Christian school celebrates 20th anniversary
The school started with 25 learners and now has 140 learners
SONRISE Christian School celebrated its 20th anniversary on January 26 by hosting a fun day for staff and students.
The school opened its doors in 1996 to 25 students, ending that year with 60 boys and girls from all over Kempton Park and Tembisa.
Today, the school has 140 students from pre-school level to grade 12.
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“Twenty years ago God placed a desire in our hearts to begin a Christian school. From the start God blessed our efforts in miraculous ways. We had the calling and the vision to start the school but not the money to do so.
“At the very time that we had taken the decision to start the school an unexpected financial gift came our way. Earlier the church had borrowed money from an American congregation to erect its church building,” said Pastor Emil Zwart from Sonrise Christian School.
“After the loan had been repaid the American congregation decided that they had been wrong to charge interest on the amount we had borrowed and they then returned to us the full interest amount of R100 000,” he said.
“This gift confirmed that the decision to start a school was the right one but was, as we were soon to discover, nowhere near enough to establish and to build a school.
“God, however, blessed us in many ways and He has continued to bless us in this ministry of shaping young lives.
“There have been many peaks and valleys, times of both triumph and despair, but throughout it all the hand of God remained the encouragement for us to remain true to the dream. The high standard and exemplary character of our graduate students bears testimony to the success of our endeavours.”
