Olea Nel

When I was growing up in Cape Town, Andrew Murray was still a household name. But unfortunately, the younger generation today, especially those living in South Africa, no longer know much about him. So I decided to turn this situation around as best I could

Andrew Murray is known today as one of the great heroes of the faith, as well as an author, par excellence, of devotional works. In my opinion, few authors plumb the depth of topics such as prayer, holiness, humility, and the need to be filled with the Spirit, like he does. When you read his works, you know that you are encountering an author who has walked the high road of holiness before you.

But besides his books, he was also a giant on the church stage in South Africa. He was not only the moderator of the Dutch Reformed Synod over a period of thirty years, but also one of the prime movers in establishing its mission thrust into Africa. And when the Synod was too slow to meet a particular need, he and his congregation in Wellington would try to do so.

For example, when there were few Dutch teachers for farm schools during the mid-nineteenth century, he decided that the only way forward was to educate young women for the task—and this at a time when men usually filled that role. As a result, he and his Wellington congregation established the Huguenot Educational Seminary for young women in 1874. Not long after, he establishment the Missionary Training Institute for men in Wellington. And although he became one of the great missionary statesmen of the nineteenth century, this fact is little known today.