Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (DELK)
| Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (DELK) | |
|---|---|
| General | |
| branch | Protestantism |
| Belief | evangelical |
| distribution |
 Namibia
|
| bishop | Burgert Brand (since January 18, 2015) |
| membership | LWF , World Council of Churches , Union of Lutheran Churches in Southern Africa , Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa , United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Southern Africa , Namibian Council of Churches |
| founding | |
| Establishment date | 1958 (1896) |
| Place of foundation | Windhoek |
| Origin and development | |
| Spin-off from | |
| successor of |
German Evangelical Synod of South West Africa |
| numbers | |
| Members | about 5,100 (2010) |
| Clergy | 6th |
| Communities | 14th |
| Nursing homes | 3 |
| schools | 3 ( kindergartens ) |
| Others | |
| Website | www.elcin-gelc.org |
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELKIN-DELK; English Evangelican-Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN-GELC)) is the German-speaking Evangelical Church in Namibia . It exists alongside the predominantly North Namibian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia and the predominantly South Namibian Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia .
history
The German church community in Namibia goes back to the activities of the Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft , whose messengers reached South West Africa as early as 1842. In 1896 the first German Protestant congregation in the country was founded in Windhoek , which belonged to the Evangelical Church of Prussia . Because of the Herero and Nama wars in 1904 and 1905, Heinrich Vedder was not able to found another community in Swakopmund until 1905. Parishes later emerged in Karibib , Lüderitz , Omaruru , Otjiwarongo and Outjo . Until the 1960s, with the exception of the larger towns, the missionaries of the Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft were responsible for both the mission and the German-speaking congregations.
In 1958, the amalgamation of the German-speaking congregations, the German Evangelical Synod of South West Africa, decided to found an independent church on the basis of the Augsburg Confession and the Small Catechism of Martin Luther . It was founded on May 30, 1960 under the name German Evangelical Lutheran Church in South West Africa. The church has had its current name since 1992; the previous name was added to the new name as an abbreviation in brackets.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (DELK) sees itself as an autochthonous church in Namibia with predominantly German language use. Together with the two sister churches, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) and Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN), it forms a United Church Council (Namibia Evangelical Lutheran Churches), which meets several times a year.
structure
According to the church constitution, the highest organs of the church are the synod , the bishop and the church government . The spiritual direction lies with the bishop (formerly provost ), who also holds a parish office in Windhoek. Erich Hertel was bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (DELK) from 2008 to May 2014 . Since then Pastor Rudolf Schmid has been provisional head of the church, before the new Bishop Burgert Brand took over the office on January 18, 2015 . The church has (as of June 2014) six pastors.
The church is divided into 14 parishes with a total of more than 5000 souls. The communities outside Windhoek have joined together to form community associations.
| Municipality or association of municipalities |
Parish office | Parish (noun) | Churches | image | founding year | particularities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windhoek | Windhoek | Windhoek |
 
|
1896 | Headquarters of the church leadership, social and retirement home , two kindergartens , community center, care facility for mentally handicapped people | |
| coast | Swakopmund |
|
|
|
kindergarten | |
| Central | Okahandja | Okahandja- Gobabis |
|
1928 | ||
| Central north | Omaruru |
|
|
retirement home | ||
| north | Tsumeb |
|
|
|||
| south | - |
 
|
1909 | Care from Swakopmund (Lüderitz / Helmeringhausen) or Windhoek (Mariental / Maltahöhe) |
Partnerships
The church is a member of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (VELKSA) and the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA). She is a member of the Namibian Council of Churches (Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN)) and is owned by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) on.
There are close relationships with the Evangelical Church in Germany , which supports its Namibian sister church primarily by sending clergymen.
media
For many years the church published the magazine Heimat - our church , which was enclosed with the Allgemeine Zeitung four times a year, in addition to the usual parish letters. From 1930 to 2009 she was also the editor of the African Home Calendar , which, in addition to church topics, deals with cultural studies, contemporary issues and issues of Namibian history. The yearbook has been published under the name Perspektiven since 2010 and was finally discontinued in 2018.
Pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (DELK) regularly report in the German service of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation as well as on Hitradio Namibia .
literature
- Christian Hohmann: German Protestant Church in colonial southern Africa. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-447-06535-1 .
- Lisa Kuntze , Reinhard Keding : The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (DELK). In: Klaus A. Hess, Klaus J. Becker (eds.): Vom Schutzgebiet bis Namibia 2000. Klaus Hess Verlag, Göttingen / Windhoek 2002, ISBN 3-933117-23-2 , pp. 192–201.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 2010 World Lutheran Membership Details; Lutheran World Information 1/2011 ( Memento from September 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Constitution of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (DELK). DELK. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
- ^ Georg Ludwig Kindergarten.
- ↑ African homeland calendar. Namibiana.de, September 26, 2013.
Map with all coordinates: