Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen (6 February 1834 – 23 May 1918) was a German Lutheran missionary to Batak lands, North Sumatra. He also translated the New Testament into the native Batak language and the first Ephorus (bishop) of Batak Christian Protestant Church. He is commemorated as a missionary on 7 November in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church with John Christian Frederick Heyer and Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg.

Nommensen was born in the Nordstrand peninsula in the Duchy of Schleswig in 1834, when the area was ruled by the king of Denmark but distinct from Denmark proper due to the link between the Duchy of Schleswig and the Duchy of Holstein, which was part of the German Confederation. In 1846, a horse cart rolled over his legs, crushing them. The initial prognosis was that he would be unlikely to walk again, but after praying for recovery, some four years later, he was able to walk again.

An interest in Christian missionary work led to Nommensen's enrolment at the Rhenish Missionary Society seminary at Wuppertal-Barmen in 1857. He was sent as a missionary to Sumatra in 1862. In 1878 he completed the first translation of the New Testament into the Batak language;

Honours

He was awarded an honorary doctorate of theology by the University of Bonn, and in 1911 he was made an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

Stephen Neill, in his History of Christian Missions, described Nommensen as "one of the most powerful missionaries of whom we have record anywhere" (page 348). Another source wrote, "Nommensen may have been one of the most successful missionaries ever to preach the gospel" (Ambassadors for Christ, ed. by J. Woodbridge, page 146).

Notes

References

  • Scott W. Sunquist, ed., Dictionary of Asian Christianity (Grand Rapids, 2001), p. 608
  • Gustav Menzel, Ein Reiskorn auf der Strasse: Ludwig I. Nommensen, "Apostel der Batak", (1984)
  • I.L. Nommensen. Endgültiger Bericht über den Krieg in Sumatra. BRMG (Berichte der Rheinischen Missions-Gesellschaft) 1878 (12): 361-381
  • Werner Raupp, "Nommensen, Ludwig Ingwer". In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Band 6, Bautz, Herzberg 1993, , Sp. 1002–1006.
  • Stephen Neil, A History of Christian Missions, (London: Penguin, 1964).