Tag: Hugh Wetmore

Hugh Wetmore — missionary, unifier, activist, pastor, author, educator, songwriter — graduates to glory

Yesterday (November 2) Hugh Wetmore, 85, founder of the Evangelical Fellowship of South Africa (EFSA), the predecessor of the Evangelical Alliance (TEASA) and the Evangelical Seminary of South Africa (ESSA), went to heaven. Hugh grew up in Cape Town where he enjoyed mountain hiking and caving at Kalk Bay. On […]

Contemplation on Hymn used at Queen Elizabeth II’s Funeral- Hugh Wetmore

This week I watched the funeral service for Queen Elizabeth II at the majestic Westminster Cathedral.  You probably watched it too. I was impressed with the imaginative choice of a standard evening hymn as the opening congregational song for her funeral — and that vast congregation knew how to sing […]

Forever with the Lord! — Hugh Wetmore

These days we hear a lot about death.  Usually in sensational news reports.  21 under-age children found dead in eNyobeni Tavern, Gqeberha.  Farm attacks leave so many dead. Man kills his partner, then himself, and leaves their three children orphans. Robbers with high-calibre firearms storm a township tavern, killing six people. […]

Song lesson for Julius — Hugh Wetmore

We have all watched with interest the trial, in which Afriforum has charged Julius Malema for hate speech when he sang the struggle song Kill the Boer.  They allege that these lyrics fuel anti-Arikaner hatred that has been inciting farm murders in South Africa.  How does Julius defend the song? “The […]

The worship service: then and now — in one lifetime! (2)

In my last column I traced the changes that have taken place in the Church’s worship services.  For the most part these were neutral’ changes. They were more superficial cultural changes that did not affect the deeper levels of our Christian being.  We observed movements from formal liturgies to freer […]