June 8, 1837 • Alexander Merensky, Missionary Fort-Maker in Africa

he South African tour guide pointed toward a stone fort. "That fort was built by Alexander Merensky of the Berlin Mission Society to guard the mission station you see in front of you. Fort Wilhelm, they called it, after the Prussian King, but the station was known as Botshabelo, meaning refuge."

"Who was Alexander Merensky?" asked one of the tourists. "And why did he build a fort here?" She was intrigued by the medieval-looking defense structure.

"Merensky was a German missionary," answered the tour guide; and he gave further details. The tourist was so interested, she did some digging on her own.

Alexander Merensky, she found, was born on this day, June 8, 1837, in Panten, Germany. His happy childhood years in a forest home came to an abrupt end when his father died. Alexander found himself trained in schools for orphans.

A revival movement in Germany brought Gustav Knak into young Alexander's life. Knak helped Alexander discover a living faith in Christ. Immediately the young man formed a desire to become a missionary, to tell others about the Gospel.

He was just 21 years old when the Berlin Mission Society sent him to colonial South Africa in company with another young missionary, Heinrich Grutzner. At first the two attempted to work among the Zulus of Natal and then in Swaziland. When those efforts failed, largely because of native opposition, Alexander bought a farm in Transvaal from Jan Abraham Joubert and founded Botshabelo.

It was called "refuge" because a local native chief named Sekhukhune persecuted Bapedi people who converted to Christianity. Sekhukhune had some justification for this policy: missionaries too often were agents of imperialism. Too often, they saw it as their responsibility to subject the natives to the Germans (or English or French as the case might be). Alexander was a strong advocate of colonial missions. Shame to say, some missionaries encouraged wars. An African chief could only view Fort Wilhelm as undermining his personal authority.

Botshabelo became a self-sustaining center for as many as 3,000-4,000 Christians. The Christians raised their own food, offered medical services to the region, constructed a water mill, taught carpentry and wagon making, and opened a seminary for black pastors. This model village was highly praised.

However, war came. While the Boers and the English fought for control of South Africa, Alexander Merensky and other missionaries languished in prison camps. World War I dealt a staggering blow to the German mission, because funds dried up. Alexander returned to Berlin. He no longer argued for strong colonial missions. Instead, he encouraged African rights. The German mission did not finally pull out of South Africa until 1962. Christians continued to live on the farm into the 1970s. But eventually the astonishing mission station became a museum for tourists to visit.

Bibliography:

1. Anderson, Gerald H. Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. New York: Macmillan Reference, 1998.
2. "Botshabelo." http://www.encounter.co.za/html/botshabelo.html
3. "Botshabelo." History. http://middelburgsa.co.za/botshabelo/history.htm
4. Dammann, Ernst. "Merensky, Alexander." Kirchenlexikon.
5. Heyden, Ulrich van der. "Merensky, Alexander." Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions, general editor, A. Scott Moreau; associate editors, Harold Netland and Charles van Engen; consulting editors, David Burnett, et al. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2000.
6. Various minor internet articles or paragraphs.

Last updated July, 2007