MAMELODI CENTRAL SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE  

 Roots of Mamelodi Central Seventh-day Adventist Church 

The Mamelodi Central Seventh-day Adventist Church dates back to the early 1940s. The founding members were the Shabalala family*[1], who came from the Alexander Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was established in 1924, the Mbinga family*  from Malawi, George Ndlovu, Thabita Mashinini, Westford Phiri, Lydia Masilela, sister of Steven  and Johannes T. Masilela, the T. Rantla family, Pauline Sindane (grandmother of Johanna Sikhosana),  who was an aunt of Steven and Johannes T. Masilela with some of the founding members.. It was located at Riverside. From Riverside it relocated to Eersterust, from Eersterust to Derdepoort and from Derdepoort to Vlakfontein.  This up-and-down movement was caused by the notorious Group Areas Act. The pastors at the time were Pastor Mthembu, who was stationed in Lady Selborne, W. Ngobeni and J. Khuboni.  Some of church members of the Lady Selborne Church were the Maila, Moloto, Simelani, Bakwa and Moraloki families, who later joined the Vlakfontein Church[2].     

It is important to note that the Vlakfontein Seventh-day Adventist Church (now the Mamelodi Central Seventh-day Adventist Church) was established in about 1953 or 1954 as a Sabbath School branch at Vlakfontein, now called Mamelodi Township.  It was attached to the Riverside Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Sabbath School branch used Edwin Moraloki’s house and he was also a Sabbath School superintendent or the leader of the branch. There were two families, namely the  Steven Masilela and Edwin Moraloki families.

In the mid-1950s the first crusade or evangelistic campaign in Vlakfontein was conducted by Pastor Duke Barkley for two-and-a-half months. The interpreter was T.N. Rantla. It is not clear how many souls decided to accept Christ during the campaign. A pulpit was presented to T.N. Rantla to thank him for his interpreting skills during the crusade and he donated it to the Vlakfontein Church.  That pulpit was used by Vlakfontein (later known as Mamelodi Central) until the extension of the old church building[3].

The Vlakfontein Seventh-day Adventist Church (now Mamelodi Central) was organised as a company in 1955 and Edwin Moraloki was the company leader at the time. One of the founding members was Johannes Masilela, the father of Steven and T.J Masilela. In 1956 it was organised as a church and Edwin Moraloki was elected as an elder. The church pastor was G.S Mkhwanazi.

The growth of the work in Mamelodi can be ascribed to the ministry of G.S. Mkhwanazi  For example, when the North “Bantu” Mission Field was dissolved in 1961 and the new South African Union Conference (SAUC) Group 2 was formed, a decision was taken by the SAUC leadership under President AW Staples that new offices should be secured to house “black” work. M.M. Webster, the last president of the North “Bantu” Mission Field, arranged with Pastor Mkhwanazi and other black leaders that the offices of the newly-formed Northern Transvaal Field offices should be situated in Mamelodi. Pastor Mkhwanazi, who was the District Director of the Pretoria District, became the President and T. Mapela was appointed Secretary-Treasurer of the new field. Thus, the offices of the Northern Transvaal Field, which oversaw the work from Pretoria to Venda, were hosted on the premises of the present Mamelodi Central SDA Church[4].

It could be argued analytically that the Mamelodi Central Church was the “Ivy League” or “General Conference” of the Northern Transvaal Field or Pretoria District. Until the mid-1990s important and special critical meetings, such as sessions, were held in Mamelodi Central Church. An important meeting was held there with the Trans-Orange Conference (TOC) leadership in about 1991. It was chaired by the then TOC president, S. Motha. At the meeting, the Pretoria Central District challenged the merger of white and black churches. The merger was viewed as flawed, as the Pretoria Central District leadership was not comfortable with its top-down approach and preferred a bottom-up approach.            

As was the case with almost all historical black Seventh-day Adventist churches, the company perpetually moved from one school to another. For example, in 1954 and 1955, it worshipped at the Emagogogweni Combined School, and from 1956 to 1960 it used the Ntshabotlhoko Primary School as a place of worship on the Sabbath.           

The construction of the old Mamelodi Central Church building (Vlakfontein) started in 1959 and was completed in 1961. Some respondents argue that it was dedicated in the early 1960s by J. D. Harcombe[5]. One of the builders of old church building was Gideon Zwane. Pastor Mabena was the fund-raiser appointed by the then “Bantu” Mission Field.

 The idea of extending the old Mamelodi Central Church building was conceived in 1986 by Duduza Masilela and Shine-on Mthimkhulu, who were Elders at the time, and it was agreed to do so.  This decision was attributed to the fact that the church building was too small to accommodate or host other churches and that the church was growing in terms of membership. The building plans were drawn up and approved by the local government, and parts of the project, such as restrooms, were initiated and completed[6]. The building process was very slow, due to a lack of financial resources.  The project was revived in 2003 and a church building committee was established. Some strategic decisions were adopted, such as allowing the committee to manage the building project for a period of three years.

This strategy had the following positive results: 

• the new building plans were drawn up;
• fund-raising strategies were put in place;
•  ground breaking was done;
• the construction commenced;
• the building was completed in 2011; and
• it was dedicated on 10 December 2011.     

 Legacy of Mamelodi Central Seventh-day Adventist Church      

According to the respondents, Mamelodi Central was passionate about evangelism. It was run according to the book. For example, first Sabbath of each month was the Church Outreach (Missionary) Sabbath, as the Church Manual (2010:118) suggests. In the afternoon it would be home visitation period.  There were different types of Missionary Volunteer (MV) meetings, such as the regular weekly meetings, the Share your Faith meetings, revival and evangelistic meetings and demonstrations (how to lead Bible study groups and how to distribute literature). The form of regular afternoon MV meetings were varied as much as possible from week to week. For example, the programme would be as follows:

1. Theme song
2. Prayer
3. Offering
4. MV news
5. Special song
6. Bible or Spirit of Prophecy snippets
7. Bible quiz, drama or sketches
8. Guest speaker or topic presentation
9. Chorus and benediction

Master Guides were taught by Linda Mkhwanazi.  Every Sunday, First Aid was conducted by the late Dr F. Ribeiro. A. Maseko was very committed to the development of youth and promoted progressive MV classes. Some of the many students involved were Patty Lebona, Pauline Maila, Thoko Masilela, Olehile Maila, Daphne Modisane and Linda Moloto. Camp fire meetings were held on a regular basis. The idea was to ensure that the children and youth were well-grounded in the foundational Adventist beliefs. 

It was also emphasised that on two Sabbaths each month, after the MV meeting, the Share Your Faith programmes would be operated. On two other Sabbath afternoons MV classes and Master Guide classes would be conducted after the MV meeting (see MV Handbook 1973). 

Two pastors, P.M. Mabena and G.S. Mkhwanazi, played an important role in the history of the Mamelodi Central Church when they held a crusade or an evangelistic campaign in about 1955. The crusade led to the conversion of Elmon Ntandane, who later became a pillar of the Pretoria Central District, now called Shalom.  Other new converts who joined the church were the Mahlomuza, Ntombela families and many others.  It was after the crusade, in about 1960, that the current church site was given to the Mamelodi Central Church by the local government[7].      

A number of crusades or evangelistic campaigns were conducted by different pastors and laity:

1. Two crusades were held in the 1950s, one by Duke Barkley and the other by P.M. Mabena.    
2.  G.S. Mkhwanazi conducted a crusade and the Mashifane, Mabena and Huma families accepted Christ.
3. P.M. Mawela conducted a crusade and some Segole and Msiza family members accepted Christ.
4.  Another crusade was conducted by P. Magagula and five souls were won.
5.  In 1964, Elmon Ntandane organised a campaign that led to the establishment of Mamelodi East.
6. The last one was conducted by Lulama Zantsi and led to the establishment of the Lusaka Company. 

The Mamelodi Central Church was deeply committed to Bible or cottage meetings. This was how, for example, the Vilankulu family was brought to Christ. W. Ngobeni was one of the pastors who were passionate about Bible study. He used prophetic charts as his teaching aids.     

The commitment of the Mamelodi Central Church to evangelism led to the establishment of the following churches, companies and Sabbath School branches:

• Mamelodi East SDA Church, after the evangelistic campaign conducted by Elmon Ntandane in 1964 
• Mamelodi West SDA church
• Ga-Rankuwa SDA church
• Cullinan SDA (the Nyoni, Mabena and Molo families played an important role in the birth and growth of the Cullinan church)
• Ekangala, established in 1983 with Sipho Molo as the leading exponent.
•  The Lusaka Company in 2005, after the crusade conducted by Lulama Zantsi
• Two Sabbath School branches were established by Mamelodi Central – the one in Mooiplaas was led by the Nkosi family and another Sabbath school was established in Wolmansdhal.  

Names of present and former pastors

The growth in the work of the Mamelodi Central church can be credited to the ministry of men and women who sacrificed their lives to spread the gospel. History has demonstrated that it is not easy to be a missionary and gospel worker. Challenging as this special calling was and still is today, these men and women never gave up. They believed and worked hard to ensure that millions in Mamelodi Township must soon decide or make up their minds for Christ.  Their commitment was to deal with the spiritual darkness that enfolded the whole Mamelodi, thereby bringing Christ to the community. It was and today still is their considered view that the Mamelodi Township needs Christ more now than ever before (Evangelism p.25).

These gospel workers knew about the appalling amount of crime and iniquity in the Mamelodi Township. The wickedness of the wicked was and still is almost beyond comprehension. It is becoming a very Sodom in the sight of heaven. The enemy of souls is working in a masterful manner to gain full control of the human mind. Thus, the church decided to commission some men and women to Mamelodi to prepare the community for the Day of Judgement (Evangelism p.11).

Thus, it is important to mention and acknowledge all those who contributed to the development of the Mamelodi Central Church. The names are not in a chronological order. These important role-players are:

G.S. Mkhwanazi, W. Ngobeni, T Mapela, E.M. Maffha, J. Phomodi, G.T. Mdliva, E. Lekata, H. Malatjie, P.M. Mawela,  A. Maseko, J. Chauke,  Ps Mogotlane, Ps Mbebane, P. Magagula, T. Kunene, T.Mongwe, L. Nkambule, M.C. Qwati and C. Nhlapo, who was the current Mamelodi Central Church pastor when the church was dedicated. They were assisted by their wives, who kept the home fires burning when they were absent because of their gospel commitment.  

This history was put together by one of our members Prof Mzo Sirayi. He had nothing written to work on and had to rely on interviewing some of the current and former members of the church.