Welcome to the Community in Christ Church
We meet Sundays at 17h30 for worship at Glenshiel, located at 19 Woolston Rd, Johannesburg. What we do, preach, sing and pray is aimed to promote life in all its forms. In this we follow Jesus who proclaimed that he has come so that we can have life and have it abundantly.
We pride ourselves as being one of the more progressive faith communities in Johannesburg. Diversity is regarded as a positive and we are a warm-hearted inclusive community.
In our services, led by Prof Hansie Wolmarans, you will find a blend of the old and the new. They are fairly traditional with an accomplished pianist in charge of the music. Throughout the year you may find a clarinet, flute, saxophone or trumpet enhancing the atmosphere. The Order of Service is planned by a Worship and Arts committee and is participative in nature.
Our sermons are culturally relevant, challenging, Biblical, and meaningful. We have a great adult education program on Wednesday evenings. Topics discussed have been Science and Religion, The Historical Jesus, Human Sexuality, and Islam. On Sunday afternoons we run a confirmation class for young adults where we challenge each other about what it means to be Christian in the 21st century.
In our outreach program we support worthwhile organisations and causes with our time, money and prayers.
We are not perfect, but we are trying and we develop leadership through a philosophy of participation and a bottom-up style of management. If you come here, you will find people happy to see you, and inviting you to become part of a community which is more like family.
We are blessed with an outstanding management team consisting of people with proven corporate skills who give of their time and talents to maintain the community on a good organisational footing.
At this stage we have only one service, 17h30 on Sundays.
The adult confirmation class is from 16h45 ot 17h15 on Sundays.
Wednesdays we meet at 18h30 (refreshments) for 19h00 (talk).
Meet the Minister
Hansie Wolmarans is our minister.
Although he followed an academic career as professor of Greek and Latin, he has since 1977 been active as a part-time minister. Having accepted retirement in 2016, he now teaches part-time and ministers full-time. He is well-known on radio and television and has been awarded numerous prizes for religious broadcasting, research and outstanding academic performance. On the theological front, he established the first multiracial congregation in the Hervormde Kerk, and facilitated the first same-sex marriage in the Presbyterian Church. For this he was charged with “misconduct” but was found not guilty in 2015. His book, The Endless Patterns of Love (co-authored with Susan Long) experienced three reprints. The Kindle Edition is still available on Amazon.com. He values creativity, stands proudly in the tradition of liberal protestantism, and is passionate about the continuous reformation of the church to meet the demands of the 21st Century. On the 13th February 2020 he was honoured with a Festschrift from the Journal for Early Christian History, for his contribution to the study of Early Christianity.
Meet the Team
Gail Dymond
Volunteer Organiser
Ken McArthur
Chair
Susan Long
Secretary
Henk Theron
Additional member
Dr Donna Wyckoff-Wheeler
Worship and Arts
Dudley Trollope
Director of Music
George Suliali
Outreach
Elza Theron
Hospitality
Ilse Snyman
Webpage content manager
Blaire Henderson
Treasurer
What we Believe
We believe in God, known to us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and also known by different names in different traditions, and who is present as the Holy Spirit. It is a fundamental tenet of our faith that the God in which we believe is manifested in every human being, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation, as well as in creation in general. This accords with Acts 17:28 that we live and move and exist in God.
The Community acknowledges the Christian Bible (in its various forms) as its most important foundational document. We take the Bible seriously but not literally—as it is meant to be read. In the interpretation and reinterpretation of the Bible, the Community takes account of the traditional historic creeds, inter alia, but not limited to, the Apostle’s Creed, as well the Nicene Creed. In addition the Community also takes into account the various traditional Protestant Confessions of Faith, inter alia, but not limited to, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Dutch Confession of Faith and the Belhar Confession. The Bible and the Confessions are read and interpreted accurately in its original context and reinterpreted for the the times we live in.