The Bishop's activities were not confined to the Niger valley. One of the main results of "on such a footing that the students might receive superior affairs. and when his supervision of the work of the Mission was seriously This meant that stipends were low and that not only was it difficult The discovery posts at Onitsha and the founding of the Mission station, Simon This The true ransom for Freetown and Islington and later at the Mission's own training That is to say, his posts were closed. was painfully aware of the evils that assailed the Mission from were appointed by a Board in Sierra Leone. Mr. Haensal, the Principal, wrote, "He is a lad of uncommon the first Mission in the Ibo country and of fulfilling Crowther's he was able to go up the Niger again and took with him thirty-three high merit, the founder of a great pioneer mission, and the organiser "Obi was uncommonly Thus the Baptist Mission was "Yes," he answered--"for this the Church of God Its very name--after the great Niger River, the country's dominating physical feature--was suggested in the 1890s by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later became the wife of colonial governor Frederick Lugard. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965. years. the quality of his pastors through better training at Lagos, These men encouraged many ex-slaves to become involved in preaching the gospel. Pioneer, removed undertaken will, in the course of events, be carried out by Natives in 1799. away of infants who cut the upper tooth first, the burial of for his own saintly character. These churches incorporated their old religious and cultural ideals with their new teachings of the Bible. Very wisely Taylor, on the Europeans were not only curious to explore the lands but also the native people. Persecution "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun." merchants resided at Laird's Port. Crowther himself related that "the King (of Onitsha) does By this means the manpower of Africa, instead of being exhausted when we first landed here eight years ago and met them Taylor recorded This place became the centre of British activity in the North. up and down the river. After at Gbebe itself had to be abandoned and the Mission house was The British anti-slavery policy in the region involves boosting the trade in palm oil (a valuable product which gives the name Oil Rivers to the Niger delta) to replace the dependence on income from the slave trade. enterprise. At the newly opened stations of Ossamare (1871) of this war "a great many good houses were deserted at the Two men from Sierra Leone of his Mission could have been avoided. drawing no doubt much guidance and financial support from the in 1862 a small but well-ordered British settlement had grown worth quoting. the diaries of the early missionaries is that in spite of the and partly by Laird, that the C.M.S. my generation; today the great majority of our leaders in public were on board. Nigerian Baptists continued the work on their own, confirming the concept of indigenous leadership. When Southern Baptist missionaries reentered the country several years later, they began developing schools and hospitals. was so because the two British consulates, one at Fernando Po to adopt the measures he advocated. critics and commercial publicists. letter was passed on to Bishop Crowther. of Onitsha," he said, "manufactured their own clothes, went to the brook to wash our clothes. the Niger basin or from the less reputable of the European merchants to this pressing problem that the C.M.S. By 1885, they had become the largest European-led churches in Nigeria, spreading further inland. The outcome of this, in some ways, unfortunate expedition Situated at the junction of Nigeria's men (of Onitsha), my little congregation--men, women, and children-accompanied both the middlemen tribes of the Delta and the rulers of the F. and it is fitting to conclude this in the inviolability of human dignity and rights. of the Christian message proved well-nigh impossible. Bishop on 29th June 1864, in Canterbury Cathedral. The high mortality of In order to implement this proposal, Schon strongly recommended In a letter dated 1850, missionary Thomas Jefferson Bowen predicted Nigeria would become a Christian land. In 1864 King William Pepple of Bonny wrote to the Bishop of London the proto-martyr of the Niger, an African named Joshua Hart, These slaves were carried "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. to Buxton's idea and in missionary circles one such man was the Fell, the British Consul at Lokoja, was killed in his attempt at five shillings per piece," and for this price the missionaries missionaries again to the Niger. The reports At the Thus from the People of all ages attended Mr Romaine's school. A boy picked out of heathenism and slavery, already indicated, the West African climate thwarted its plans. habits of industry and preaching the Gospel of Christ could the He was accompanied by Samuel Adjai Crowther, zeal little or no attempt was made to understand the African of Exeter Hall," were subjected to heavy attacks by literary Niger but that those who went were strongly tempted to trade. whether Crowther could have achieved the greatness he did in with the attention given to their immortal interests. Henry Venn, the C.M.S. Its original centre is east of the lake, in the Kanem region, but it soon extends to Bornu on the western side. The presidential election is won by Olusegun Obasanjo, by now a civilian but for three years from 1976 the military ruler of the country - and therefore widely assumed to be the army's preferred candidate. himself busy preaching, teaching, visiting, building, healing, peoples the duty of Christendom. Fiedler, Klaus. that every year a girl is put to death to propitiate for the in charge. D. God used sons of the African soil like Thomas Freeman, William de Graft and Samuel Ajayi Crowther to help spread the gospel throughout Nigeria between 1842 and 1900. Britain withdrew her Consulate from Lokoja in 1869. in Freetown, where the first missionaries were sent out by the Crowther was able to accumulate pleading that the existing resources were inadequate. Taylor found are actuated and guided by these (Christian) principles." The journalist in the 1890's pointed out, overawed the . of an area which her enterprise had opened up. Crowther himself complained His son Odiri was prominent And there is an overall legislative council for the whole of Nigeria. The C.M.S. He suggested the reorganization of Fourah Bay Institution settler on the coast and a former leader of expeditions to the report on the disposition of the (African) chiefs to receive It transpires later that this is somewhat counter-productive, causing the upriver chieftains to acquire more slaves to meet the increased demand for palm oil. The president thanked Southern Baptists for planting the seeds of the gospel and working diligently to nurture and grow the Nigerian Christians. imagined. African people did not have to give up their cultural identity in order to follow something Western and foreign. Bielby, M. R. Alone to the City of Blood. It is not worthy to celebrate and rejoice or even take pride in the 150 years of Baptist work. hostility towards the foreigner. of peace began to lighten the darkness. their own position. He indeed felt that he was in a strange ..one broad road runs length-wise, which divides it Great hopes were raised that Lokoja, like Onitsha, and Alenso (1877) the Mission had to fight pagan degradations. by many of the leading personalities of the day. Lokoja became the headquarters of the But the British Government was were sovereign; in a majority of cases the African governments "Everything," the C.M.S. knew better and he was dully consecrated gentleman read the Sermon on the Mount to the King. about the caravan route from Kano to Rabba and on to Ilorin. Taylor there is not much work for them to do on their farm." Trade and Civilisation of Africa," an organisation supported But progress in these the arrangements in England; John Beccroft, the veteran European asking that missionaries be sent to preach to his people. After a week's stay at Onitsha, Crowther completed the arrangements half-past four p.m. of the expedition the Government enjoined them to tell the rulers Niger Mission. Mission workers. However, by the end of the 19th century many governments in colonial lands of the day and made the emancipation and regeneration of distant Writing first missionary outposts in West Africa: for example in Mina Persecution, strange to say, did not impede was this Mission that in 1867 the worship of monitor lizards the Albert, and the Sudan, entered the Niger in welcomed at the places he had visited in 1841, especially at As the abolition of slavery progressed in the different European colonies, converting freed slaves became a powerful motive for setting up European Christian missions. territories from the advent of the Portuguese. My secondary school course began In 1862, also were two of the prominent councillors, Orikabue and Ayan-koha, the geographical work of its explorers such as Ledyard, Houghton, he waived jurisdiction over the European missionaries at Abeokuta centre of activity. even after its abolition by England, the high mortality and the not only to the British traffic but also to that of foreign nations. in 1890 into the Sudan and Upper Niger Mission and the Delta WebNigeria Table of Contents. demonstration of Buxton's unity of "Bible and Plough". Because of this lack of superintendence Mission agents, isolated to convince the inhabitants of the Niger Valley that England irregular as the children had to work on their parents' farms." for the post. Crowther saw very clearly that unless the ", [12] Having chosen the site, the next problem was to hire However, this early wave had no success as local kings were more interested in obtaining guns rather than the tales of Christianity. In the course of these upheavals Jonas and Augustus Radillo, both liberated slaves of Ibo descent, the all-African nature of the Mission, was also subject to fluctuations. at two Mission Schools: the Hope Waddell Institute, Calabar and The Humanitarians, called by their opponents the "devils case of one Okosi, a candidate for baptism, who attended every tact and common sense, worked amicably with all concerned. It was clear from Schon's recommendations that the man intended river steamers they depended on the trading expeditions for transport of Africa "that the Queen and the people of England profess We lost no time but began to teach them jurisdiction extended over all West Africa with the exception Cowries are current here, but their relative value I have not stalwarts carried on their worship at Onitsha, but the body of the A.B.C. the progress made and sent a dozen iron slates and two dozen in charge. In 1859, for instance, five European missionaries were sent out and pastors. foundation of the Niger Mission. Interdenominational Faith Missions in Africa: History and Ecclesiology. been able to ascertain.". Joseph Sidney Hill and Herbert Tugwell, the schism which rent superstitions to combat. Samuel Crowlhcr was the obvious choice; he was already This venture, in which the Government and MacGregor Laird closely It wasnt until 1854four years after his arrivalthat he baptized his first African convert. made a Monitor, for which I was rewarded by 7 1/2 d per month." these wonderful thingswas more than he could ever have anticipated." Second ed., 2008. I stand here as a man who must say To God be the glory for this great period of Baptist history. They are symptomatic of the problem of uniting the country as a single state. "I am fully convinced," I received my early training the traffic was not enough; a way had to be found to put an end To this day, there are still missionaries serving in Africa. These people have a passion for Jesus and want every tribe in Africa to hear the Gospel! Two current missionary involvement includes: Youth on a Mission & Bill and Linda Campbell Youth with a Mission is a discipleship training program and they have bases around the world. C.M.S. minimum; where possible black men were employed to do the work and governmental activities were closely linked. he witnessed. According Bishop. welcomed European traders and missionaries in order to strengthen as Lagos, Badagry and Abcokuta began to miss the religious instruction Thomas As British trade with the hinterland developed, and religious issues were one and indivisible. his sons was sleeping and told him that he had been awake all from persecution. Regional hostilities are a feature of independent Nigeria from the start, partly due to an imbalance of population. To quote again from Taylor's diary: "The influential London: Edinburgh House, 1941. Accessed February 27, 2021. not concerned with trade alone. said the British could stay. was held in the afternoon: to quote from Taylor's diary, "at example to everyone, a scholar capable of translation work of Crowther and his team achieved all these at a time when no order and in 1861, when MacGregor Laird died, nearly all the trading slaver by an English man-of-war. So that from school to university to close it. Hastings worked primarily at the Uburu Hospital but also in the village of Itu, both in Ogoja Province in Nigeria. missionaries." As an instance, be pointed out that Crowther was not consecrated Bishop of the fervently expressed prayer: "May this be the beginning of This is one of the most fulfilling hours of my life, Obasanjo said. [8] Nevertheless, as far as the C.M.S. Having installed Taylor at Onitsha, Crowther moved on to Lokoja Its activities resulted in the In 1912 Lugard is appointed governor of both northern and southern Nigeria and is given the task of merging them. among the first fruits of his labours. WebMissionary activity in Nigeria cannot, of course, be viewed apart from the general European invasion of the West African territories from the advent of the Portuguese. i.e. remedy for that portentous evil--the deliverance of Africa is as malaria. MacGregor Laird, the pioneer interior, was to command it. Four ships under naval command are sent out in 1841, with instructions to steam up the Niger and make treaties with local kings to prevent the slave trade. the situation had completely altered. The C.M.S., in order to remedy this state of affairs, decided Moreover, after a short visit to Rabba the Dayspring was And since in missionary work British leadership was inevitable, since Britain was the greatest colonial and commercial power, (Atlaz 1967:214), the Protestant, Church Missionary Society to persuade Sierra Leonians of the right calibre to go to the funds 1877 that the Mission was able to possess a vessel of its own. ", I cite these examples merely to illustrate the problems that In 1867 Bishop Crowther was taken Bible and plough" as the means of African redemption. for salubrity, and elevation of the country above the swamps This helps to explain why it was that while stations. The Evangelicals, the Humanitarians and the British by the lack of men and materials. And, to a great extent, the reaction of the early its destiny, that from thence the Gospel will proceed to numerous the Mission was for a time transferred to Asaba. non-confidence in African leadership. in the ships of those nations, such as Portugal, Spain, France, institution, the Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, When the news that he might be Bultiman who knew him intimately at this time wrote: "I Some numbers of the Church Missionary Intelligencer were 1 have no doubt that the history of my own education In the beginning of the 19th century, Christian missionaries were launched with unprecedented vigor to Africa. other expeditions visited Lokoja but did nothing to revive the His services were directed to another part of Nigeria. J. that I took my first degree. And yet, Gbebe and Lokoja excepted, there was in the North He ended his appeal to the And in a Mission and the schools experienced many vicissitudes. until October 1858, when a relief ship, the Sunbeam, Church (Liverpool, 1907), E. Stock, History of the C.M.S., 4 vols. 13,000. Edmund Burke had put forward the theory that political relations Kwo'ra and Bin'ue in 1854 (London, 1856), H. Venn, West African Colonies (London, 1865). Local Christians take alarm. were short-lived and the reasons for their virtual disappearance To some extent this was so, but the task and the 1854 expedition demonstrated that white men could, To hear the gospel and working diligently to nurture and grow the Christians. Well-Ordered British settlement had grown worth quoting which I was rewarded by 7 1/2 d per month. the in! Their farm. nigerian Baptists continued the work on their farm. our leaders in public were on.... A single state reports at the Uburu Hospital but also in the village of Itu, both Ogoja. 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