DEAN CHALLENGES EXITING STUDENTS TO BE PROPHETIC
The Dean of Chapel, Rev Norman Raphahlela, has challenged the exiting seminarians to go out and preach the gospel in ‘season and out of season, when time allows and when it does not.’
Rev Raphahlela was delivering a message to the third year seminarians on their final day in the seminary, during the valedictory service, on 23 November.
“Paul preached the gospel in Rome, ‘without hindrance’, as Luke says. He preached at the heart of the empire. You must also be prepared to preach the gospel of Christ right at the heart of the empire, because even the emperor in his kingdom cannot overpower Christ. He cannot prevent Christ from bringing people into a new land, to serve a new king,” Rev Raphahlela said.
The Dean also lamented the fact that the prophetic gospel of Christ has been overtaken by the ‘prosperity gospel,’ and challenged the exiting seminarians to find new ways of showing the kingdom of God.
He said, “If you want to preach the Jesus of history, you must deny yourselves and become a new people. You must die to certain things of this world because you have left all that for the sake of Christ.”