History
Midrand Presbyterian Church (Midchurch)
The first worship service of Midrand Presbyterian Church was held in the local Midrand Swiss Country Club in March 1985 with 12 people attending.
In September 1985 the congregation began to worship in St Saviour’s, Randjesfontein, with 40 people attending the first service.
The congregation has grown steadily over the years and we now have around 350 families worshipping and participating in God’s work amongst us and through us.
The first minister of the congregation was Tim Sawyer, who, with his wife Julie, were called to help plant a Presbyterian Church in Midrand.
Tim retired in September 2005 and passed away in April 2007.
Christopher Judelsohn, along with his wife, Keryn, was called as successor to Tim in April 2004.
Christopher is originally from Cape Town, having first served in Port Elizabeth at St Martin’s Presbyterian Church.
Christopher, Keryn and their three children continue to serve the Lord and the congregation of Midchurch.
In January 2008, Gavin Lock was called as a colleague minister to Christopher.
In August 2012 Gavin accepted a call to serve at St James Presbyterian Church in Bedfordview where he continues to minister
Ministry House
The original Church house and property, south of St Saviour’s, was purchased in 1990 to serve as the church office and meeting place.
In 2015 extensions and renovations were done on the original church house and on the 26th of July the new building named, Ministry House, was opened by Revd. Christopher Judelsohn.
Today Ministry House serves as home to the Church offices as well as comfortable meeting spaces for a multitude of ministries.
St Saviour's Church
St Saviour’s Church, Randjesfontein, was dedicated to Christian worship on the 16th of May 1985. Material salvaged from the former St Saviour’s Cathedral in Pietermaritzburg was used in its construction.
St Saviour’s Cathedral, Pietermaritzburg, was founded in 1868, by James Green, the Dean at the time of the local Anglican community. The first part of the building consisted of a simple nave with side aisles. It had a Broseley tiled roof, brick walls and a timber floor, with simple windows in the aisles and in the clerestory dormers. The building relied upon its ‘Gothic’ timber roof structure to create its ecclesiastical feeling. It was remarkable for the simplicity of its construction and the speed at which it was erected. Access was through a yellow-wood lynch gate.
In 1876, the Cathedral was extended and a new entrance and two transepts were built on the Commercial Road end of the building. Five years later, a chapter room and library were added along the north-west side. This necessitated the removal of several windows from the aisles, which were used in the new rooms.
In 1898, a new sanctuary, two more transepts and the St Michael’s Chapel were added to complete the Cathedral’s cruciform shape.
It was later decided to build a new Cathedral for Natal’s Anglican community and St Saviour’s Cathedral was deconsecrated in 1976, making the building material available for suitable re-use elsewhere.
The developers of Randjesfontein, Charles Lloys-Ellis and Keith Parker obtained the former sanctuary, transepts, nave, chapter room and library for St Saviour’s Church at Randjesfontein. Demolition of the old Cathedral began in 1981 and Robert Brusse was commissioned to draw up the plans for the new church. The plan of the new building was based on the sanctuary and transepts of the old Cathedral.
One bay of the original transept was relocated at the end of the other transept. To create a new nave and sanctuary, two smaller transepts were made by taking one bay away from the original sanctuary and relocating it across the crossing. St Michael’s Chapel became the new baptistry and the lynch gate was re-used as the main entrance, just as it had been originally.
Some of the pews, the font and pulpit were brought from the St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Noupoort in the Northern Cape. The plan provided for accommodation of a congregation of 200.
St Saviour’s Church is located among several old conifers, adjacent to a cemetery, housing graves belonging to the Erasmus family – pioneers of Randjesfontein, who settled in the area in the 1830‘s. Two monumental tombs and several smaller graves record the passing of the patriarch and his children. To the north side of the Church is the old homestead and farm buildings of the original Erasmus farm which now houses the Parks Department of the City of Joburg.
