GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - The local Verenigende Gereformeerde Kerk (VGK) Graaff-Reinet congregation celebrates its 200th anniversary this year. The theme is 200 years of grace.
To celebrate this historic milestone, several activities are planned in commemoration.
The first of these will be held this Sunday, 27 January. The events will include a short devotion at the original founding building in the town, the current Hester Rupert Art Museum. This service will be held at 08:45 in front of the building, led by ds. Gawie Basson.
From there, there will be a motor cavalcade, passing the Robert Sobukwe building, to the area of the old Kroonvale swimming pool, where the other church members will join the group at 09:00.
The procession will then move from there to the existing church building in Du Plessis Street in Kroonvale and will be accompanied by the Church Brigade.
All old and existing congregation members are invited to participate in the march that will be a commemoration of the move of the church to Kroonvale.
The communion service, which will start at 10:00, will be led by ds Petrus Gysman.
The history
The history of the church in Graaff-Reinet is very interesting.
Mission work was done in the town initially in association with the London Missionary Society, but DRC missionary work was officially begun in 1810 by the Rev A.L. van Lingen.
In 1817 contributors to the mission funds decided not to send their monies to England but instead asked the government if they could establish and support their own mission. Accordingly on 1 August 1819 the Graaff-Reinetsche Zendelings Genootschap was established, thus this year marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the church now known as the VGK.
A plot in Church Street was granted for the church in 1821, but after more than 140 years of continuous use, the building was sold to the Total Oil Company for R20 000 in 1964.
The sale was precipitated by the Group Areas Act, whereby the community to which the congregation belonged was obliged to move to Kroonvale, the designated new neighborhood.
This caused the congregation and their church building to be situated several kilometers apart.
In view of this, the church council decided to sell the existing church and build a new building in Kroonvale.
The purchasers, Total, wanted to demolish the building and erect a modern garage on the site, but thanks to intervention by Dr Anton Rupert, the building was purchased by the Rembrandt Foundation.
Rupert provided the funds to restore the building which then became the Hester Rupert Art Museum.
On 11 March 1967 the new DRC Mission Church built in Kroonvale, at a cost of R40 000, was opened by the Rev F J Bessinger, and this is now the home of the Graaff-Reinet VGK.
The building housing the Hester Rupert Art Museum in Church Street, Graaff-Reinet, was the original founding building of the church.'We bring you the latest Graaff-Reinet, Karoo news'
