Mission pioneers from Friedensau - growing Adventist mission in Kenya, Congo and Rwanda

The Missionary Legacies of Alfred and Elizabeth Matter

The missionary training received at Friedensau Adventist University since its inception has spurred thousands to attempt great strides in missions. Many students caught the missionary fire and zeal while studying there. Friedensau had a strong missionary culture from its incipient years and it was very uncommon then to have students not wanting to answer mission calls. Mission was the spirit of Friedensau and mission is still its essence.

The missionary legacies of Alfred and Elizabeth Matter were birthed in Friedensau. Alfred Matter was born in Göttingen on May 19, 1886. Raised a Catholic, the influence of his mother and sisters who converted to Seventh-day Adventism and an Adventist preacher Homer Russell Salisbury led him to rethink his faith. In 1912, after two years of coming to Friedensau, he was baptized into the Adventist faith.

While in Friedensau, Matter met Elizabeth Nawrotzky, a nurse in Friedensau Sanatorium. And in 1914 they were married, though Elizabeth was four years older than Matter, being born in 1882. This began their lifelong partnership in mission. Their first mission station was Kanyandoto, South Nyanza in Kenya. And this was shortly before the World War I, which led to their being interned for two years.

Matter formed a partnership with Henry Monnier and this led to the founding of the Rwankeri Mission Station in Ruhengeri, northern Rwanda in 1921. This station had outdoor posts, schools, and hand-craft workshops, especially in weaving. In 1923, Matter’s sister, Maria Matter joined the missionary team and helped open a dispensary in Rwankeri, with Matter’s wife serving as midwife.

In 1929 they moved to Gitwe Mission Station, and after just one year, Matter and a colleague, Dr. J. H. Sturges founded a mission station and a hospital in Ngoma (today Mugonero), South of Kibuye. There, Matter built a large stone church that remains till this day. Rwankeri, Gitwe, and Ngoma have become powerful Adventist locations today.

Matter’s missionary work in the Belgian Congo (today’s Democratic Republic of Congo) from 1943 was remarkable. There he founded the Rwese Station in Lubero, and other stations in Songa Kamina and Nebassabei Poko. Matter worked for the good of the Bambuti Pygmies of eastern Congo (Kinshasa) in Bigobo near Kongolo. This was at a time when they were regarded as subhuman. Even during the Congo War of Independence in 1960, Matter remained and survived.

Alfred and Elizabeth Matter gave 50 years of their lives to active missionary work. The missionary fire that was ignited in Friedensau kept burning even with their return to Europe in 1964 due to ill-health. Nevertheless, they left a missionary legacy that was carried on by their family. Their son Alfred A. Matter, Jr. (1916-1995) served as a missionary in Rwanda and the Belgian Congo (Zaire) from 1941 to 1966. Their other son, Gerhardt L., lived in Rwanda. Their daughter, Tabea E. Matter, spent 20 years as a missionary in Rwanda. Alfred and Elizabeth Matter were called to their rest in 1967 and 1968 respectively.

[1] The article was gleaned largely from Chigemezi Nnadozie Wogu, “Matter, Alfred (1886–1967) and Elizabeth (1882–1968)” in Encyclopaedia of Seventh-day Adventists, an online resource.   https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=CHRM&highlight=Alfred|Matter