October 6 was a great day for 39 students at the Boitekong church in the Rustenburg platinum mining area, who had been busy working through the Miners’ Bible Course over the previous 12 months.
Spiritual hunger is growing in the mining community, where there has been so much suffering of late. However, examples of moral uprightness and integrity of living the Christian life in the mine areas are sadly limited. This is where the Miners’ Bible School for discipleship training is so crucial.
Challenging curriculum
The Bible school has been organised at four locations in the mining areas. It consists of a 14-lesson discipleship programme, which a little over 100 people have joined to date. These include the spouses of some of the miners, who are just as enthusiastic.
The curriculum of the Bible school is based on material from Emmanuel Press, but supplementary materials have also been developed. The course is easy for the miners to understand. It is multilingual, with material in English, Afrikaans, Sotho, Tsonga, Portuguese, Xhosa and Zulu. But there are certain language issues for the facilitators of the course, who speak English, Tswana, Zulu and Xhosa, as most miners speak Tsonga (especially those from Mozambique). There is a need to identify and train Tsonga- and Portuguese-speaking miners to assist with translating during new classes expected to be launched during 2014.
Surpassed expectations
The Miners’ Bible School has also played a key role in energising the International Miners’ Ministry in South Africa. IMM SA is seen as a bridge between the community and the miners. The miners feel empowered and encouraged – they don’t feel like outcasts, but feel included.
The Rev. Elijah Dube is a long-standing and faithful friend to many miners, as he has been particularly involved in the ministry to the goldminers of the Witwatersrand, south east of Johannesburg, for many years. He is a true example of a committed evangelist and pastor and now spends two Sundays each month ministering at a fellowship in the large Kloof gold-mine complex.
