The Beaufort West Reformed Church is a church in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, founded on 16 May 1820. It is the ninth oldest congregation of the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

in the Synod of Western and

Southern Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

and the 12th oldest in the entire Church. From

Beaufort West Beaufort West (Afrikaans: ''Beaufort-Wes''; Xhosa: ''eBhofolo'') is a town in the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is the largest town in the arid Great Karoo region, and is known as the "Capital of the Karoo". It forms part of the Beauf ...

, six ''daughter'' congregations seceded: Prince Albert (1842),

Victoria West Victoria West is a town in the central Karoo region of South Africa's Northern Cape province. It is situated on the main N12 route, at an elevation of . It is the seat of the Ubuntu Local Municipality within the Pixley ka Seme District Municipal ...

(1843),

Fraserburg Fraserburg is a town in the Karoo region of South Africa's Northern Cape province. It is located in the Karoo Hoogland Local Municipality. The town has some of the coldest winters in South Africa. The nearest towns are Williston, Sutherland, Lo ...

(1851), Carnarvon (1874), and Gamka Valley and Gamka-Oos on Beaufort-West itself (1949).

Background

The first migrant farmers moved into the Koup and the Nuweveld in 1760, with the first farms laid out in the district of

. The same year, the Hooyvlakte in de Carro farm was established, on which the town would later be laid out upon. The region remained extremely sparsely populated for many years. By the end of the 18th century, some farmers already had livestock farms far north of the Nuweveld Mountains. Thus, the foundation was laid for the later parish, town and district of Beaufort-Wes and the parishes that were separated from the old mother parish over time.

Ministers

The following have been ministers of the church: # John Taylor, 1818–1824 #

Colin Fraser Colin Fraser may refer to: * Colin Fraser (Australian politician) (died 1877), Australian politician *Colin Fraser (Canadian politician) (born 1978), Canadian politician *Colin Fraser (ice hockey) Colin Fraser (born January 28, 1985) is a Canadia ...

, 1825–1862 # Albert Zinn, 1864 – November 15 1866 (died in office) # Willem Petrus de Villiers, 1868–1875 (after which first pastor of Carnarvon Reformed Church until retirement in 1904) # Louis Hugo, 1876–1896 #

Pieter van der Merwe Pieter Thomas van der Merwe is an English writer on aspects of British maritime history, mainly from 1500 to 1914, but which have also included maritime archaeology and medieval shipbuilding. He also writes on the history of Greenwich, marine pa ...

, 1896–1904 # Gen.

Paul Roux Paul Roux is a small town in the Free State province of South Africa that produces poplar wood for the safety match industry. It is situated on the N5 highway near Bethlehem, Free State. It was named after a well-known Dutch Reformed Church lea ...

, 1905 – 8 June 1911 (died in office) # J.G. Steytler, 1912–1920 # Johannes Rabie, 1921–1942 # André Francois Malan, 1941–1944 # Daniel Van Niekerk Theron, 1943–1944 # Jan Christoffel du Plessis, 1945–1951 # Lodewyk Petrus Spies, 1945–1948 (after which first pastor of Herman Steyn Reformed Church on

Vereeniging Vereeniging () is a town located in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa, situated where the Klip River empties into the northern loop of the Vaal River. It is also one of the constituent parts of the Vaal Triangle region and was formerly si ...

) # Jacob Andries Cornelius Weidemann, 1947–1949 (until 1958 first pastor of Gamka Valley) # David Frederik van der Merwe, 1951–1961 # Johannes Jacobus van As, 1962–1968 # Charles Cumpries Bond, 1968–1972 # Daniel Nicolaas van Zyl, 1970–1974 # Bennie Meyer, 6 October 1972–1976 # Adriaan Albertus (Riaan) Terblanche, 1980–1998 # Japie van Straaten, 1998 – present

References

{{coord, -32.34996, 22.58308, format=dms, type:landmark_region:ZA, display=title 1820 establishments in South Africa Churches in the Western Cape Churches completed in 1820 Karoo Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK)