Georg Schmidt, the fi rst full-time missionary in South Africa, ministered from 1737 to 1744 among the Khoisan on the fringes of the colony.
In 1792, the Moravians re-established Genadendal (earlier Baviaanskloof) in 1792 after government interference had forced the fi rst missionary to close it down in 1744. With more than 1 000 inhabitants it was for a time the second biggest settlement, after Cape Town. Its knife-works was the colony’s fi rst substantial workshop. Genadendal aimed to become a self-suffi cient agricultural settlement, but did not quite attain that ideal.
Georg Schmidt, the first full-time missionary in South Africa, ministered from 1737 to 1744 among a small, impoverished population of Khoisan on the fringe of the colony. A man of little education but fervent faith, Schmidt preached that all people, white and black, must be assured ‘in their heart of the forgiveness of sins through Jesus’s blood’ if they wished to escape damnation.
This message repelled many whites who regarded their Christianity as a mark of their identity and privilege as Europeans, but it slowly attracted a few Khoisan, moved by theimplicit affirmation that whites and blacks were equal in the eyes of God. Schmidt baptised five Khoisan and, in defiance of colonial custom, now routinely addressed them as his brothers and sisters. In 1744, lonely and embroiled in a dispute with the authorities, Schmidt left for his Moravian community in Europe and never returned.
