Everything started when one family in Pretoria asked Antipas Baptist Church in the Vaal Triangle to start a  similar church in Pretoria.  The first evening service took place on 25 January 1998 in a school hall in Ashlea Gardens, a suburb of Pretoria.  On 25 April that year the first members were accepted.  Since then there has been steady growth, so that we have just over 200 members today.

For the first 18 months Nico van der Walt travelled to Pretoria on Sunday afternoons to take an evening service there.  He used to stay over for a day or two in order to visit people.  But in July 1999 he and his household moved permanently to Pretoria to pastor the budding church.

On 5 March 2000 the Pretoria Church became independent.  Presently 10 elders serve the flock.  Much is made of pastoral care, which includes frequent home visitation.  The eldership includes 3 full time pastors – Nico van der Walt, Bruce Button and Jacobus de Koning.  Bruce and Vehlia, with their family, moved to Pretoria from Durban at the beginning of 2002.  Jacobus and Hendriëtte, with their family, joined the church from Windhoek about ten months later.

Our people live all over greater Pretoria, and even futher afield.  What is more, we are thankful that the Lord has added to our numbers brothers and sisters from all ages and income-groups.  Not only do we have a few octogenarians in our midst, but also a number of teenagers as formal members.  About 95% of our people are Afrikaans speaking.  Something we do not take for granted is the fact that just about 50% of our members are male.  And a last thing about our composition, is that we come from a great variety of backgrounds – from the traditional Afrikaans churches, from charismatic and Pentecostal churches, from the cults, and even from agnosticism and atheism.  In spite of this diversity, we are a happy church. If this does not emphasise the miracle of the church, what does?

We have a whole number of home meetings all over Pretoria during the week, with an emphasis on prayer and Bible study.

Much is made of outreach.  We support a few missionaries, and according to our gifts and callings, a number of our people are active in local goals, hospitals, townships, and a housing establishment for the poor.  Our audio-visual ministry is very active, with two full-time workers. Last year almost 16000 recordings (CD's and DVD's) were distributed.  We have a dynamic website (www.reformed.org.za).  Our literature ministry (in cooperation with Antipas in the Vaal Triangle) gives us much joy.  Printing is being done in Vereeniging, whilst distribution takes place mainly from Pretoria.  Apart from mass distribution all over Southern Africa, teaching materials are being sent to about 1500 addresses every six weeks.  A ministry which has really taken off over the past fifteen months, is the weekly distribution of our sermons by e-mail.  Currently we serve about 1100 addresses all over the world.

We are also very excited about the newly established University of Africa, and specifically the Sovereign Grace Theological Seminary, which is the University's theological faculty.  Bruce Button and Jacobus de Koning will continue as elders, but will concentrate on this vital ministry as the first full-time lecturers.

If all this gives you the impression that we are a church without problems, think again.  It is with sadness that we have to confess that we are continually involved in the war against the flesh, the world, and the devil – and unfortunately not always successfully.  The elders are more often than not confronted by difficult pastoral problems, and time and again we are reminded that, in spite of the Lord's wonderful saving grace, we still live in a real and broken world.  We are nevertheless encouraged, knowing that the Lord has started a wonderful work of re-creation in us, and that He will surely bring it to completion in His good time.