A Methodist presence in the Brits/Hartbeespoort area was established in 1936 when preachers first travelled from Pretoria to run services in Brits. This situation changed very little for the next 70 years, with Brits still not having its own resident minister, but continuing to fall under the oversight of one of the Pretoria churches.
With the growth in the Hartbeespoort area, particularly with the development of many housing estates around the turn of the millennium, there began to emerge the belief that if a Methodist Church could be established in Hartbeespoort, there would be sufficient funds between the two churches to employ a resident minister.
In 2005 a decision was taken to venture out in faith and Rev Jannie Hofmeyr was invited to begin work from the beginning of 2006 as full time minister of the Brits church while at the same time beginning the process of establishing a congregation in Hartbeespoort. Initially the thought was to establish a United congregation together with the Anglicans and Presbyterians, but this failed to materialise.
On 4 November 2007 the first service was held in the SAVF Dienssentrum hall, which the Church has continued to use for its Sunday worship.The core of the Church at this stage consisted of Methodists who lived in the Harties area but who had been worshiping at Brits. They numbered about 25 adults. Because Rev Hofmeyr would be taking the services at both churches most Sundays, the Brits service was moved from 9.00am to 9.30am and the Harties service was set for 8.00am.
The two churches by themselves were not able to carry the full financial load of having their own minister, but with a generous donation of R200 000 and with assistance from a couple of the Methodist Churches in Pretoria, the costs were covered. This assistance has continued, although by smaller amounts each year.
It was not necessary to purchase a manse for the minister’s accommodation since, prior to any plans for the Harties congregation, Rev Hofmeyr’s sister and brother-in-law had begun to build a weekend home at the dam. The home was completed at the end of 2005 and Rev Hofmeyr’s sister and her husband kindly made the ground floor of the house available as accommodation. After a couple of years, when the finances had grown, the two Churches paid a rental for the use of the property.
About 2 years after the Harties Church began, the leaders started to look at acquiring a property for the Church. In the second half of 2010 an agricultural holding of 2,1 hectares in Melodie was purchased, after a bond had been raised.
The first building plans were drawn up in 2011 and initial preparations were made to build a church on the plot. Progress was, frustratingly, delayed for some years due to snags with the procedures involved in getting permission to build a place of worship.
At the end of 2014, Rev Jannie Hofmeyr retired and he was followed by the Rev Mike Durrant who arrived in January 2015. Conversations on the church building continued and a variety of alternatives were considered. It was clearly felt that God was pushing us to continue with the vision of a constructing a suitable place of worship. The break through came in July 2016, in a meeting with the Director of Town Planning of the Madibeng Municipality. During this meeting we were told that the outstanding issues were considered as resolved and we were free to submit building plans. The plans were drawn during 2017 and submitted for approval in October of that year. On 5th April 2018, the site was cleared and building operations began. The church was completed in December 2018 and the first service was held on 21st December. The church was consecrated and officially opened by the Bishop of the Limpopo Synod, Rev Sidwell Mokgothu, on 17th February 2019.
Following the building of the church, the garden needed planning and developing. This was done by Irene Small in 2019. In 2020 Coenie Bakkes took over the garden and was later appointed as church caretaker. In 2021 he and his wife took up residence in the smaller house, which was named “The Cottage.” Another development was the appointment of Mrs Bessie Kraak as the first church secretary in October 2021.
Mike Durrant retired at the end of 2021. He was succeeded by Rev Simi Ngomane. Simi was the first minister to occupy the bigger house on the property which was called “The Manse.”
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