Merlin Grove

Merlin Grove 1929-1962. Grove, from Ontario, Canada, went to Somalia with his wife Dorothy and children in 1960. He taught and administered a school established by Eastern Mennonite Missions. The EMM emerging missiology included teaching Islam in their schools and later included the building of a mosque (prayer room) in a school building. The Revolutionar Government established in 1960 ostensibly encouraged freedom of religion. This created anxiety among traditional Muslims. On November 6, 2010 a radical cleric entered the school, killed Merlin and stabbed Dorothy. In part because of this martyrdom, the Mennonite Mission and later MCC has unusual rapport and respect in Somalia society even as the space for a Christian presence tightened and eventually disappeared.

Submitted by John A. Lapp