Leonard was founded on November 11, 1944, (the eleventh day of the eleventh month as it happened) as the eleventh congregation of the Cape Church in what was known at the time as South West Africa (SWA). Members agreed that it had to be named after the memorable pioneer of the NGK in SWA, the Rev. E.J. Leonard, who often ministered on donkey-cart journeys across the arid plains. The first full-time pastor was hired on January 6, 1945, and thus the Rev. and Mrs. C. van der Merwe arrived in the parish on April 13, 1945. They had to adapt to difficult circumstances upon arrival, living for a year in the consistory of the church hall in Pretorius. The congregation included 500 members inherited from the Gibeon congregation, after just eight years had already grown to over 1,000. The number had declined once more by 2010 to just 176 as the countryside lost population.
The congregation's footprint encompassed more than 25 000km2. This spread it quite thin, leading to the secession of the Aroab Reformed Church in 1955. There was initially no official capital, and in 1952, there were four essentially independent districts, including Uhlenhorst with 140 members, Blumfeld with around 140, Aroab with around 360, and Pretorius with around 320. The parsonage was located in Pretorius, while each district had its own church hall where services were held once a month; two communions were held a year in each. The Rev. S. Murray became the congregation's second pastor on August 26, 1950.
Select pastors
Cornelis van der Merwe, 1945 - 1949
Samuel Murray, 1950 - 1958
Petrus Hendrik Christiaan Gideon Landman, 1959 - 1961
Leonardville is a village in Omaheke Region in eastern Namibia. It belongs to the Aminuis electoral constituency. The place normally receives an annual average rainfall of 236 millimetres (9.3 in), although in the 2010/2011 rainy season 530 millimetres (21 in) were measured.
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 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.
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 Rev. Matthys Michielse du Toit was from 1905 until he accepted his emeritus in 1941 the pastor in six congregations of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK), including one in South West Africa, two in the Orange Free State, and three in Cape Province: Barrydale (1905-1912), Reddersburg (1912-1920), Excelsior (1920-1921), Moria, Hopetown (1922-1925), and finally Joubertina (1925-1941). According to his own grateful testimony, "the Lord's blessing must have shadowed the work for so many Souls to be brought to the light."
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 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 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 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 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 Linden Reformed Church was a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in the northwestern Johannesburg suburb of Linden. On July 1, 2018, it merged with the Aasvoëlkop Reformed Church to form the Aan die Berg Reformed Church.
The Parkhurst Reformed Church was a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) that was active from 1944 to 1996 in the Johannesburg suburb of Parkhurst.
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 Bronberg Reformed Church was one of the largest congregations in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK), not only in the Pretoria area but nationwide. After the massive demographic changes of the 1990s in central Pretoria, the Bronberg, Arcadia (which had earlier absorbed Meintjieskop, Burgers Park, and Harmonie congregations were all absorbed by the Pretoria Reformed Church.
The Pietermaritzburg Reformed Church was a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu-Natal, but after the sale of the congregation’s downtown building, its center shifted to what is now Howick. It was the first congregation founded by Voortrekkers after they left Cape Colony and the 25th oldest congregation in the NGK. The congregation’s membership, however, declined by around two-thirds, from 752 in 2000 to 256 in 2015.
The Potchefstroom Reformed Church (in Potchefstroom, North West, South Africa, is the oldest congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa in what was then the Transvaal or South African Republic. At its founding in March 1842, it was the 28th congregation in what would later become South Africa and the tenth outside of the Western and Southern Cape Synod.
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