District Six was formerly known as Zonnebloem and prior to that Virginia Street congregation and was dedicated on 28th March 1931. The church building was constructed by actual members of the congregation and, according to the foundation stone currently present in the church, was inaugurated by the Ap. Schlaphoff. Known as one of the pioneering congregations, it is often referred to as a
‘mother’
congregation having produced many staunch
families and pioneering servants. Their pioneering works
has reached many corners of South Africa. The first Rector was Community Evangelist H. Collins during the late 1930’s. Thereafter Priest Mansfield (senior) took over the rector ministry until his death when he was then succeeded by his son. Pr. Mansfield (Junior) would later serve as a Bishop of the Cape Town Diocese for many years. The following rector was Elder Poggenpoel who served in the congregation until 23rd August 1970. District Six was declared a whites-only area under the
Groups Area Act of 1966. The ‘non-white’ residents were forced to move to designated areas on the outskirts of Cape Town causing the membership of this congregation to fall dramatically. The result of this was that this once thriving congregation’s influence in the work of God was sadly
affected. A positive to be taken from this ghastly experience
was, that numerous congregations developed in other areas as a direct result of the relocation of these members. At this point the New Apostolic Church, along with all other churches in the area, were approached to sell their properties to the Department of Community Development for the purpose of demolition. An agreement was reached on the condition that an alternative site was given in the Walmer Estate area with sufficient compensation to immediately begin building a new church. The matter was initially postponed and ultimately ended with a departmental decision to preserve all churches in the District Six area. Some highlights over the last 80 years have been the many visits by the then District Apostles A Abicht, KR Gut, EH Graf and our current District Apostle NE Barnes all of whom had
a special love for this congregation. District Six had also
celebrated special feasts with their celebrations of its 50th,
60th, 70th, 75th and 80th anniversaries. On the 13th May 2009 District Apostle NE Barnes visited the congregation to conduct a Divine Service. The current membership of District Six Congregation, including children, is 96 and is primarily attended by members who reside in District Six, Walmer Estate and
the lower part of the Eastern Boulevard
