Church Orchestra

Most Churches have a keyboardist or a music team. This Church had a small orchestra. It is a New Apostolic Church in Cape Town. OBSERVATION: The New Apostolic Church is led by a Chief Apostle, with a hierarchy of apostles. They have three sacraments: Baptism, Holy Communion, and Holy Sealing: the Holy Spirit transmitted through the laying-on of hands by an apostle, after water baptism. It is a thriving Church.

Another Swan Song

Final year students are each delivering a "swan song" -- a final address -- at seminary chapel. I took this photo of one such student last night (centre). OBSERVATION: He spoke about God's provision -- which had run contrary to expectations. It was particularly interesting that he gave detailed examples.

A Useful Hush

I have posted many times about ministerial burnout and dropout. My own Master's degree research found that upwards of 80% of ministers who adopt a Transformational model of leadership do not survive ministry until retirement. With this in mind, I have noticed now in my seminary lectures that a hush descends on my classes when I mention, however fleetingly, the strain or burden of ministry. It is a knowing hush. OBSERVATION: And a useful hush, as it guides me in my teaching.

Commissioning a Student

This one's just a pretty picture. It is the commissioning of a student at the end of his studies at the Baptist Seminary in Cape Town. He preached on the verse, "All things work together for good for those who love the Lord." You may click on the photo to enlarge.

POSTSCRIPT: I took this photo using an 18mm F2 Fujifilm lens* -- superb for an instantly in-focus, "roomy" shot in low light.

*This is an Amazon affiliate link. I earn a commission, at no cost to the buyer. 

Rowdy Students

I once discussed with a New Testament professor the differences of lecturing in different countries. He said that Americans tended to be apathetic, Japanese deferential, and Africans boisterous. Tonight I held a lecture on Homiletics. The students were more than boisterous -- they were rowdy -- not rowdy as such, but rowdy in response to my lecture. OBSERVATION: Thankfully, I have a lot of experience with rowdiness. It does not faze me.

Baptist Principal

I attended a workshop today, on Teaching with Objectives. The teacher must have clear objectives when standing before his or her class -- and should communicate those objectives with them, too. Let them know what he is doing with them. One of the attendees was Prof. Godfrey Harold. the principal of the Cape Town Baptist theological seminary (pictured). OBSERVATION: This was a "sideways" shot with a fisheye lens, i.e. I did not point the camera at him directly. Click on the image to enlarge.

Pigeons in Church

I shall tell the story of a minister who had the problem of pigeons in his Church. Apparently they entered the Church through the belfry. They were a "right nuisance", disrupting services of worship, and leaving feathers and droppings all over the Church. There was a flood of suggestions as to what might be done -- and yet no solution. The day came when the minister had had enough. He entered the Church with an air rifle and shot them all. Then he quietly discarded their remains. Everyone was amazed. Where did the pigeons go?

‘Western’ Sermon

One of the assignments of my homiletics students is (will be) to grade a sermon they hear. I therefore applied the assignment to a sermon I heard in Church today. This seemed an unusual mix of great positives and great negatives. The preacher was experienced. The sermon was both topical and exegetical. He knew how to make his point -- although he did so loosely. The main failing, in my view, was that it was a typically Western sermon. God's power in particular was largely implied -- rather than being brought into focus. OBSERVATION: And this tended to make the sermon more abstract than concrete. With divided feelings over its great strengths and great weaknesses, I graded the sermon 50%. Perhaps, if I thought more like a Westerner, 75%.

African Materials

I am preparing three seminary courses for the second semester of 2026. The seminary is largely African. I am therefore deliberately seeking out African materials. My reading matter is about 30% African. My video materials are approaching 20% African. OBSERVATION: The biggest problem is the amount of African materials available (not). Apparently 5% of written materials -- theological materials -- is African. Apart from a want of materials, though, there are other problems. Black authors and producers are so often prophets, apostles, self-made people. They often adopt non-mainstream theologies, too. But one needs African input. It may be substantially different to Western fare, and balances it out.

Tea, Anyone?

This was a popular photo, and I don't even know who she is. She was serving tea at seminary. An 18mm wide-angle lens means that one does not merely see her face, but all of her -- and so her attitood is revealed. You may click on the photo to enlarge.

Homiletics Seminar

Two days ago, I attended a seminar on homiletics (preaching) by Dr. Rondey Ragwan. I felt that it was of a high quality. He engaged a lot with the audience, too (or tried to). He focused on the interpreter (Theology of Self), the text (Theology of Scripture), and lived realities (Theology of the World). OBSERVATION: I asked the final question of the seminar, to which Dr. Ragwan reponded, "Is my transport ready?" There was laughter all round. My question was: what is indispensable in the Church. The consensus was: preaching, certainly.

POSTSCRIPT: Here's a photo that someone else took of the event. It is interesting to me because it demonstrates what a difference dynamic range makes to a photo. Many cameras -- including mine -- permit one to set this. With higher dynamic range, the difference between light and dark is not so stark. No camera has a dynamic range as good as the human eye.

Open Day

I attended Open Day at the Cape Town Baptist Seminary today -- see the photo. I am wearing a white shirt. Open Day included an introduction to the seminary, devotions, testimonies by students, and a sample lecture. OBSERVATION: The Seminary offers government accredited degrees, which is as good as it gets in South Africa.

SA's Church Explosion

Earlier this month, I conducted a leadership seminar for the Bible Institute's Christian Leadership Programme. I devoted the first 30 minutes to the general situation of the Church in South Africa, pre- and post-apartheid. It is no ordinary story! AI has reduced these 30 minutes to an (over-simplified) three-minute video -- it gives a quick impression of what we discussed. AI has titled it "SA's Church Explosion" ... The Bible Institute's website is here: https://bisa.org.za/

Fisheye Church Photo

Visitors from Europe are often surprised by how full the Churches are in South Africa. I took this photo recently from the back of an Anglican Church. This photo is taken with an ultra-wide-angle lens which has an almost 180° field of view (180° is side to side).

Listen to My Leadership Seminar

On Saturday, I presented a two-hour leadership seminar at the Bible Institute of South Africa -- to kick off this year's Christian Leadership Programme. While I focus mostly on core themes of Paul's Epistle to Titus, I spend the first half hour looking at the huge fragmentation and proliferation of Churches in South Africa since 1994. At one stage, one new Church was formed every two days. What happened? Why? One may listen to the seminar here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAf8L0pPLuw

Leadership Seminar

Today I presented a leadership seminar at the Bible Institute of South Africa, to kick off this year's Christian Leadership Programme. Here are participants discussing a question that I put to them. There were 30-40 participants -- numbers fluctuated during the seminar. OBSERVATION: I expected first-year responses to questions, but this was a particularly sharp audience.

Baptist Commencement

I attended the Commencement service of the Cape Town Baptist Seminary (CTBS) this morning, at Linkway Baptist Church Cape Town. This is a typical warehouse-style Church with sound-proofing (pictured). OBSERVATION: The service was very efficient. There was no time wasted on introductions or digressions. There was a special emphasis on a) what the Seminary is, and b) the personal faith of students. I estimated that there were nearly 300 people in attendance (a balcony as well).

Iconic Christmas Tree

Here's another photo of South Africa's iconic Christmas tree, Erythrina lysistemon (a flame tree) -- in the foreground. I took this in the grounds of the Dutch Reformed Church Riviersonderend, 100 miles east of Cape Town. You may click on the photo to enlarge.

DRC Riviersonderend

I have posted many photos on this blog of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) Riviersonderend. Here's a new one, with a difference. It is taken from ground level in the Church's rose garden. You may click on the photo to enlarge.

Students' Participation

I taught World Religions & Cults the last semester. My students commented, "It's been a great semester." "It has been a very fun subject." I followed a Congregational principle, in fact: encourage the "congregation" to participate in the teaching. The photo shows the end-of-semester exam hall, with students of various subjects.