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George Whitefield College with Mark Dickson

Mark Dickson, Principal of George Whitefield College

To hear the podcast click here.

George Whitefield College is ably led by its Principal, Mark Dickson.  It is set on the coast in a beautiful part of Africa, not far from Cape Town.  

I had the opportunity to teach a two week intensive, Honours-level course there in fall 2022.  While there, I found time to visit with the Principal.  

Mark Dickson describes George Whitefield as an evangelical Anglican college with a bit of Reformed theology for good measure.  Bottom line: they take the Bible seriously. Since its founding in 1989, it has served as a training ground for clergy members in one denomination.  But it has become clear that their reach must increase to train pastors and teachers from various denominations who want to take the Gospel all across Africa.

There are 1.2 billion people living on the African continent.  That is more than twice the population of North America (USA and Canada).  In addition, there are more Christians in Africa than there are people in the United States.  But few pastors and church leaders have any theological training.  

The biggest challenge now is to “grow their own wood,” that is, raise up from among their student ranks faculty members to perpetuate the mission of the college. 

George Whitefield College offers various degrees accredited in the South African context.  They are also developing more and more online course work so they can reach further north into Africa. 

The president has big designs on a library for a college.  He would like to see a library suitable for the school to offer a PhD.  This means developing their print collection but also their digital collection.  One of the impressive features of the library is that it houses the books of Leon Morris, one of the best known and prolific New Testament scholars in the world.  

If you’d like to know more about George Whitefield College, their website is https://www.gwc.ac.za

Two of their faculty members, Drs. Vuyani Sindo and Nathan Lovell, came to deliver a lecture in the Stone Chapel in November 2021.  To hear that lecture click here. 

For information on upcoming lectures at the library, click here.

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Book-Aid with Christine Pulsford

The Stone Chapel Podcast

Recently, David Capes was in London and visited mission-central for Book-Aid.  This UK charitable trust has been around 35 years and provides quality Christian books at “affordable, local prices” in the United Kingdom as well as countries in Africa.  Christine Pulsford, daughter of the founders and now director, joins David to talk about the history and mission of this unique ministry. 

Book-Aid collects books from hundreds of supporters at collection sites across England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.  Then they sort them in their headquarters and ship them.  Book-Aid supplies Bibles and Christian literature to their partners living around the world where books are wanted but not easily found or affordable.

The books are sold and not given away. This ensures the dignity of the books as well as those who receive them.  Also, they are sold in bookshops.  This creates jobs in places where jobs are scarce.  Book-Aid staff are keen on sending the right kind of books to their partners. Books that are too “academic” or in the wrong languages are sold online to provide income for the charity.

If you find yourself in London, make your way to south London to see their incredible book shop. If you’re not in London, you too can help by donating to the charity at their website www.book-aid.org.  David toured the book shop and saw hundreds of great books he wanted to buy. 

Joining Christine and David on the podcast is Rob Bradshaw, librarian at Spurgeon’s College in London.  He is one of their trustees at Book-Aid.  In addition to all his volunteer work, Rob runs a website called “Theology on the Web” (https://theologyontheweb.org.uk).  Rob does in the digital world what Book-Aid does in the print world.  Rob and David did a podcast together in January 2021.  To hear the podcast (20 minutes) click here.

To hear the podcast click here.

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The Invisible Children of Uganda

Perhaps you saw or heard of the movie “The Invisible Children” released a few years ago about Joseph Kony.  Kony is the self-appointed, charismatic leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a guerilla army waging war in several central African states especially Uganda.  He has been accused of abducting children and turning them into sex-slaves and soldiers.  Approximately 66,000 children have been stolen from their families and turned into soldiers and over 2 million people have been displaced by Kony’s guerilla tactics.  The International Criminal Court has indicted Kony for crimes against humanity.  You can seen the movie on YouTube.kony-2012-2

In the aftermath of Kony’s scourge and attack on children ALARM (African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries) has been working to bring healing to Africa.

Dr. Karl Benzio established the Lighthouse Network in 2003.  It is known around the country as the premiere Christian addiction and mental health referral service.  It is a non-profit organization with a simple mission: to give people guidance through the storm’s of life.  So when people are dealing with drug or alcohol addiction or any kind of psychological or emotional troubles, they turn to the Lighthouse Network. 

Dr. Benzio believes that the war is not over until the children of Africa are healed.  So he and other associates were invited by ALARM to Gulu, Uganda this past summer to work with those traumatized by Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army.  When I heard about the effort to bring help to the poor and powerless in Africa, I called Dr. Benzio and asked them if there was anything we could do.  He told me that they needed Bibles to give to the 50 mentors whom they would train to work with the children.  Well, I put in a call to Blake Aldridge at Thomas Nelson and asked: “Is it possible to get 60 Bibles into the hands of Dr. Benzio and his staff before they leave for Africa?”    Blake went to work and made it happen.  Thomas Nelson donated and shipped 60 copies of The Voice New Testament to the Lighthouse Network for its mission to Uganda.   

In July Dr. Benzio and seven other associates traveled to Uganda to work with these dear people.  As they went, they carried with them the love of God, the skills they possess as  gifted counselors and therapists, and The Voice New Testament. In a few weeks I’ll share with you some images from Africa from their mission.  You will see for yourself the faces of the innocent who bear uniquely the image and likeness of God.  They shared hope and healing with over 480 children and many more adults there dedicated to making their country whole again.

This will not be the last trip for Dr. Benzio and his troop.  They will go again and again until the job is done and the children of Africa are healed.  My hope is that next year they will take even more copies of The Voice New Testament with them.  If you’d like to help the effort in Africa, go to their website and help the children.