Alan Noble, Jenny and I have just returned from a 5 day visit to Namibia.

One of the reasons for our visit was to confirm 55 young people from our 4 churches in Ondangwa. We spent 4 hours with the confirmees and their leaders on the Saturday morning, ensuring that they all understood the meaning of Confirmation, and more importantly, the message of the Gospel!

The Confirmation service took place on Sunday 6^th May at Christ Church, Ondangwa (the largest of the 4 churches) Approximately 250 people attended the service, which lasted for 3 hours. The Rev Denys Nande and Rev Alan Noble assisted me in the service, and I preached on Christ’s Universal Church and how to be sure you are part of it!

On the Monday we spent another 4 hours with the pastors and some of the leaders of the 4 churches, teaching them the “2 ways to live” presentation, and doing some leadership training with them. We had a good “question-time”, which gave us insight into some of the issues and challenges many of them are facing.

It was also a particularly valuable time for building relationships and of encouraging those leading the work and ministry there. Rev David Greeff came from Walvis Bay on the Saturday especially to meet up with us, and we were also able to catch up with Mary Kalangula, the daughter of the late Bishop Peter Kalangula. She, very kindly, had a big “Welcome Bishop” cake made especially for us and the confirmees on the Saturday after our meeting.

We spent a fair amount of time with Rev Denys Nande and the other 3 pastors finding out about the work in their churches and chatting through some of the challenges they are facing at the moment.

It was particularly encouraging to spend a good amount of time with Tish Hanekom, a missionary working amongst the 5 Church of England in Namibia (CEN) Churches. Tish has been living and working in Ondangwa since April 2010.

Her presence and ministry has been a stabilizing factor in the work in Namibia, and her loyal commitment and faithful teaching is starting to bear fruit! She is highly regarded amongst the folk there, and her ministry amongst them is greatly appreciated.

The work in Namibia is not without its challenges and concerns – the issue of future leadership being one of them! However, there is much to be encouraged about!

Please continue to pray for the 5 CEN Churches (St Luke’s, St Paul’s St Peter’s, St John’s and Christ Church); for their pastors, Rev’s Denys Nande, Jeremiah Wilhelm, Ben Paulus and Albino Adriano, as well as for Tish Hanekom as she ministers to the folk at Ondangwa.