Biermanskool Reformed Church
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Biermanskool Reformed Church was a congregation of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA) in Namibia, until 2016 when it left the denomination. The congregation is based in the oldest GKSA building still in use in Namibia.
The Biermanskool congregation was founded in 1955 as the Vanjaarsveld Reformed Church, probably named after Dm. H.S. van Jaarsveld, who founded the first GKSA church in South West Africa in 1930. In 1961, the name was changed to Outjo-Wes, but in 1985, it finally received its current name. The congregation's church lies on the Urumbe farm near Kamanjab. (The latter town had its own congregation, the Kamanjab Reformed Church, from 1969 to 1977, but its origin and history is poorly understood.) A school operated for the children of GKSA worshippers here, named as the congregation eventually would be for a Monsignor Bierman, who depending on the source was either an education inspector for the church or an administrator for the SWA government.
There was no church there at Urumbe farm; therefore, the local GKSA folk, mostly descended from those on the Dorsland Trek who were repatriated to SWA from 1928-1930. A canvas tent was used at first, later followed by the schoolhouse refectory. At the time, the area around the farm was considered the Vanjaarsveld district of the Outjo Reformed Church.