HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Rhenish Missionary Society (''Rhenish'' of the river
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , sour ...
) was one of the largest Protestant missionary societies in Germany. Formed from smaller missions founded as far back as 1799, the Society was amalgamated on 23 September 1828, and its first
missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
were
ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform vari ...
and sent off to
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
by the end of the year. The
London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational mi ...
was already active in the area, and a closer working relationship was formed with them. The Society established its first
mission station A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...
in the
Cederberg The Cederberg mountains are located near Clanwilliam, approximately 300 km north of Cape Town, South Africa at about . The mountain range is named after the endangered Clanwilliam cedar (''Widdringtonia wallichii''), which is a tree en ...
in 1829, named Wupperthal, and predated the naming of the German city by 100 years. Very soon, the missionaries started migrating north through the barren and inhospitable south-western Africa. Here they encountered various local tribes such as the Herero, Nama and Damara, and were frequently in the middle of wars between them. The missionaries tried to broker peace deals between the tribes, and for this reason were later seen as political assets by the tribes. Around the same time, debate started in Germany regarding its colonial empire, with the activities of the RMS in distant Africa fanning imaginations. The unclaimed area to the north of the Cape Colony was proclaimed
German South West Africa German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...
in 1880, but they quickly ran into numerous problems, since Germany was inexperienced at colonization. The
Herero and Namaqua Genocide The Herero and Namaqua genocide or the Herero and Nama genocide was a campaign of ethnic extermination and collective punishment waged by the German Empire against the Herero people, Herero (Ovaherero) and the Nama people, Nama in German South We ...
during 1904–1907 proved to be the
nadir The nadir (, ; ar, نظير, naẓīr, counterpart) is the direction pointing directly ''below'' a particular location; that is, it is one of two vertical directions at a specified location, orthogonal to a horizontal flat surface. The dire ...
of their rule, and combined with the effects of World War I, Germany was unable to maintain a foothold so far from home. South Africa annexed the area in 1915, renaming it
South West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola ( Portuguese colony before ...
. During this time, missionaries' reactions ranged from compassion and help for the local tribes, to patriotism and support of colonial interests. In 1861, a station in
North Sumatra North Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Utara) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located on the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan. North Sumatra is Indonesia's fourth most populous province after W ...
,
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. In ...
, was launched and it lasted until 1940. A book concerning the missionary work there was written by the first evangelist woman who joined the Society, Hester Needham. RMS was also active in South China, where they constructed a Hospital in Tungkun, the area is now called Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China. The hospital was supported by several notable medical missionaries, including Dr. Johannes E. Kühne, Dr.
Gottlieb Olpp Gottlieb Friedrich Adolf Olpp was a German missionary and tropical medicine doctor, accredited with spreading Traditional Chinese Medicine and aiding the development of sinology in Germany and the West in early 20th century. As a medical mission ...
, Dr. Eich, Dr. Zeiß. During the 20th century, the Society focused on its work in southern Africa. The Society ultimately amalgamated all of its mission stations in South Africa into the
Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...
, except for Wupperthal which chose to join the
Moravian Church , image = AgnusDeiWindow.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , caption = Church emblem featuring the Agnus Dei.Stained glass at the Rights Chapel of Trinity Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States , main_classification = Proto-Pro ...
. The mission stations in
Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
became part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church there. In 1971, the Rhenish Mission and the Bethel Mission were combined into the Vereinte Evangelische Mission.


Literature

* N. Needham: ''God First or Hester Needham’s work in Sumatra,'' Horace Hart Printer to the University, Oxford 1899. *G. Kunze: ''Im Dienste des Kreuzes auf ungebahnten Pfaden'', Barmen 1897, 3rd edition 1925. * Eduard Kriele: ''Das Kreuz unter den Palmen. Die Rheinische Mission in Neu-Guinea'', Barmen 1927. * W. Berner: ''Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft (RMG)'', in ''Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart'' (RGG), 5. vol., Tübingen 1961, p. 1083. * Bade, K.J., ''Colonial Missions and Imperialism: the background to the fiasco of the Rhenish Mission in New Guinea'', Australian Journal of Politics & History, 21:2 (1975), pp. 73–94. * K.-J. Bade: ''Colonial Missions and Imperialism: The Background to the Fiasco of the Rhenish Mission in New Guinea'', in: John A. Moses - Paul M. Kennedy (eds.): ''Germany in the Pacific and Far East, 1870-1914'', Brisbane 1977. * Hermann Reiner: ''Beginnings at Madang - The Rhenish Mission'', in: Herwig Wagner/Hermann Reiner (eds.): ''The Lutheran Church in Papua New Guinea. The first Hundred Years 1886-1986'', Lutheran Publishing House: Adelaide 1986, Second revised ed. 1987, , pp. 99–139. * Paul Steffen: ''Missionsbeginn in Neuguinea. Die Anfänge der Rheinischen, Neuendettelsauer und Steyler Missionsarbeit in Neuguinea''. (Studia Instituti Missiologici S.V.D. - 61) Steyler Verlag, Nettetal 1995, .


References

* {{Authority control 1828 establishments in Prussia