OCMS Guided Study Programme
Programme Design
John Stott once asked the question, “Why is it that some Christians cross land and sea, continents and cultures, as missionaries? What on earth impels them?” His answer was simple. “It is not in order to commend a civilization, an institution or an ideology, but rather a person, Jesus Christ.”
However, the Scriptures indicate that it is very often the everyday commonplace things in life that move people to do things that ultimately bring glory to God and salvation to many. I intend this reality to be the object of my research.
My questions regarding the life and ministry of SPG Missionaries, Arthur and Mary-Ellen Lomax, are rather basic. First, what were the non-spiritual catalysts for their entry into mission? The Victorian era was bursting with activities that brought about monumental changes in the lives of millions of ordinary people. This was the time of Marx, Darwin, Dickens, Nightingale, Gandhi, Hobhouse…men and women who boldly and publicly challenged the status quo, who exposed the callous disregard for the poor and destitute, and who encouraged many to rise above their traditional stations in life. This was the time of change in the church…the Oxford Movement, and the novel thought of allowing non-aristocratic men into training for the service of the church. This was the time of mechanization, of factories, of educational reform, of epidemics (Cholera), famines (the Irish Potato and ama-Xhosa Cattle Famines), and emigration as well as a time of wars (the Sepoy Rebellion in India, the American Civil War, the Crimean War, and the Anglo-Boer War) , the greedy driven quest for wealth (Land, Diamonds, and Gold) and imperial expansion and brutal oppression. How did these people, ideas, and events work together in the lives of Arthur and Mary-Ellen in shaping their hopes and dreams for their personal future? I also wish to research possible reasons for their choosing to go under the auspices of the SPG, rather than other possible mission societies at that time and attempt to answer the questions: Why Mauritius? Why Lichfield? Why South Africa?
The second question follows on from the first as it has to do with longevity in Mission. What motivated them to stay in Mission in spite of illness, hardship, wars, socio-economic and political upheaval. Arthur contracted some lung ailment while serving at Zonnebloem College and St Mary’s in Cape Town and yet, unlike some of his contemporaries, opted not to return to England, but chose rather to continue serving at another post in South Africa in Aliwal-North, a town on the very fringes of the Cape Colony. The ninth frontier war broke out as they were moving from Dordrecht to start a College to train and raise up local clergy in Mthatha. A protracted drought impoverished many parishioners, most of whom were farmers, which had a direct impact on their personal income and survival in Southwell. The Anglo- Boer War broke out and challenged their long-standing friendships with the Dutch in the Karoo region, Middleburg, Steynsberg, Molteno, and Craddock. But not only did they choose to stay, they somehow managed to overcome all these obstacles and difficulties. I hope to uncover a little more about the living conditions in their places of service by examining the reports and letters of their contemporaries and superiors.
Of course, as Stott points out, the overarching reason for entry into mission and longevity in mission is the conviction that we are in service of the Lord of all. It is only by His personal involvement in the lives of His servants that we are enabled to make decisions regarding both these questions, but God often uses the mundane to bring about the profound. And it is the mundane that lies behind my enquiry and my research.
It is hoped that my research and my writing will serve as an encouragement to those who seek to enter into the mission field in the future, as well as encouraging those who are currently serving in trying circumstances to make a wise and spiritually informed decision to press on.
Johannes W H van der Bijl
Windy Corner
Villiersdorp, South Africa
26 December 2020
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