Alexander Mackay

Alexander Murdoch Mackay was born on October 13, 1849, in Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He was the son of a Free Church minister and grew up in a home that valued learning and faith. He was a clever and practical young man who loved machines. He studied engineering at Edinburgh and then went to Germany, where he worked in the engineering trade in Berlin. He was a skilled draftsman and a gifted craftsman.

While in Berlin he felt the call to serve Christ as a missionary. In 1875 he read an appeal in a newspaper that came from the explorer Henry Morton Stanley, who had visited the kingdom of Buganda in Central Africa and described its king, Mutesa, as eager to hear the gospel. The Church Missionary Society called for volunteers. Mackay offered himself. He was accepted as an engineer to help build a mission station and to be a practical helper to the missionary party.

The journey was brutal. The party left in 1876 and traveled from the coast of East Africa by foot and by boat. The leader of the group died on the way, and several others fell ill and died. Mackay arrived in Uganda in 1878, one of the few survivors. He was left to carry on. He settled near Mutesa's court and built boats, repaired guns, made tools and taught the people trades. He also learned the Luganda language and put it into writing. He produced a printing press and printed parts of the Scripture and simple reading lessons.

When Mutesa died in 1884, his young son Mwanga came to the throne. Mwanga grew suspicious of the Christians, whom he saw as a danger to his rule, and in 1885 he began to persecute them. In 1886 a group of young Christians who served in the court were burned alive for refusing to renounce their faith. They are remembered as the Uganda Martyrs. Mackay had taught many of them and had prayed with them. He grieved for them. In 1887 the king expelled him from the country.

He moved to the southern shore of Lake Victoria, at a place called Usambiro, and continued his work from there. He kept up his translation efforts and wrote letters to the church back home. He also made plans for building a boat on the lake. He wrote with a plainness and a wit that showed his humor. He asked for men who would come and work and not those who wanted ease.

He was a stubborn man, and he did not suffer fools. He disagreed with fellow missionaries and had sharp words for some. He was also lonely, and he felt the cost of living far from his family and from the friends he loved. Even so, he did not turn back. He lived on almost nothing and worked with his hands day after day.

He died of malaria on February 8, 1890, at Usambiro, at the age of forty. He never married. He lies buried in a land he had given his life to serve. The church in Uganda grew rapidly after his death and has become one of the largest in Africa. His life shows how a plain workman can give himself to Christ in the dark places of the earth, and how God can use the skill of a craftsman for the building of His kingdom.