Founded 150 years ago by German immigrants, The German Evangelical Lutheran St. Martini Church of Cape Town is situated at one end of one of Cape Town's oldest streets and still has mostly German services.
There were a number of German Lutherans among the first settlers in the Cape, however they were limited in their freedom of worship according to the Peace of Augsberg of 1555 which stated that "the ruler of a specific area determined the religious orientation of his subjects". Requests made by the Lutherans for a preacher of their own were denied. However in 1774 Martin Melck sponsored a warehouse in Strand Street and thus being able to prove that the Lutherans had the necessary funds to build a church and finance a preacher, the Lutherans were granted permission to worship freely in 1780. The warehouse was converted into a church and after a split in its congregation occurred in 1853 - the Long Street church of St. Martini was formed. Shortly afterwards in 1861, the church was officially inaugurated as the Deutsche Evangelische Lutherische St. Martini Kirche.
See the church's website for more info & for more info on the Lutheran faith visit this website.
