KEETMANSHOOP – More tributes have been pouring in for the late Bishop Emeritus Hendrick Frederick, who passed away on Saturday.
Frederick, who was the third preses and the first bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN), died in Keetmanshoop at the age of 80.
//Kharas governor Aletha Frederick described the death of the man of the cloth as a very sad moment for the region and Namibia at large.
“We indeed lost an icon and legend who, as an individual, played a very important role in the struggle of our country’s independence. We salute him, and may his soul rest in eternity”, she said.
Funeral arrangements will be communicated in due course by the family. ELCRN presiding Bishop Sageus /Keib also expressed the church’s appreciation for the late bishop’s vital role in the liberation struggle of Namibia.
“The leadership of the ELCRN furthermore acknowledge and appreciate his role as a former outstanding leader of the church,’’ said /Keib. Frederick’s theological formation started in the mid-1950s at the Karibib Paulinum Seminary as an evangelist, and in the early 1960s at Paulinum Otjimbingwe as pastor.
He also attended the Umpumulo Theological Seminary in Natal, South Africa. He was ordained in 1967 at Keetmanshoop, together with late Dean August Matthys.
He served on many ecumenical bodies such as the Lutheran World Federation, World Council of Churches (WCC), United Evangelical Mission (UEM) and the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA).