During the British colonial period, this church was opened as a Scottish Presbyterian church. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church openly welcomed enslaved people as congregants. The church was established in 1828, and it was here that the Presbyterians and neighboring Lutherans held the first service for former enslaved people on December 1, 1838. Opposite the church was the cemetery of the Dutch Reformed Church. During the Dutch colonial period, the baptism of enslaved people was left to the will of their masters. Few baptized enslaved people were confirmed as members of the Church. In the English colonial period, the Dutch Church began its own independent missionary work in 1824. Although the Synod of 1829 formally rejected discrimination on the basis of skin color, people of color were still discriminated against in practice, especially during worship services and Holy Communion. The Synod of 1857 decided to allow separate services for so-called colored members “because of the weakness of some,” as the World Council of Churches reported.

Sources

• Cuthbertson, Greg. (1981). “The St Andrew’s Scottish Church Mission in Cape Town, 1838-1878”, Contree: Journal for South African Urban and Regional History 9. 12-18.
• World Council of Churches. (N.d.). Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa. [online] https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/uniting-reformed-church-in-southern-africa.