Some 34 years ago the Head of the Church graciously allowed a Baptistic congregation to come into being in a suburb of Alberton, south of Johannesburg.  The Brackenhurst Baptist Church met for quite some time in the garage attached to the house of Jason and Marlene van den Heuvel, but moved in 1975 to a structure that had been built on a strategic corner stand purchased from the Baptist Union of Southern Africa.  In these past three and a half decades this congregation has been served by three different shepherds.  Doug Van Meter, originally from the USA, but now permanently resident in South Africa, has been the pastor since 1992, having been called from a sister-work in Naturena, also south of ‘the City of Gold’.

For the major part of its existence, the Brackenhurst Baptist Church (BBC) has been known for characteristics of her ethos, specifically her independency, her commitment to the King James translation of the Bible, her passion for the pre-millennial return of Christ and for her mission-mindedness.  By God’s grace, a miraculous process of reformation has characterized the ministry in recent years – a reformation driven by Doug’s expository ministry from the book of Romans, the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24-25) and the book of Revelation.  Consequently the congregation has in large measure come to join the Eldership in a wholehearted embrace of what is known as a Preterist view of biblical prophecy. In terms of this understanding of Scripture, the congregation has come to appreciate more richly the New Covenant, the cohesiveness of the whole Bible, and the absolute sufficiency of Jesus Christ in a marvellous way.  Gone are the largely pessimistic expectations of the future and the sentimental attachment to geo-political Israel spawned by a Dispensational hermeneutic.  Now the mission-mindedness of BBC is characterized by a newfound joyful expectation that God will indeed allow the Kingdom of Christ to conquer the darkness by the glorious Gospel in the generations to come!  This sea-change in ethos, along with a move towards a plurality of Eldership ministry; an emphasis upon the doctrines of grace; and membership within the Sola 5 family of churches – these ‘milestones of reformation’ towards a biblical ministry, have indeed made the past years very challenging, exciting and fulfilling!  By God’s grace, the church has seen a commensurate growth in its membership. Yet, despite being possibly one of the largest of the South African Sola 5 churches, BBC is still a “small church”, yet with a “big church mentality”.  Membership is currently just over 200.
Each congregation of God’s people has its own unique characteristics within the framework prescribed by Scripture.  At BBC one cannot appreciate the overall ministry without appreciating the role played by the following features:

1.    A plurality of Elders who are trusted and expected by the congregation to provide decisive leadership. Currently there are four Elders: Doug Van Meter who handles the bulk of the preaching ministry; Gary van den Heuvel who has spearheaded the thrust in formal teaching ministry; Gary's father, Jason van den Heuvel, one of the founders of this church family, who is self-employed; and Christo Beetge who was recently invited to join the Eldership from the pastoral ministry in Springs. Two previous Elders, Francois Koch and Peter Swanepoel have been sent out as missionaries, the former to Ethiopia and the latter to India. It would seem that God would have the Elders lead by example in this way – so far two of the Elders have obeyed the call to "go"! The Elders operate with a conscious commitment to both parity and giftedness. In other words, we are all accountable to one another, and seek to divide our pastoral responsibilities according to individual giftedness so that the total ministry of oversight is complementary. Doug is privileged to be used by God in a growing international preaching ministry, and the pulpit responsibilities are shared in his absence by both Christo and Gary. Our well-managed website www.brackenhurstbaptist.org allows the pulpit ministry to have greater access around the world.

[The above '2006'-paragraph was updated as follows during July 2008:
1. A plurality of Elders who are trusted and expected by the congregation to provide decisive leadership. Currently there are two Elders and four eldership interns: Doug Van Meter who handles the bulk of the preaching ministry, and Christo Beetge, who was invited to join the team at BBC after an 11 year ministry at the Springs Baptist Church. Our four interns include Dr. Neil Cable, Mark MacKaiser, Zander Viljoen and Barry Jamie – all men employed full time in their careers. Two previous Elders, Francois Koch and Peter Swanepoel have been sent out as missionaries, the former to Swakopmund Namibia and the latter to India. It would seem that God would have the Elders lead by example in this way – so far two of the Elders have obeyed the call to “go”! The Elders operate with a conscious commitment...]

2.    The church enjoys an ethos of commitment to formal ministry.  By this must be appreciated that each church member feels committed to benefit from formal teaching that is given on Wednesday evenings at the prayer meeting and during Family Bible Hour prior to the Worship service on Sunday morning.  Whilst these ministries are largely the responsibility of the Elders, there are also valuable opportunities for other men who feel called to formal ministry to fan their teaching gifts into flame.  These men and others who so desire, are also instructed in a Shepherds’ School programme accredited by the University of Potchefstroom.  In this programme formal lecturing is received in subjects like New Testament, Old Testament, Church History and a whole host of modules one would expect to find in formal ministerial training.  This ‘atmosphere of learning’ pervades the whole church, and it is indeed heartening to find that the majority of members regularly avail themselves of these opportunities which means that the whole church family is often together.  Thankfully BBC is not afflicted with the common malady these days of having a morning congregation as distinct from those who attend worship in the evenings.  Support ministries during such events include care of infants, children’s choir and discipleship training.

3.    Any congregation that receives ‘formal instruction’ is constantly in danger of becoming cerebral and formalistic.  To remedy this, great encouragement is given for members to get involved in ‘practical ministry’ such as food distribution, printing collation, ministries of mercy, evangelism and hospitality.  The food distribution ministry involves the collection of waste food from certain supermarket outlets, the sorting of such food and the distribution of the usable food to needy recipients and institutions.  This happens two days a week at least.  The printing ministry requires people to lend a hand in collating printed matter.  Over the years great emphasis has been placed on the printing and distribution of Gospel of John and Romans portions.  Our printing ministry currently has some spare capacity which we are asking God to use for the extension of His Kingdom.  Ministries of mercy involve providing meals and care for the sick and housebound in the congregation.  Some of the young men have become involved in evangelistic endeavours such as Chronological story-telling in Soweto, with a view to providing a context into which the Gospel message of Christ can be profitably proclaimed.  The final Wednesday of the month, the Bible study and prayer meeting is suspended in favour of people entertaining friends in their homes.  Despite all these many efforts and endeavours though, much like any other church family, BBC feels frustrated that not enough evangelism and ‘hands-on-ministry’ is undertaken in our desire to be salt and light in our community.

4.    Thankfully, a great diversity of ministry to children provides many avenues for practical service and involvement.  One of the characteristics of the church involves the prevalence of home-schooling, making social interaction amongst the children in the context of the church all the more important.  On Tuesday evenings the AWANA groups minister to primary school children.  On Wednesday evenings the junior choir practices.  On Friday evenings the senior school children meet, as well as regular meetings of Young Adults (who are also part of the SolaMind ministry – a Sola 5 initiative on the south east side of Johannesburg aimed at reaching Young Adults who want to be single-mindedly counter-culture for the sake of righteousness. This happens once a month. Do yourself a favour and visit their fantastic website http://www.solamind.com/  There is also a monthly ministry to Young Marrieds, Single Women and the Elderly.  Then of course there is ministry on the Lord’s Day to youth Sunday school classes and Children’s Church for the very young during the sermon.

5.    An aspect of our church culture which has certainly defined and developed part of our ethos is the requirement that every prospective member must be willing to be discipled – a formally arranged but casual and friendly process of placing all prospective members under the care and instruction of another member or couple.  This involves working through 23 booklets explaining various doctrines and aspects Christian behaviour and conviction.  Only those who have either completed this process and have been brought into membership formally, or who are in the process are regarded as part of the family and thus eligible for the privileges of church membership.  Making this distinction is vital for the health of the church family we believe. It also provides the context for healthy accountability, pastoral admonition and disciplinary action where necessary.

6.    BBC has been blessed with many young people and young couples entering their parenting years.  This makes for a healthy expectation regarding visitation, discipleship and fellowship.  The local church is surely designed by God to be a support-community where people nurture true friendships and enjoy life together.  Emphasis is thus placed upon social interaction amongst members in various fun events throughout the year.  One of the highlights in this regard is the annual cycle tour held in December.  Other groups such as Book Clubs and mothers’ groups meet throughout the year.

7.    The Mission-mindedness of BBC has been fostered over the years by an important annual event in the life of the church – the World Outreach Celebration.  This event has served to raise the profile of missions and helped to create both a Great Commission mentality regarding the funding of and support for missionary endeavours around the world, and an increasing cultural sensitivity.  More and more though, as a consequence of the process of reformation, inevitably, our support of missions has become increasingly focussed upon missionaries sent out from BBC and other Sola 5 congregations.  God’s people here are encouraged to visit and correspond with missionary couples supported by and prayed for by BBC.

8.    The music ministry at BBC has been the source of great blessing.  It is mysterious how some congregations have a dearth of musicians, and yet in His mysterious providence towards other congregations, BBC amongst them, God has seen fit to provide a wealth of musically talented people.  God-centeredness in providing musical excellence for worship has meant that corporate worship is a joyful highlight!

When one scans the above, one must guard against naively thinking that BBC is the perfect church or that there is always the right kind of momentum in ministry.  We are under no illusions – BBC is a very normal church, plagued by many of the same frustrations that keep all Elders on their knees before God!  The Elders are currently praying through ministry decisions to remedy the fragmentation of the nuclear family, as well as the balance between incisive Eldership leadership and Baptistic congregational participation.  Yet, God has certainly done great things in our midst, and we are trusting Him to yet bring much glory to Himself as we persevere in seeking to do the right things better and better.  Whilst we do not buy into the “mega-church mentality” in which numbers play an inordinate role, we do pray that God may yet allow some sizeable congregations with a world-wide reach to develop in our country which will stand as a beacon of God-centred, Christ-focussed, Word-expounding hope for the generations to come!  Please pray with us to that end.