Giselinde Shivolo
The role of Christian Church is fighting deprivation through community growth projects. The Church has to work together with various organizations to improve the well-being of society through social and economic community development programmes.
There is need to understand role of the church within the context of its community and the way it recognises poverty as a problem that needs solving and has taken various social and economic actions to improve the well-being of society.
The contribution of the church in the community is to focus on the area of community development, especially in health, education, spiritual well-being, social, family life, community empowerment and livelihood. The church at large tries to work with other faith-based organisations in community development activities.
The church in today’s world ranks the second largest employer, with significance in the field of education and health care. It played an important role during apartheid times by helping to send the Namibian child for further study and skills training. Most Namibians who acquired qualifications and skills gained them through scholarships acquired with the assistance of the church.
The church still continues its mission to alleviate poverty by ensuring its institutions hire qualified educators to impart skills and knowledge to the young Namibians so that they also reach their goals and be better citizens.
According to Mwinga (2012), the church in Namibia plays a significant role in the economic development of the country as an employer, providing work directly and indirectly, to an estimated 20 000 people. He further argued that some churches including the Roman Catholic Church and the ELCIN employ more people than big well-known private companies and organisations in the country.
*Giselinde Shivolo is student from Namibia Business School pursuing a Master’s Degree in Business Administration in Public Sector Management.