Prop. Rachel Linderoth was born and bred in the beautiful historical town of Paarl in the Winelands of the Western Cape where she matriculated at Paulus Joubert Secondary School in 1991.
She grew up in a household where God was the centre of everything. Since childhood she and her seven siblings (three sisters and four brothers; she was the 6th child) were spiritually influenced by their parents, Mrs Rachel and the late Mr Johannes Heradine.
They belonged to the URCSA Huguenot Congregation where her father was an elder. Other people who also had a spiritual influence on her life, were her Sunday school educators, and later her Sunday school colleagues. They were Mr Okkie Petersen, Rev. Mauritz Abels, Rev. Stemmet Cupido, Rev. Pedro Oktober, the late Mrs Lilian Engelbrecht and others. Then there were also emeriti, like Rev. Dr Sam Pick, Rev. Diamon De Vries, and especially the late Rev. Stoffel Williams, who influenced her from her childhood into maturity.
URCSA Huguenot Congregation was also Prop. Linderoth’s training congregation under the mentorship of the late Rev. Freddie Ayford, since she started her theological studies at Stellenbosch University in 2016.
She did her mini-thesis for her BDiv under the supervision of Rev. Dr Sipho Mahokoto in 2019, with the title ‘Is the South African Church deaf-mute for femicide’. In 2020 she completed her Master of Divinity-thesis under the supervision of Prof. Anita Cloete, with the title ‘Gender-based violence and pastoral counselling: the journey with the family from unforgiveness and despair towards reconciliation and healing’.
Prop. Linderoth’s vision for the Church is that Christians would publicly acknowledge the injustices done to people without a voice and that the Church would be the voice of these people. Without acknowledgement of injustices, the processes of reconciliation and unity, which everybody dreams of, cannot take place.
Prop. Linderoth is married to Gershwin, a qualified emergency care technician (paramedic) and rescue technician. They have three children, namely Léshae (24), Caleb (13) and Kirsten (11). Her 84-year old mother is also living with them.
Rachel is not only a proponent, but also has a great talent for playing brass instruments, such as the trumpet and horn. In 2017 she presented a brass instrument workshop, organised by the Presbytery of Wellington, at URCSA Bergrivier in Wellington.
What a talented lady indeed!
Contact Prop. Linderoth at 084 260 8690 or [email protected].