German missionaries and colonists left their mark in the form of churches along the northern border of KwaZulu-Natal. These were mainly the missionaries sent out by the Hermannsburg Mission Society (HMS), who entered Natal from the 1850s onward. Missionary work amongst the Zulus was their predominant aim. Later they spread out to the Transvaal.
In this article, I’ll restrict myself to the churches of the colonists along the KZN/Mpumalanga border. Initially, the instruction to the missionaries was that they must go and live among the people, become part of their day to day lives, learn about their ways and preach the gospel. It was very quickly found that this was not very practical and the society thought it necessary to send out tradesmen and farmers to establish mission stations. These were to become an economic entity to provide for daily bread and spiritual comfort and worked reasonably well until the mission society ran out of money and was unable to pay their staff.
In 1860 the superintendent of the HMS, Hardeland, had obtained permission from the Zulu king Mpande to establish stations in the north near the Pongola river. He sent out two missionaries, Prydtz and Moe, plus supporting staff to establish stations at eNcaka and eNtombe. When the money ran out the people of the stations had to make a plan, and they did.
One of the schemes was to chop down big trees, cut them into planks and sell them in Barberton and Durban. This provided some cash to buy agricultural implements and various other requirements...
