Cornelius was born in Upington, Northern Cape and stayed with his mother for his first few years in Uilenkraalsmond in the Western Cape. He completed his primary school education at Keidebees Primary School and completed his National Senior Certificate at Carlton van Heerden High School. Both schools were in Upington where he stayed with his grandparents, Hendrik and Martha Spanneberg. He is very grateful to the teachers who made contributions to his life during these school years.
The people who made the greatest impact on his life were his grandparents and members of the church. A spontaneous search for God arose because of him living with them. His grandparents’ religious way of life made a remarkable impact on his life. Family devotions, prayer meetings, functions and church organizations were events where God revealed his call for Cornelius. URCSA Rainbow became his spiritual home since childhood. This was a safe space where he has experienced love, admonition, advice and intercession.
After school Cornelius studied at Bethel Bible School in Atlonen from 2006 to 2009, where the late Mr Daniel Peterson was his principal. He completed his three year course in June 2009. After that he worked full time as an evangelist at Hefsiba, the BEB (Bethel Evangelical Band) in Wellington. Mr C Van Graan chaired the BEB that year. Cornelius served from June 2009 to December 2011. The BEB does spiritual work in various churches in South Africa and Namibia so he was privileged to practice his divine calling in the regions of Gauteng, the Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western Cape. In this way he made friends from various churches that opened doors to practice his theological education. His spiritual foundation was strengthened and he is grateful to the Lord for the sisters and brothers He used in the organization. After this Cornelius started his theological studies.
“I would like to get to know and understand the context of my future congregation by focusing on relationships, because different relationship dynamics play a role in the functioning of the church,” Cornelius explains. “I would like to learn more about the history and current context in which the church experiences its vocation with the different challenges of time. I would like to understand the spiritual aspects and trends, because I would like to address it as their pastor.”
Cornelius is purpose driven and motivated and has a passion for people. He finds the nature of human relations very interesting and likes to initiate positive changes to the advantage of the youth. He believes in teamwork and spiritual development; this is how he would like to fulfill his life’s task. He strives to give his best to God every day and would also like to do it for his future congregation.
He did his thesis about “Revisiting the liberation theology of Allan Boesak” under the supervision of Dr Sipho Mahokoto.
Cornelius is very fond of sport, especially cricket, football and rugby.
He is engaged to Ilze Witbooi, a teacher at Simodium Primary School, and they will get married on 21 Desember 2019.
Contact Cornelius Spanneberg at [email protected] or 073 382 9727 for more information.