Mennonite Weekly Review

MTHATHA, South Africa —Thompson Mpongwana Adonis has guided leaders of African-Initiated Churches as well as Mennonite mission workers in South Africa for nearly three decades.

Thompson Mpongwana Adonis, in conversation with Sweetness Faniso, was honored for his work with Bethany Bible School. — Photo by Ryan Miller/MMN

Mission workers presented Adonis, a founder of one of the AICs, with a Lifetime Service Award at a Dec. 10 gathering to honor his retirement from official duties at Bethany Bible School.

Joe Sawatzky, Mennonite Mission Network worker in South Africa, presented the award to Adonis and read a letter with tributes from past missionaries to South Africa, as well as Steve Wiebe-Johnson, MMN’s director for Africa.

“Bishop Adonis has provided an invaluable service in the establishment of leadership training for AICs,” Wiebe-Johnson wrote. “This training has been instrumental in raising the voice of the AICs within the broader Christian community both regionally and nationally.”

In 1982, Adonis and other AIC leaders met with the Transkei Council of Churches, a branch of the South Africa Council of Churches, to discuss the feeling of disrespect they sensed from mainline congregations. The leaders decided that part of the problem was their own lack of training for ministry roles. To remedy this, they began an interdenominational AIC training program, which came to be known as Bethany Bible School.

“We were constantly amazed at how he was willing to travel anywhere and everywhere to bring people together, both within the AIC movement itself and between AICs and the mainline churches,” wrote Gary and Jean Isaac, who served in South Africa from 1986 to 1999.

The first teacher at the school was Jim Egli, a Mennonite mission worker in neighboring Lesotho, who came periodically to teach courses. The AICs chose to work with Mennonites, believing the denomination wasn’t seeking to augment its own numbers but was genuinely interested in helping people grow in their knowledge of Jesus.

Additionally, Mennonites in Transkei had gained credibility through their anti-apartheid stance and their rural development work.

The school hired its first full-time Mennonite teacher in 1984. Since then, various North American Mennonite teachers have come and gone, but Adonis has given continuous leadership during 27 years at the school.

“His integrity, wisdom, and gentle leadership opened many doors for us,” wrote Brian Dyck and Lynell Bergen, who followed the Isaacs in 1999. “Through our time we saw his strong love for God, the church and education.”