My name is Pastor Dieter Trümpelmann and I have been part of St. Peter’s Child Care since January 2018. I grew up in Pretoria where I also did my schooling. I studied in Pietermairtzburg and was ordained as a pastor in the Lutheran church in June 2001. I have worked in the Eastern Cape for the past 15 years till I accepted the call to be the pastor at St. Peter’s by the Lake, Parkview. I am married to Yvonne, who is a teacher and I have 3 adopted children, 12-year-old twins Hannah and Timothy and Mia that is 6 years old.

One of the main reasons why I accepted the call to Johannesburg was because of the St. Peter’s Child Care project. I have first-hand experience of what it means to be a foster parent struggling with the challenges of vulnerable children. I have been part of a group supporting foster and adoptive parents in East London. I see my calling of being part of St. Peter’s Child Care as supporting more families through encouraging them to foster or adopt.

The model of St. Peter’s is unique in that it works with congregations and other groups to establish homes in communities where the churches are located. The congregation becomes the extended family to these children and support these homes as far as they can.

Another important aspect is that St. peter’s Child Care empowers foster moms to face the challenges of raising children with special educational and emotional needs. We also realised that we need to develop a transitional program to assist the teenage children in our care to successfully transition from childhood into adulthood. The way in which we are going to do this is with the assistance of a part-time social worker and tapping into the skills and talents of the congregations involved in the project. This will start in the beginning of 2019. Please pray for God’s guidance in this next phase of the development of St. Peter’s Child Care.

Thank you once again for you continues support during the year that enabled us to serve the children entrusted to us.
I wish you all a Blessed Christmas time and a wonderful start to 2019.

Pastor Dieter Trümpelmann
Vice-Chairperson of St. Peter’s Child Care