Louis Harms was a man of faith, charisma, fortitude, and considerable fund-raising ability. Born in 1808, he moved with his family to Hermannsburg in 1817 when his father became Pastor there. He had a traditional theological education at Göttingen, and from 1830-40 worked as a private tutor. Then he assisted his ill father, was ordained in 1844, and "inherited" the Hermannsberg parish in 1849 on his father's death.

He held the unusual belief that poor farmers could serve effectively as foreign missionaries, and envisioned duplicating in Africa the medieval communities which evangelized the German borderlands east of the Elbe. For the next 15 years he threw himself into the twin roles of Pastor and Mission Society Director.

For more biographical detail, read "The Life Work of Louis Harms" authored by his brother Theodor (seen here) shortly after Louis' 1865 death.

The seminary's 4-year program was initiated in 1849 with a symbolic 12 students by Harms and his brother. The daily regimen involved lessons, physical labor in the fields, and prayer life in a self-sustaining community. Eight of the initial students completed the program. The curriculum included Old and New Testament, Church History, and English, but excluded classical languages and other subjects in normal seminary programs. Ordinations were achieved despite these deficiences, and the students set sail on 28 October 1853 aboard the brigantine Kandaze (seen below at launch) which Harms had commissioned for seminary use. Also aboard were colonists who would provide supporting labor.

When Theodor Harms succeeded his brother, there were concurrent classes producing a new crop of missionaries every two years, rapid expansion in Natal, a new mission to India, but significant logistical problems. The overriding issue of Theodor's tenure was the incorporation of Hannover into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. The Harms brothers had a strong Lutheran confessional posture, and close association with the royal house of Hannover. The Prussian push for Protestant unification was abhorrent to Theodor, who led the schism forming the Free Church of Hannover. Despite this distraction, the missions prospered under his leadership and many problems were resolved. The failing "colonist" initiative was ended in 1869, and finances were improved by putting the missionaries on salary. They were no longer effectively "begger monks." Theodor died in 1885.

There was serious concern about his young son Egmont taking over the Mission Society. After some brief experiments, Egmont Harms and Georg Haccius were appointed co-directors. They served three decades, with Harms moving with his family to Natal about 1900 to personally supervise the society's largest mission field. Haccius remained in Germany overseeing the seminary, fund-raising and the other mission fields in India, Australia, etc. The Natal mission survived and even prospered despite war, strife, and dislocation in South Africa.

At the beginning of World War I, students at the Hermannsburg Seminary from South Africa were interned at Ruhleben near Berlin for the duration. Likewise in South Africa, German citizens were interned at Fort Napier in Pietermaritzburg. This included Hermannsburg missionaries who were not South African citizens ... like Egmont Harms the Society's co-director. Due to his health, he was soon released, but he died in South Africa in 1916. The Mission Society's South African assets were confiscated and the Government essentially oversaw the mission stations during the war. We are told, during this period a Pastor's monthly salary was only £11 necessitating other sources of income to survive.