Wow!  What a weekend it was at St Cyprians Church Langa.

Over 500 Anglicans from different parishes congregated at the St Cyprians Church in  Langa on the 13th September 2009 to celebrate and participate in the 75th Anniversary service and the unveiling of the stained glass. Reverend Zwelibanzi Antoni in this celebration was honoured by the presence of Archbishop Emeritus Njongonkulu Ndungane, Bishop Patrick Matholengwe from the dioscess of Graafreinet, Reverend the Archdeacon of Ibongolethu Archidioconery and a host of other local priests from neighbouring churches.

The theme for this year’s event was “ Who do the people say we are”? This is the call to the parishioners to reflect and re-define their purpose as Christians in these challenging times.  

The celebrations kicked off with a vibrant service on Friday, where the local Methodist Church priest Reverend Vava conducted the sermon for the day.His focus was on the theme whilst reflecting on the life of St Cyprian the Bishop and our patron.He talked at length about St Cyprian’s contribution to the Anglican community.

Reverend Antoni related the brief history of the St Cyprians Church in Langa and where he intends growing it to spiritually.

The history of St Cyprians Church goes beyond the period when the Blacks were forcefully removed from Ndabeni to Langa Township. At the time the church was operating as a parochial church affilliated to St Curthberts in the Eastern Cape. The JSC father’s were the priests in charge who stayed at Chapel Street in Cape Town.Later in the 1950’s the first Black Anglican priests were introduced to take full charge of the parish. The parish was blessed with the presence of  the  late Rev Mbizela,late Rev Ndungane,  late Reverend Nkowane, late Rev Moletsane, Rev Koekoadi, Rev Nongawuza and our young and humble Reverend Antoni. In between we had caretaker priests like Reverend Dano and late Reverend Nyovane.

Saturday was a day filled with what Reverend Antoni termed as  “time to rejoice, reflect and refocus”. A competition was held between the church organisations where they rendered entertainment. The Sunday School took the first prize with the musical items.

On Sunday morning the Archbishop Emeritus N. Ndungane and Bishop Matholengwe were received by the motorcade led by the Zimasa Primary school drum Majorets.

Bishop Matholengwe delivered the memorable sermon.In his sermon he reminded the congregation that “as Christians our purpose is to love and honour Jesus of Nazareth, with the emphasis on Nazareth.We should strive to have the vision and obidience as the one that Jesus Christ had.”  To accomplish this he further said” if you want to swim, you should go to where there is water and learn to swim, if you want to be loved you should learn to love”. The Archbishop Emeritus gracefully officiated the service.

To conclude the day, lunch was served at the local hall.