125 Years of grace: A story of faith, resilience and community love

ALONG the quiet stretch of 7th Avenue, where generations have walked to and from worship under Cape Town skies, a modest church with deep roots and deeper faith quietly turned 125.

- MALIKAH BAATJES

This past Sunday, Good Shepherd Anglican Church in Kensington marked its quasquicentennial with a stirring Eucharist service, drawing past and present congregants into a heartfelt reunion. The pews overflowed with stories, memories, and the timeless echoes of hymns sung across generations.

A homecoming cloaked in reverence

On Sunday, June 8, Reverend Leon van der Rheede welcomed worshippers to the historic celebration, guiding the service with warmth and reverence. Clergy from nearby parishes in Maitland, Factreton and Kensington flanked the pulpit, reflecting a long-standing spirit of ecumenical unity.

“What we felt today was more than ceremony - it was community,” reflected Audrey Classens, a former Sunday School teacher who first entered the church in the 1980s. “This place raised us. It taught us faith, dignity, and how to carry one another through life.”

Faces filled the sanctuary: octogenarians baptised in the same stone font, former youth brigade members now grandparents, and shy-eyed children tiptoeing through sacred memory.

Sanctuary through struggle and song