Permission for the building of a Lutheran church was not granted until 1780, by which time the principle of one language and one church for the European community had become well established.
During the eighteenth century Germans were the major source of recruitment from Europe to the burgher community. Almost all arrived as sailors or soldiers, who entered the Cape as single men. They often were in a parlous financial situation. Some managed to find a European wife but many lived outside wedlock with someone not of European origin. The children from the latter liaisons tended to become part of the slave or Khoikhoi community. The VOC made no effort to accommodate the religious sensibilities of the Germans. Permission for a Lutheran Church was not granted until 1780, and by then the principle of one language and one church for the European community had become well established.
