Mission Stations

The first Christian missionaries to come to the Cape Colony were the Morovian Mission Society. The London Missionary Society sent missionaries to the Cape in the 19th century.

Dr. John Phillip was in charge of the London Missionary Society at the Cape in 1819. He was strongly against slavery and worked for more freedom doe the Khoi people. He wrote a book called “Researchers in South Africa” that influenced the British government and the Cape government to pass Ordinance 50 in 1828.

In the 1820’s Phillip sent missionaries to the eastern and northern frontiers of the colony to promote Christianity and the British way of life to the interior.

Robert Moffat was seen as the father of missionary work in South Africa. Moffat joined the London Missionary Society and came to southern Africa. In 1821 he was invited to start a mission station in Kuruman. He built a church and started a school. After a few years of Moffat’s hard work, many of the indigenous people had become Christians.

He not only preached the Bible but also helped the Tswana people to become farmers and grow their own food. He travelled a lot and made friends with the great Ndebele warrior chief Mzilikazi.