By Staff Reporter WINDHOEK Namibia’s three Lutheran churches have formed a United Church Council, thus getting them closer to one unified church. TheÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ bishops of the three Lutheran churches came to the agreement after meeting last year. It now appears that Lutherans in Namibia are moving towards a single spiritual journey. Although it has taken more than 10 years of negotiations to come together, the way forward is now taking shape, said a statement from the church this week. The bishops said: “we are now looking for ways of joint activities and strengthening a unified Lutheran voice in matters of common concern. The ultimate aim is to become one Lutheran Church in Namibia.” The newly formed United Church Council of the Namibia Evangelical Lutheran Churches (UCC-NELC) comprises the three churches, namely, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN), Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN) and the German-speaking ELCIN (GELC) that had been divided for decades throughout a national history of colonialism and apartheid. Fourteen years ago, the Lutheran World Federation-Namibian National Committee (LWF-NCC) was founded to foster greater Lutheran unity in Namibia. With the establishment of the United Church Council, this committee will now be dissolved to make way for a body that is structurally and financially independent from the Lutheran World Federation. The leadership of the three Namibian Lutheran Churches will manage the UCC, while the financial support from the LWF will be replaced by local fund-raising. One way to raise funds will be through the offerings of three Unity Sundays a year in all 181 Lutheran congregations, which together have slightly over 1 million members. The ELCIN has 652 000 members, the ELCRN has 350 000 members and ELCIN (GELC)’s has 5 200 German-speaking members. According to the constitution, UCC-NELC will consist of 15 members of whom ELCIN has six delegates, ELCRN five delegates and ELCIN (GELC) has four delegates. The chairperson, executive secretary and treasurer positions will be filled on a rotational basis and will always be from each of the three Lutheran churches. The new church structure will also affect the various partnership relations of the three Lutheran churches. Discussions with ecumenical partners on how the bilateral partnerships of the past can be changed into a joint partnership of all Lutherans in Namibia will be discussed at an all partners’ meeting in April. Lutherans will also hold a celebration on Sunday, April 22, 2007 at the Inner-City Lutheran Congregation in Windhoek, during which the coordinator for Lutheran unity will bid farewell and all members of the UCC-NELC will be officially inaugurated. Reverend Angela Veii, looking back at the last 10 years as coordinator, remarked, “on a spiritual level we are united already. Now we have to make this unity visible step by step.”