6.4. BU Administrative funds
6.6.2. Funds for native ministers
In comparison to finance available to BU ministers and the SABMS's European workers, it is depressing to note that there was only one fund for native workers. This was the "Pension Fund for Native Ministers." In the Lott Carey Mission Report under a section entitled
"Affiliated Missions," Rev Mashologu reported that "the income of the Churches was very poor, but nevertheless they were anxious to form a Pension Fund for Native Ministers on the lines of the Baptist Union Pension Fund, and a humble start has been made."559 This was in 1921. But this report remained all that was to become of the Pension Fund for Native Ministers. The fund never materialized even though the native churches kept sending their contributions, as discussed above, into the SABMS coffers. Worst, the BU's European ministers and the SABMS's European workers kept benefiting and were to further benefit from other new funds that were to be formed even after 1927.560 This meant, among other consequences that native ministers and evangelists retired in poverty. In some instances, it was even more difficult for these native workers to retire.561
555 Ibid.
556 SABMS Annual Report of 1927-1928 for the 1928 BU Assembly, in BU Handbook for 1928-1929, p. 9.
557 Ibid.
558 Ibid.
559 The 2 9 * Annual Report of the SABMS for the 1921 BU Assembly, in BU Handbook for 1920-1922, p. 48.
560 See Chapter 8 and Chapter 9.
561 See Chapter 8.
6.7. Conclusion 6.7.1. Synopsis
It is indubitable that the European Baptist workers enjoyed more benefits than their native counterparts. Most, if not all, of the funds that were established in the BU and the SABMS were for their benefit. These funds can be grouped into five categories. These were: funds for European ministers and their wives, funds to generate capital for the BU, funds for the administration of the BU, funds for the administration of the SABMS, and funds for the benefit of SABMS missionaries. These funds are, however, not exclusive of each other.
Since it was the BU, a European led body, which administered these funds for the benefit of its European workers, including those of the SABMS, money easily crossed over among these five categories. That is, if there were a shortage on the one hand of money for the benefit of European ministers and wives, while on the other there was a surplus in the funds for the administration of the BU, the BU executive (through the BU Assembly) would transfer the needed sum. The same was the case with the SABMS's funds.
Regarding the first category, that is, funds for European ministers and their wives, the first fund formed was the Annuity Fund. It was formed in 1894, "for invalid [European] ministers and widows."562 In 1905, the fund's name was changed to the Baptist Union Annuity and Insurance Fund. This time, its objective was: "To ensure that every [European] Minister-in- charge and Missionary shall have his life insured for at least £250."563 In 1909 the fund's name was again changed. This time it was called the Annuity or Old Age Pension Fund for
"aged Ministers which shall be obligatory and contributory, and the same commended to all Ministers, Missionaries, Churches and Mission Station within the [Baptist] Union with a view to the immediate acceptance of such a scheme."364 Supplementing the Pension Fund was the Emergency Fund that was formed as early as 1892. It started as a "small sum of money raised for the bereaved family [of the late Mr Charles Bush]."565 In 1911 the BU Assembly passed the resolution that "the present Emergency Fund, be continued as a separate Fund by the Committee of Management of the [Baptist] Union Pension Fund and be used by
562 Minutes of 1894 BU Assembly, in BU Handbook for 1894-1895, p. 34.
563 Minutes of 1905 BU Assembly, in BU Handbook for 1903-1906, p. 66.
564 Minutes of 1909 BU Assembly, in BU Handbook for 1908-1909, p. 23.
565 Report of the BU Executive to the 1892 BU Assembly, in BU Handbook for 1892-1893, p. 45.
them confidentially to aid Ministers or Churches who, in their opinion are in need of such assistance."566 Prospects of the fund's growth remained positive, to the extent that in 1927 when its management was brought "under the control of the Executive of the Baptist Union,"567 the Jubilee Fund, formed in the same year, was established especially to raise
£3,500 in order to augment it. As a result, from 1929 onwards the fund began investing in government loans.
Even though there was an Emergency Fund that the Management Committee of the Pension Fund could use at its discretion to aid European ministers, the BU put more effort into supplementing the European ministers' stipends. The first of these efforts was in 1920, with the formation of the Centenary Fund. It was created to become a "nucleus of a Ministerial S ustcn tat i on Fund, the interest there-from to be used towards the support of the Ministry in weaker Churches." 568 In the following year, 1921, the Ministers' Stipend Augmentation Fund was formed. It was formed with the purpose of releasing ministers "from anxiety as to temporal matters."569 It was followed in 1922 by the Central Sustentation Fund, which was formed "for the adequate support of our Ministry."570
Continuing the above principles, though this time for a different purpose, were funds formed to generate capital for the BU. These funds were: the 20* Century Fund (1899), Colonial Aid Society (1903), Loan Fund (1904), Meyer Loan Fund (1912), 100,000 Shillings Fund (1911), Centenary Fund (1919), and the Jubilee Fund (1927). Like most BU funds, the purpose of these funds is reflected in their names. For example, the Colonial Aid Society was formed in order that the Baptists at home (Britain) could aid those in the colony of South Africa. At
"home," this society used some of the following means in order to raise money for Baptists in the colony: appeals to churches on Colonial Sunday, share certificates, and lectures on religious life and work in South Africa. These lectures included "a collection of the most typical and interesting slides, ... [presenting] natives in the towns, on the mines and in the
27.
34.
26.
29.
Minutes of 1911 BU Assembly, in BU Handbook for 1911-1912, p.
Minutes of 1927 BU Assembly, in BU Handbook for 1927-1928, p.
Minutes of 1920 BU Assembly, in BU Handbook for 1919-1920, p.
Ibid., p. 28.
Minutes of 1925 BU Assembly, in BU Handbook for 1925-1925, p.
kraals."571 Funds were raised through such efforts, as a result of the Society's objectives, which included among others "mission work ... as work amongst the Coloured Races rather than among Natives, so as to include Malays, Coolies, Chinese etc., amongst whom such work was urged as being necessary."572 However, on receipt of such funds, most of the money was distributed to European churches and the General Fund, which was a fund that catered for any other expenses not specified.
The third category consists of BU administrative funds. As discussed above, when a fund was either discontinued or amalgamated with another, the capital of the discontinued fund was used to start the new fund. Two particular funds fall under this category. These are the BU Trust Fund (1920) and the Rhodesian Fund (1926). The BU Trust Fund was an amalgamation of the Meyer Loan Fund, 100,000 Shillings Fund and the Centenary Fund, while the Rhodesian Fund commenced with capital generated by the Northern Committee as early as 1896. The Rhodesian Fund was an administrative fund for the lands that the BU had purchased in Rhodesia. Further, it was through this fund that the salaries of the European workers in Rhodesia were paid.
Like the third category, the fourth category consists of administrative funds, in this case, those of the SABMS. As with the BU, the SABMS also established its own Trust Fund in 1922, primarily as a holding fund for a number of funds. Interestingly, in order to increase the fund's assets to £10,000 by 1927, the 1925 BU Assembly passed a resolution to establish an Insurance Scheme, which would be used for this purpose. This Insurance Scheme became another of the many benefit funds which the missionaries enjoyed.
The fifth and the last category is that of the missionaries' benefit funds. These are funds which, like some BU funds, explicitly stated that they were for the benefit of the European missionaries and their families. Some of these were: the Education Policy for the children of missionaries (1906) and the BU Pension Fund, which also covered the SABMS's missionaries. Besides these funds, the SABMS missionaries received other benefits such as: a
The Objects of the [Colonial Aid] Society, in BU Handbook for 1900-1903, p. 119.
Ibid, p. 118.
travelling allowance, a sick allowance, the purchase of horses, later the purchase of motor- cars, removal expenses, furlough leave, and other local expenses. These benefits were over and above their salaries, which were undoubtedly higher than those of the natives.
6.7.2. Exclusiveness and institutionalization of Baptist finance
It is depressing, as also earlier expressed, that there was only one fund for native personnel, named the Pension Fund for Native Ministers, in contrast to the more than ten funds established for European workers. Worse, there were no annual reports on this fund which could throw light on the running of its finances. As a result, it is difficult to further substantiate the level of disparity between these funds for European and native workers respectively. Baptist finance remained therefore almost entirely intended for the benefit of European workers and churches, whether European workers working amongst fellow Europeans or those working amongst the natives.
There are no records pertaining to this aforementioned native fund, but the issue is not only that it was a fund for the native ministers or that it also needed - and did not receive - much planning and fundraising. The lack of records further raises the issue that this fund was not an important aspect of Baptist history worth preserving in European eyes. This was because all other funds in the Baptist Church had yearly records of their administration. Further, the lack of records regarding this native fund has another meaning to it. That is, it was not treated as a "fund," in comparison to other funds for European workers. Firstly, this is because little thought and planning went into it That is, while the intention to establish other European funds was announced in the annual BU Assemblies or during the annual Missionary Sessions of the BU Assemblies, there is no record of such announcements concerning this native fund.
Secondly, unlike other European funds, there are no records of the objectives of this fund.
Even though the native ministers had no fund to cater for their "temporal wants" literally speaking, it was from their own local native churches and branch stations that contributions were raised and sent to the SABMS. These contributions were raised in the form of quarterly contributions, tithes, special offerings, offerings and collection cards, among others.
Moreover, some of these native ministers and evangelists personally paid for the costs of their church buildings while others even gave land to the Baptist Church, through donation to the SAB MS A critical question is: Why would these native workers offer so much to a church that did not care for them? Further Could it be as a result of the type of Christianization they were socialized into?
These questions indeed serve to highlight the nature of the relationship between the European and native Baptist workers. That is, it was a relationship of co-dependency. The European workers, on the one hand, were dependent on their native counterparts in order to access mission fields.573 But more than that, on the other hand, they relied on their native counterparts to communicate to fellow natives the necessity of offering money for the upkeep of the mission stations and the administration of the SABMS. Further, they also relied on these native workers as a necessary link to these mission fields, which for them served as evidence why more funds ought to be raised overseas for this work. The natives were in turn, also dependent on their European counterparts. Firstly, it was through the Europeans that the native worker received "his salary", even though it was raised in the native church. Secondly, it was because of the Europeans that the native employee received "recognition" in the eyes of the civil authorities. That is, without having a European Superintendent, the native worker and his church would be classified as sectarian.374 This relationship, however, was not mutually co-dependent The European workers benefited, financially speaking, much more from it, as discussed above. But more than this, there was a further subjugation of natives, this time by means of civil and theological education, as discussed in the next chapter.
573 See Chapter 4.
574 Ibid.
Chapter 7
Native Training Institutions and Revision of the BU Constitution (1928-1949)
Leonie1 provides an interesting survey of the history of the South African churches' involvement in native education. Briefly, according to Leonie: "It was the missionary who first organized the educational needs of the Bantu for it was he who felt it necessary to first teach the Bantu to read and write before they could have any appreciation for the Bible and Christianity."2 Quoting MacMillian's argument, he highlights that: "the missionary was the greatest force for change in the Bantu's life."3 It was reported, according to Leonie, that just before the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910 there were 699 mission schools in the Cape Colony. Among these was the Glasgow Missionary Society, "a very zealous society... remembered for its establishment of the Lovedale Institution, which has supplied Africa with some of its ablest non-White teachers and pastors."4 Summing up his argument, Leonie stated: "The historical development of Bantu education can be separated into four sequential stages."5 These were: "Purely church responsibility and control until 18S4; Recognition and subsidizing by colonial and later provincial government, 1854-1925; Joint control by the Department of Native Affairs and provincial government; and Bantu-Education since 1954."6 Throughout this shift, theological training remained the domain of the churches, at church owned institutions. Most such institutions did not solely focus on theological training.
Some of them institutions are as follows. After the Lutherans set up their first mission, at Hermannsburg in Natal, in 1854, "the second station, Ehlanzeni, [was] set up [as] the first seminary for indigenous evangelists in 1870."7 The Methodists opened their first native training
Leonie, D. (1965). The Development of Bantu Education in South Africa: 1652 to 1954. Montana: Montana State College. [Unpublished PhD Thesis.]. Unfortunately, his work is not critical of the nature of this involvement; this lack is also reflected in his discursive language.
2Ibid,p. 51.
MacMiUian. W. M. (1929). Bantu, Boer and Briton: The Making of the South Africa Problem, p. 10, quoted in I conic. D. Op. Cit., p. 51.
4 Ibid,pp.60-61.
5 Ibid, p.61.
6 Ibid.
Scriba, G., & Lislcnid, G. "Lutheran Missions and Churches in South Africa," in Elphick, R & Davenport, R. Op.
institution, named Healdtown,8 in 1866. This was followed by another, named Clarkebury,9 in 1875.10 Lastly, in the Roman Catholic Church, the first South African black candidates had initially been sent to Rome in the 1880s and the 1890s for training as priests. "South African congregations ran modest seminaries and novitiates of their own, but not until 1948 did a national South African seminary open for the training of diocesan priests."11 It was about the same time (1947), that the Baptist Church of South Africa commenced seriously12 with the training of native ministers.