The Story of Lutheran Pastors in Namibia
Editors: Paul John Isaak (Editor in Chief), Erika von Wietersheim, Juanita Laomi Naobes, Andries Pula Vilander, Briaan Ritandua Mbazuvara, Hans-Martin Milk
ISBN 9789999880459
Published by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN) 2025
This book tells the story of the pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN), mandated by the Office of the Bishop and the Church Council. Four approved ELCRN pastors served as researchers and editors for this book: Prof Paul John Isaak, who initiated this project as the chief editor, Pastor Juanita Naobes from the ELCRN Swakopmund congregation, Pastor Andries Pula Vilander, a lecturer at Paulinum Seminary, and Rev Briaan Mbazuvara, the pastor at Inner City Lutheran Congregation in Windhoek.
In addition, due to their knowledge and editorial skills, we elected Ms Erika von Wietersheim, a freelance journalist, author, editor, translator, international correspondent, and a member of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia, and Mr Hans-Martin Milk, who recently published the book on Evangelists of the ELCRN.
The research and editorial team are sincerely grateful to the Church Council for being entrusted with such a task. We accepted the challenge in light of the ELCRN’s Mission and Vision statement that the Church ecclecia semper reformanda est. It stresses the Church’s needs for continual renewal and that, in a dynamic world, informed by God’s enlivening word and presence, the Church is never static. The voices of the ELCRN ordained pastors in this book reflect this dynamic process of continual renewal and their calling to open the Church’s windows and let in fresh air.
Such voices affirmed that the ELCRN has taught us theologically that in our worship, we praise God the Creator, Jesus Christ the Liberator and Saviour, and the Holy Spirit who sanctify us. We proclaim God’s saving Gospel of justification by grace alone, and we serve our neighbour by offering assistance and empowerment to the thirsty, the hungry, strangers, refugees, the sick, the landless, and the disinherited.
