The Gospel In South Africa

It was the year 1820 when a ships from Britain came bearing a squashed group of 4000 hopeful English came upon the shores of Cape Town. A land of hope lay ahead of the these familes, who had been selected out of a group of some 90 000- all of whom fleeing the rising unemployment facing Britian after the Napoleonic wars.

On the ship was a young Methodist minister whose longed not to escape England, but to preach the gospel.Little did he know how powerful a impact he would have in history. The Cape was very different from the place of his birth in Glasgow, but William Shaw didn’t mind that. Ever since his conversion when he was 17 he knew he wanted to proclaim the gospel and minister to peoples spiritual needs. The group of people he travelled with to Africa would need his ministry.

The first few months on the eastern border of the Cape Coloney, which had been allocated for thes settelers brought bitter disillusionment, that stood in stark contrast to their high hopes of coming to South Africa. The land given them by the British government of the Cape was unsuitable for agriculture, and their living conditions were appalling. The unnamed man who escorted the groups to their territory would always end his tour of their land by saying, “Gentlemen, when you go out to plough never leave your guns behind.” with that he would get on his horse and be off. This didn’t make sense to these settlers, but what they didn’t know was that the British government had decided to bring them hear, not to grow them in prosperity, but to use them as a buffer zone between the hostile and aggravated Xhosa tribes and the Cape Colony. Few managed to stay after the first few months in the area, and for those that did it was a difficult time. Everywhere you ...

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...dea of how God used William Shaw in South Africa, consider the following: Starting from scratch, after forty years’ labour, in 1860, there were 36 Methodist missionaries, 96 school teachers and catechists, about 5 000 church members, 80 Sunday schools and 48 day schools, 74 chapels and 183 preaching stations.

Works Cited

Hinchliff, P. The Church in South Africa (London, SPCK, 1968), p.31.

The Story of my Mission among the Native Tribes of South-Eastern Africa

29 Quoted in Davies, H. & Shepherd, R.H. South African Missions 1800-1950 (Edinburgh, Thomas Nelson, 1954), p.109.

William Shaw. The Story of my Mission among the Native Tribes of South- Eastern Africa. Quoted in Davies, H. & Shepherd, R.H. South African

Source:

Roy, Kevin . Zion City RSA. The Story of the Church in South Africa. (Cape Town, South African Baptist Historical Society 2000) pg51-55.