A middle sized suburban Church directly east of the Johannesburg Central Business District. The church was founded in the 1920′s,beginning as a Sunday School and occasional preaching place. The suburb now known as Bedfordview was then called “Geldenhuys small holdings”. It consisted of one to five acre allotments on which market gardens and dairy farms were established.
The church and Sunday school met in the wood and iron building used as the municipal offices and town hall for the Bedfordview Village Council. This building was across the road from the present church site. In 1962 the land at the corner of de Wet and van Buuren Rd was purchased. A hall was built and served as the main church building until 1982. The Anglican community of Bedfordview shared these buildings with the Methodists until they built St Margarets in Harper road,in the middle 70′s. Our present sanctuary,pre school and offices were built in the early 80′s and inaugurated in 1982.
The “village” as some still call Bedfordview has seen great change over the last seventy years. It has grown from small agricultural holdings to one acre building lots. It was in some way still is an affluent area and a favourite place for captains of industry and commerce ,doctors,lawyers and other proffesionals to make their homes. In the last twenty years another change has begun and many of the beautiful homes set in magnificent gardens,have been bulldozed and made way for town houses and high density cluster housing. Van Buuren road has become an avenue of restaurants and night clubs – A far cry from it’s quiet agricultural beginnings.
The faithful still worship Sunday by Sunday as they have since 1923. The worshipping community too has changed over the years,and many of the younger members of our church don’t live in the immediate area of Bedfordview. Many of them attended youth groups or Alpha courses at our church and have made it their spiritual home. At this time we have a wonderful diversity of members,coming from different backgrounds,and living in different areas around Johannesburg. Our congregation now consists of many of the races,and cultures of our Rainbow nation.
Our worship activities mirror the diversity of our make-up. We offer traditional forms of worship at our 07.30 service. Families are catered for at the 09.00 services at which time we also have children’s and teen services. Once a quarter we get together for a joint “all- age worship service. At 14.00 on every Sunday we have a service in Sotho or Xhosa and at 18.30 we have a worship service appealing to the young and young at heart.
I have been part of this church since 2002 and the one thing that drew me to it and keeps me in it,is the sense of warmth and friendliness one feels when the church gathers. The big,welcoming foyer,sense of warmth and light that the big windows bring to the sanctuary,and above all the smiles on the faces of God’s people. I enjoy being part of this family. It is a church with a heart for mission and it is involved with wide-ranging outreach activities stretching fron Vryburg in the west to Mocambique in the east;form literacy classes to and AIDS orphans project.
I am glad that you are visiting the website but would like you to move from virtual reality to actual reality and come to visit us at the corner of Van Buuren and De Wet.
