Trinity At 50- Gaborone’s pioneer Church To Celebrate Milestone

By Pako Lebanna

Trinity is set to commence the celebrations of its jubilee year, and the history of what is now officially called ‘Trinity Congregational Church, Gaborone’ is intrinsically intertwined with the city the temple lies at the heart of.

As Gaborone was springing into life in the mid-1960s, a church meant to unite Christians into one house of worship was conceptualised and brought to life.

Mafikeng in South Africa had been the Bechuanaland Protectorate’s administrative centre over the 80 years of colonial-era Botswana (1885-1965).

But nominal self-government after the March 1965 elections and full independence in September 1966 meant that a new capital had to spring up within Botswana’s confines.

As modern Gaborone was developed, the Christian community sought to establish itself in the new town, and an interdenominational meeting was convened in 1964 by Rev Derek Jones, with a view of building a church in the new capital.

Born on 12 April 1927 in the United Kingdom, the Oxford-educated Rev Jones was ordained as a church minister on 21 May 1954 at Marlow Road Congregational Church in Wallasey in the metropolitan borough of Wirral on the mouth of the River Mersey near Liverpool, England.

Later in 1954, he came to Botswana as missionary of the London Missionary Society (LMS). Later, Rev Jones played a part in the negotiations that formed the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) in Durban on October 3 1967, merging regional churches founded since 1799 by the LMS, as well as the American Board for Commissioners and Congregational Union of South Africa.

In 1964-5, Rev Jones led Congregational (LMS), Anglican, Presbyterian and Society of Friends (Quakers) ministers who negotiated the formation of Trinity Church, as a unity church whose facilities could be shared by these different denominations.

The construction of Trinity was led by Rev Jones of the LMS/UCCSA and Father Alan Butler of the local Anglican Parish, working with architect Francis Green.

Behind the altar was placed a large metal cross overlaying the inscription of the Setswana text of John 15; the altar itself was made simple to accommodate the different denominational cultures, with a table and lectern placed there instead of a pulpit (a tradition Trinity kept until very recently).

The church was opened with a dedication service in November 6, 1966 attended by the founding president Sir Seretse Khama, a member of the UCCSA, and his wife, the first lady Ruth Khama, a member of the Anglican Church.

In the tiny Gaborone of the mid 1960s, it had been considered difficult for any denomination to build a large church on its own; apart from the more resourced, Vatican-backed local Catholic diocese who built the Christ the King Cathedral on the other side of the main mall, consecrated in 1968.

By the 1970s, the situation had changed, and the Anglican Church built their own Cathedral in Extension 10 across the road from Princess Marina hospital on the one side, facing GSS grounds on the other.

By the 1970s, Trinity became entirely a Congregational Church and over the years has been under the pastoral care of UCCSA ministers such as church founder Rev Jones, Felix Mokobi, Charles Mosimanegape, MS Serema, and later the likes of Rev MPT Basele, Kenny Tlhabiwa, John Motswai, current UCCSA Synod secretary, Rev Keleneilwe Kgerethwa and the incumbent minister in charge, Rev Mompati Aaron.

With the UCCSA having a solid Setswana hymn book developed since 1838 by Robert Moffat, and later expanded by Alfred J Wookey, Trinity would pride itself in having a strong church choir, with its first conductor having been Lucas Makhema.

Over the years the church choir has benefited from having conductors such as Agnes Boitumelo Sekgwa, Timothy Senzo Makgato, Miriam Tebogo Lesole, Maipato Johnson, Denise Bontle Gaboutloeloe, Gomolemo Motswaledi and Ntsane Samuel Moriana among others.

The church choir has won numerous awards locally and travelled to places such as Namibia, Mozambique and Scotland.

A mainline church in the congregational tradition, Trinity has its own constitution aligned to that of the UCCSA, and is a gathered community of believers who worship together and hold annual general meetings (AGMs) and mid-term meetings to elect office bearers and take decisions on church issues.

This is in line with congregational church polity (church governance by the congregation), which is different from presbyterian (church governance by elders) and episcopal (church governance by a hierarchy of priests, such as the Pope-cardinals-archibishop-bishop-clergy hierarchy of the Catholic church).

Trinity teaches Christian beliefs in the Reformed tradition; Scripture being the inerrant Word of God, justification by faith, salvation through grace, Christ as the sole mediator and Glory to God alone.

For 50 years, the church has played its part in saving souls for Christ and building Christian witness as Gaborone’s pioneer church.