The Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Vaal Triangle
Our church was inaugurated on 30th August 1959. The first pastor was Pastor Kurt Werner who came from Germany to start a congregation for the German speaking immigrants of the time. The church became the hub of all religious and cultural activity. We had church bells and a pipe organ installed, both still giving us great joy 60 years later. The church and the German community thrived for decades.
Over the last years, the number of German speaking members declined. This raised the question of continued existence of the Lutheran congregation in Vanderbijlpark. At the time of Pastor Maneke and then under the leadership of Pastor Koehne it was decided to introduce English services. Through God’s grace, the attendance of the English services increased, and we now offer two services every Sunday. Our church is a multiracial, multi-language family orientated congregation. We have an active youth program for the young children (Kid’s Club) to late teens (Youth for Christ), confirmation classes and a German and English Bible study group. We also have various fellowship functions throughout the year to help the congregation members draw closer together. Through the grace and blessing of our Lord we hope to grow our church and school project from strength to strength. |
Church Services:
German – 09:00 Every Sunday with Holy Communion on the last Sunday. English – 10:30 Every Sunday with Holy Communion on the last Sunday. Contact details: 016 993 1088 [email protected] Physical Address: 2 Thackeray Street P.O. Box 807 SW1 Vanderbijlpark 1900 |
‘Wings for Life School’, which is on the church’s property, is our outreach into the community. It was started by Pastor Koehne and Margaret Dippenaar. The mission of the school is to care and provide education for children with special needs and specializes in educating children with autism. The school was founded in 2008 with two learners. Today they have a disability specific school building accommodating 70 learners.
With the plight of autistic persons in mind, WFL Institute for the Disabled (of which the school is one part) has purchased a large house with the intention of creating a home for high functioning autistic adults. Margaret Dippenaar 016 933 5408 [email protected] |