History of the church in Namibia, 1805-1990, by Gerhard L. Buys and Shekutaamba Nambala

History of the church in Namibia, 1805-1990. An introduction. By Gerhard L. Buys and Shekutaamba Nambala. Publisher Gamsberg Macmillan. Windhoek, Namibia 2003. ISBN 9991604901 / ISBN 9-99-160490-1

History of the church in Namibia, 1805-1990. Gerhard L. Buys and Shekutaamba Nambala. Publisher Gamsberg Macmillan. Windhoek, Namibia 2003. ISBN 9789991604901 / ISBN 978-9-99-160490-1

History of the church in Namibia, 1805-1990, by Gerhard L. Buys and Shekutaamba Nambala. Growing selfhood of the Namibian Church 1922-1957).

Shekutaamba Nambala  Gerhard L. Buys  

After WW-I the Church in Namibia experienced a prolonged period of unprecedented growth. This growth culminated in the jubilant 'Year of the Churches' (1957), when various independent Namibian synods were formed. Until 1922 foreign missionary societies in Namibia maintained full authority in all existing denominations in Namibia. As from 1922 the training of pastors started as a major step towards church independence and by 1957 these denominations reached maturity when independent Namibian synods were established. These synods became the independent governing bodies for the specific churches, formally taking over the responsibility from the missionary societies. Three synods of mainline churches were constituted in 1957 and a fourth in 1960. For this reason 1957 is described as the 'Year of the Churches'. In this year the churches changed from Mission Churches or foreign dominated churches to self-governing Namibian denominations. In 1957 the 35 years of growth towards maturity (1922-1957) was finally crowned with Church independence. The 'year of the Churches' was followed by a new period of independent Namibian ministries. That is the topic of Section D. The process of church growth towards this independence developed along various lines: Statistical growth; development of the self-government of the church; growth of indigenous leadership and local theological education; development of a new spirituality. These topics are discussed in the various chapters of Section C, starting with chapter. During WW-I the Finnish Missionary Society (Ovamboland) and the Roman Catholic Mission (Kavango) continued to grow without interruption (Stals 1967:119). The work of the Rhenish Missionary Society (central parts of the country) was severely disrupted (see Chap. 9) and had to be re-established. Nothing of this mission remained untouched by the war situation. Fortunately three German missionaries (Vedder, Olpp, Welsch) could later return to the country to continue their work (Kritzinger 1972b:350). Stimulated by the introduction of South African mandatory government, new denominations and missions from South Africa were established in Namibia. The Anglican Church was planted in the south (1917), while an Anglican mission was started in Ovamboland in 1924. [...]

Authors

This is the first effort of two Namibians to publish a standard Church history for Namibia. The authors are Dr Shekutaamba Nambala of the ELCIN and Dr Gerhard Buys of the DRCN. It became 'imperative for Namibians to write their own history' (Nambala, 1994:1). A general church history from Namibian perspective remained unwritten for more than a century. The limited literature available had been denominational histories and furthermore 'the work of foreigners'. The authors of this book are Namibians, with extensive terms of Christian ministry in Namibia. Their previous contributions to Church historiography in Namibia are recognised by their respective Churches, while this publication was endorsed by their denominations as well as the Council of Churches in Namibia. The authors were convinced that a history book of this nature can not be the product of single-handed research of individuals, or of one single confessional orientation. It should reflect the combined input and effort of representative and active Church historians of Namibia. Most of the available literature on this topic were previously written by non-Namibians. Two South Africans in particular, Prof. J.J. Kritzinger, and Dr C.P. Heese did much of the research on the pioneer era. The deceased Brigitte Lau (of Archeia) and others did much to assemble historical documents into fine publications, accessible for students. A few others offered general histories from selective materials. Only a very limited number of smaller publications were done by Namibians themselves. [...]

This is an excerpt from History of the church in Namibia, 1805-1990, by Gerhard L. Buys and Shekutaamba Nambala.

Title: History of the church in Namibia, 1805-1990
Subtitle: An introduction
Authors: Gerhard L. Buys; Shekutaamba Nambala
Publisher: Gamsberg Macmillan
Windhoek, Namibia 2003
ISBN 9991604901 / ISBN 9-99-160490-1
ISBN 9789991604901 / ISBN 978-9-99-160490-1
Softcover, 17 x 24 cm, 449 pages, many b/w photos