SHORT HISTORY OF THE CHURCH

Rondebosch United Church is a congregation in a southern suburb of Cape Town called Rondebosch. It was founded in 1900 as a congregation of the Congregationalist denomination in South Africa. In 1989, after negotiations for union between the Congregational and Presbyterian denominations in southern Africa that made this possible, the congregation was reconstituted as  ‘Rondebosch United Church (Congregationalist & Presbyterian)’. That means that (although the attempt to unite the two denominations in the end failed) the congregation, like some 20 others in the Western Cape, is now linked to both of these two multiracial denominations and is a constituent congregation in both. It is a small congregation, with 192 adults formally enrolled as members.

During the time of apartheid the congregation was known for its stand against the racial policies of the Government and for conscientious objection to military service. The stand against military service in a time of conscription was on the ground that the security services were serving to maintain the political status quo of apartheid. Being in a declared ‘white area’, the congregation was largely white at the time. Some of its members left the congregation because of its political stand; some visitors to the congregation decided for the same reason against joining it. But two or three younger members of the congregation served short periods in prison for participating in demonstrations against apartheid, and one young woman was badly beaten by the police when four members took part in a protest march calling for the release of Nelson Mandela. At one time when one of these members was in prison, the church had a banner of protest draped in front of its gable that read, ‘Let the oppressed go free (Isa. 58:6)’. This provoked an anonymous threat to bomb the church. Fortunately that never happened. But when the banner was left up one night, it was torn down and stolen.

In 1994 the Nationalist Government under strong international economic and political pressure, finally abandoned apartheid as a purported ‘solution’ to the racial mix in South Africa. President F.W. de Klerk announced in Parliament that Nelson Mandela was being released from prison. Soon afterwards South Africa became a democracy. It still has huge problems, but is no longer drifting towards a racial war. One problem is that it has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world, with the disastrous consequence of an already huge number of orphans.

Today the Rondebosch congregation is increasingly multiracial. Not all of the black members of the church are South Africans. Some are refugees from further north in Africa, including a few families from Rwanda-Burundi.

For more information on the present challenges of becoming a more inclusive congregation please look under “Towards Inclusiveness”.

UCC and Presbyterian denominational websites --

http://www.uccsa.org.za/

http://www.upcsa.org.za/