South Africa Term

Bethel students live and study in a nation where apartheid is being dismantled before the eyes of the world.

South Africa Term

Bethel offers more than 20 study-abroad programs spanning nearly every continent on the globe. In 2005, Bethel introduced a groundbreaking new program in cooperation with Cornerstone Christian College, a small, racially diverse school of 200 students just outside Cape Town, South Africa. The immersion in multiculturalism at Cornerstone is designed to give Bethel students a firsthand view of racism being intentionally dismantled and to equip them to lead reconciliation back home. The 18-credit program is offered every year and fulfills credits in Bethel’s new B.A. in Reconciliation Studies, although it is open to any Bethel student. Participants live with host families in Cape Town and, alongside colleagues from many ethnicities, attend classes in biblical studies, leadership, and sociological studies taught by South African professors. They gather in worship experiences and small groups where students share personal stories about racial hurt and healing. Bethel students in South Africa also visit sites which represent the nation’s racially scarred history, including the Mayibuye Struggle Museum and Transkei, the birthplace of leader Nelson Mandela. During the last month of the term, students live and work near Cape Town in economically challenged townships, building relationships with residents of these communities.

“Study at Cornerstone,” says Cornerstone professor Alan Jensen, “helps Bethel students critique South Africa’s progress and methods for reconciliation and draw parallels so that when they return they will be instruments for justice and reconciliation within their own country.”

If you are interested in the South Africa Term, contact the Office of International Studies at ois@bethel.edu or call 651.638.6492.