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Pioneers of
Pangerangan
December 2, 2007
In December 1819 John Slater wrote to the Directors of the London Missionary
Society to tell them that he had purchased a block of land in Batavia for 800
Spanish dollars. The land had a frontage of 240 feet on the Tan-abang road and a
depth of 420 feet. It was to be used as a base for the Missionary Society’s work
for the next 24 years.
In 1842 the Treaty of Nanking led to a mass evacuation of mission stations
throughout South east Asia. The missionaries in Batavia, like many others, left
as soon as they could to enter the newly opened field of China. The land
belonging to the LMS was sold, in 1843, to a small group of businessmen who
called themselves the British Protestant Community of Batavia. The land cost 600
pounds sterling, and the BPC took on the task of finding a chaplain – which took
them eight years.
But those first 24 years of mission work were typical beginning years. There
were difficulties between some of the missionaries. There were excellent working
relationships between others.
Walter Medhurst (who arrived in 1822 with his wife Eliza, and 3 y.o.
daughter Sarah) stands out as a strategic and scholarly evangelist. But there
were many missionaries – from the United States, Holland, Britain and even
Manado. There were great sadnesses. Sarah Medhurst married one of the American
missionaries but died at age 16 a few months after her marriage (you can see her
headstone in All Saints church).
There was lots of action. Chinese scriptures were written, printed and
distributed. A significant printing press was established that produced over
168,000 books (including a Javanese Bible) between 1832 and 1836. Preaching in
Malay in various kampungs was a regular ministry. The
Parapattan Orphanage was
established by Medhurst and other members of the English community in 1832. The
year before a new chapel had been built to replace the bamboo structure. This
new chapel was probably the nave of the present building. Services were held in
English as well as Malay.
Medhurst and others made trips near and far to evangelise both foreigners as
well as Chinese and Malays. It was an enthusiastic period, in which English and
American Christians established many missionary societies and brought the gospel
to whichever parts of the world they could get to.
It was not all neat and tidy. There were conflicts and mistakes. But the
pioneering period of the English mission in Batavia was one of genuine and high
quality gospel work. The men and women who came here had a heart for the people
of Java. It is a heritage we can thank God for – and continue to build on.
Dale
[Read the full story in Andrew Lake’s Changes and
Chances]
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