Westville church celebrates 50 years

THE St Peters Evangelical Lutheran Church Westville, 24 Konigkramer Avenue, is proudly celebrating its 50th jubilee, since its inception in 1963.

In the last 50 years the church and synod has undergone several drastic changes from the introduction of English and Afrikaans services, multi-ethnic church membership to women’s voting rights and election to Church Councils.

In the late 1930s and the early 40s many people were attracted to Durban, which was in the throes of expanding industrialisation. Some of these early members such as Edwin Meyer, Richard Meister, Hans Brocker, Willi and Peter Klintworth, would later be known as the founding members of the congregation. The congregations’ spiritual needs grew steadily and in 1963 it was decided to acquire a more permanent structure to continue the worship of God. The synod agreed to purchase a large house at 14 Rockcliff Road in Rossburgh.

Essentially the church was taking place in a large home but members made alterations to the cellar, which became a sizeable room for worship while the upper floors were occupied by students.

“In 1965 the congregation decided to launch a fund to build a suitable church, hall and manse. It was generally felt that the congregation would not grow if we were to remain in our cellar abode. A building committee was formed consisting of Pastor Köhne (chairman), Fritz Hellberg, the late Herbert Klintworth and Dr Helmuth Eggers and myself. A suitable site had finally been located in the Berea West area but there were many unanswered questions,” said Hans Beier.

Special permission had to be obtained from the Westville municipality so it could convert the grounds from residential to a public meeting site. According to Hans, the negotiations were rather difficult as there were a few residents against having a church in their immediate vicinity. In December 1971 the plot of land, on which the church currently stands, was purchased for R18 000.

“The church, the hall, the vestry and the parking lot were finally completed by mid September 1975 and we were able to move in after worshiping in Rossburgh for almost 12 years.”

“A bronze bell cast in the Netherlands, weighing 500kg, was eventually located, which had been destined for a church in Bloemfontein and who were unable to purchase it at the time. This was a blessing for us, as we purchased it for less than half the initial price. The bell was rung for the first time on Christmas Eve on 24 December in 1975,” said Hans.

The house at 14 Rockcliff Road in Rossburgh was sold and provided the much needed funds to erect a manse, which was incorporated into the present building.

“We must thank our Heavenly Father for His guidance and blessings over the many years. Those of us from the older generation will still remember how we struggled for the first 25 to 35 years to become independent, especially financially.

Today, we are rather more fortunate and our congregation consists of many more employed young families compared to when we started this congregation in 1963.

I thank you and pray that this congregation will be blessed in the years to come,” said Hans.