don't you also teach us? Couldn't that be possible, that you also help us read the Bible? We would love to get some light on that.' Although they were church leaders, for various reasons, they had not received the training they needed for their ministry. In fact, it turned out later, there were church leaders among them who could neither read nor write. This was not a problem for the course: they were also given reading and writing lessons.
These church leaders formed an umbrella organisation: the KwaNdebele Churchesboard. Thus, the Mukhanyo vision was born. From then on, Bob Rebel not only worked as a church planter in what grew into the Reformed Churches of KwaNdebele. But he travelled - often on Saturdays and Sunday afternoons - to the villages for courses for the church leaders of the independent churches. Later he was given space to concentrate fully on that, and was given a successor for the work in the church where he had previously worked.
Teaching in gazebos
Over time, the vision grew and other churches joined in. Missionary deputies also became more and more involved in the work. This made sense, as they had sent out Rev Bob Rebel.
Meanwhile, in the Reformed Churches of KwaNdebele, there was a growing need and necessity to formalise the training of workers in the church a bit more. There were a number of evangelists who worked with the missionary pastors, and a mid-level training was sought for them. Rev Flip Buys was called for that work. Rev Rebel concentrated on the courses in the various villages in KwaNdebele. In 1994, Flip Buys started with a group of five students, which soon grew to more. There was no building: in Thembaletu, near one of KwaNdebele's churches, a number of wooden 'gazebos' were erected, where the students were taught, and a small library was set up.
Full training
After his retirement, Rev Bob Rebel was succeeded by Rev Kees Buijs, who continued working at Mukhanyo Bibleschool until 2012. The course that Rev Flip Buys was asked to teach grew into a formal theological course, which, incidentally, now also teaches another - much appreciated - basic course, the Focus Programme. Besides that Focus programme, secondary theological training is given, but you can also do a Masters programme there.
So the formal training started at a church building in Thembalethu, was later given a large building complex in KwaMhlanga, and now has training sites in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Rustenburg, and Durban, and there are plans to open a teaching site in Cape Town. In addition, there are a large number of satellites offering Mukhanyo's online programme, and now the teaching programme can also be taken in the surrounding countries around South Africa.
