Herero

There are several peoples in Namibia that have a small percentage of Born-again Christians and few evangelical churches or missionaries working to build the Church of Jesus Christ. One of these peoples is the Herero. The Herero people (population of approximately 100,000) of central and eastern Namibia in Africa – a pastoral cattle breeding nation, popularly known for the women wearing "cow horn headpieces" and long Victorian gowns introduced by German missionaries in the 1800s – maintain strong tribal traditions. Today they combine Christian dogma with ancestor worship and magical ceremonies. They are ripe fields and a good ground but have no strategic volunteer teams visiting, no leaders being trained and no core of advocacy or prayer. There is very little evangelical work by anyone among them. They are a "forgotten people."

Why do we say they are "forgotten peoples"? Does nobody know who they are? No. Does nobody know they exist? No. Has the world forgotten these people? No. Do they have nothing to offer to the world? No. It is simply because at one time many years ago there was a larger presence of missionaries and people sharing the gospel in this region, however this number has dwindled. Has God or even man forgotten these peoples? No. We pray that the Lord will raise up Christians in Namibia to share His word.

Technically we call them “Unengaged People Groups.” They are a group of people with a common self-identity, language and worldview – which has a small percentage of Evangelical Christians in its population and has no Baptist missionary presence. This includes those who have never heard the Gospel as well as those who have had some exposure but have been "forgotten".

We are Southern Baptist missionaries with the International Mission Board. We live in South Africa and Namibia. We are working on behalf of the Herero people to build a prayer network, to seek volunteers for mission trips and to invite God-called people to live among them.

The vision is for Advocates (God’s People) to submit to God’s power to “engage” the Herero. We will do this primarily through prayer. However, as the Lord leads, you may desire to take a mission trip to Hereroland for prayer-walking, vision, evangelism and discipleship. We define “engaged” as reaching a point where God’s people are actively praying for the Herero and God has placed a Baptist missionary (or Great Commission Partner) presence among them.