The Sanctuary of Light, Germiston, held its first service in a Basement in Rutland Place in Human Street, Germiston on Sunday, the 2nd of October 1992. Fred and Sandra Labuschagne, its founding members, had previously been involved in the running of a Spiritualist church in Benoni, and after a number of years had seen the need for a church in the Germiston area.

Many years before, a group of people had held services in a house in Lambert Street and then in Melody Centre in Meyer Street, but due to the passing of its founding member, Peter Bekker, the church had eventually closed, leaving a gap which through time was realized by Fred and Sandra.

After many months of searching, they eventually found the premises in the basement of Rutland Place and took the plunge to open the Sanctuary of Light. At the time, these premises were shared with the Trade Unions, who proved to be unhelpful and rowdy and, after a car had been stolen during a service on a Sunday, it was agreed that it was time to look out for something more permanent. Our congregation had grown to +- 50 per Sunday, so finding the RIGHT premises proved to be a little more difficult than we had hoped.

We became aware of a house, just opposite the then Germiston Hospital, in 6 Angus Street, which had up until a short while before, been used as a Portuguese church. Walls had been broken down to accommodate their congregation and it seemed like the perfect solution to our problems.

Speaking to the owners, it was agreed that we would have the option to buy at a later stage, so we signed the agreement and moved in in 1994. At first the space was perfect, but as the weeks went by, we had to put people in the entrance, passage, kitchen and down the aisle. (Once you were seated, that’s where you stayed until the end of the service as there was no space to move.

We even hired a marquee at one stage to accommodate all the people.

So, once again, we started looking for new premises. We had approached the owners where we currently held services, but it turned out that someone had defrauded the church and put the premises on an individual’s name, and this individual could not be found.

Our search took us to an open piece of ground, cor. Webber Road, which everyone agreed could be just what we were looking for. The congregation was asked to come up with plans for a new church which we would start building once we had all agreed on the design.

Some of the ideas were beautiful, with a lot of thought behind it, everyone was getting so excited about it! (In hindsight, and looking at the premises now, it is clear that that too would not be suitable as parking would prove to be a big problem later on.

However, as is always the case, Spirit came to our rescue, and we were approached by a builder to purchase this property at more than double what we had paid for it, and after discussing this with the congregation we had all agreed that it was an offer we just could not refuse.

One of our members husbands was in the property business and her husband had mentioned that there was a property a little higher up that would be suitable, but that the owners of the property had absconded, and he was not sure what the position was with the bankers who had been owed a lot of money.

He also mentioned that the property had previously been used as a night club but had closed after the neighbours had petitioned against the noise and the element that was being drawn to the club.

On inspection, other than the terrible smell of “weed” in the toilets, it was perfect. There was ample parking, the “dance” area, inclusive of a sprung wooden floor was surrounded by beautiful arches. The area where the disc jockey sat was also behind a big arch as well as the entrance into this area. The “entertainment” or “refreshment” area (I was never sure what they had used it for), consisted of a bar area, two levels of open space, an office, entrance, back kitchen, and a cooler room.

It certainly had potential. Our only problem now was to approach the bank. Again, Spirit stepped in to help us. The Bankers were only too pleased to have someone move in and look after the premises, rather than let it be destroyed by vandals, and agreed that we could use the premises until they had found the owners, after which we could negotiate to buy the property.

We had the use of these premises for two years, rent free, until we finally were able to put the property into our name. During the two years that we were using the premises, it became clear that should we buy the property, as lovely as it was having the arches, they created blind spots for the congregation who were sitting on the outside of the “dance floor”.

Spirit, through medium “Serio” had suggested that we break down the arches at the side so that the congregation could spread out more (and we could also accommodate more people). So, other than one or two people, all agreed, and the lovely arches were broken down. Our space had increased, and we could now seat between 120 and 140 people.

We had two organs donated to us, Members of the previous Spiritualist church in Knox Street, donated their beautiful wooden podium to us, which we have dedicated to Peter Bekker’s memory, and everything was falling in place.

Our membership was growing weekly; we started a Sunday school, which though small, continues today. Sadly though, it is not used as much as we would like it to be.

A choir was started, which would go out and sing for old age homes on a regular basis. Circles were started and continue today. A healing room was donated, and the previous bar area was converted, and a mother’s room was installed in a room just off the main church area, though we find Mom’s would rather be in the middle of things rather than behind a glass window (even with a loudspeaker in the room).

Probably because the demonstrator does not see them, and they feel excluded from getting messages. We installed a kitchen in the entertainment area which is now used as the “tea” area and where we have our spring lunches etc.

Changes are always being made here and there as the need arises. Four years ago, our roof collapsed, due to substandard materials being used. The damage was considerable, and we were once again looking at finding R180 000 to replace the roof and equipment that had been damaged.

We were forced to find temporary premises to continue our services and reluctantly used a wedding venue chapel for this purpose. It was not the ideal situation as it was cold and draughty, and very dirty some Sundays after they had held a service on the day before, but this pushed us to get a move on with the roof and structures. Six weeks later the venue had a fire, and we were forced to move into the church, which was almost ready, except for the seating, which was now quite depleted due to damage, but we would cope!

As we had to replace seating, we decided to replace the sprung wooden floor with a cement floor, all carpeting had to be replaced, as well as some equipment. One organ had been damaged, as well as the Piano that had been donated, so plans were made for a “make over”.

Windows were added to the outside walls which brought lighter into the church, tiling replaced the cement, theatre chairs replaced the old wooden ones, lighting was changed. Stained Glass windows were placed in Arches at the front of the church, as well as the back, and we were back on track.

Thankfully our congregation has been there throughout the ups and downs, and we are very lucky to boast a loving, friendly family. We thrive on lots of music in our services, having created a more up to date Hymnal than the old dowdy one. We also have a request period a few minutes before the service for people to sing their favourite hymns.

We do not have Committees, but a board of trustees and include our congregation in all big projects.

There will always be something better that we can do, but we try to keep up a good standard of Speakers and Mediums, and constantly look to bettering the service for all concerned.

Copyright © 2012 Germiston Sanctuary of Light | by Electrospace