The foreign exchange earnings helped to develop Ghanas infrastructure. This special relationship continued until 1960 when Fourah Bay became a college of the newly reconstituted University of Sierra Leone; the other constituent college located at Njala developed from a training college founded in 1920. The home page of Compassion Canada is that of a stereotypical Northern charity: showing pictures of suffering children alternating with those of post-intervention, happy children. First, missions saw education foremost as a means of conversion (Ayandele 1966: 286; Bassey 1991: 36; Berman 1974:527; Foster 1965:85; Sheffield 1973:11). Notable among these were cocoa and coffee. In 1827 it grew into Fourah Bay College. The Methodists founded the Boys High School in 1874, and another high school for girls six years later. C.M.S. As a predominantly Roman Catholic country, France encouraged Roman Catholic missionaries right from the start of her colonial activities in West Africa. Besides education, they cared for the sick. The Christian Connector Scholarship. West Africa owes to the Christian missionaries not only a new religious faith which has changed the beliefs and life of millions of people, but also the foundation of western education. Soon after secondary schools were opened in other parts of southern Nigeria, including Bonny High School, which was taken over by government in 1904. The Roman Catholic Sisters provided medical care in the Upper and Northern Regions of the country before the government started to provide hospitals and clinics in the regional and district headquarters. CONTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIANITY TO WEST AFRICA. They also introduced vocational education in the country. Apart from giving to the converts a new religious faith which they consider is superior to the traditional religions, the Christian missionaries did pioneering work in introducing new crafts, industries, Western education and modern health services. The kingdom of God in Africa: A short history of African Christianity. Free resources to assist you with your university studies! Listen as we explore missions, theology, and practice to help senders and goers alike. In Sierra Leone, among the earliest higher institutions which the C.M.S. With the arrival of more missions into the country came an explosion in mission schools across southern Ghana. Wed love to get to know you and discuss how God is calling you. History Missionaries continued to be the main providers of education even after colonial powers established control during the so-called Scramble for Africa which occurred between 1884-1914. This finding was supported by two types of analysis. These commercial activities, therefore, made an important contribution to the economic development of Ghana. The reservation of high-level positions in the colonial administrations for Europeans and the corresponding mission education that provided education fit only for lower positions meant that the withdrawal of European rule could cause serious political instability in the newly independent colonies. An Alumnus of the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, a Journalist, Author and a Philanthropist. After earlier unsuccessful attempts by the missionaries Chretien Proten, Henrick Huckuff and Jacobus Capitein, the Anglican, Rev. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. Father Tetteh also took note of Father Burkes humility and devotion to his students. Furthermore, missionaries, believing in the civilizing mission, attempted to disintegrate traditional society through education by choosing academic subjects, such as the histories of the Western colonial powers, that illustrated the superiority of the Western culture, as well as by teaching about the superiority of the West in non-academic matters such as hygiene. churches were firmly established in several important towns, such as Abeokuta (1846), Lagos (1851), Ibadan (1853), and Oyo (1856). In December 1868 he went with his wife and child to Anum in the present-day Volta Region of Ghana. Thus missionaries, by imparting education that promoted dependence on colonial rule, arguably contributed to the political instability that continues in the present day in many former African colonies, such as Kenya and Eritrea. His viewing and wake service took place on Sept. 26 at the chapel in the Divine Word Residence at Techny. In short, it was a very successful mission in making us little black Anglo-Saxon Protestants. It also plays an important role in organization of inheritances within matrilineal houses and thus exerts influence from a legal point of view. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Amidst much honest missionary activity in the country for two centuries, prosperity gospel teachers have also gained influence, and numerous indigenous cults have arisen with distinct appeal and just enough truth to create confusion and syncretism. Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. He worked zealously as an evangelist and schoolmaster in the Castle School until his death in 1816. 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. This involved learning to read in the vernacular (Hadfield cited in Bone 1969:7). These trends occasionally brought kings into conflict with the missionaries and their converts. 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. Notably among these missionaries are the Wesleyan, Basel, and Bremen. After more than 20 years at Pope John XXIII School, he returned to the United States and served as parochial vicar at Blessed Sacrament-Our Lady of the Divine Shepherd in Trenton, N.J., where he lived with Father Tetteh. He professed vows in 1953 in Conesus, N.Y., and was ordained to the priesthood in 1961 at Techny, Ill. One is led to ask, why this sudden development? This made it difficult for the early missionaries to stay in the country for long. Father Burke spent more than half of his lifealmost 50 yearsin Ghana on the West Coast of Africa, said Father Edward Tetteh SVD, pastor of Blessed Sacrament-Our Lady of Divine Shepherd in Trenton, N.J. During his many years in Ghana, since he worked mostly in educational institutions, he produced excellent professionals: teachers, priests, ministers, doctors, engineers, lawyers, pharmacists, journalists and many others who work in different parts of the world.. His request to the Danish Crown for missionaries was forwarded to . In short, the impact of teaching in the vernacular was more negative than positive, as it reinforced colonial rule and no doubt did very little to preserve native cultural identities, seeing as missionaries promoted European languages as superior and only used the vernacular because conversion and religious instruction were such high priorities. This Western education imparted to the Ameru by the Church of Scotland Missionaries, Consolata . The European missionaries engaged in trading and other commercial activities as well. Finally, education affects many other aspects of peoples lives, including economic opportunities and political attitudes. ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. The early missionaries set up craft centres as part of their educational programmes. Unsurprisingly, the level of education increased as one moved closer to the missionaries. The resulting atmosphere of disunity enabled the European colonialists to easily achieve their goal of economic exploitation. West African Senior School Certificate Examination. After six years at St. Peters, Father Burke was named chaplain and professor of English literature at St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Osu, Ghana. In 1981, Father Burke was promoted to headmaster and rector of Pope John XXIII Secondary School and Minor Seminary in Koforidua. Textbooks were heavily biased towards western ideas and values. Joseph Dunwell. The city of Akuropong capital of the Akan state of Akuapem in Ghana, has known the Christian presence during the last 186 years, initially centered on the Basel Mission, then on the Free Church of Scotland, and now on the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Being able to speak and write in the colonisers language was considered a privilege. Kalu, Ogbu. They worked to write the bible, dictionaries and textbooks in such Ghanaian Languages as Ewe, Fanti, Ga and Twi. New team members can be part of establishing a biblical foundation for the next generation of believers, the growth of nationally-led churches, and church planting in Ghana. For the next decade, the Church grew in Ghana at an accelerated pace. Mission schools were popular because of the new skills and opportunities they offered. This decreased the zeal with which people began to accept the Gospel leading to nominal Christianity. cited in Miran 2002:128). It is important for several reasons. Henry Townsend who went from Sierra Leone to Badagry in 1842 in his company was the Rev Ajayi Crowther. The story of the planting of Christianity in Nigeria would be incomplete without a mention of the Italian Roman Catholic priest, Father Berghero. 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). The weakening of traditional societies was not simply a consequence of the efforts of missionaries but one of their main objectives, stemming from their belief in the civilizing mission. Supporters of the civilizing mission believed that European colonial enterprises were justified as the Europeans were imparting their superior Western culture and ideas to the ignorant heathens of Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australasia. The education and skill development of the people is the highest, most potent agent of national development that the Church imparts to its output of students, scholars, and professionals who perform various precious roles in the various sectors of the national economy for national development,' he stated. Hildebrandt, Jonathan. Their educational activities helped spread literacy and vocational skills training among Ghanaians. A history of African Christianity 1950-1975. In the same year as the Basel missionaries settled in Akuapem in 1835, the Wesleyan (later Methodist) Church was established at Cape Coast by the Rev. Soon after, in 1835 they moved up to Akropon on the hills in Akuapem, where the pioneer missionary the Rev. This was a bitter pill for the Basel Mission to swallow after 19 years of devoted service in the mission field in the Gold Coast but they were not dismayed when they considered that in education and agriculture and artisan training and in the development of commerce, and medical services and concern for social welfare of the people, the name Basel by the time of expulsion of the mission from the country, had become a treasured word in the minds of the people. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. A member of the CMS, Henry Venn, boasted that the mission schools of Nigeria would produce an educated African elite that could form an intelligent and influential class of society and become the founders of a Kingdom which shall render incalculable benefits to Africa (Venn cited in Bassey 1991:37). By 1914 there were barely thirty schools in that vast area. Yet, the relationship between European missionaries and African populations had some contradictions. A notable example, in Ghana, was the Methodist experimental farm near Cape Coast whose crops included cotton, coffee, black pepper, mango, ginger, cinnamon and olive trees. Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. %PDF-1.7 % 517 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<2E41B338ACB2B2110A00B08D5A5CFE7F>]/Index[503 20]/Info 502 0 R/Length 86/Prev 357984/Root 504 0 R/Size 523/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream We were expected to accept the European language as the superior one, and this was reinforced throughout my school career (Abu cited in Berman 1974:536). Missionaries were no doubt also aware that Africans came to associate European technological achievement with Western education (Bassey 1991:45) and therefore offered Western education as a means to attract Africans of this belief and then convert them. Mission schools provided a steady stream of educated Africans capable of filling the lower levels of the colonial administration and operated vocational and agricultural schools (Ayandele 1966: 295; Foster 1965: 90-91; Sheffield 1973: 10-11). For that matter, they rebelled against their chiefs and elders. 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). English for life The education provided in schools in early days also tended to place great emphasis on the superiority of western culture.