The basic idea of the Extension School is to bring the Theological Seminary to those areas where conditions make it impossible for workers to attend, even for a short time, any of the courses of the Seminary at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. One such Extension School was held at Helderberg College near Cape Town, South Africa.
R. A. Anderson, General Conference Ministerial Association secretary, taught a course in evangelistic leadership, conveying a practical emphasis so greatly needed. Along the way he also informed the students of later doctrinal and spiritual developments in our denomination. Much of the information was not only new to them but also a source of great encouragement and inspiration. One other course taught by D. Walther dealt with Calvinism, a subject that proved to be of practical value since South Africa is a stronghold of the Calvinistic Dutch Reformed Church. Indeed, the ministers belonging to the four synods of that church have to pledge allegiance to the Synod of Dort (1619), which condemned Arminianism and affirmed the basic tenets and practices taught by John Calvin. On October 12, 1962 (one day after the opening of Vatican Council II) the four Dutch Reformed synods merged into one body with headquarters in Cape Town. By the way, the Dutch Reformed Church is not a member of the World Council of Churches for various well-defined reasons. The Dutch Reformed Church has a theological Seminary at Stellenbosch, not too far from Helderberg College, where the Extension School was held.
Another course dealt with ecumenism, which peimeates so strongly the thinking of Protestantism as well as of Catholics today. The discussion was helped considerably because we had attended, for three weeks, the Roman Catholic Vatican Council in Rome.
Prof. E. W. Marter, who teaches at Helderberg College and is head of the department of theology, taught two fine courses dealing with interpretations: one was concerned with the Bible and the other was based on prophetic interpretations.
The fifty-seven participants who came from the vast and challenging South African field were a source of great satisfaction. I can give the assurance that the men were not slack, but worked diligently. The program began early and without letup continued until almost one o'clock. The course lasted from December 5, 1962, to January 17, 1963. It was of necessity a concentrated and rather strenuous program.
Besides a strong study program we had two chapel hours a week and two periods each week for round-table discussions, where many problems could be faced and discussed. As a faculty we were pleased by the excellent work done and the caliber of these mature men who had strong ideas and great courage.
On Sabbath it was our privilege to visit neighboring churches, such as Claremont and Good Hope near Cape Town. We will always remember the wonderful hospitality we were shown at the college, the kind solicitude of the management of the school, as well as the friendships we formed among so many men who not only were efficient in their ministerial work but who also displayed richly endowed artistic talents, such as in music and the fine arts.
Before the course began it was my privilege to visit some of our churches and institutions in other sectors of this immense Southern African Division, from Uganda to Kenya, Tanganyika, and Rhodesia, where we conduct a successful and strong medical work, and numerous schools that are sometimes overfilled and understaffed. Very impressive is the immense work done at the mission stations whose names are well-known and revered among us—Malamulo, Solusi, et cetera. I was greatly impressed by the fine spirit that so obviously pervades the entire field and the practical genius that allows men to be many-sided in their service. They are the engineers for their own waterworks, farming equipment, surveying, et cetera. This causes a man to be practical and ingenious on one hand, and on the other, to be tolerant and patient in laboring with men of various races.
As anywhere else the Southern African field has intrinsic problems. Some of the most pressing have to do with educational matters, church-state relationship, and/or control of the schools. Labor problems loom here and there, and race questions are ever present. But in this environment our work progresses remarkably, owing in great part to an efficient, eminently spiritual leadership of the brethren of the division and the dedication of workers who are bound together by one great tie which, like their famous Cape, is that of a grand and good hope.
It was also my good fortune to be for a short time in Leopoldville and see the tragic conditions that obtain in the Congo, where, as in other sectors, the people are endeavoring to find their way to self-government. The pressing need, however, is not so much their political unity as it is their survival.
In Leopoldville, for instance, there was practically no food available, and our courageous worker there, Brother Phil Lemon, has to be ingenious as well as courageous to be able to survive. That large city literally lies at the feet of Stanley, whose immense statue overlooks the Congo River, which divides Leopoldville from Brazzaville. The dedicated determination of our leaders to stand by is an inspiration.
I shall never forget some of the immediate and obvious problems of this immense frontier, nor shall I ever forget the kindness and hospitality of that noble brotherhood of workers and laymen that binds us all in the fellowship of service for a cause that faces staggering obstacles but which will not fail to triumph.
