page_title: South African Sendinggestig Museum
section_title: History of the SA Gestig Congregation
hierarchical_section_title: South African Sendinggestig Museum / History / History of the SA Gestig Congregation
caption_attribution_description: English: Sendinggestig Museum panorama
context_page_description: The South African Sendinggestig Museum was established in 1977 and is currently situated in the centre of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. It is a province-aided museum which receives support from the Government of the Western Cape Province.
context_section_description: Slave-owners weren’t keen to have their slaves baptised as Christian converts could not be sold. Mostly freed slaves were therefore baptised and could then become members of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK). This led to the directors of SA Mission Society establishing their own congregation. It was called the SA Gesticht congregation of the SA Missionary Society. In 1820 Jacobus Henricus Beck became its first minister.
  On 24 December 1820 the first baptism was held at the Sendinggestig. Domingo, slave of Mr Hammes, Job, slave of Mr Stronck, Arend, slave of the widow Pauelsen and Durenda, slave of the widow Stegman, became the first members of the congregation.
  In 1831 the stable-building behind the church was converted into a small double-storeyed home for the church's caretaker.
  The congregation began using the store next to the church as a school in 1839. This school would operate until 1917. The building was also used as a venue for the congregation's church bazaars. In 1895 the school was moved to the second storey and different businesses rented the ground floor as extra income for the congregation. During the 1930s it served as the office of the African People's Organisation.
  By 1901 the SA Gestig congregation had 1 153 members. The congregation had a brass band and choir. Its members actively participated in a variety of associations including the Christian Sisters Association ("Christelijke Susterbond"), the Christian Young Daughters Association ("Christelijke Jongdogtersbond"), the Children's Association ("Kinderbond") and Youth Brigade ("Jeugbrigade").
  From 1922 a well-known member of congregation, Anna Tempo (or Sister Nannie as she was commonly known), worked with women and girls living on Cape Town's streets. She established "Nannie Girls' Rescue Home" as a shelter for them.
  During the 1930s the SA Gestig church became the spiritual home for domestic workers who came to Cape Town from different rural areas.
  In 1937 the SA Gestig congregation became part of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church and was supported by the South African Missionary Society until its dissolution in 1983.
  By 1954 only 520 members remained as people moved away to the suburbs to find work and due to urban racial segregation. Distance and economic circumstances made it difficult for members of the congregation to keep attending church in Cape Town.
  By the end of the 1960s the buildings fell into disrepair, there were misunderstandings between the church council and directors of the SA Mission Society and uncertainty about the Group Areas Act. The church, old school and care-taker's home were all sold to the Metropolitan Hotel in 1971 with the provision that the congregation could use the church for another 5 years.
  The SA Gestig congregation had to find a suitable piece of land for building a church in a “Coloured Group Area”. Until their new church was completed in Belhar the congregation shared Cape Town's St Stephens Church from 1975-1978.
  A special memorial service was held on 31 August 1975, during which the congregation bid farewell to their original church in Long Street.
  The new church in Belhar was inaugurated in 1978. This would become the site where the Belhar Confession was produced.
caption: Sendinggestig Museum Interior
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