Ivor Markman
A Bedford dominee has embarked on a two-pronged attack in a bid to reach the hearts of his fellow villagers.
Convinced that the fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach, Rudi Swanepoel has opened a bistro in the tiny village of Bedford to reach the souls of those he missed in church.
And his tactics may well be working.
For the past few weeks his bistro has been fully booked.
That's not the only unusual aspect of Swanepoel's career.
He has the unusual distinction of being a minister to two congregations, one is Afrikaans speaking, the other English speaking.
The unusual story took root in 1820 in the Baviaans River Valley, to the north of Bedford, where Dutch farmers and Scottish settlers lived together in close harmony.
Through the influence of Thomas Pringle, the British government provided funding and a piece of farmland on which the Scottish settlers and their Dutch neighbours were able to build a simple stone church called Glen Lynden in 1827.
It was consecrated in 1828.
Dutch-speaking farmers joined the Scottish worshippers and the following year the church became a Dutch Reformed church.
Nobody objected to the arrangement and for many years the two communities worshipped together.
“Today the church is a national monument and the farm is still called Glen Lynden," said Swanepoel.
In 1896, with the help of the 9lst Foot Regiment (Argyllshire), John Pringle built the Glen Thorn church in the neighbouring Mankazana Valley and the two congregations went their separate ways.
“Some of the English-speaking people in the Baviaans River Valley continued to worship in the valley with the Dutch speakers," he said.
Times changed and in 1857 Bedford was proclaimed.
“The needs of the people changed and in 1856, a church was built in the village not far from the present Presbyterian Church.
“It was made from local stone and called the Free Church (to where the English speakers moved)," said Swanepoel.
Reverend Rudi Swanepoel
COOKIN' CLERGYMAN: Reverend Rudi Swanepoel, minister of both the Bedford Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed Churches, sits in a pew of the former. In addition to his ministry work in the community he opened his own restaurant in an old coach house.
DINNER TIME: A jovial Rev Rudi Swanepoel rings the bell outside the Bedford Presbyterian Church.
One hundred and fifty-four years later, in 2000, events turned full circle.
The members of the Bedford Presbyterian Church realised they could not afford the services of a full-time minister so they called upon their Dutch Reformed neighbours for help.
“Informal talks started between the Afrikaans and the English communities.
“People said: 'But we share this history. We share the history of the Baviaans River Valley where we shared a minister.
“If a Scotsman called, we taught him Dutch.
“If it was a Dutchman, he was expected to preach in English'," said Swanepoel.
“There wasn't an amalgamation of the two churches, there was a co-operation agreement.
“In November 2000 Dominee Alwyn Burger, the Dutch Reformed minister, was asked if he would he be prepared to serve both the congregations. Of course he said ‘yes’!
“He played a major role in reconciling the Afrikaans and English speaking communities before he left in August 2003.
“So I'm the minister for the two congregations," he said.
“It's such a privilege to serve in this community.
“It's amazing how they appreciate and cherish the fact we can be together.
“Visitors find it amazing there can be an Afrikaans dominee preaching and working in the English community,” he said.
Swanepoel gives combined services alternately in English and Afrikaans every week between the two churches. Some days he delivers his sermons in both languages at two services.
“At first I didn't know how I would cope because I'm used to preparing my sermons and the service in Afrikaans.
“I didn't know how it was going to work because I cannot translate everything and have an Afrikaans and English copy.”
Swanepoel took the plunge and started with Afrikaans, translating as he went along.
If he doesn't know a word in English, he knows a member of the congregation will let him know.
“I just say the word in Afrikaans and somebody translates the word for me," he laughed.
“The other day I had to translate ‘hoogmoed’. ‘What the heck is ‘hoogmoed’ in English?' I thought.
“Then a member of the congregation called out 'haughtiness'," he said.
Last December Swanepoel and his wife Carina decided to live out their passion - cooking and bought the old DRC coach house.
With the creative input of local artist Frans Mulder, they converted it into a bistro called Die Ou Waenhuis.
“I like to serve honest food, simple food.
“In the evenings I serve something slightly more serious with simple starters and then we do main courses.
“I normally see what the local butchery has to offer-either a side of beef or lamb chops.
“I love cooking whole beef fillet. We normally serve it with marmalade or Italian style sauteed mushrooms.
“Also, classics like osso bucco, an Italian beef stew made with tomatoes and chicken stock but I normally use lamb shanks.
"We serve it with potato and sweet potato mashed together and sprinkled with gremolata, which is chopped parsley, garlic and lemon lime," he said.
Swanepoel also does light lunches with salads.
“We work from our own garden and try to be as organic as possible," he said.
The dominee must be doing something right for he is receiving plenty of support from the community.
“We are very well supported. For the past two weekends we have been fully booked for all our meals,” he said.
The couple have three daughters, Amica, 5, Pineke, 3, and one-year-old Lucia.
(Interview in 2006. Rev Swanepoel has since been moved to a new parish.)
APPREHENSIVE: Rev Swanepoel was a bit wary about translating his Afrikaans speeches into English.