Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia
General
branch Protestantism
Belief evangelical
distribution NamibiaNamibia Namibia
Reverend Bishop S. Nambala
Reverend Bishop Josephat Sanghala
membership LWF , World Council of Churches , World Council of Churches , Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa , Namibian Council of Churches
founding
Establishment date July 1870
Place of foundation Windhoek
Origin and development
Spin-off from

Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Society ( Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland )

successor of

Evangelical Lutheran Ovambo Kavango Church (1954)

numbers
Members 678,000 (2009)
Communities 18 (church districts)
Congregations 126
Others
Website www.elcin.org.na

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN; English The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia ) is the largest Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia with almost 700,000 parishioners . Next to it are the predominantly South Namibian Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia and the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (DELK) .

history

The church emerged from the missionary work of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Society (FELM) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland , which had been in operation since July 1870 . The first baptisms took place on January 6, 1883. In 1954 the Evangelical Lutheran Ovambo Kavango Church was formed and renamed to its current name in 1984. ELCIN played an important role in the fight for Namibia's independence. Due to the geographical location of Ovambo and Kavangoland on the border with Angola, the church was for years in the center of the deployment area of ​​the South African army for the civil war in Angola and the fight against the independence organization SWAPO .

Presiding bishops since 1957

  • Leonard Auala (1960–1978)
  • Cleopas Dumeni (1978-2000)
  • Apollos Chews (2000-2004)
  • Tomas Shivute (2004-2010)
  • S. Nambala and Josephat Sanghala (both since 2011)

structure

Although the ELCIN is the largest Evangelical Lutheran church in Namibia in terms of membership, the church area extends as far as possible to the regions of northern Namibia from Kunene to Zambezi . However, with the arrival of the northern Namibians to Windhoek and other parts of the country, the church has grown throughout Namibia. It is based in Ondangwa .

ELCIN has been divided into two dioceses since 1992:

  • east
  • West; with Bishops Shekutamba Nambala and Veikko Munyika and about 400,000 members.

The Church operates two private schools in Oshigambo (high school, founded in 1960) and in Nkurenkuru (high school, founded in 1990).

photos

literature

  • Gerhard L. Buys, Shekutaamba V. Nambala: History of the church in Namibia, 1805–1990. An introduction . Gamsberg Macmillan, Windhoek 2003, ISBN 99916-0-490-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2010 World Lutheran Membership Details; Lutheran World Information 1/2011 ( Memento from September 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Congratulatory Message for The Newly Elected ELCIN Bishops By Jeremiah Nambinga, RDP, April 21, 2011
  3. ^ Eastern Diocese. ELCIN. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  4. ^ Western Diocese. ELCIN. Retrieved March 13, 2019.