Our assistant Pastor Mary Wolfe was called to be Pastor of Hope Lutheran Church. We hope this connection will bolster our partnership. Because Hope has a strong neighborhood ministry, several of our members have helped to distribute food at their food bank. Several others have volunteered to assist with Hope's after school youth program.
We have recently begun a partnership with Utanziwa Parish and its minister Isack Mwanjala. Our partnership has been undertaken in order to promote a better understanding between members of their congregation and members here at Reformation. In order to begin this partnership, adults and children exchanged correspondence and pictures as a way of getting to know one another and to understand ways in which our congregation may be of help to our fellow Christians in Utanziwa Parish. A Tanzanian dinner served at Reformation in April of 2006 was followed by a successful $10,000 fundraising campaign to fund a much needed two-mile pipeline which will bring water from a storage tank to Utanziwa Parish. This will allow the village to safely access their water supply. Our Reformation Tanzania committee continues to meet monthly on the fourth Thursday at 7:00 p.m. to find ways to possibly host travelers from Utanziwa and to discuss ways in which we can share God's many blessings with our partners in Tanzania.
Reformation was given a wonderful opportunity to develop a partnership across the sea. Pastor Mike has been friends with Theofilus Nelumbu, the pastor of a young parish in Windhoek, Namibia. Their contacts with each other over the years has led to our support of their ministry to the people of Namibia. |
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These pictures, taken in 2000, showed Emmanuel Lutheran Church in the middle of a building program. As the photos depict, the new building is under roof. It also shows a loyal, growing congregation worshiping as construction continues. |
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Their weekly attendance averages over 2,000 people. Today they are joyously worshiping in a completed facility. (See Below) |
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Steve and Kathryn Fellman, members of Reformation, had the opportunity to visit Namibia in the summer of 2002 and experience first-hand the worship life of Emmanuel Lutheran Parish and witness God's word at work in the community. They were amazed at the culture of the area and its people. They were comforted knowing how God's grace has benefited the people of Emmanuel parish in Windhoek.
After many months of planning and many hours of travel, they arrived in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. This is their story.
Located on the western coast of the southern tip of Africa, Namibia holds a rich diversity of landscape, climate, and people. Windhoek, the nation's capital is located in the central highlands and is home to about 170,000 of the country's 1.6 million people.
Windhoek's main shopping area is modern, clean and varied. Glass and steel high rises combine harmoniously with turn of the century German architecture. |
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Christuskirche, the German Lutheran Church was completed in 1910. The church sits atop the highest point in the city and affords an excellent overlook. The church was built to commemorate the end of fighting between the Germans and the Nama, Ovambo, and Herero peoples. Membership was, until recent years, limited to whites only |
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A modern high school affords educational opportunities to residents of central Windhoek. |
In marked contrast to the sparkle of central Windhoek, members of Emmanuel Lutheran Parish live and worship in an area called Katutura. Forced from their homes in Windhoek in 1959 under the South African apartheid government, blacks were relocated to the barren outskirts of the city to make room for additional housing for the growing white population. |
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Housing in Katutura includes a small, but growing number of masonry structures. These are slowly replacing homes constructed from corrugated tin, plywood and an assortment of reclaimed materials. Utilities are severely limited. Small businesses grow in open market spaces. |
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Approximately 2,000 attend worship each Sunday. Church members arrive on foot and in the back of open pickup trucks, all dressed in their Sunday best. |
The size of their church is deceptive. Compare this picture with the third picture at the top of this page (when it was under construction) for a perspective |
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Approximately 2,000 attend worship each Sunday. The service is conducted in Ovambo with portions in English and continues for about three hours. Pastor Teo leads another service at a distant community center prior to arriving at the church. Until his arrival, the congregation enjoys singing hymns unaccompanied and in four part harmony. |
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During a portion of the worship service three to four hundred children attend Sunday School under a small shelter at the back of the church. At the conclusion of Sunday School, children join the adults for worship and often act out a Bible story for the congregation. |
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About forty young people comprise the Youth Choir and provide special music for worship. They are accompanied only by drums and sing music memorized in rehearsal. |
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Pastor Theo and Patrina Nelumbu welcomed Steve and Kathryn Fellman as partners in ministry representing Reformation Lutheran Church. The congregation and its leaders expressed their deepest appreciation for our continued partnership. Reformation has played an important part in the success of Emmanuel's building program. During the service a number of gifts were presented to the members of Reformation as a sign of gratitude and thanks. |
Shortly after leaving Windhoek, the terrain changes dramatically. City sights and sounds are quickly replaced by the silence and solitude of the Namib Desert.
The Namib Desert stretches roughly 800 miles from north to south along the country's Atlantic coast. In the north a "sea of dunes" occupies more than 13,000 square miles with some dunes reaching 1,000 feet in height. |
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Heading west toward the Atlantic from the desert, the terrain changes rapidly from arid gravel and sand to misty, palm covered shores. Swakopmund, a popular seaside resort reflects the influence of its 19th century European builders.
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Swakopmund, founded in 1893 as a German outpost to compete with British interests in Namibia, still retains much of its German character. Even though English is the nation's official language, German is still widely spoken along with Afrikaans and a variety of original African languages. |
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Included in Namibia's surprising variety of wildlife are tens of thousands of fur seals at the Cape Cross seal colony located nearly 100 miles north of Swakopmund. Interesting and fun to see, but the odor of thousands of seals tends to limit most to a short visit. |
Less unexpected inhabitants include elephant, lion, giraffe, ostrich, hyena, jackal, and dozens of antelope species, and hundreds of species of birds.
Namibia is also home to one of the world's most successful cheetah populations, though they are only infrequently seen in the wild. Etosha National Park, located near the northern borders with Angola and Botswana, encompasses 8,600 square miles and is recognized throughout the world as a premier wildlife refuge.
 A lilac-breasted roller |
 Giraffes, a common sight in Etosha, often appear in small groups. |
 The springbok is one of the more common species of antelope found throughout the country. Here two young males test each other's strength to determine dominance for mating. |
 An impala grazes quietly, but remains alert for predators. |
 Zebras at a waterhole in Etosha National Park. |
 The visit of a small family group of elephants at a waterhole may often grow to include an "extended family" of a few dozen. |