Afrikaanse Baptiste Seminarium  (Dr Martin Holdt)

The Seminarium in Kempton Park is an amazing place where the work of God has been seen and is felt by those on board. When I became Rector at the beginning of 2008 I had told the council who nominated me that I would do the work on two conditions. First I would draw no salary and second I would continue as pastor of my church.  The morning I began the bank phoned to let us know that we were more than R30 000 overdrawn on our account! There were only a handful of students.

I realised that only God could save the situation so I told the students that lectures would end at tea time on Friday mornings and I asked them to voluntarily fast on that day with me and that we would pray together from 1 till about 3 in the afternoon. We needed money and we needed students and only the Lord could provide. We also desperately needed a security fence to replace the old rusty wire which was lying on the ground! The cost was to be R135,000. I send out an appeal to some churches, but only half the amount was raised. We were praying very earnestly. I gave the green light to the contractor who was also asked to put up a security gate - there has never even been a gate. No wonder the crime on the campus!  One Thursday I received a phone call from a man: “How much is outstanding on the palisade?” “R69,000.” “I’ll pay it into the account tomorrow!”

As we prayed each Friday the students were growing spiritually and though we are still small, applications have come from very promising candidates. God has even provided without us asking. One morning I said to our Registrar that I wished we had a TV set with DVD player in order to expose our students to very good preachers and to learn from them. No one else but God heard our conversation. That very afternoon a man who was moving wanted to know whether we wanted his TV set and DVD player! The story could go on. The Lord is doing wonderful things on our campus!

One of the applications received recently has been from a South African who was on the faculty of a theological training school in Melbourne Australia. When interviewed we asked why he wanted to further his studies with us to which he replied that he hadinvestigated various options and found the Seminarium to offer the best courses balancing the academic and the spiritual! Another recent applicant has said the same.

We offer three courses: a one year course called the Spiritual Enrichment course for young people who are still making up their minds about the future; a Christian Workers Course for those who want to do some form of Christian work; and a four year course for those wanting to go into the ministry. The first two courses are open to anyone and the third for men only.

The Lord is at work at the Seminarium. We welcome visitors anytime. Come and see for yourself the place where the Lord is doing wonders!