Articles

Winds of change have been blowing unabated since late March through our simulated hallways of learning. Seemingly thrown into a very difficult situation by the nation-wide lock-down, GWC faculty turned their attention to online teaching. In the space of a week, each faculty member was conducting his or her module using a digital platform. The student body, half of which had remained in residence, faithfully took up the challenge of attending classes, conducting various exercises and tutorials and even writing open book exams in this new way.

We asked Rev Musa Ntinga, Lead Pastor at Christ Central Soweto in Gauteng, South Africa for his insights on ministering during the coronavirus pandemic, learning how studying at GWC equipped him for ministry, particularly during a global crisis.

In a Q&A with Andre Kruger, Lead Pastor at Emmanuel Church in Port Elizabeth, South Africa we learned how the Emmanuel church community and gospel ministry has adapted over the COVID-19 lockdown.

While I was at college I had an opportunity to examine Explore, the GWC correspondence course, and an interest was started in me. I had come across a wide variety of discipleship material but most of them seemed to be focused on a single aspect of ministry, such as leadership, worship or some other distinctive. The uniqueness of Explore is that its genius is the Bible.

The coronavirus struck Explore like a thunderstorm, and little did we know the impact it would have. All project plans for the year were cancelled, as these all involved travel and contact with potential facilitators.

We spoke to the GWC students to get to the heart of what it has been like to study, write exams, stay involved in ministry and not see their families over lockdown. Here is a selection of student insights into life and study during the corona pandemic.

In January, we were so pleased that 2020 was mapped out, with breakfasts, outreach and travel plans all ready to execute. Then, suddenly, we found ourselves in lockdown, with larger fundraising goals owing to the global economic meltdown and no way of realising our carefully prepared plans. How were we to get to know people without tea and coffee and dinner and the usual social norms?

For many years to come, 2020 will be remembered as the year of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Since March, South African Christians, together with the rest of the country’s population and many others throughout the world, have been in lockdown. We have been separated from our families and our fellowship has been reduced to pixelated talking heads and distorted voices. While it might seem that there is not much to do except wait while the virus works its way through the population, there are at least three things that Christians might do in response to the pandemic.