New minister is inducted in ceremony for linked parishes
It was with great pleasure that on Thursday November 28, the linked parishes of St Oran’s, Ardchattan and Coll welcomed Willem Jacobus Bezuidenhout as new minister.
Mr Bezuidenhout was inducted at a ceremony in St Oran’s Church which was followed by a celebration in Connel Village Hall.
It is three years since the congregation at St Oran’s has been without a minister and one year since the congregation at Ardchattan has had a minister.
Willem Bezuidenhout was first ordained in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa in 1977 and comes to Oban with an impressive and varied background.
It was in 1989 that Mr Bezuidenhout left the Reformed Church to work in South Africa’s Department of Foreign Affairs. In 1990, he was a media liaison officer in the office of President F W de Klerk when Nelson Mandela was released from prison. Thereafter there were hugely significant talks between the African National Congress and National Party which have subsequently been universally recognised.
In 1992, after leaving the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr Bezuidenhout spent three years as a secondary school teacher before joining the Presbyterian Church in South Africa.
He came to Scotland in 2006 and, after a short period of familiarisation, took up the charge at Balfron Church which was linked to Fintry.
In 2010, Mr Bezuidenhout went to Dumfries and was inducted as the minister to Kirkmichael, Tinwald and Torthorwald in the Presbytery of Dumfries and Kirkcudbright. He was latterly the minister at Barlanark-Greyfriers Church in Glasgow.
During his time in Balfron, Mr Bezuidenhout was convener of the World Mission and Ecumenical Relations Committee and chaired the South African link.
Throughout his career he has maintained a keen interest in working with whichever community he has happened to find himself. He has particularly enjoyed having a working relationship with local youth services and schools.
The linked churches are deeply privileged that Mr Bezuidenhout has come to be minister and are delighted to welcome him and his wife, Hazel, and their children Calum, Libby and Cara.