After 54 years there is no indigenous AMEC bishop in Namibia. It only has presiding elders in Namibia. That the establishment of the AMEC was intended to provide a field where Africans could develop their ideas and express their own personalities without having to suffer the constant interference of white missionaries who claimed superiority is without question. The original aim of this establishment was to produce highly involved church leaders from the indigenous clergy. During the 1946 schism, the AMEC propagated and preached the idea that black churches needed to be self supporting.
Financially, the AMEC was self supporting from the beginning. Moreover, it was even capable of supporting its newly founded and established churches around Gibeon and Maltahohe. Its financial independence is evident from the fact that it built a big modem church at Gibeon under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Hendrik Witbooi. This church building was made possible by the contributions made by the congregants themselves.
The AMEC members in Namibia, were very eager to pay the necessary dues required of any member of the church. At local level, the AMEC members made the church self reliant and self supporting.
At national level, the AMEC in South Africa and the USA failed to help the newly found church in Namibia. Very few Namibian pastors were given training at Wilbeforce Institute in South Africa, but none have been given the opportunity to pursue their theological studies in the USA as assumed. On the failure of training of AMEC pastors, one prominent young AMEC pastor in Windhoek said:
You know it and I know it that not a single Namibian, over a fifty year period, has been an alumni of Wilbeforce University, of Edward Waters College, of Paul Quinn College, of Turner Theological Seminary, of Morris Brown College. All of these and many others are institutions of higher learning owned by AMEC in the USA; yet not
two and not one Namibian AMEC has graduated from these institutions. We have not even awarded a full scholarship for one student locallyl6
The old generation pastors of the AMEC were quite happy with ordination. Judging from the above extract of Rev. Ranse, the new generation go beyond the point of ordination. They fully propagated for tertiary education in theology. The tertiary education in theology will definitely equip them to deal with the new challenges. In similar context, but in different vein Father Skhakhane, a Roman Catholic historian who had a very strong opinion about this, said:
The formation of the indigenous clergy is that penetration of the mind, heart and soul of the people is evangelized. This recognizes that an indigenous pastor is the most suitable person to evangelize his people, he knows them and will find suitable methods of penetrating their souls and injecting faith into the depth of their souls. It is this total penetration of faith which remains our challenge. This is a challenge to the African clergy, for it is their task and no one else can do it for them. 17
On the contrary, ELCRN, the offspring of the RMS managed to send some of their pastors to the USA and Germany, and the Paulinum Theological Board succeeded in calling the Rev. Dr. 1.L. de Vries, Prof. PJ. Isaak and Rev. G. du Toit as lecturers. The Lutheran Church and the Paulinum Theological Board pressed for more African lecturers, realising that white lecturers would not have the same possibilities in relating their theology to African students. 18
6.6.1 The Paulinum Theological Seminary in Namibia
The Paulinum Theological Seminary in Namibia was established by the RMS in 1866.19 This was the very first institution which in 1963 was moved to Otjimbingwe to occupy the land and buildings of the United Lutheran Theological Seminary. Paulinum is the combined institution of the two Lutheran Churches - ELCIN (Finnish tradition) and ELCRN (Rhenish
16 W.S. Ranse. Laythink tank. (Unpublished conference notes). Gibeon. 1995. p. 4.
17 Phillipe Denis. The making of an indigenous clergy in Southern Africa.
Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications. 1994. p. 123.
18 Interview with Bishop P. Diergaardt, head of ELCRN Windhoek, Namibia, 7 July 2000.
19 1. Baumann Van Sending tot Kerk: 125 jaar Rynse Sending arbeid in Suidwes- Afrika 1892-1967. Windhoek: John Meinert, 1967.
tradition).2o Before Paulinum came to be located in Otjimbingwe, the two churches trained their theological students separately: ELCIN at Oniipa and later at Elim and ELCRN at Karibib. The theological seminary of ELCRN at Karibib was called 'Paulinum'. In 1963 the joint Paulinum - ULTS at Otjimbingwe was inaugurated and the first students registered.
6.6.2 By-laws and Code of Conduct
The Paulinum governing board is the Executive Committee of the seminary and consists of the two bishops, two general secretaries, one member from each church council, and the treasurers of the two Lutheran churches. The governing board meets ordinarily at least twice a year. The seminary only trains students for the Pastoral Certificate and/or Diploma in theology courses. Only pastors for the ordained ministry are trained at Paulinum. Until the late 1970's evangelists were also trained here, but this programme was stopped.21
6.6.3 The Curriculum
Courses which are offered over the period of four years are Old Testament, New Testament, Church History, Philosophy, Systematic Theology, Christian Education. Church and Society, African theology and Greek. These courses are divided in Pastoral Certificate and Diploma for theology courses and are taught accordingly. Some of these courses are not required by the Joint Board for the diploma in theology, but are a requirement for the respective churches in Namibia, and are therefore taught at Certificate level. The Certificate courses are also for those students who are not academically advanced to qualify at diploma level. The internship is in the fifth year, after the students have completed their four years of theological training?2 Paulinum has also developed a proposal for a B. Th. Syllabus, which is under discussion.
6.7 The Relations Between the Newly Established African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Government
The Germans in general opposed the AMEC in Namibia. Most of the farmers were still in 20 G.L. Buys and J.1. Kritzinger. Salig die Vredemakers. Pretoria: Universiteit van Pretoria. 1989. p. 152.
21 Interview with Bishop P. Diergaardt, Windhoek, Namibia. 07 July 2000.
22 Interview with Rev. Prof. P. Isaak. Windhoek, Namibia. 07 July 2000.
concentration camps of the South African Union at the time of origin. The Witboois had tried twice to get rid of European rule in the Nama wars against the German colonial power in 1893-1894 and 1904-1906. The German missionaries, right after the end of the war, were restricted in their freedom of movement to a town or a district. Viewing the post-schism period in it's entirety, there were many developments in Namibia, especially on the political front.
South Africa's policies were opposed by Namibians, especially the country's annexation.
Namibians were not only against white resistance. They were also backed against South Africa by fellow Africans - initially the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa and Chief Tshekedi of Botswana, later by the newly independent African states. Namibians studying in South Africa during the 1940's and 1950's established links with tile South African organisations, especially the African National Congress (ANC). On their return to Namibia some of these students formed a political party, the South West African National Union (SW ANU) in 1959. Some of these students were also advisors to the leaders of the AMEC who led the 1946 schism. With a base amongst the intelligentsia, SW ANU presented an articulate case for Namibian independence and gained support in the early 1960's.23
The colonial government was under the impression that AMEC would collapse due to the strong propaganda against it. It tried smear the AMEC as a communist agent, but in vain.
Gradually, it had to recognise the church. Prior to the schism only white missionaries could solemnize marriages, but now a marriage licence was issued to Rev. Petrus lod at Maltahohe.
In the meantime, the government also appointed Rev. Hendrick Isaak who was a pastor of the RMS, as a marriage officer at Maltahohe.24 It wanted to create an impression that they were still in control of affairs, and tried to diffuse the impact of the schism. While the reactionary nature of AMEC cannot be denied, it was in a more positive sense a movement of renewal attempting to create a genuinely indigenous church on Namibian soil.
23 P. Katjavivi, P. Frostin, K. Mbuende (ed). Church and Liberation in Namibia.
London: Pluto Press. 1989. p. 111.
24 Archival material. AMEC and RMS. ELCRN Archives: Windhoek, Namibia. 1949.
6.7.1 The Consequences of the 1946 AMEC Schism
The RMS and the AMEC mutually recognized their baptisms. With confirmation, it was different. School attendance had risen because of the AMEC activities in the South of Namibia, especially that of Rev. Petrus Jod who encouraged children to go to school. In Gibeon, relationships deteriorated because, to a certain extent the German missionaries stirred up the hatred between the Nama and the Damara-speaking people after the 1946 schism. Because of the schism, marriage relationships also deteriorated?5
The United Nations organisation seemed to consider the AMEC in Namibia as an organisation of the suppressed blacks after having requested a representative of the Nama via Markus Witbooi. Rev. Markus Kooper stayed twenty years in exile in the USA and returned to Namibia during the early 1980's. He is still actively involved in community and church matters in Hoachanas.26
6.8 The Relationship Between the Newly Established AMEC and other