C.M.S. 6: Christian Missionary Activities in West Africa The glory of our Church!". He married her, and was later re-engaged by the society. The Methodists, known as the Wesleyan Missionaries (after their founder), arrived in Freetown in 1811. They preached Christianity in a way that took into consideration the geographical and cultural differences between Europe and Africa. Joseph Dunwell. (PDF) The 19th Century European Missionaries and the Fight Against They helped them promote better situation with the translation and literature in the state to help them keep up with the rest of the world. Another important fact about this region is that to the West of the territory Nigeria has today, people were often enslaved or involved in slavery which came to this land in the seventeenth century. Trans Britain: are the numbers really adding up. Slavery: An Unlikely Catalyst In the fifteenth century, Christianity came to Africa's coastlines through forts established by European slave traders. Another important German missionary was Wilhelm Johannson, better known by the English version of his name, William Johnson, who is revered in the history of the CMS in West Africa. * St. Thomas College, Ibusa; (CMS) 1928; Nigeria 213.53. Like the Methodists, the Roman Catholic missionaries spread the faith notably in the interior, which later became Protectorate. This is a list of early missionaries in Nigeria: Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther He was part of the first British Government sponsored Niger Expedition of 1841. A short history of education in British West Africa. However, the first fruit became possible, as the Americans and British decided to free the slaves. "One of the most prominent people that were largely responsible for the Christianisation of Nigeria is Samuel Ajiya Crowther, a former slave of Yoruba origin. The story of the planting of Christianity in Nigeria would be incomplete without a mention of the Italian Roman Catholic priest, Father Berghero. In the days of Portuguese contacts with Nigeria, Catholic priests had established missionary stations in Benin and the neighbourhood. But the funds and other needed materials even when available could not reach their station in time. The early European Christian missionaries in West Africa experienced a number of difficulties, some arising from factors outside their control and others of their own making. This single problem made the missionary work very difficult. It was not until the nineteenth century, that the new religion was really established in West Africa. The high temperatures coupled with high rainfall patterns in some parts of the country experienced during the daytime, made the missionaries stay indoors, which slowed down their activities. Soon after the Methodist experiment, the church Missionary Society set up their own school at Badagry. Before 1925, there were only three secondary schools and three teacher training colleges in Ghana. They had to speak through few interpreters who did not have sufficient education to interpret correctly. Here are six Christian missionaries who gave up everything for Christ. Samuel Adu-Gyamfi And Benjamin Kye Ampadu, Ajayi, J..F.A and Michael Crowder History of West Africa. William Gladstone. People accepted Jesus Christ but still had the mentality impacted by the indigenous religions. *Baptist Academy, Lagos, 1885; Renewed evangelisation started when the Basel (later known as Presbyterian) missionaries started work at Osu (Accra). Privacy Statement British Prime Minister. For the West Africans, the acceptance of Christianity meant the total rejection of most of the cherished institutions upon which their society rested. It started first among the Yoruba recaptives who had embraced the Christian faith while in Sierra Leone (freed from slave trading ships by the British Royal Naval Squadron), and who returned home between 1839 and 1845. As the abolition of slavery progressed in the different European colonies, converting freed slaves became a powerful motive for setting up European Christian missions. The story of Africa. A Anglican missionaries in Nigeria (8 P) M Mormon missionaries in Nigeria (7 P) P Protestant missionaries in Nigeria (5 C, 8 P) R Roman Catholic missionaries in Nigeria (20 P) Europeans were not only curious to explore the lands but also the native people. If youve been impacted by our resources, we invite you to make a year-end gift before December 31. You are already subscribed to our newsletter! Undeterred, however, he founded the Baptist Missionary Society five years later in 1792, preaching a message during which he said one of his most famous quotes: "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God". *Hope Waddell Training Institute, Calabar, 1895; Speaking at morning Mass in Rome, the Pope praised Christians who had given up everything to share their faith. Originally a freed African slave from Freetown, Sierra Leone of Yoruba ancestry, was instrumental in the establishment of Christian missions in Nigeria. Category:Christian missionaries in Nigeria Tools Subcategories This category has the following 4 subcategories, out of 4 total. In the beginning of the 19th century, Christian missionaries were launched with unprecedented vigor to Africa. Great were the thoughts that went into establishing Mission Schools. Missions Statistics The Traveling Team He started this massive campaign in the Great Britain stating that African slaves should be freed. By 1914 there were barely thirty schools in that vast area. The birth of the Christian Church in the Northern Nigeria. The expansion of the missionary movement into Africa was part of the growing conception of Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African peoples. * St. Charles College, Onitsha, 1929; Thus, as early as 1823, the Roman Catholic sisters started a clinic for the sick and for children in Banjul. Textbooks were heavily biased towards western ideas and values. However, by the turn of the Nineteenth Century there was systematic efforts by churches of Christian Europe, namely: Anglicans, Methodists, and Baptists who were active in Sierra Leone and, with Presbyterians, in Nigeria, while Methodists also set up missions in Ghana, Gambia, and Dahomey. A permanent station was established in Lagos in 1868, soon followed by others at Lokoja, Abeokuta and Ibadan. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. 3. One of the few ethnic groups that were always open to the influence of different religions is the Hausa people. Being ignorant of the significance of certain institutions and practices of the people of West Africa, and occasionally being misled by their over-zealous followings into wrongly interpreting the peoples heritage, the missionaries compelled pupils in their schools and docile adult converts to shun their own ancestral practices. They came with craftsmen who rebuilt . History. Ex-policeman who claims to be reincarnation of Jesus Christ finally arrested (photos). To provide the clear understanding of how this religion came to Nigeria, we have to mention that the state we know today was divided into several regions which had their own social and economic conditions which either stimulate the spread of it or prevented it from it. Besides education, they cared for the sick. nook and crannies of southern Nigeria. The Presbyterians, also, opened hospitals in several parts of the country, including the one at Agogo in Asante-Akyem. 1809-1898. *Igbobi College, Lagos, (Anglican) 1932; She was a British missionary with the Christian Missionary Society. SOURCES: Nov 2021, joshuaproject.net . 2017: Pastor Weiser retires in June, and Missionary Jeff Heitsch is called to serve Nigeria half-time from Cameroon. 1.898 Billion worldwide. Arnold, 1986. Other difficulties the early Christians faced were the problems of the many languages and dialects and their ignorance of the true meaning of the various cultures, beliefs, values and ways of life of the people whom they set out to convert to Christianity. 60% of unreached people groups live in countries closed to missionaries from North America. *St. Gregorys College, Obalende, Lagos, 1928; While the protestant evangelical movements were gaining ground in West Africa, similar movements were being promoted by the Roman Catholic Church in Europe. After earlier unsuccessful attempts by the missionaries Chretien Proten, Henrick Huckuff and Jacobus Capitein, the Anglican, Rev. Meanwhile, at the same time, the Fulani and Jihadists forced people living in the North to support Islam. 1813-1873. Those who were once enslaved and got their freedom back were more likely to support Christianity, come back to their own home and help share the religion there. According to his biography by Norman Grubb, in one of his last letters home, Studd wrote: "As I believe I am now nearing my departure from this world, I have but a few things to rejoice in; they are these: 1. EVANGELICAL MOVEMENTS AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES IN THE ENGLISH COLONIES. That part of Africa was then known as the White Man's Grave. Instead of adapting the teachings and practices of the new religion to suit indigenous values, as it did when the same Christian religion adopted Greek, Roman, German and Anglo-Saxon native practices, the early Christian missionaries condemned totally as pagan, and to be avoided by their converts, whatever they considered strange. Originally a freed African slave from Freetown, Sierra Leone of Yoruba ancestry, was instrumental in the establishment of Christian missions in Nigeria. Etherington, Norman. These men encouraged many ex-slaves to become involved in preaching the gospel. Yemi Osinbajo reveals why FG is not planning to increase taxes, Bulus Y. Galadima and Yusufu Turaki explored the spread of Christianity of Nigeria in the work they called Christianity of Nigeria.. Catholicism in Nigeria | Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity This is a list of early missionaries in Nigeria: He was part of the first British Government sponsored Niger Expedition of 1841. James Fieldhouse, produced a Wolof Grammar in 1876. Registered in England and Wales 5090917, Christian Today, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN, Persecuted Christians read Bible for first time in their own language after 182 year wait, Meet the Christian woman who adopted EIGHT children from a Russian orphanage, Watch the amazing moment six Christian converts get baptised in the Amazon, The man who converted Ireland: 10 things you might not know about St Patrick, God is on the move in the broken Anglican Communion, Church of England bishops urged 'to step back from the brink' on same-sex blessings, Lessons for today from the Salem Witch Trials. In 1845 the C.M.S. Mr & Mrs Jim & Doris Guth Custer (served at SIM Teachers Training College, Igbaja) 4. Success followed the efforts of the pioneer missionaries. An American missionary with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod(WELS) began the preparatory work for WELS in Nigeria, alongside his wife in 1936. He also founded Serampore College to train local ministers. They believed in sacrifice to make money and do many other things like killing of twins. https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_section8.shtml, https://bethanygu.edu/missions/missionary-involvement-in-nigeria/. About the same time, the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) headed by the Rev. In Sierra Leone, the Church Missionary Society (CMS), offshoot of the Anglican Church, was the first to become firmly established chiefly among the freed captive and freed slave settlers from Britain, Nova Scotia and other parts of the New World. The government gave grants according to the strength of the staff and the efficiency of the school judged by inspection reports and the results of public examinations. Though their first attempt was unsuccessful, these missionaries persisted and in the 19 th Century, there was a successful expansion of Christian missions in Nigeria. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. Bebe Golf Ranch. Both of these missionaries are working to share the Gospel with the Nigerian people. Within a short time the missionaries spread their activities inland. West Africa, 1919-1925. By 1885, the church had spread further inland, thanks to Father Joseph Lutz who started work around Onitsha in 1886 and spread the gospel in many parts of the present day Imo and Anambra States. But in 1800, he baptised his first convert to Christianity, and over more than 20 years went on to translate the Bible into dozens of major Indian languages and dialects. *Olivet Heights, Oyo, 1945; To supplement these missionary efforts in the field of higher education, the government opened its own secondary school in Lagos in 1909, this was Kings College. Shaw, Mark. Origins, organization and effects in the development of West Africa, 3: Islam in West Africa. Dr & Mrs H. Henry Budd (the third Principal of ECWA Theological Seminary, Igbaja) 3. The brief history of Christianity in Nigeria. The first batch, who came out between 1804 and 1806, included pioneer missionaries like Renner and Nylander. He was a missionary from Sierra Leone that arrived in Nigeria in March 1859. The good news for the Christianity is that Islam did not come to this region until in the 1970s the civil war broke out. Prior to advent of the Christian missionaries and indeed well into the pre-independence period, most sick people depended for cure upon concoction herbs and roots and barks of trees. The first Europeans arrived at the West-African Coasts at the end of the fifteenth century. 1 (1971): 103-115. Nevertheless, the first higher institution in Ghana, now the Presbyterian Training College at Akuapem Akropon, was established in 1848, first as a centre for training catechists, and later to train teachers as well as ministers of the Presbyterian Church. In such asituation, provisions and other things had to be sent into the country not in large quantities as would have been desired by the missionaries. Clarke, Peter Bernard. At the end of the eighteenth century, the Evangelical Revival began to bring to Africa an influx of missionaries whose laoburs would produce the first fruits of an enduring Christian presence in Sub-Sahara Africa. It was founded in 1895. In 1858 ten years after the founding of the first college, the Presbyterians opened a sister college at Aburi for the training of women teachers. He and other missionaries facilitated the abolition of human sacrifices in the Calabar area. For seven years he carried on teaching English and converting the locals to Christianity. Missionary Involvement in Nigeria. LITERACY - Total Population: 86.7% . The following year, its female arm, Methodist Girls High School, Lagos, came on the scene. In the field of education, however, the missionaries had to adjust their programmes to fit in with the policy of assimilation. Fiedler, Klaus. The Roman Catholics established their first secondary school, St Augustines, at Cape Coast in 1936. He travelled extensively from east to west . The vast majority of the people of The Gambia are Moslems; but a sizeable percentage of the population, especially in and around the capital Banjul, are Christians. *CMS Grammar School, Lagos, 1859; Missionaries were used by the colonial power as an avant garde, to expand into new regions, a fact keenly . However, there were at least 250 other ethnic groups who were either Muslims or adherers of other religions. Christianity in northern Nigeria. The first attempts to bring Christianity to the area where the modern country is today date back to the 1470s and 1620s. Bethany Global University. *Kings College, Lagos, 1909; Jim's journal, which famously features the quote "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose", has also been read by thousands of believers around the world. non-slave trade), Christianity, Civilization and Colonization. Category:Christian missionaries in Nigeria - Wikipedia He was followed, three years afterwards, by the Rev. The anti-slavery issue and the humanitarian conscience also played a vital role in stimulating European interest in Africa and gave an impetus to mission work. However, despite all the efforts of the Portuguese missionaries, there was not much fruit from this. This was the work of the great missionary, Thomas Birch Freeman, who placed two missionaries, Mr and Mrs. de Graft, in charge of the school. In 1876 the college became associated with Durham University in England, which awarded degrees to students of the college. Before they came, Nigerians were uneducated. Timeline of Great Missionaries - Eternal Perspective Ministries Wm. As happened in other colonial territories, the government did not show great interest in the provision of education in Ghana until the missionaries had extended their services throughout the country and had set up primary schools and a few secondary schools and training colleges. Get the hottest stories from the largest news site in Nigeria, BREAKING: Photos emerge as president-elect Tinubus ADC assumes duty, Bride-to-be insists friend must shave hair for fear she will upstage her on wedding day, List of new courses NUC approves for Nigerian universities, "How much did you spend?" Hilliard, F.H., 1957. 4,039 Total People Groups. Furthermore, during this same period, the anti-Islamic sentiment was quite high in Europe and North America within Christian circles. T. Nelson. History books tended to exaggerate in achievements of Europeans, making no reference to Africans own great past. She arrived in Ibadan in 1852, and with her husband, David Hinderer, they set up a mission in Ibadan and also built schools for young children which she taught and ran the affairs. opened was the Christian Institute, established in 1814 for the training of teachers, catechists and priests.
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