Where we come from
Looking Back
The House of the Lord is an assembly of the Full Gospel Church of God, with its Head Office situated in Irene, Pretoria. There are more than 1,500 Full Gospel Churches in South Africa and have 1,500 Pastors and 2300 Certified Workers
The Full Gospel Church of SA amalgamated with the Church of God America in 1951 and became known as the Full Gospel Church of God. There are 4,7 million members represented in 157 Countries worldwide. The Church of God Head Office is in Cleveland, Tennessee.
The history of The House of the Lord is rich with the blessings from the Lord. Although there has been a steady growth pattern in the early years, the times of greatest growth came when the church established the new building in Hurricane Street, called the House of the Lord.
1920 – Cottage meetings were started at Putfontein as a branch of the Boksburg Assembly. Under the leadership of Pastor Eliezer Jenkins the Benoni Assembly was constituted.
1971 – The Full Gospel Church of God in Benoni was situated in Rothsay Avenue. It only had seats for 144 people and the assembly consisted of 40 plus members.
The Lord spoke to the Pastor at the time, Pastor Billy and Rentia Smook to build a large Church.
1977 – on 7th July at seven minutes past seven the cornerstone was laid on the ground after they previously had received R6,000.00 from a Brother in the Church to purchase the ground.
1977 – The first building came into being, which was the Prayer Chapel. The entire project was a faith venture and building was only continued week after week, as there was enough cash to buy materials. The Chapel was to be open day and night as a place of “rest in the Lord”. It became rather difficult to prevent vagrants from sleeping there at night. Eventually the doors were locked in the evenings but access is still available to anybody upon enquiry.
1979 – 13th January, The House of the Lord attracted a lot of attention from the public, especially when transporting the huge wooden beams. The factory had to change its structure to accommodate these wooden beams.
Opening of Current Building
On the 13th January 1979 the current building was opened to the glory of God.
Fundraising
Interesting to note is that when an assembly meeting was called by Ps Smook to announce the shortfall on payment for the beams, the following happened; Pastor Smook’s eldest son Peter, when hearing the vision and need, gave all his savings, a grand sum of R1,000 for this purpose. This just started the ball rolling with Mr Bossie van der Westhuizen donating R10,000. This really caused a stir among the small congregation and another businessman donated R22,000. All this money promised during one afternoon meeting! God provided through ordinary men and women and today it stands as a testimony of the faithfulness of God.
The Rock Pulpit
It was found in four pieces in Bronkhorstspruit. Three of the pieces are in the sanctuary depicting the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The fourth piece is in the foyer depicting us - outside the sanctuary and in the world.
Merit Award
The City Council of Benoni presented a Merit Award to the House of the Lord for the most beautiful building built in 1978 and for the effort of enhancing the image of our town.
