We are saved solely by the unconditional love of God in Jesus Christ

God’s love and His presence can be experienced in our personal and social life.

We minister to a widespread congregation covering the Garden Route from Mossel Bay to Plettenberg Bay.

Here German “swallows” and Afrikaans, English and German-speaking visitors from up-country can join us to attend traditional Advent, Christmas Eve and Easter services, in addition to a regular worship service in German on the third Sunday of every month, with Holy Communion, followed by coffee, tea and traditional German treats. Every first Sunday of every month, at 10:00am, a worship service is held in English, with tea and coffee served afterwards.

ELCSA (Cape Church) is a member of United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (UELCSA), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA), the South African Council of Churches (SACC), Conventus Reformatus and the Western Cape Ecumenical Network (WCEN).

It has about 4,000 members in 21 congregations served by 11 pastors. There are currently three vacancies. The congregations are scattered throughout the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Free State provinces.

Garden Route

Our church is situated at Rondevlei Hoogte near George. We also enjoy the hospitality of other venues in the Garden Route.

We Believe

We believe in the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

Sacraments

We celebrate two sacraments, namely baptism and the Lord’s supper.
All are welcome to receive the sacraments.

Liturgy

Our worship services form the heart of our congregational life. The order of the service follows a well structured Liturgy which forms an important and valuable part of the Lutheran Worship Service.

A CHURCH FOR A CHANGING SOCIETY

Everything around us changes daily, but one thing never changes: the love God has for the world!
The way God reaches the world is through the serving church – we are the hands and the feet of God.
The Ev-Luth. Congregation of the Southern Cape does not live in isolation. We want to be part of the:

healing of our divided society;
hospitality due to the expansion in the area;
caring of the poor and elderly in our society;
witnessing of Christ for a growing secularised world.

The History of The Southern Cape Evangelical Lutheran Congregation

1965Started holding worship services
In 1956, in response to a request from three German-speaking students at Saasveld (one of them our longstanding member, Hannes Scriba) to the ELCSA (Cape Church), pastors from Worcester started holding worship services for German-speaking Lutherans in and around George.
1972Saasveld
In 1972, Hannes Scriba was appointed at the Saasveld college and from then on facilitated the holding of German Lutheran worship services at Saasveld, conducted by visiting pastors.
1978The George (subsequently Southern Cape) Congregation was founded
The George (subsequently Southern Cape) Congregation was founded in 1978 to serve the growing German Lutheran community. It worshipped regularly at Saasveld and grew from strength to strength.
1986Own church premises
By 1986 the Congregation realized a long-held dream and acquired its own church premises. A beautiful rural site of 1,8 hectares, with a modest church building and a large manse, located at Rondevlei Heights, was purchased from the Dutch Reformed Hoekwil congregation. Renamed the “Michaeliskirche” (St Michael’s Church), this became the hub of a German-speaking congregation, serving the Garden Route from Mossel Bay to Plettenberg Bay, and the hinterland as far north as Prince Albert. However, it remained too small to afford its own pastor and was served by visiting pastors. Thanks to funding from the Evangelical Church of Germany the Congregation shared German pastors with nearby congregations of the Cape-Orange Diocese (COD) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of South Africa. By this time demographic changes were becoming evident. Pioneer members were growing older and passing on, but their children were moving away to the cities. The congregation was shrinking and becoming older. The Congregation responded i.a. by instituting English and Afrikaans language services.
2020Half-time Pastor
When the last shared pastor retired, the Congregation had to consider its future and rethink its role as a Lutheran hub in the Garden Route. In 2020 the Synod of the Cape Church agreed to fund a half-time pastor’s post with a view to establishing a new model of outreach based in George, and in 2022 the church property at Rondevleihoogte was sold.
2023New chapter
Thus, a new chapter awaits…
Prof Peter Lor compiled this brief history; it is largely based on a commemorative publication compiled by Hannes Scriba in 2009 and an update issued by him in 2016.

Program 2024

Founded through the reformation efforts of Martin Luther

The Lutheran Church was founded through the reformation efforts of Martin Luther (1483-1546), an Augustinian monk and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg in Germany.

An intensive study of the Old and New Testament opened Luther’s eyes to the fact that the Gospel that was being preached wasn’t biblical. The Lutheran faith places the biblical message of the crucified and risen Christ at the centre. Through Christ, God gives us a relationship with Him and He desires to remain our Lord in all seasons of our lives.

Everyday life forms an integral part of our Sunday services, where it is placed within the context of our relationship with God. We ask how God’s love and His presence can be experienced in our personal and social life. Worshipping the Lord strengthens our faith from day to day.

Liturgy seen as prayed
Word of God

Our worship services form the heart of our congregational life. The order of the service follows a well structured Liturgy which forms an important and valuable part of the Lutheran Worship Service.

The Liturgy is responsive prayer of the assembled congregation, and the most important parts of it are taken directly from the Bible. The Liturgy can thus be seen as the prayed Word of God.

Music form an important part of services

In addition to the liturgy, music form an important part of our services. When the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany brought out a revised hymnbook in Advent of 1994, it was introduced in our German services at the same time.

For our Afrikaans services we use the “Laudate” hymn book, which contains most German hymns translated into Afrikaans.

We want Jesus Christ in the center

We want to be a church in which Jesus Christ is the center and in which the Holy Spirit moves people to be there for each other and to encourage others to believe in God.

Our services are offered in three languages: English, Afrikaans and German.

Pastor and church commitee

Dr Ronell Bezuidenhout

Pastor

Ronell has been a Minister of Religion in the Dutch Reformed Church since 1990. In 2018, the congregation in Johannesburg where she was employed terminated two pastoral positions due to financial problems. Here initial plan was to take a short sabbatical and then apply for a new position as pastor.

“I have since realised that it became my calling to live with and care for my elderly parents in Great Brak River during the last phase of their lives. This forced me to think creatively about my work as a pastor and theologian; thus I started an online ministry of faith formation.” “My gifts of faith from the Holy Spirit for the Church are teaching and assisting people in their faith formation. As I get older, the more I find that pastoral care and loving kindness increasingly becomes a greater priority for me. ‘Theology doesn’t change people, relationships do’ has become my motto. I have a love for people who live as the marginalized in our societies. I strongly believe that every human being is created to be the image of God, regardless of race, class, or sexual orientation. I whole-heartedly believe that God's kingdom is made visible through the Church when and where we practice the Beatitudes.”