Postby TriP » November 29th, 2015, 6:11 pm
Local Tobago Historic Landmarks ~ Spring Garden Moravian Church
The Moravian Church traces its roots back to very early reformist movements in Bohemia and Moravia (today in the Czech Republic) linked to Johann Hus.
From its first mission in St. Thomas in 1732, the Moravian Church spread to many other islands of the Caribbean,including Barbados in 1765 and to Tobago in 1789.
In 1787, when Tobago was under French rule, James Hamilton, a planter of Riseland, who wanted to convert his slaves to Christianity, invited the Moravians to come to the island.
In 1789, with the support of Comte Dillon, the French Governor of Tobago, the first Moravian Mission, under Reverend John Montgomery, was established.
It is noteworthy that Moravian missionaries were the first to bring Christian teaching to Tobagonian slaves and to baptise
them. This mission ended with the deaths of the missionaries, John and Mary Montgomery, after the hurricane of August 1790.
Mary died in Scarborough in October 1790, and John in Barbados in June 1791.
The second Moravian Mission began in January 1799 and was terminated in 1802, when Tobago was ceded to France.
The third Mission begain 1827 and continued until the Moravians were firmly established.
The first Moravian church was founded in Montgomery in 1828. By 1834 there were many enslaved persons goingto the church and many children were attending Sunday school.
The Moravian ministers also visited plantations and,after the abolition of slavery, taught the ex-slaves, now apprenticed labourers, the beliefs of Christianity.
However,preaching about the principles of equality was not included.
The Moravian Church was one of the first organized religious bodies to establish primary and secondary schools for slaves in the West Indies.
1872 -Concurrent Endowment Act passed by which the Church of England ceased to be the established church of the Colony.
Annual grants of money were made to the Anglican Church, United Brethren (Moravians) and Wesleyans.
It was not until 1890 that a Moravian mission also started work in Trinidad
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