Church of Scientology of Johannesburg Dedicates New Three-Story Wing to Greatly Expand Service to the Community
August 13, 2011 marked the beginning of a new era for the Church of Scientology of Johannesburg. Scientologists, dignitaries and guests gathered to dedicate a new three-story wing comprising 7,500 square feet of public information displays, course rooms, seminar rooms and other facilities, all dedicated to service to the community.
This is the latest of a series of landmarks for the religion whose congregation in South Africa was formed in 1957 and whose founder, L. Ron Hubbard, engaged in breakthrough research in an extended stay in Johannesburg in the early 1960s.
On November 2, 2003, Mr. David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center and ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion officiated at the grand opening of the Church of Scientology of Johannesburg Church placing South Africa at the front of an international movement as the first of the Ideal Scientology Organization—the goal L. Ron Hubbard had set for Scientologists to one day create Churches that were the physical embodiment of the Policy and Technology he had provided to help beings attain spiritual freedom.
In March 2010, the Church opened a new Scientology Life Improvement Centre near the University of Witswatersrand (WITS) in the Braamfontein district of the city.
The new three-story facility will enable the Church to even further extend its humanitarian programs throughout Africa, including its drug education and prevention activities and human rights education programs.
The Church has been at the forefront of the Volunteer Ministers movement that now provides unconditional help throughout South Africa and Volunteers trained at the Johannesburg Church already bring the program to towns and villages in Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique and as far away as Ghana, Mali and Benin through seminars and Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tours.
The new wing includes a state-of-the-art Public Information Center—an entire floor of multimedia displays illustrating the beliefs and practices of Scientology and the life and legacy of Founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Another floor is dedicated to courses that provide skills for the handling and bettering of conditions in life: The Success through Communication Course, and Scientology Life Improvement Courses, and the popular Hubbard Dianetics Seminar.
Visitors are invited to tour the new facilities, which are open seven days a week.
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Under the guidance of Mr. David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board Religious Technology Center and ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion, 24 Ideal Churches have been dedicated and opened since 2003, including those in world cultural capitals—the Church of Scientology of New York, just off Times Square; the Church of Scientology of London, located in the epicentre of the city; the Church of Scientology of Italy in Rome; the Church of Scientology of Washington, D.C., just blocks from the White House on “Church Row”; the National Church of Scientology Mexico, in Mexico City; and the Church of Scientology of Berlin, near the Brandenburg Gate; the Church of Scientology of Melbourne in the cultural capital of Australia; and Church of Scientology of Moscow just a mile from Red Square. Another 60 Ideal Churches are in design, planning or construction phases.