Throughout the world, the movement for training ministry apprentices is gaining exciting momentum. In South Africa, the established ministry apprenticeship program overseen by The Bible Talks KZN has been maturing thanks to the graciousness of God!
The program aims to train and equip the next generation of men and women for Christian ministry, particularly within and for the KwaZulu Natal and South African context.
Currently, they have two apprentices, Siyanda and Nomfundo, going through the program, financially supported by Australian MTS trainers and apprentices. Anglican Aid partners with MTS to facilitate international funds transfer, compliance and project reporting.
Apprentice Siyunda
Ministry in South Africa
Ministry for a South African apprentice involves much of what it does for an Australian apprentice!
Siyanda and Nomfundo are heavily involved in their local church, Christ Church Glenwood, but the bulk of their training takes place on campus with The Bible Talks KZN (TBT).
TBT is a non-denominational, reformed and evangelical ministry to university students, currently focusing on the major campuses of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Their apprenticeship includes mentorship and training by staff workers from TBT. Siyunda by the campus director Kwazi, and Nomfundo by a senior female campus worker from her campus team.
Their university ministry involves 1-to-1 bible reading, walk-up evangelism, and facilitating various campus meetings and events. Their trainers report that it’s encouraging to see Siyunda and Nomfundo grow in skills, abilities and relational service.
Apprentice Nomfundo
Recently Nomfundo’s mentor has moved on to another job, so the shape of her final six months of mentorship and training is being explored, as there are huge limitations in the number of trained women to draw from. However, God has blessed Nomfundo with a prayer and fellowship triplet with two mature women at church, so they may take up the role of mentorship for the rest of the year.
Training in competency and conviction
Both Siyunda and Nomfundo engage in organised training on top of the ‘on the job’ learning of their ministry. They are involved in half-day Tuesday training, called Gospel Workshops. These workshops are broken up into three sessions with differing purposes.
For the first half of 2024, these workshops have outlined the following topics:
- Session 1: 9 weeks in Biblical Theology, and the remaining weeks of this 3rd term will be around the ideas of ‘Discipleship’.
- Session 2: Working through the book of Exodus together with other apprentices.
- Session 3: Giving talks with feedback from the rest of the group and leaders. Nomfundo and Siyanda have both given talks from Luke’s gospel.
Please continue to pray for ministry training in South Africa!
Pray Specifically for Siyunda and Nomfundo:
- Give thanks for the faithful ministry of Siyanda and Nomfundo, and for how God has been growing them.
- Pray that they might, above all, continue to grow in their love of God, and their love of others. Pray that their knowledge of the truth will keep resulting in godliness.
- Pray for wisdom for the campus and church leaders as they meet with these two apprentices over the next two months and try to work out what might be best for them for 2025.