Lekoa Tour - Day 9

Good Friends in Christ

I started off the day with the congregation of St Anthony. St Anthony is one of the Sebokeng congregations that emerged from the work of the Rev Francis Moletsane and the congregation of St Paul's, Sharpville.  In the early 70s, when Sebokeng was growing as a township, four stations were established and St Anthony's was one of them. The original building was built in 1986 and then, one day, in 2003, a significant part of the building fell down just as the mothers were leaving the building. The insurance only paid out 45% of the cost of rebuilding.

This prompted the congregation to start a massive fundraising campaign.  To the congregation's credit, they rebuilt a much improved sanctuary without any outside assistance. Today, a beautiful face brick building stands along with an office block with minister's office, kitchen and multi-purpose room. The courtyard is paved and the inside of the church is beautifully painted. Associations are active within the congregation as is a project called 'Diakonia' which feeds destitute families. The congregation is still heavily involved in completing its buildings.  The vestry is still incomplete (floors and fittings are still required), bathrooms are incomplete and the manse needs to be extended.

St Anthony's santuary

My time at St Anthony was concluded with a wonderful lunch.


In the afternoon, I visited two congregations - St Peter's, Boipatong and Bopilong Ebenezer. I visited the churches in the company of the Moderator of Presbytery, the Rev. Hugh Grant who drives from Carletonville to be Interim Moderator to these two congregations which are situated outside of Vanderbijlpark.  At St Peter's, we were guided by Elder Johannes Ramafikeng. The congregation is formed out of an outstation of St Paul's, Sharpville. It is a small congregation but values its independence. Boipatong is the place where a terrible massacre happened in June 1992, an event that seriously threatened the transition to a new South Africa (February 1990 to April 1994).

From Boipatong to the newly established congregation of Bopilong Ebenezer. This infant church is only a few months old. We were taken to the site in Bopilong where there is a small, poorly built building into which 80 people squeeze on a Sunday.  The congregation is already preparing to extend this building so that it can accommodate 150 people. There is a sense of excitement about this new venture.  I addressed members of the congregation at the Bopilong community hall at 5pm and answered a few questions before concluding for the day.

Bopilong Ebenezer Sanctuary

Elders of Bopilong, myself
& Rev Hugh Grant (Moderator of
the Presbytery)

Before I sign off for the day, I would like to mention my regret that, because I have to travel to Pietermaritzburg on Saturday to attend Rev Rajuili's funeral, I was only able to spend an hour with Bopilong Ebenezer and I am not able to meet with the people of St Luke's, Vereeniging at all.  My visit to St Luke's was scheduled for Saturday morning, my sincere apologies.