Andersson, Oscar (1886-1979)
Oscar Andersson was born in Ubby, Sweden, and became a member of the Swedish Baptist Church. Alma Doering visited his community and recruited him for work with the Congo Inland Mission (Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission). He joined a pioneering team at Djoko Punda on the Kasai River in 1914.
In his diary Andersson wrote about loneliness while supervising firing of kilns of raw clay bricks; of encounters with African people, language, and culture; and thoughts of how they might best be reached with the Gospel. He also mentioned disagreements among the multinational team over questions of missiology, and personality clashes. He married one of the team members, Sarah Kroeker, a trained nurse and midwife from the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Church (Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches) at Henderson, Nebraska. They buried a stillborn son in Africa.
Differing opinions within the missionary team eventually induced the Anderssons to transfer in 1916 to a mission of Oscar's home church in Kwilu Province west of Djoko. They continued in their service until 1948 when they returned to Sweden.
Bibliography
An English translation of Oscar Andersson's diary is found in the AIMM archives at the Mennonite Historical Library, Bluffton University.
| Author(s) | James E Bertsche |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1989 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Bertsche, James E. "Andersson, Oscar (1886-1979)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1989. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Andersson,_Oscar_(1886-1979)&oldid=53861.
APA style
Bertsche, James E. (1989). Andersson, Oscar (1886-1979). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Andersson,_Oscar_(1886-1979)&oldid=53861.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 27. All rights reserved.
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