This chapter will focus on ministerial formation in the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) of South Africa. The DRC came to South Africa with Jan van Riebeeck and the Dutch settlers in 1652. For the next 150 years the DRC was for all practical purposes the official state church. Though the Dutch influence has been dominant through the years, immigrants from France, Germany and even Britain joined the DRC and enriched its customs and traditions.

As the name reflects, the DRC is a Reformed Church standing in the tradition of John Calvin and the Dutch Reformed tradition. It retained the three confessions of the Reformed Church of Holland as their rule of faith: that is the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of Dordt. It is in many ways a typical Reformed Church, although some people would say that it has a strong evangelical spirituality.

In the second half of the nineteenth century the church saw two major splits. The Gereformeerde Kerk and the Hervormde Kerk (impossible to translate in English) were formed – the reasons being major political and minor theological differences. However, the DRC retained the majority of the membership. Also in the 19th century, the church started taking missions more seriously and three new churches were formed in the DRC family – the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (a predominantly coloured church), the DRC in Africa (a black church) and the Reformed Church in Africa (a small Indian church). The Mission Church and the DRC in Africa united in 1990 and formed the Uniting Reformed Church. The DRC is one of the larger churches in the country. The predominantly white DRC church has a membership of well over a million, while the DRC family has a combined membership of just below three million.

At present ministers of the DRC are trained at three institutions, namely the theological faculties in Stellenbosch, Bloemfontein and Pretoria. Although there would be some differences between the three institutions, we can assume that the differences would not be that large. The church has a national committee overseeing the selection of candidates and the final examination process. The candidates are also recommended for ordination by the General Synod of the DRC.

This chapter will focus specifically on the training done at the Theological Faculty at Stellenbosch University (SU).