A Mission Plot Since 1926, a Guesthouse Since the 1990s: Namibia’s Lutheran Church Sues to Keep Its Land

• ELCIN is suing over erven 6231 and 6232 in Ongwediva
• The land was held by the Finnish Mission Society from 1926 and transferred to ELCIN in 1987
• A children’s daycare built in 1991 later became a guesthouse
• A minister directed the town council to allow a resident’s application for the plots

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) has gone to the High Court in Windhoek to keep two plots in Ongwediva, New Era reported on October 13, 2023.

ELCIN claims ownership of erven 6231 and 6232 in Ongwediva extension two. The Finnish Mission Society possessed the land from 1926, and transfer agreements dated October and November 1987 provided for its land to pass to ELCIN. The church said “the various portions of land in the Republic of Namibia, allocated to and belonging to the Finnish Mission Society, would be transferred to Elcin.” In 1991 a children’s daycare was built on the site, later converted into a guesthouse.

In November 2016 the Ongwediva Town Council intended to transfer the land, but resident Raimo Enali Angula objected. “After independence, the new people at the Elcin church created a bed-and-breakfast on my father’s plots,” he said. On September 30, 2022, Minister Erastus Uutoni directed the council to allow Angula’s application. ELCIN wants the directive set aside and the transfer to Angula blocked. Judge Nate Ndauendapo scheduled mediation for January 2024.

Nearly a century after missionaries first held the land, the church still does not have undisputed title to it.

Jamaica’s mission churches, from Baptist to Moravian to Methodist, also hold land that passed from missionary societies to local churches decades ago. If the transfer was never completed and registered, a claim can surface years later. Churches using that kind of land for income, such as a guesthouse or rented building, should make sure the title is in their name before investing further.

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