An honest portrait

Stories My Father Told Us Translated and compiled by Karl Bartsch. Masthof Press, 2006. 272 pages.

Stories My Father Told Us is the account of Henry and Anna Bartsch who, in the early 1930s, went to the Belgian Congo to establish a mission work among the Dengese people, a tribe that hadn’t been reached with the gospel before.

The Bartschs came to Canada after they lost their home in Ukraine following the communist revolution and civil war in the 1920s. They tried to establish themselves as farmers in Saskatchewan, but both Henry and Anna heard a distinct call from God to devote themselves to mission work in Africa.

Supported by their friends they set out for Africa to work at first in Kafumba, mostly learning the language and culture of the people to be evangelized later. They soon moved to Bololo, where they worked under often trying conditions with the Dengese people.

The Bartschs didn’t want to just “save souls” and plant churches. At a time when preaching the gospel was considered more important than ministering to the physical, social, or cultural needs of people, the Bartschs established their mission work along three activities: evangelism, education, and medical work. They taught young men and women to read and write, and to become teachers for their own people.

Medical facilities were needed to deal with the various diseases to which women, children, and old people were prone. Once the people were helped physically and taught to read and write, they were willing to listen to the gospel message and turn from their superstitious fears and practices. Only when Henry was convinced that converts were ready to follow the way of Jesus did he baptize them.

The book presents a portrait of human missionaries with fears, doubts, and weaknesses. Although Henry was certain that God wanted him and his family to serve in Africa, his faith and devotion were at times sorely tried. During the Second World War, supplies were slow in coming and the family was separated for many years, with Anna and their four children staying in Canada while Henry continued his work in the Congo. Many of Henry’s letters speak of his loneliness and wish to be reunited with his wife and children.

In the end the mission had to be discontinued because of difficulties during the war and the missionaries’ health, but not before it was received by the Mennonite Brethren conference as its own work. In 1943, Henry Bartsch returned to Canada to join his family, but his work didn’t end. He was in great demand to report on the Africa mission. Henry Bartsch died in 1966 at age 70.

The book, based on reports and letters of Henry and Anna Bartsch, is well translated, compiled, and written by son Karl Bartsch and edited by Virginia Horst Loewen, a friend of the family. The title, Stories My Father Told Us, could have included Mother as well, for Anna Bartsch wrote many of the reports and shared equally in her husband’s mission work. Readers will enjoy perusing this interesting book, especially those who still remember the Bartschs.

Harry Loewen, professor emeritus of the University of Winnipeg, lives in Kelowna, B.C.