The first missionary to South Africa
- Charl Fölscher
- Jan 7
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 31
Georg Schmidt used the ship of the coloniser to come and spread a radical message that went against the authority and oppression of the day. He gave equal right to the opressed and worked to allow them their basic human right to hear the story of Christ.
Georg Schmidt - Die eerste Evangeliese Sendeling in Suid-Afrika.
Less than thirty minutes from my home in Caledon, South Africa is this memorial to a man, Georg Schmidt. The translation to the text is:
Georg Schmidt
The first Evangelical Missionary to South Africa
Born 30 September 1709 in Kunewalde in Moravia. Worked in South Africa 9 July 1737 to 5 March 1744. Died 1 August 1785 in Niesky, Germany.
'Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. ' Psalms 126:5
I wonder what it was like being a missionary before the modern age where when you left your home to pursue mission work in another far-off country it often was a one-way and lonely journey. For some, it was a primitive existence when you left the comforts of that age and settled into a wild and untamed natural environment as Georg Schmidt did, the first Christian missionary to South Africa. Sure there were other European settlers around but they were very spread out. Also, they did not like the work he was doing because it undermined their control over the indigenous Khoikhoi population he came to do mission work with.
It was a lonely existence where his only comfort was his God who propelled him to come to Baviaanskloof and those he converted to Christianity.
It was a lonely existence where his only comfort was his God who propelled him to come to Baviaanskloof (today - Genadendal - translated as Valley of Grace) and those he converted to Christianity. The Moravian church that sent him had a strong emphasis on missionary work particularly with neglected and marginalized populations, those who were socially and spiritually disadvantaged. The Khoikhoi people were indigenous herders who were negatively impacted by the arrival of European colonizers which led to the loss of their traditional lands, economic exploitation and of course the spread of European diseases they were not immune to. They were mostly treated as inferior by the settlers. This attitude toward the Khoikhoi extended as antagonism toward Georg Schmidt because of his mission which although it was to bring the Gospel it was also restoring dignity and hope to a community severely affected by colonization. The method of colonization is to keep indigenous people in a state of easy control for economic exploitation. With his mission being to make the Khoikhoi free, spiritually and physically by not just sharing his faith but also offering formal education it contradicted the goals of the colonists and ultimately led to his early departure from South Africa. Ironically and almost as a lovely honouring nod to him decades after Schmidt's departure Genadendal became the first teachers' training college in South Africa.
With his mission being to make the Khoikhoi free, spiritually and physically by not just sharing his faith but also offering formal education it contradicted the goal of the colonists and ultimately led to his early departure from South Africa.
His work lasted only seven years as the pressure from local settlers and the Dutch Reformed Church of the day (who also disputed his authority to baptize) became so much that he was forced to leave South Africa. Georg Schmidt advocated for the continuation of his mission work in Genadendal throughout his life but it was only fifty years later when Moravian missionaries arrived and did so. If you are ever privileged enough to visit the Genadendal Museum you will see a display of a small Bible which Schmidt gave to a young Khoikhoi woman called Magdalena. He asked her to take care of his flock while he was away. Fifty year later when the new missionaries arrived she was an old woman, still reading and preaching from the same Bible under a pear tree which Schmidt planted and teached under. You will also find tens of graves of those missionaries who followed the footsteps of Schmidt to Genadendal to continue the work he started.
Comments