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06/12/2007 12:18 PM - (SA) Lwandle community gives thanks for new church 071207
Marge Constant and a small group of supporters from Somerset West and Lwandle committed themselves to building relationships between the two congregations. Those were the years when South African society was hugely polarized along the racial divide, but Marge and her "team" were undeterred and continued their bridge building. The Lwandle Outstation was housed in a very dilapidated prefab building leased from the Municipality. As more people moved here from the Eastern Cape, it became apparent that any meaningful outreach and ministry to the wider community would require a suitable permanent building for worship and service. On February 23, 2003 the Lwandle congregation, being released from its dependence on the Langa Presbyterian Church by the Presbytery of the Western Cape, was constituted as a congregation in its own right and adopted the name Masibulele Presbyterian Church - "masibulele" meaning "Let us give thanks". An application for land was lodged, and Erf 28469 in Lwandle was purchased for Rl0 700 in November 2003. Three years later, a Master Plan for the upgrading of Lwandle was approved by the Surveyor General, and the way was cleared for the commencement of building a new church on this site. In the meantime, the Presbytery of the Western Cape, recognizing the 'informal' relationship between the two congregations, formally established them in a partnership of worship and service to the community. This pooling of expertise and resources has eased the planning, funding and building of the new Church. It also points towards responsibilities for joint activities that will enable both congregations to get to know and learn from each other, thus trying to overcome the separation that has resulted from the history of this country. The building of Masibulele Church has been a remarkable story of faith, perseverance, cooperation, hard work and incredible generosity, says Duncan MacKenzie, chairman of the Liaison Committee between the two churches. "After 20 years of fund-raising the Building Fund stood at only R350 000 when in December 2006 the Surveyor General's Plan was approved. How could we possibly proceed to build a suitable structure that would probably cost in excess of R2-million? "Faith was rewarded and prayers were answered when a steel construction firm offered Masibulele a total girder and roofing structure at a massive discount, provided they could take this structure off their hands by March 2007. This offer could not be declined, and United Church member and building contractor, Hennie Steenkamp, committed himself to overseeing the whole project and rallying support from friends, local suppliers and contractors," says Duncan. "All involved have made great personal sacrifices of energy, time and finance to see the church finished and paid for in full." This enthusiastic professional commitment resulted in large numbers of local suppliers and contractors providing special discounts and donations that saved over R400 000! Overseas friends heard of this project and contributed over R500 000, while five overseas churches collected funds to the tune of R100 000. The impoverished local community of Lwandle and Nomzamo have raised over R60 000 and Somerset West United Church has been exceptionally generous in contributing towards building costs as well as about R100 000 for internal furnishings and fittings. The new church building and its contents are valued at Rl,6-million. All who have given so generously have had a great sense of elation and satisfaction at being associated with this worthy project. A joint statement of intent has been drawn up and was signed by the leaders of Somerset West United Church and Masibulele Presbyterian Church on November 25 in order to formalize and clarify the relationship between these two Churches. For the next twelve months selected leaders in the United Church will accept a mentoring role to assist with the development of leadership skills, and administrative structures and procedures. They will be pursuing a shared vision of how this spacious new facility can be made increasingly available for a wide range of educational and life-skills programmes, projects, conferences and workshops, for the benefit of all church members as well as the whole Lwandle/Nomzamo community. The overseas churches who have shown such generous support are The International Protestant Church of Zurich, Switzerland; St. Mary?s Church, Ides Hill, Kent, UK; St. John the Evangelist, Hildenborough, Kent, UK; Dunlop Kirk, Kilmarnock, Scotland; and St. Mark?s United Church in Leeming, Perth, Australia.
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