About a year ago, then chairperson Gisela Prüter stepped down after serving this committee for many years in a most professional way. Fortunately, she hasn’t gone away, she still (literally) serves us well. Thank you, Gisela, and yes, we are looking forward to the “Sauerbraten” on the 1st of June.

ln September 2022, the church committee defined different ministries, which became the portfolios of the individual church committee members. This was done to streamline the massive task of managing all congregational aspects and to make it workable for the small number of available committee members. These ministries have since been refined and are currently as follows:

Kreuz,
Community,
Parsonage: Finance, admin and housekeeping.

Kreuz:
This ministry, in the capable hands of Ernst-Günther Brunke, our most experienced committee member (at least 20 years non-stop service), covers everything related to church music, worship services, (live and on YouTube), children’s church, as well as young adult, prayer and Bible study sessions. There is constant support for our services and activities, but regretfully, we as a congregation (and not unlike many others), are not famous for large number attendances. We strongly encourage congregants to participate in our services and activities in ways with which they are comfortable.

On a more positive note, Thaniel Frans successfully completed the preacher’s course and will soon be inducted as preacher in our congregation (as Ernst-Günther Brunke has been before). The candle lighting custom, characterising children’s church, is a very inspiring element whilst our distinct church music creates a very special atmosphere in our worship services. We greatly cherish the input of Yngvild Steytler (flute) and Michael and Wendy Haller (cello and flute) along with Auguste Douglas, our organist for so many years. We highly appreciate the endless efforts of this remarkable lady, fondly known to us as “Gussi”, who has now officially retired. While fortunately she still does sessions on some Sundays, Thaniel Frans has taken over the task to fill our church with the wonderful sound of our Paul Ott pipe organ. Good news is that we received funding to fully service this majestic acoustic instrument.

To address the worshiping needs of our congregants is an ongoing process to which the church committee devotes high priority. As long as it is supported, the church committee will honour cherished traditions but remains open to suggestions. With reference to the recent article in our newsletter regarding our Sunday worship services, I wish to summarize the current structure, which was established about ten years ago. Then Kreuzkirche decided to embark on a missional/multicultural road for the future of our congregation. As a result, all 09h00 services are now in English, except for the 1st monthly service which is an Afrikaans/English combination. Furthermore, the 4th Sunday is a multilingual service (primarily English), whilst pulpit exchange occurs on 5th Sundays where and if applicable. In addition, one fully-fledged German church service is held on the 3rd Sunday of the month at 10:30 after the 09:00 English service. In addition, we have a small Methodist congregation who rent our church for their services after we have completed our Sunday activities. As most of their members are from Zimbabwe, their services are conducted in Shona. As indicated on the agenda, congregants are invited to voice their feelings regarding the structure and nature of our Sunday worship services.

Community
Headed by Schalk Treurnicht, this ministry looks at efficient communication with congregants, both “in person” and “online” as well as institutional interaction and community focused outreach. We are fortunate to have a diverse, peripheral support for our congregation, not necessarily reflected by paid up membership and active attendance. We try our best to efficiently communicate with members and friends using SMS, WhatsApp, our website as well as our quarterly newsletter (hard copy and online). To keep our newsletter alive and relevant to what’s happening in the congregation,the efforts of Ernst-Günther Brunke and his editorial team are much appreciated. Congregational and institutional events include the Men’s Breakfast (well attended) and the CCW Church Day, where our congregation’s attendance was disappointing. We are proud to support community focused outreach activities such as Bless-a -Baby and MES, a national registered not-for-profit company that drives essential social change aimed at solving systemic poverty and homelessness. Presentations by representatives of iThemba Labantu (Sophia Zittel), the Bible Society (Willem Swanepoel) and Inspiring Horizons (Yvette Kirstein) were successfully hosted during our Sunday services.

An annual highlight is our “outreach” combined service, currently with the St Phillips Kraaifontein congregation. In 2024 we were received with open arms, and we spent a joyful morning with them (we brought the Bratwurst). As we intend to continue this tradition, this year, on the 2nd Sunday of Advent, the combined service will be here in Bellville. We have invited the (our) Methodist congregation to share this occasion with us.

Kreuzkirche Parsonage:
This ministry is my responsibility and has 3 divisions, being Admin, Housekeeping and Finance.

Firstly, I wish to refer you to the recent article in our newsletter regarding parsonage history. In summary, a parsonage is an integral part of the church complex, normally located next to, or at least close to the church building, serving as the pastor’s residence and in addition, as administrative office of the local parish, often including additional buildings to accommodate schooling and care for children and other congregants. While our constitution stipulates that each congregation provides accommodation to its pastor, it does not specify whether it must be an owned or rented property, and if rented, the value of the rental stipulated.

In addition to 33 Middel Street, Bellville, Kreuzkirche currently also owns the adjacent property (27 Middel Street) and a residential property (12 Angelier Street, Brackenfell).

We have a slot on the agenda to discuss the infrastructure and management of our parsonage.

Admin (Church office)
This, the heart of our congregation, is very efficiently run by our Secretary Christiane Duwe. While she takes care of our banking activities, municipal accounts, correspondence and “caretaker” duties, she is the driving force in the planning and execution of our events.

Housekeeping (Church building, tower & grounds)
Keeping our church buildings (including parsonage) functional and clean, requires never-ending maintenance and renovation. Whether it’s leaking roofs, clearing the gutters, the gardens, toilets, dealing with burglaries and vandalism, the list is too long to mention all. Christiane, with the help of Maranda and Ricky drive these activities, often complemented by congregants lending a helping hand. A big thank you to all of you. Currently, the church tower & AGM – Chairman’s report 5 bells require urgent attention. Similarly, upgrades to our security system in line with developments on the church grounds, is an ongoing process.

Deutscher Kindergarten Bellville (KiGa)
After many discussions and uncertainties, the transition of the “Deutscher Kindergarten” from Bellville to the DSK Parow campus was finally completed in January 2025. Deutsche Schule Kapstadt now has full control of the kindergarten. The KiGa Board on which three of our members served, has been dissolved. Kreuzkirche therefore now officially is no longer part of the Deutsche Schule Kindergarten, However, Ingrid Brunke still regularly visits the Parow campus. She does informal 15-minute Bible story reading sessions which the kids and parents greatly appreciate.

To our “remaining” kindergarten we did maintenance, improvements and alterations, the cost of which we shared with the KiGa Board. This included painting the main room, cutting the trees, replacing door locks, upgrading the prefab garages and separating the e-fence from 27 Middel Street. Fitting prepaid water and electricity will be completed soon. The motor gate in front of the prefab garages was repaired and motorised and a pedestrian gate was installed in the wall adjacent to the driveway leading into the playground. The main access to the kindergarten now has remote control and is no longer through the church garage doors.

At about the same time an application to rent the “kindergarten”, excluding the rooms part of the church hall, was received from “Inspiring Horizons”, a family orientated cottage school for neurodiverse learners. After professional consultation and very careful consideration, Kreuzkirche CC unanimously decided to give this project a chance. The school operates as an independent entity whilst our admin office manages the rental. Future maintenance and upgrades will happen over time as by mutual agreement. A suitable contract pertaining to these conditions is currently being drafted.

Now officially the new tenants since March 2025, we welcomed Yvette Kirstein and her team. They have since settled in, are very happy and have already expanded regarding the number of kids and staff. We look forward to future collaborations with “Inspiring Horizons”.

In addition, we also approved an application from the Weavers’ Club(Inge Demasius is a member) to rent the “youth room” adjacent to the hall. At their request, an alarm was installed in this room and remotes to enter via the hall door have been provided.

The residence adjacent to the kindergarten, 27 Middle Street, was initially bought by our congregation to accommodate the teachers then working in the former Deutscher Kindergarten Bellville. In recent years we are renting out this property, currently housing 4 families. The current rental income is stable, but the property urgently needs attention.

In 2018 the Bellville congregation voted in favour of again acquiring a pastor’s house. With financial help of some of the congregants, this was achieved and the pastor at the time was suitably accommodated in 12 Angelier Street, Brackenfell. As alternative accommodation became available for succeding pastors, we currently utilise Pam Golding Properties to manage the rental of this property. Following a spell of loss of rental income, legal expenses, maintenance and essential upgrades, we now again have good tenants securing a stable rental income, which contributes to servicing loan repayments, maintenance and the pastor’s accommodation allowance.

Finance

Today, we salute former treasurer, the late Danie Steytler, for his immense impact on the well-being of our congregation.

Detlev Ahlert has taken over this portfolio and will present the annual budget as indicated on the agenda.

Our bazaars (Easter, Main and Advent) remain a major source of income and are highlights on our social calendar. Other fundraisers include the Congregational Lunch and the Soup and Sherry evening. It takes a lot of effort to host these events; I particularly want to thank the many people who contribute towards the great success of each.

We are very grateful for donations received, these can be ringfenced for specific applications should a donor wish to do so. We have established that, regretfully, Kreuzkirche does not qualify to enable tax deductions when receiving donations.

Current focus areas include “Droogtehulp”, a request to Synod for financial support and the newly established “Parsonage Fund”, a Kreuzkirche Church Committee initiated project to properly manage and fulfil our parsonage obligations.

Since the previous AGM on 5 June 2024, our small, but extremely busy Church Committee has met 11 times, typically on the first or second Tuesday of the month, with the January meeting being a strategic planning session, the May meeting focusing on financial planning and a social celebration in December.

As chairperson, I thank the team, Ernst-Günther Brunke, Pastor Schalk Treurnicht and treasurer Detlev Ahlert, along with co-opted, non-voting members Christiana Duwe, Thaniel Frans and William Köhler. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. I like to refer congregants to the detailed minutes of each of our meetings, which are available for your perusal in the church office.

Regretfully we have now reached the point where, as stipulated by our constitution, Ernst-Günther Brunke is no longer electable for our church committee. It is my privilege to thank him for his unconditional efforts to keep our congregation up and running for such a long time.

I want to encourage congregants to assist the Church Committee by making themselves available as “co-opt” members. This is a pleasant avenue where you can offer skills that give you pleasure to make our life easier without overcommitting yourself to tasks with which you may be unfamiliar.

ln conclusion, I end this report with Martin Luther quoted saying: “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree”.