The Beaufort West Reformed Church is a church in South Africa, founded on 16 May 1820. It is the ninth oldest congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Synod of Western and Southern Cape and the 12th oldest in the entire Church.
From Beaufort West, six daughter congregations seceded: Prince Albert (1842), Victoria West (1843), Fraserburg (1851), Carnarvon (1874), and Gamka Valley and Gamka-Oos on Beaufort-West itself (1949).
Background The first migrant farmers moved into the Koup and the Nuweveld in 1760, with the first farms laid out in the district of Beaufort West. The same year, the Hooyvlakte in de Carro farm was established, on which the town would later be laid out upon. The region remained extremely sparsely populated for many years.
By the end of the 18th century, some farmers already had livestock farms far north of the Nuweveld Mountains. Thus, the foundation was laid for the later parish, town and district of Beaufort-Wes and the parishes that were separated from the old mother parish over time.
Ministers The following have been ministers of the church:
John Taylor, 1818–1824 Colin Fraser, 1825–1862 Albert Zinn, 1864 – November 15 1866 (died in office) Willem Petrus de Villiers, 1868–1875 (after which first pastor of Carnarvon Reformed Church until retirement in 1904) Louis Hugo, 1876–1896 Pieter van der Merwe, 1896–1904 Gen. Paul Roux, 1905 – 8 June 1911 (died in office) J.G. Steytler, 1912–1920 Johannes Rabie, 1921–1942 André Francois Malan, 1941–1944 Daniel Van Niekerk Theron, 1943–1944 Jan Christoffel du Plessis, 1945–1951 Lodewyk Petrus Spies, 1945–1948 (after which first pastor of Herman Steyn Reformed Church on Vereeniging) Jacob Andries Cornelius Weidemann, 1947–1949 (until 1958 first pastor of Gamka Valley) David Frederik van der Merwe, 1951–1961 Johannes Jacobus van As, 1962–1968 Charles Cumpries Bond, 1968–1972 Daniel Nicolaas van Zyl, 1970–1974 Bennie Meyer, 6 October 1972–1976 Adriaan Albertus (Riaan) Terblanche, 1980–1998 Japie van Straaten, 1998 – present
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