The Mornign Star of the Xhosa Church

The Two London Society Missionaries, Van der Kemp and his friend Edmond arrived to a very different Cape Town in 1799. A British flag now waved over the Dutch Port; British forces having arrived to secure Cape Town in the wake of the waning of the Dutch Empire during the Napoleonic wars.

On the 13th of June, Ver der Kemp and Edmond crossed the Gamka river, which though it was very broad was also very dry. They sought refuge from the cold winter air at Samuel de Beer’s house, who had just buried his child that same day, yet rejoiced that God was answering his prayers to bring the gospel to indigenous people in South Africa. Van der Kemp and Samuel spoke for hours. Van der Kemp enthusiastically sharing with him the copy of Carey’s “the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens”, the very document that helped inspire the start of the London Missionary Society. Van der Kemp shared his desire to bring the gospel to the Xhosa people dwelling on the eastern border of the Cape colony, a people totally unreached by the gospel. Sadly everyone was as enthusiastic as de Beer. Many discouraged Van der Kemp and Edmond from continuing on their mission. There was great hostility between the Xhosa and the colonial authorities and trekboers (Dutch/Afrikaans Farmers), and the unpredictable condition of the border area made it a dangerous place to be. Eventually Edmond returned to Cape Town from where he set out to India. But van Der Kemp was determined to preach the gospel to the Xhosa. Towards the end of 1799 he made contact with a Xhosa chief by the name of Ngqika, who allowed him to tentatively work among his people.

Van der Kemp lived among the Xhosa for a year, pouring out his life to them, but had no real opp...

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...rica. Pg 7-13

IBID pg 11

ROY, KEVIN . ZION CITY RSA. THE STORY OF THE CHURCH IN SOUTH AFRICA. (CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICAN BAPTIST HISTORICAL SOCIETY 2000) pg 41

This was to teach the blindness was not the result of sorcery, but of God’s design.

A reference to the Sovereignty of God over the hostilities that plagued the Xhosa

Bokwe, J. K., 1914 Ntiskana: The Story of an African Convert Lovedale Press: South Africa. Pg 12-13

ROY, KEVIN . ZION CITY RSA. THE STORY OF THE CHURCH IN SOUTH AFRICA. (CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICAN BAPTIST HISTORICAL SOCIETY 2000) pg 42

13Crafford, D. Trail-Blazers of the Gospel: Black Pioneers in the Missionary

History of South Africa (Pretoria, Institute for Missiological Research, 1991), page 23

ROY, KEVIN . ZION CITY RSA. THE STORY OF THE CHURCH IN SOUTH AFRICA. (CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICAN BAPTIST HISTORICAL SOCIETY 2000) page 43