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'Pastor P. J. van der Walt: The ‘Lion of Namibia’ (... – 1969)'

Introduction

Pastor PJ van der Walt was the “pioneer church planter of the three Pentecostal denominations in Namibia”. He established the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM), the Full Gospel Church (FGC) and the Pentecostal Protestant Church (PPC). Apart from exponential role he have played in establishing the three Pentecostal denominations, he is also noted to have been a highly respected church leader whom his followers, according to Nambala and Buys, referred to as the “Lion of Namibia”. Van der Walt and his wife came to Namibia in 1943. He first settled in Windhoek and began his missionary activities among residents of the Old Location.

More About Pastor P. J. van der Wal]t

Pastor der Walt mission works were however not only confined to Windhoek but he have planted Pentecostal missions in many parts of Namibia, plus the neighbouring Angola. Commenting on Van der Walt’s mission work, Buys and Nambala for instance note that “Van der Walt had an unwavering missionary calling and had determined perseverance in introducing new Pentecostal missions in many parts of the country”. The two authors noted: “He and his wife jointly launched the evangelic campaign in all parts of Namibia even into Angola.” It seemed as though that to Van der Walt, life comes second to evangelism. Even after the war of liberation began in the northern part of Namibia from 1966 onwards, Buys and Nambala note, “he and his wife often continued with cross-border ministries, in spite of the grave danger to their lives”.

[Success of Pastor P. J. van der Walt]

The success and legacy he earned in his evangelic mission in Namibia may not necessarily be attributed to the fact that he had spread his religious gospel around Namibia. Much was caused by his political views and approach to evangelism.This is not the same as most of the Pentecostal church leaders who conformed to the petty apartheid segregation policies and went as far as appropriating their religious gospel to religious believes of different races,rather Van der Walt took the opposite in his church leadership. Instead, he undertook to spread the gospel of racial unity and he never allowed racial division within his congregation.

Challenges and Death of Pastor P. J. van der Walt

His evangelic work is noted to have integrated elements of physical and spiritual healing. These, according to Buys and Nambala, “resulted in the rapid growth of the Pentecostal churches, compared to the first beginning of the mainline church mission in the previous century”. Van der Walt is noted to have died in 1969. The exact cause of his death may not be that known, however, his co-workers in Buys and Nambala, suggested that he died due to psychological anxiety he suffered through ostracism from the white leadership of the Pentecostal churches.