 | This article includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(April 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
The Biermanskool Reformed Church was a congregation of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA) in Namibia, until 2016 when it left the denomination. The congregation is based in the oldest GKSA building still in use in Namibia.
The Biermanskool congregation was founded in 1955 as the Vanjaarsveld Reformed Church, probably named after Dm. H.S. van Jaarsveld, who founded the first GKSA church in South West Africa in 1930. In 1961, the name was changed to Outjo-Wes, but in 1985, it finally received its current name. The congregation's church lies on the Urumbe farm near Kamanjab. (The latter town had its own congregation, the Kamanjab Reformed Church, from 1969 to 1977, but its origin and history is poorly understood.) A school operated for the children of GKSA worshippers here, named as the congregation eventually would be for a Monsignor Bierman, who depending on the source was either an education inspector for the church or an administrator for the SWA government.
There was no church there at Urumbe farm; therefore, the local GKSA folk, mostly descended from those on the Dorsland Trek who were repatriated to SWA from 1928-1930. A canvas tent was used at first, later followed by the schoolhouse refectory. At the time, the area around the farm was considered the Vanjaarsveld district of the Outjo Reformed Church.
Around 1948, work began on a church building for the Vanjaarsveld district under the architect Max Ecker, a German who had retired there. Danie Oosthuizen was chairman of the building committee. The district collected £230 for building the edifice. According to legend, a member took the money to buy cattle and a windmill for himself, and was then forced to pay for the building, completed in 1949, out of his own pocket. Dm. J.W.J. van Ryssen, pastor for the Outjo church from 1949 to 1953, presided over the opening in February 1949.
In the centennial year of the GKSA (1959), the Vanjaarsveld congregation had 91 confirmed members. By the end of 1997, there were only 25, but the number had rebounded to 45 by the end of 2014. Biermanskool had been grouped with Outjo, Aranos, Otjiwarongo, Namib-Kus, and Khomas-Hoogland were grouped under the Klassis Waterberg, while the other 12 Namibian congregations formed Klassis Etosha. In 2016, all the Waterberg churches, save for Otjiwarongo which joined Etosha, left the GKSA.
The Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education was a South African university located in Potchefstroom. Instruction was mainly in Afrikaans. In 2004, the university was merged with other institutions to create the North-West University.
The Reformed Churches in South Africa is a Christian denomination in South Africa that was formed in 1859 in Rustenburg. Members of the church are sometimes referred to as Doppers.
The Reformed Churches in Namibia is a confessional Reformed church in Namibia. Reformed people come from Angola to Namibia in 1929. The Dorslandtrekkers were mostly Reformed people who had settled in Angola but later moved to Namibia. The Dorslandtrekkers were originally from Transvaal, South Africa, and migrated northwestward starting in 1874 in two large and one smaller group, starting the Humpata Reformed Church under the Rev. Jan Lion Cachet. Later in 1930 3 congregations were established. More farmers came and the church grew. Missionary work was started in 1969 under the Bushmans of the Gobabis region, Botswana. It has 2,757 members and 14 congregations, and adheres to the Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed, Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession and the Canons of Dort.There's no women ordination. Official languages are Afrikaans, Bushman, Gobabis-Kung.
Hendrik (Hennie) Johannes Jacob Bingle was a Calvinist, educator and Rector of the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education in Potchefstroom, South Africa.
The Reformed Church Windhoek is the oldest of the three Dutch Reformed churches in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia.
The Reformed Church Windhoek-South is the second-oldest of the three Reformed Churches in South Africa (GK) congregations in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, and the largest of that denomination in the entire country by number of professed members.
The Aranos Reformed Church was a congregation of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA) in Aranos in eastern Namibia. It left the denomination in 2016. With 16 confirmed and five baptized members at the end of 2014, it was the second smallest Reformed Church in Namibia, after the Karasburg Reformed Church, which had 12 confirmed and two baptized members. In 2015, the Aranos congregation grew to 19 confirmed and six baptized members.
The Gobabis Reformed Church is the oldest congregation of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA) in Gobabis in eastern Namibia. At the end of 2015, according to a poll of 300, it was the second-largest traditional Reformed Church congregation in the country.
The Grootfontein Reformed Church is a congregation affiliated with the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA) and located in Grootfontein, Namibia. It was officially founded on May 29, 1943, and celebrated its 75th anniversary the weekend of May 26–27, 2018.
The Keetmanshoop Reformed Church is a congregation of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA) in southern Namibia, headquartered in the town of Keetmanshoop but also embracing members from the towns of Aroab, Aus, Bethanie, Koës, Lüderitz, and Rosh Pinah. Since the congregation is paired with the Mariental Reformed Church, where the Rev. Johan Dunn is the current pastor since 2017, it also serves members from Mariental, Kalkrand, Maltahöhe, Stampriet, and Gochas. The collective Keetmanshoop-Mariental area is enormous, almost the size of the United Kingdom. The distance between Lüderitz and Stampriet is 500 km, and the even the distance between the two congregational seats, Keetmanshoop and Mariental, is 230 km.
The Mariental Reformed Church is a congregation of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA) with its seat in the city of Mariental, Namibia, but the congregation members also hail from the towns of Kalkrand, Maltahöhe, Stampriet and Gochas. The congregation was founded in 1966, the same year as the Karasburg Reformed Church, and as of 2015 was the eleventh oldest GKSA congregation in Namibia.
The Otjiwarongo Reformed Church is the eighth oldest congregation of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA) in Namibia. At the end of 2008, it belonged with five other Namibian congregations to the denomination's Klassis Waterberg, while another 13 congregations belonged to the exclusively Namibian Klassis Etosha. However, in 2015, the Otjiwarongo congregation returned to the Klassis Etosha. Confirmed membership went down from 58 in 2014 to 44 in 2015, and baptized membership went down from 18 to 6 in the same year.
Anna Aletta Elizabeth (Annie) van der Merwe was a leader of the sisters of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA) in South West Africa (SWA).
The Walvis Bay Reformed Church is a congregation of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA) in the town of Walvis Bay, Namibia, but also includes nearby Swakopmund. The Henties Bay Reformed Church broke away in 2006, but the Walvis Bay pastor continues to handle it concurrently. Walvis Bay's membership was 267 in 2015, more or less evenly split between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. Services are held in both towns every Sunday.
The Keetmanshoop Reformed Church is a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in southern Namibia. It is the third oldest NGK congregation in the country after Mariental and Otjiwarongo. Up until the founding of the Keetmanshoop congregation, the entire area known then as South West Africa (SWA) was divided between the two mother churches.
The Mariental Reformed Church is the oldest congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in Namibia and was founded in 1898 as the Gibeon Reformed Church.
The Outjo Reformed Church is a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in northwestern Namibia.
The Turffontein Reformed Church was a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in southern Johannesburg, Transvaal. It was founded in 1906 and for years had a large membership, at times exceeding 3,000.
The Potchefstroom Theological School (TSP) is the seminary of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA). It began as the Burgersdorp Theological School, founded in 1869 and moved to Potchefstroom, South Africa, at the end of 1904, opening the following year.
The Rustenburg Reformed Church is the oldest congregation of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA), founded in February 1859 by the denomination’s pioneer, Rev. Dirk Postma.