Trinity Methodist Church celebrates 150 years

The Trinity Methodist Church in GraaffReinet will celebrate 150 years as a church family with a special worship on Sunday 26 September.

Bishop Louis Williams, Bishop of the Camdeboo District of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, will preside over the Service and all community members are encouraged to attend.

The full story will be celebrated at a Heritage Service to be held on

26 September at 09:00 at Trinity Methodist Church. A celebration will also be held in honour of the church and its history on this day. A special hymn festival will be celebrated with personal accounts of direct descendants of those who gave their lives for the posterity of this symbol of Methodism in the Karoo.

The cornerstone for the chapel was laid by Rev John Edwards’ wife Sarah in 1871.

Trinity Methodist Church has been blessed to provide a spiritual home and faith community for thousands of people over the years. Their presence in the GraaffReinet community supports the Methodist Church of Southern Africa’s Mission Statement of “A Christ-healed Africa for the Healing of Nations.”

In the second half of his sixties, Rev Edwards arrived in Graaff-Reinet in 1870 with his horse wagon and two horses. He was invited by Rev Charles Murray of the Dutch Reformed Church to stay at the parsonage for three weeks. During this time Rev Edwards was conducting church services in the Government school room. It was always his dream for a Methodist Church to be established in Graaff-Reinet as he believed that the town would expand and become an important town in the Karoo.

The Government school room agreement could not be sustained indefinitely and so Rev Edwards set his eyes on a plot on the corner of Caledon and Bourke Streets. The owner of the plot wanted three hundred pounds and this was beyond what Rev Edwards could afford. He later obtained the plot through an auction for one hundred and five pounds.

The building project was started and completed in phases and the builder was paid as the latter finished the different phases. The building was completed in 1875 and was dedicated to the now late Rev John and Sarah Edwards.

Trinity Methodist Church has from then gone from strength to strength because of the generosity of not only the Methodists, but the people of GraaffReinet, who supported bazaars that became institutional to Trinity Methodist.

Today, Trinity Methodist stands out as a beacon of hope in the CBD, and a true moment of ecumenism in Graaff-Reinet. Many dedicated ministers graced the shores of Graaff-Reinet at Trinity Methodist; some of which eventually became Presidents of the Methodist Conference.

For more information contact Mariana Evans on 049 892 2366.