Today the old Dutch Reformed Church in Fairview houses the Faith and Victory in Jesus Christ Ministries; the old St Winifred's School is the home of the Coptic Church – Joburg's churches reflect the changing nature of the metropolis. This is the fifth in a series of articles on the city's places of worship.

PLACES of worship are sprinkled across Johannesburg. Some are modern buildings, some are almost as old as the city itself, while others serve new congregations in buildings vacated by communities that have moved elsewhere.

Although the 2001 Census indicates that at 75 percent South Africa is still overwhelmingly Christian, almost every religion is represented and practised in Johannesburg, reflecting the diverse nature of the almost four million people who live in the sprawling metropolis.

Some places of worship, like the mosques in Vrededorp – in days gone by better known as Fietas – and the Anglican church in Sophiatown, were left untouched when the apartheid bulldozers flattened these two suburbs. Today they still serve communities that are now far-flung.

This is the fifth in a series of articles on Johannesburg's splendid places of worship.

Coptic Orthodox Church, Parkview, 1999
The Coptic Orthodox Church in Parkview has evolved from the original St Winfred's School, dating back to 1922, started by Ethel Marian Burton. In 1992, when the Coptic community bought the school and several acres of land alongside it, the school's three classrooms were turned into the first cathedral.

It's a modest place; rows of wooden benches contrast with the arched altar, decorated with icons of saints. But this small church faced the wrong way – south. Coptic churches must always face east. So between 1994 and 1999 a new building was constructed; now the cathedral, facing eastwards, is a grand addition to the site.

Bishop Antonius Markos, the bishop for Joburg and of African affairs, says there are 12 Coptic churches across the country, serving some 15 000 worshippers, 2 000 of whom are Joburgers. The community continues to grow.

He ministers to the 40 congregations in Africa, which are part of a worldwide population of 13 million worshippers, most of whom are in Egypt.

The Coptic Orthodox Church cathedral, domed brick structure with wonderful icons inside

The Coptic Church is the oldest form of Christianity in Africa, dating back to AD42, when St Mark established it in Alexandria. A Copt is a native Egyptian Christian and the word "Coptic" derives from the Greek word for Egyptian.

By the 1980s the old St Winfred's School had been converted into a Greek school, but it closed when the husband of the couple who ran it died. His wife didn't know what to do – her children urged her to sell the property for a townhouse development. But, says Markos, she resisted, praying for three years for guidance.

He recounts how her prayers were answered. "I was on a trip from Nairobi [in Kenya] to Mozambique, and I stopped here. I took a taxi down town, and was directed to Eskel Jawitz [the estate agents]. They directed me here. The lady was praying at the gate."

The Coptic Church bought the property and has made changes to it over the years. It now has accommodation for priests and monks, as well as for visiting missionaries and students. But its centrepiece is the cathedral, with its one large dome and four smaller ones. The huge oak doors were carved in Egypt and assembled in Parkview, as were carved pillars and an "Apostolic seat", with mother of pearl inlay, at the altar.

The church is finished in face brick, with tiled floors, covered in red carpeting; plain windows are decorated with the distinctive Coptic cross. Several chandeliers hang from the triple volume wood-slated ceiling.

The altar is decorated with embroidered curtains, marble floors, tall brass candelabras and two ostrich eggs, the symbol of the eye of God. This is offset with a horizontal row of beautiful icons of the 12 apostles, with a depiction of the Last Supper in the middle.

To one side of the altar is a glass-fronted cabinet containing six precious relics of saints – carefully wrapped bones in gorgeous fabric. Behind the altar is the Throne of the Chalice, a carved wooden box containing the "blood of Christ". Behind it are more beautifully painted icons.

There are two baptismal fonts in a room at the back of the cathedral – one for children and one for adults. Both are fed by hot water, so a convert's immersion doesn't have to be a cold experience.

ZCC Church, Alexandra
On a dusty patch of ground in 19th Street, Alexandra about 1 000 people meet each Sunday to sing, prayer and hear the sermon of the priests of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC). The site is the Joburg headquarters of the church.

Most congregants wear the well-known ZCC uniform: the men are in khaki trousers and jackets, with black, flat-topped hats; the women, if in the choir, wear bright blue dresses and green berets, or green skirts and bright yellow blouses, green jerseys and berets. A minority are not in uniform, but all wear the small, distinctive green felt and metal ZCC badge.

The gates to the site, about an acre in size, open at 10.30am on Sundays. After being checked through the gate – an official looks at everyone's ZCC book and pats them down – people wander in, either joining the women's choir under a long, corrugated iron roof on one side, or the men's choir, a growing circle of deep, resonant voices on an uncovered patch alongside the women.

People keep pouring into the grounds until the service begins at 2.30pm. If they come from a funeral, they go first to several priests to be "cleansed" before they join the crowds – they face the priests who splash them vigorously in the face from a tin of water, getting the same treatment when they turn their backs.

The rhythmic music continues, getting louder and louder as more people join the respective choirs.

At 2.30pm the service starts. People gather under the roof, either on benches at the front or sitting on the ground behind. The service lasts until 5pm.

The headquarters of the ZCC is at Moria, outside Polokwane in Limpopo province. The founder of the church is Engenas Lekganyane. His two grandsons, Barnabas and Engenas, now lead two separate groups, within a kilometre of one another. Most ZCC members embrace Barnabas Lekganyane, and millions of his followers gather each Easter at Moria.

There are five million ZCC members countrywide, according to the 2001 Census. They are part of a broader movement known as the African Independent Churches, which has about 13 million members countrywide. They have their origins in Pentecostalism, which first appeared in Africa in the early 20th century.

The ZCC broke away from the original Pentecostal movement around 1920, largely because of racism - blacks were given subordinate status in white-dominated churches.

It is estimated that there are between 4 000 and 7 000 smaller church organisations of a similar type, spread out across the rural areas of South Africa, but more so in the urban areas, where they are a major source of support for domestic workers and the unemployed.

Pentecostal churches in South Africa include the Assemblies of God, the Apostolic Faith Mission, the Full Gospel Church of God and the International Fellowship of Christian Churches, known as Rhema Church.

These churches – Zionists, Apostolics, Pentecostals and Charismatics – are characterised by the "holy spirit" with a belief in prophecy, healing and speaking in tongues. They continue to grow, with the 2001 Census recording that 40 percent of South Africans follow these beliefs.

The front door of the Dutch Reformed Church in Fairview, sturdy and welcoming

Pastor Mike Lwambwa started the Faith and Victory in Jesus Christ Ministries in Hillbrow in 1993; he was concerned with taking prostitutes and gangsters off the streets. His church was so successful that he had to find new premises and he now occupies one of the city's most beautiful churches – the Dutch Reformed Church in Fairview, which is a national monument.

It's a worthy national monument, declared in 1973 and built by architect Herman Kallenbach (and his partner, Reynolds) in 1906. The cornerstone was laid on 5 May 1906 by General Koos de la Rey and the church was consecrated on 26 January 1907.

The Dutch Reformed community established itself in the city in 1887, a year after gold was discovered, says Pastor Piet Smit, the minister for the past 31 years at the Dutch Reformed Church on the corner of Beit and End streets in the CBD.

Kallenbach designed Dutch Reformed churches across the country: Laingsburg, Barkly East, Hanover, Thaba ‘Nchu, and Riversdale. He left his mark with other buildings too: the Benoni shul (1935), office buildings in downtown Joburg - the Lewis & Marks building (1937) and Arop House (1932), and office buildings in Durban and Pretoria. Kallenbach also designed an entire suburb of Soweto.

A town-planning competition for a "Model Native Township" of 80 000 people was held in 1931, and Kallenbach, Kennedy and Furner submitted the winning entry. The design was revolutionary for township areas, says Clive Chipkin in Johannesburg Style, Architecture and Society, 1880s-1960s.

The Dutch Reformed Church stands elegantly on the corner of Op de Bergen and Corrie streets in Fairview

"Their design comprised a Garden City layout with radials, neighbourhood squares, local parks as well as a major linear green belt in the valley along the banks of the spruit that flowed down to the Klip River … The roads were kinked to avoid monotony and the focus of the scheme was a business district located on a major boulevard 200 feet wide and nearly a mile in length."

But the suburb was never built – the City could not provide the community services required and the government couldn't come up with the funding. So instead the Orlando community got the usual monotonous township houses, with no amenities.

The Fairview Dutch Reformed Church, on the corner of Op de Bergen and Corrie streets, makes a bold statement in a suburb notable these days for its neglect. Its tall steeple, beautiful recessed windows with white plastered edgings lie in contrast to its plain brick walls. The entrance consists of two solid wooden doors, in an arched frame with an inscription in Afrikaans and Dutch, a reminder that when the church was built Dutch was still spoken.

Kallenbach and Reynolds designed the church in the shape of a Greek cross, with equal length vertical and horizontal arms, to fit the square plot on which it is built, suggests Hannes Meiring in Early Johannesburg, its Buildings and its People.

Step inside and you'll feel your soul immediately quieten. The different shapes and recessed areas of the angled interior are intriguing, with stacked, wonderfully rounded long oak benches facing a raised, arched podium. Behind it sits the original pipe organ, below a large rounded window with four five-sided clovers filling the glass.

The dark wood struts of the roof draw the eye up to the angled, pressed steel ceiling and the two balconies, offering a lofty view of the bare wooden floors.

It's a cosy church, seating around 300, and enveloping congregants within its unusual shapes. At one stage it was served by three ministers, but the congregation gradually dwindled through the 1970s and in the 1980s the doors were closed. It still belongs to the Dutch Reformed Church and, says Smit, "we don't want to sell the church, but we are happy to have another congregation use it".

Lwambwa says he is hoping to open another ministry in Rosettenville this year.

Places of worship

• Temple Israel, Hillbrow, 1936
• St Alban's Anglican Mission Church, Ferreirasdorp, 1928
• Johannesburg Melrose Shree Siva Subramaniar Temple, Abbotsford, 1996
• Coptic Orthodox Church, Parkview, 1999
• ZCC Church, Alexandra
• Dutch Reformed Church, Fairview, 1906
• Mosque, Kerk Street, mid-1990s
• Church of Latter Day Saints, Parktown 1985
• Grace Bible Church, Pimville, 2002
• Our Lady of the Cedars of Lebanon, Woodmead, 1991
• Greek Orthodox Church, Hillbrow, 1912
• Dutch Reformed Church, Cottesloe, 1935
• Christ the King Anglican Church, Sophiatown, 1935
• St Mary's Cathedral, inner city, 1929
• Swaminarayan Mandir, Lenasia, 2004
• St Mary's the Less, Jeppestown, 1889
• Regina Mundi Catholic Church, Soweto, 1964
• The Lions Shul, Doornfontein, 1906
• Mosques, Vrededorp, 1930s
• St Anthony's, Crown Mines, 1976
• St Peter's Priory, Rosettenville, 1903