 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
The Gobabis Reformed Church is a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in Gobabis in eastern Namibia. In 1961, the Gobabis-South daughter congregation was founded, which was reincorporated into the mother church on October 21, 2012, [1] making Gobabis the seventh city in Namibia to have two NGK congregations.
The congregation separated from the Windhoek Reformed Church (NGK) on November 24, 1939, and on December 11 of that year already held its first church council meeting under the chairmanship of its custodian, the Rev. K.W. Le Rouw (the Windhoek pastor), to make his first appeal fora pastor in Gobabis, but it was unsuccessful.
At the second council meeting, on March 2, 1940, Prop. F.J. Hay was selected, and on May 18 of that year, he was confirmed as pastor of the congregation. The Rev. and Mrs. Hay left the congregation after a fruitful five years, in which the building of its first parsonage had already begun. After a vacancy of eight months, Gobabis welcomed the Rev. and Mrs. J.L. von Wielligh, but a short but successful three years passed before the couple finally responded to the entreaties of the Port Shepstone Reformed Church and left to work there.
Following another eight-month vacancy, Prop. J.M. Olivier was ordained and invested in the post on April 8, 1950. Fourteen months later, he left for another line of work, producing yet another vacancy for an entire year.
The congregation completed its parsonage and built a spacious church hall. After long years of collections to build it, the church was finally completed in the early 1950s. The membership grew from around 400 in 1939 to over 800 in 1951. In 1961, Gobabis-South separated from the mother congregation, and in 2010 the congregations collectively had 156 fewer members than 60 years earlier, foreshadowing their re-merger on October 21, 2012. Gobabis was the last Namibian town to boast 2 NGK congregations (besides Walvis Bay, which still has three). The other daughter churches, in Keetmanshoop, Outjo, Grootfontein, Tsumeb, Otjiwarongo, Mariental, had all been reincorporated into their mother congregations years earlier.
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.
The Dutch Reformed Church Windhoek or NGK Windhoek is the oldest congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in Windhoek the capital of Namibia.
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 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 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.
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 Leonardville Reformed Church is a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in the town of Leonardville, Namibia.
The Maltahöhe Reformed Church is a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in Namibia. In 2010, the congregation had 143 confirmed members and was served jointly with the Bethanie Reformed Church (NGK) by the Rev. Gert Peens. In 2012, the membership had sharply declined to 96 and the Rev. Sarel Visser was helping out with services.
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 Okahandja Reformed Church is a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in central Namibia.
The Omaruru Reformed Church is a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in the town of Omaruru, Namibia. It is the oldest daughter church of the Otjiwarongo Reformed Church (NGK), from whence all the NGK congregations north and west of Windhoek, capital of Namibia, directly or indirectly descend. Omaruru separated from Otjiwarongo on March 1, 1941, and services were held in Omaruru, Karibib, Usakos, Swakopmund, Walvis Bay, and Kalkfeld. Still large and difficult to serve, the Omaruru congregation let the Usakos Reformed Church (NGK) go in 1946.
The Usakos Reformed Church is a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in Namibia, established in 1946 and serving as the mother church to all five congregations of the Namibian coast, except for the Lüderitz Reformed Church (NGK).
The Brixton Reformed Church was a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in the western suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa, which was absorbed along with the Johannesburg West Reformed Church (NGK) in 1993 into the new Vergesig Reformed Church. Brixton's centrally located building continues to serve the merged congregation, which has since acquired the Langlaagte Reformed Church as well as the Crosby West Reformed Church. Around 1985, the Cottesloe Reformed Church was also absorbed into the original Brixton congregation. Around 2014, Vergesig changed its name to Brixton Church.
The Fordsburg Reformed Church was a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) that served the western Johannesburg suburb of Fordsburg from November 6, 1896 to 1988.
The Johannesburg Reformed Church was the first congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) to be founded in Johannesburg on August 14, 1887. All the congregations on the Witwatersrand stem from it, but by the 2010s, the NGK yearbook recorded only 90 in its ward which had long ceased to operate independently.
The Johannesburg North Reformed Church/Andrew Murray Congregation is a bilingual congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in the Johannesburg suburb of Orchards. It was formed in 1999 by the merger of the NGK congregation and the Andrew Murray Congregation and functions as a church without borders.
The Johannesburg East Reformed Church was a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in the Johannesburg suburb of Doornfontein, just east of downtown. It is also known as the Irene Church after the sobriquet of its second and third churches on 1 Beit Street. Five weeks before its centennial, on June 1, 1997, Johannesburg East was absorbed by the Johannesburg Reformed Church (NGK), from whence it had seceded on July 8, 1897.
The Langlaagte Reformed Church was the 28th congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) on the Transvaal and the second in Johannesburg after the Johannesburg Reformed Church (NGK) (1887). The congregation is well known as the spiritual home of the Langlaagte orphanage, later named the Abraham Kriel Children’s Home after Rev. Abraham Kriel, who founded it as pastor of Langlaagte.
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.