Years have passed but values of Brownlee’s church remain the same

More than 1,000 congregants gathered in Qonce on Sunday as the historic Brownlee Congregational Church launched celebrations marking 200 years in the community. The event, hosted by Reverend Songezo Dala, was attended by land reform and rural development minister Mzwanele Nyhontso and served as the official launch of the church’s bicentenary celebrations, which will culminate in September. Church elder Lunga Nqam, one of the organisers of the anniversary programme, described the launch as a fitting beginning to a year of reflection on the church’s long history.

“I have been with the church for almost 30 years,” he said. “It has been a good, fulfilling spiritual experience. It spanned over years under different ministers.” The day began with a tour of historic church sites in Qonce before congregants gathered in Bhisho for a church service.

The Brownlee Congregational Church, now officially the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa’s Brownlee Circuit, traces its roots to Scotland’s John Brownlee, one of the earliest missionaries to work among the amaXhosa in the Eastern Cape. Brownlee arrived in SA with the London Missionary Society in 1817. After spending time in the Cape Colony, he crossed the colonial frontier to minister among the amaXhosa under Chief Ngqika.

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In 1825 he travelled to establish a mission station in what would later become King William’s Town, now Qonce, laying the foundations for a church that has endured for two centuries. Mpumelelo Kumbaca said the church’s history remained a source of pride for congregants.

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