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The study describes the formation and the establishment of the first urban congregation of the Berlin Mission in the Cape at the turn of the century. The establishment of the Cape Town Congregation was not a result of urban mission work but rather a result of the townward movement of rural coloured people who already belonged to the Berlin Mission Church. At first the mission headquarters in Berlin resisted an involvement in Cape Town, but the members there and the missionaries of the Cape Synod urged the Berl in Mission to accept the responsibility. Fol lowing the advice of the Moravian Mission the Berliners finally sent a missionary, and declared the congregation as a proper mission station on May 7, 1907. The study closes with the consecration of the church building in Searle Street in 1923 as a visible sign for the establishment of the Berlin Mission Church in Cape Town. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis deals with the history of the Berlin Missionary Society (BMS) that commenced their work in 1834 in South Africa. Due to financial reasons the ZuidAfrikaansche Zendinggenootskap (SASG), which coordinated missionary work in South Africa, requested the BMS to take over their activities at the missionary station Zoar in the Little Karoo. Their missionary work ofthe BMS rapidly extended to the neighbouring Amalienstein, then Ladismith, Anhalt-Schmidt (Haarlem), Riversdale, Herbertsdale, Mossel Bay, Laingsburg and Cape Town. Culturally and ethnologically, the field of work of the missionaries of the BMS in the northern provinces differed radically from that of their colleagues in the Western Cape. By 1838 the coloured communities of the Western Cape were already well acquainted with Western culture as well as with the Christian religion. This did not prevent the missionaries from applying a strict pietistic and patriarchal approach towards the coloured people they worked amongst. As the owners of the land on which these missionary stations were established, the missionaries laid down strict rules and regulations and were able to control the spiritual and material behaviour of the members of their congregations. Their approach had two important effects: The mlSSionanes, m emphasising the important role of education, opened doors to better living conditions for the various communities on a short term basis that eventually created socio-economic empowerment. On the other hand, it led to opposition from within these communities, which in later years would have a profound influence on the political mobilisation of the coloured population of the Western Cape. Financial problems and poverty became an integral part of the history of the BMS in the Western Cape- and for that matter, in South Africa. This was especially apparent during the first half of the twentieth century, when two world wars had a devastating effect on their work. The effects during this time on the BMS and the communities they served were two-fold: Due to financial constraints, the BMS increasingly handed over spiritual and educational work to local pastors and teachers. Secondly, the missionaries came to associate themselves with the rise of Afrikaner nationalism. Their low profile in opposing the developing policy of apartheid - and even tacit approval of it - not only led to a break with the committee in Berlin, but also to the estrangement of many of their church members. In 1961, the year in which a republican form of government was established in South Africa and the Berlin Wall was erected, the German Lutheran missionary societies amalgamated to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church of South Africa (ELCSA) and the traditional missionary work of the BMS came to an end. Compared with the missionary activities of the much larger Dutch Reformed Church in the Western Cape, the role of the BMS may seem less relevant. When the impact of the work of the missionaries and their dedicated coloured church members are considered, their contribution to education and human development, is far bigger than their numbers represent. This allows them a place in the history and development of the Western Cape with its cultural diversity. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif handel oor die Berlynse Sendinggenootskap (BSG) wat in 1834 in Suid-Afrika begin werk het. Sendingwerk onder die gekleurde gemeenskappe van die Wes-Kaap het in 1838 toevallig begin toe die Zuid-Afrikaanse Zendinggenootskap (SASG) die BSG versoek het om weens finansiele redes die sendingbedrywighede by Zoar in die Klein Karoo oor te neem. Van hier af het die sendingaksie vinnig uitgebrei na die nabygelee Amalienstein en daama na Ladismith, Haarlem in die Langkloof, Riversdal, Herbertsdale, Mosselbaai, Laingsburg en Kaapstad. Kultureel en etnologies het die sendelinge in die Wes-Kaap se bedieningsveld radikaal verskil van die van hulle kollegas in die noordelike provinsies. Die gekleurde gemeenskappe van die Wes-Kaap was teen 1838 alreeds met die Westerse leefwyse en kultuur bekend en was ook reeds in kontak met die Christelike boodskap. Dit het die sendelinge in hierdie gebied - met hulle sterk pietistiese agtergrond - nie verhoed om 'n sterk en streng patriargale benadering ten opsigte van hulle gemeentelede te volg nie. Om woonverblyf op die sendingstasies te bekom moes lidmate van die BSG die reels en regulasies wat die sendelinge neergele het, streng navolg. Hierdeur kon die sendelinge beheer oor hulle gemeentelede se geestelike en materiele lewe uitoefen. Hierdie benadering het twee belangrike uitvloeisels onder die gekleurde gemeenskappe van die Wes-Kaap tot gevolg gehad. Eerstens het dit vir hierdie gemeenskappe opvoedkundige deure oopgemaak wat hulle lewenskwaliteite op korttermyn verbeter het en op 'n langer termyn hulle sosio-ekonomiese posisie verbeter het. Tweedens het dit egter ook tot weerstand gelei waarin die stem van hierdie gemeenskappe vir die eerste keer gehoor is en wat in later jare 'n beduidende invloed op die politieke toekoms van hierdie gemeenskappe sou he. Finansiele probleme en armoede het soos 'n goue draad deur die geskiedenis van die BSG in die Wes-Kaap geloop. Dit was veral die geval gedurende die eerste helfte van die twintigste eeu toe twee Wereldoorloe 'n verwoestende effek op die genootskap se werksaamhede gehad het. Dit het twee belangrike uitvloeisels tot gevolg gehad: Eerstens was die genootskap gedwing om geestelike en opvoedkundige werk al hoe meer aan gekleurde werkers oor te laat- wat op sigself 'n bemagtigingsproses tot gevolg gehad het. Tweedens het die sendelinge van die BSG hulle al hoe meer met opkomende Afrikaner nasionalisme - en dus die ontplooiing van apartheid - vereenselwig wat nie alleen 'n breuk met die komitee in Berlyn tot gevolg gehad het nie, maar ook met hulle gekleurde gemeentelede wat aan die ontvangkant van rassesegregasie en diskriminasie was. Teen die einde van 1961, wat saamgeval het met die oorgang na 'n republikeinse staatsvorm in Suid-Afrika en die oprigting van die Berlynse Muur, het die verskillende Duitse Lutherse sendinggenootskappe saamgesmelt om die Evangeliese Lutherse Kerk van Suid-Afrika (ELKSA) te vorm en het die tradisionele sendingwerk van die BSG in Suid-Afrika tot 'n einde gekom. Gemeet aan die omvang van die werksaamhede van 'n kerkgenootskap soos die NG Kerk in die Wes-Kaap, veral tydens die twintigste eeu, mag die rol van die BSG gering voorkom. Op die langtermyn gesien is die invloed van die Berlynse sendelinge (en hul nageslag wat hulle permanent in Suid-Afrika gevestig het), asook die bruin lidmate van die BSG, in hierdie streek buite verhouding groot; veral ten opsigte van onderwys en opvoeding. Hiermee verdien die Berlynse Sendinggenootskap 'n staanplek in die ryk skakering van die W es-Kaapse geskiedenis.

The study describes the formation and the establishment of the first urban congregation of the Berlin Mission in the Cape at the turn of the century. The establishment of the Cape Town Congregation was not a result of urban mission work but rather a result of the townward movement of rural coloured people who already belonged to the Berlin Mission Church. At first the mission headquarters in Berlin resisted an involvement in Cape Town, but the members there and the missionaries of the Cape Synod urged the Berl in Mission to accept the responsibility. Fol lowing the advice of the Moravian Mission the Berliners finally sent a missionary, and declared the congregation as a proper mission station on May 7, 1907. The study closes with the consecration of the church building in Searle Street in 1923 as a visible sign for the establishment of the Berlin Mission Church in Cape Town. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

The archaeological research was conducted at Botshabelo, a nineteenth century Berlin Mission Society station located outside Middelburg, Mpumalanga. It focuses primarily on the collection of residential houses and homesteads in the area known as the Motse, meaning “village” in Sotho. This is where the mission station’s African residents lived. This research seeks to use archaeology, specifically the study of the associated material culture, in order to refine the chronology of changes to settlement in this area, and to explore the ways in which the inhabitants interacted with other sectors of the mission station community and the then wider Transvaal society. Although the mission station and its settlement dates from 1865, the material culture excavated and analysed in this project is primarily from the twentieth century. It is through the careful analysis of these houses and their architecture, together with the associated material culture that the social and cultural values of the people who built and used them can be explored. To date there has been a copious amount of research done on these mission stations in southern Africa, flowing mainly from the disciplines of history and anthropology (Comaroff and Comaroff 1991; Delius 1981; Japha et al 1993; Kirkaldy 2005; Vernal 2009). In contrast, however, there has been relatively little archaeological research carried out on the various mission stations within southern Africa (but see Ashley 2010; Boshoff 2004; Clift 2001; Jeppson 2005; Reid et al 1997). This research project is based in archaeology, and in particular in the discipline of historical archaeology, which can provide the methodologies and approaches that can be used to make sense of the history of the Botshabelo Mission Station and the Motse. This research therefore intends to contribute to the currently under researched field of mission archaeology within South Africa. / Anthropology and Archaeology / M.A. (Archaeology)