They need YOU. By 1914 there were barely thirty schools in that vast area. As churches of the Volta Region begin reproducing, ABWE wants to reach out to Ghanas unreached people groups in its eight other regions. Groundless fears that the converts would become contaminated with paganism led some of the Christian missionaries, notably the Presbyterians, to separate the Christians from the rest of the township. Government & Politics CONTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIANITY TO WEST AFRICA. For example, they made our people view polygamy and puberty rites as pagan practices. Although there were many disagreements between European missionaries and African populations, antagonising polygamy is probably the best-documented norm conflict. C.M.S. As Sir Henry Johnston, a key figure in the Scramble for Africa says, they [the mission stations] strengthen our hold over the country, they spread the use of the English language, they induct natives into the best kind of civilization, and in fact, each mission station is an essay in colonization (Johnston cited in Sheffield 1973:10). 2023 Society of the Divine Word. The activities of the early Christian missionaries negatively affected the development of African traditional political institutions. The agricultural schools the missions ran would have been even more advantageous to the colonial governments considering the discouragement of local industries that might have competed with the motherland. The others included the Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African peoples. JNE sustains a commitment to a threefold mission: first, to stimulate the collection and facilitate the dissemination of facts about the education of Black people; second, to present discussions involving critical appraisals of the proposals and practices relating to the education of Black people; and third, to stimulate and sponsor investigations of issues incident to the education of Black people. Call: +233558280780, Your email address will not be published. Seeing as missions in the British and Italian colonies had monopolies on education for the nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, this reluctance meant that there were few secondary schools at all (Ayandele 1966:287; Beck 1966: 120). Yes! The study traces the his tory of colonial education and the tremendous contributions of missionaries in the establishment of formal education in the region. 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. Get full access to all 9,566 pages that make up the Ghana in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1886-1951 collection. Preventive medicine was hardly known; the result was that epidemics of different kinds were frequent. Support earthquake relief and outreach efforts, biblical foundation for the next generation of believers. While the Evangelical Presbyterian missionaries were the First to develop literature in Ewe, the Roman Catholics were responsible for Nzima literature. Bamgboye & Company Press, 1976. Included on the website is information about the charitys programs, such as their Leadership Development Program in which participants earn a degree in their chosen field of study, and participate in Christian leadership training, enabling them to become a fully developed agent of change in their nation (Compassion Canada 2011). Economics This company promoted the import and export trade in Ghana. In 1950 Albert Academy was founded in Freetown; for-a long lime it was the secondary school in the Colony serving largely children from the provinces, among them were the future heads of state, Sir Milton Margai and Dr. Siaka Stevens. For instance, in Nigeria, one of the first groups of missionaries to introduce organised medical services were the Roman Catholics. Andreas Riis, assisted by a team of West Indian evangelists, laid the foundations of the Basel Missionary Church in the country. Indeed, once the souls had been saved and since the students must have been considered clever enough, European languages were almost universally the languages of instruction in the later primary years and in secondary schools (Beck 1966: 120; Foster 1965: 159; Miran 2002:127). Among the first missionaries was the Rev. As long as the Africans could read the Bible, the missionaries were satisfied that they had had enough academic education. During this period, difficulties encountered were different from the initial difficulties which will more related to sickness, deaths and the suspicion of indigenous people in accepting the Gospel. senior high school government Within ten years the C.M.S had opened twelve more schools in what is today Cross Rivers State. Thus by training Africans to fill only the lower levels of the colonial administration and providing skilled workers from the vocational and agricultural schools who contributed to the economy and were less likely to question colonial rule than more educated Africans, mission schools helped to strengthen colonial rule. I have used my expertise to design and implement strategies for major projects including new programme development, global proposals, book launches, international talks, lectures, and executive . CUP Archive, 1979. government questions non-slave trade), Christianity, Civilization and Colonization. As a member of the Church of England, it interests me to see echoes of Christian educational efforts by organizations such as Compassion Canada in the educational efforts of the missionary branch of the Anglican Church, the Church Missionary Society, or CMS. Longman Nigeria Plc., 1994, Boahen, A.A. et al Tropics in West Africa History. Success followed the efforts of the pioneer missionaries. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. Initially, a majority of the missionary journeys was done with English-Speaking Protestants and later, in the 1820s and 1830s, they were joined by continental Protestantism from Germany, Switzerland and France. EVANGELICAL MOVEMENTS AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES IN THE ENGLISH COLONIES. African Drama The First Missionaries were sent as a result of a request by Major de Richelieu, Governor of Christiansborg. primarily purposed to outline the contributions of religion and education to national development in Ghana. Johannes Zimmermann, for example, produced a Ga dictionary, Ga bible and grammar book. There were only bush paths, and no roads in the early times. Waterville Pub. While it has brought undoubted benefits, it has also harmed the traditional way of life. crs questions and anwers DISCLOSURE. While missionaries could sometimes clash with colonial governments, for the most part missions were important tools for colonial governments. The people received the message with indifference. the role of administrators, chiefs and the missions; first attempts at agricultural and industrial training; girls' education and teacher training before 1850; some chief factors in educational expansion 1850-1900; government official policy in educational expansion 1850-1900; agricultural, industrial and vernacular training 1850-1900 ABWE first began work in Ghana with a goal to reach unchurched Ghanaians in the Volta Region with the gospel and then to expand evangelism efforts to other parts of the country. The original letters from abroad cover West Africa from 1899 to 1933. Of the ten largest congregations for men, the Society of the Divine Word is the fastest growing over the past 50 years. The Methodist Church Ghana came into existence as a result of the missionary activities of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, inaugurated with the arrival of Joseph Rhodes Dunwell to the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1835.Like the mother church, the Methodist Church in Ghana was established by people of Anglican background. A history of African Christianity 1950-1975. In the same year as the Basel missionaries settled in Akuapem 1835 the Wesleyan (later Methodist) Church was established at Cape Coast by the Rev. Wed love to get to know you and discuss how God is calling you. So why did the European missionaries come to Ghana and other parts of Africa? New missionary societies (the LMS, the CMS, the Holy Ghost Fathers, the White Fathers, etc.) As happened in Ghana, the development of training colleges in Nigeria was slower than secondary schools, though the C. M. S. had opened the first training college at Abeokuta as far back as 1849. From the second half of the eighteenth century, a fervent wave of evangelical spirit developed in the United Kingdom, Europe and the New World which inspired men and women with the missionary fervour to found religious societies whose members would go out to Africa and the other lands. Joseph Dunwell. Do you have a 2:1 degree or higher? Ghana continued to call. Andreas Riis, assisted by a team of West Indian evangelists, laid the foundations of the Basel Missionary Church in the country. Soon after the start of elementary schools, the missionaries started opening higher institutions also. The mission schools trained Africans to be able to work as translators, messengers and office clerks for the colonial government. 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. 26. Following ordination, he was sent to Washington, D.C., and the Catholic University of America, where he earned a masters degree in English literature. Two important private schools with strong Christian influence must also be mentioned: Accra High School, founded in 1923 and Accra Academy, established in church were founded in south-eastern Nigeria, the chief centres being Bonny and Brass. Required fields are marked *. Among several others, the native Bishop Ajayi Crowther produced the first translation of the Bible in Yoruba. As happened in other territories, the Christian missionaries did not confine their work to the spread of the gospel alone. For instance, in Nigeria in 2006, approximately only 51.2% of primary school teachers of either gender were trained as teachers, and the enrolment rate in primary education for both genders in 2000 stood at about 62.7%, compared to 99.5% in Canada (UN Data 2010). Therefore, considering that the impact of mission education continues to have serious repercussions today, one must question whether the First World should continue to interfere in African education. Next, branches of the C.M.S. Up to Guggisbergs time, the church schools did not receive grants from the government. They worked to write the bible, dictionaries and textbooks in such Ghanaian Languages as Ewe, Fanti, Ga and Twi. T. Nelson. In Ghana the Presbyterians were pioneers in reducing Ga and Twi into writing. Box 6000, Techny, IL 60082-6000. One method of discouraging traditional practices was to give students a fully Western education. They discovered that the holy book did not clearly prescribe monogamy, and contained several examples of renowned Christian polygamists. 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. The Missionary Factor in Ghana's Development, pp.11 &135 categorically asserted that economic and social changes were brought about by the total effect of the various projects initiated by the. The study examines the historical foundations of Western education in Meru and factors that influenced its development. A notable example was the Asafo Company, a purely military and social organisation of the peoples of Ghana, which was condemned by the early missionaries because of its presumed connection with fetish practices. 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. It is important for several reasons. The first school in Nigeria was started by the Methodist missionaries at Badagry in 1842. In the 19thh century, too, Afro-Brazilians returned to Benin and Nigeria with Catholicism. But with colonial conquest and antimalarial drugs, they moved further into the continent. The Christian Connector Scholarship. He was followed, three years afterwards, by the Rev. Furthermore, they were skilled farmers that could grow cash crops to be consumed back in the mother country, such as cocoa from Ghana (Foster 1965: 153). A history of Christianity in Ghana. It was difficult for the European missionaries to communicate freely with the local people. In line with this, formal education in Ghana was started by the western traders and the missionaries by the 15th century through the 18th century respectively. 4; img 109. J. C. Taylor, in these parts of southern Nigeria can still be seen today. Again, the Wesleyan missionaries established Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast in 1876. But the funds and other needed materials even when available could not reach their station in time. After earlier unsuccessful attempts by the missionaries Chretien Proten, Henrick Huckuff and Jacobus Capitein, the Anglican, Rev. By using postcolonial theory as a framework for analysis, it is evident that the Western formal education introduced to the people of the Gold Coast by the Christian missionaries and the British Colonial government did not serve the indigenous population well. This involved learning to read in the vernacular (Hadfield cited in Bone 1969:7). The governor had observed the bad moral life of the Europeans in the fort. Email: henrydonsco@gmail.com Establishment of Christian Churches In The Gambia. They were closed down in 1852 in favour of schools opened in Lagos which, in 1851, had one time British control. Africa Christian Press, 1996. Now, with the burgeoning Cocoa industry, the expansion of commercial activity, the development of gold mines and the building of roads and railways disturbed the traditional lifestyle. 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. Its message was that of love and the universal brotherhood of mankind. The missionaries believed that in order to stabilize the faith of converts and to assist in character development, it was necessary that they should be able to read the scriptures or other books of religious instruction, translated by the missions. The first batch, who came out between 1804 and 1806, included pioneer missionaries like Renner and Nylander. The Roman Catholics established their first secondary school, St Augustines, at Cape Coast in 1936.
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