Andreas Riis, assisted by a team of West Indian evangelists, laid the foundations of the Basel Missionary Church in the country. hbbd```b``vd d"e ] DrI`5 d"(/ Learn how your comment data is processed. The story of the planting of Christianity in Nigeria would be incomplete without a mention of the Italian Roman Catholic priest, Father Berghero. One is led to ask, why this sudden development? The evangelical societies founded in the Americas included the Baptist Missionary Board and the Nova Scotian Methodists, whose members went to work among the Maroons, who had settled mainly in Liberia. What would have happened if missionaries had not insisted on monogamy? if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'cegastacademy_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_15',609,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-cegastacademy_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0');The European missionaries began their activities in Ghana as far back as the early fifteenth century. B. et al. We use cookies to improve your experience on our website. But the funds and other needed materials even when available could not reach their station in time. The impact of Christianity on West African society has persisted to this day. I will earn a commission if you follow a link to purchase a product. Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Bremen, Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy (SOCIUM), Universitt Bremen. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. Renewed evangelism started when the Basel (later known as Presbyterian) missionaries started work at Osu (Accra). He introduced the Methodist Church in Asante in 1839, and won the support of the Asante king. The mission schools trained Africans to be able to work as translators, messengers and office clerks for the colonial government. Registered office: Creative Tower, Fujairah, PO Box 4422, UAE. 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Education - Education in British colonies and former colonies One reason why the Christian missionaries came to Ghana and the rest of Africa was to convert the people to the Christian faith. They were replaced in Sierra Leone by the Holy Ghost Fathers in 1864, who made converts in large numbers not only among the pagans but also among the members of the then competing Christian churches. Soon after, in 1835 they moved up to Akropon on the hills in Akuapem, where the pioneer missionary the Rev. As a mission school graduate noted, local history was almost totally ignored. The consequences of norm conflicts are likely to manifest beyond educational pursuit. WhatsApp : +233204700052 He was followed, three years afterwards, by the Rev. Buchi Emecheta They were at the forefront during the fight for self-rule in Ghana. Meanwhile, the Scottish missionary, Mary Slessor, had established a reputation in the Cross River area as a nurse. I compared data on the historical locations of mission stations since 1924, in 26 sub-Saharan countries with recent education data between 2008 and 2018. It is important to emphasize that the modern history of the Christian Mission in Africa started from the late Eighteenth Century, the Catholics had been there earlier in the first centuries of the Christian era especially during the first Portuguese adventures. In the Gambia, the Methodist missionary and first principal of what later became known as the Gambia High School, the Rev. Prominent among the early Christian missionaries to come to the Gold Coast (Ghana) were the Roman Catholic, Methodist, Basel, Bremen and Anglican missions. People all around the world are searching for hope, but many dont have someone to tell them about the hope found in Jesus. These new movements considered such ventures to be their contribution to Europes reparation for centuries of exploitation of Africans, reparation for the centuries of exploitation which the Trans Atlantic slave trade had caused to African society. This single problem made the missionary work very difficult. 522 0 obj <>stream As we help existing churches become healthy through theological education, discipleship, pastoral training, and leadership development, we desire to see church-planting efforts within the local church soon follow. Vol. Lets now take a closer look at both the positive and negative impacts of the activities of the Christian missionaries in Ghana and the rest of Africa. Cookies are small, safe and secure text files that sit on your computer which we use to give you a better experience on our site and help us improve the service that we provide to you. Further, the missionaries introduced improved methods of farming together with modern farm implements. Missionary, educator contributed to building independent Ghana. This Western education imparted to the Ameru by the Church of Scotland Missionaries, Consolata . Crampton, Edmund Patrick Thurman. Introduction, spread and effects, 6: Christian Missionary Activities in West Africa, 7: Scramble for and Partition of West Africa, 9: Problems of Independent West African States, 10: West Africa and International Organizations, 11: Women and Authority in West African History, 12: The Environment in West African History. Before 1925, there were only three secondary schools and three teacher training colleges in Ghana. 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. Moreover, they introduced new crops into the Ghanaian economy. Listen as we explore missions, theology, and practice to help senders and goers alike. 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. A second reason for the poor education of the mission schools was that in many cases the teachers in mission schools were unqualified as teachers, but were instead preachers by training. Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. The original Yaba College in Lagos has grown into a polytechnic. "Big things have small beginnings"; so is The Presbyterian Church of Ghana. personal development Christianity in Ghana - Wikipedia In due course leprosariums and orphanages were built to supplement their medical services. DISCLOSURE. 1 (1971): 103-115. Ghana Education Service seeks to create an enabling environment in all educational institutions and management positions that will facilitate effective teaching and learning and efficiency in the management for the attainment of the goals of the Service. Who is Mrs. Konrad in Second Class Citizen? Secondary Schools in the Protectorate started later, following the establishment of Bo Government Secondary School in 1906. Mission societies often expanded into territories before colonial powers did, and providing education only cost them a little more. The effects of work done by Bishop Ajayi Crowther, assisted by the Igbo recaptive the Rev. Mission Statement Other difficulties they 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. However, accustomed to monogamy, few European missionaries were open to such arguments. 11 Missionary College Scholarships You Can Apply For Free resources to assist you with your university studies! Christian converts were indoctrinated to frown upon the use of indigenous first names in favour of Christian ones. Within a short time the missionaries spread their activities inland. In this respect the Christian religion therefore differed from the traditional religions of West Africa, which along with an acceptance of one Supreme Being worshipped a hierarchy of gods. Then lets begin straightaway. endstream endobj startxref Success followed the efforts of the pioneer missionaries. Next, branches of the C.M.S. The original letters from abroad cover West Africa from 1899 to 1933. As happened in parts of Yorubaland in the last century, some of the Christian missionaries often engaged in local politics and took an active part in helping the colonial authorities in their wars of territorial expansion. Within ten years the C.M.S had opened twelve more schools in what is today Cross Rivers State. Andrew Jackson Foster (1925-1987) was an American pioneer of deaf education in several countries in Africa. better grades The people received the message with indifference. Prior to the advent of western education, Ghana's traditional social structures had inbuilt opportunities for mobility. missionaries was the development of literature in Yoruba. 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. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the Moravian Mission, the Mission of Bremen, the Methodists, and Roman Catholic missionaries all established themselves on the Gold Coast (Ghana) between 1820 and 1881, opening elementary schools for boys and girls . In fact in 1966, Father Burke led students to a victory in a national educational contest called the Ghana TV Cup. 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). Christian Missionaries. Some observers have argued that the Europeans used the Christian bible to justify the practice of slavery and the slave trade. African poetry homework help 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). Some early success included the Liberian coast where Afro-Americans and freed slaves were converted. The most momentous discovery in western Africa came in 1471, when Portuguese captains first reached the coast of modern Ghana between the mouths of the Ankobra and Volta rivers. Later that year, in recognition of his service to the Ghanaian people, President John Dramani Mahama bestowed the honor of Officer of the Order of Volta upon him. In 2006, Father Burke was appointed lecturer at the newly founded Catholic University College of Ghana in Sunyani. Schools were deemed important. quiz It also talks about all the mission societies from all denominations engaged in educational works. Ghana in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1886-1951 Although most people are Presbyterians, they can also go to spirit and other cults, mostly Christian and Pentecostal movements, to find cures for disease and lack of success in this world. Their activities had both positive and negative effects on Ghanaian society. It is interesting to note that this project is not a new concept. Instruction in the Colonial School and the Wesleyan Mission schools at Cape Coast Castle was in English despite the fact that Fanti was the language of the native people. 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. 26. After earlier unsuccessful attempts by the missionaries Chretien Proten, Henrick Huckuff and Jacobus Capitein, the Anglican, Rev. 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. History senior high school history cited in Miran 2002:128). Also, the traditional doctors more often than not could not diagnose illness accurately. Required fields are marked *. Besides education, they cared for the sick. It is interesting to note that while in many ways missionaries sought to isolate students from their cultures, missionaries often insisted in teaching in the native languages. Today almost all of the population is Presbyterian, although the ancestral royal cult and many spirit cults still flourish. essay writing Its general scope extends to both Roman Catholic as well as Protestant missionaries in relation to education works. It included the opening up of Africa to forces of change namely commerce (legitimate commerce, i.e. PDF Educational Reforms in Ghana: Past and Present Samuel Adu-Gyamfi1 In 1954, he became the first Deaf African American to earn a bachelor's degree from Gallaudet University, the American university for the Deaf, and the first to earn a master's degree from Eastern Michigan University.He earned a second master's degree from Seattle Pacific Christian . Under the Basel Missions Salem system, converts were separated from the traditional society. Wm. Grammar School for Boys in 1859, St Gregorys College opened by the Catholics in 1876, Methodist Boys High School 1878 and Methodist Girls High School 1879. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. The last two decades have witnessed the emergence of privately owned higher education institutions in Nigeria, including those owned by religious bodies and even by their individual members. further studies The copies of letters received, 1890-1927, mention the plan from 1914 to gain control of future Ashanti Chiefs using education. 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). adult education The early success of the missionaries included areas like Freetown and surrounding villages. As they could not recruit British missionary volunteers initially, the Church Missionary Society sponsored the services of German missionaries, who were Lutherans, to come out to Sierra Leone. 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. The resulting atmosphere of disunity enabled the European colonialists to easily achieve their goal of economic exploitation. 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. The traditions and values of the community, as well as the meaning of life, were taught to the child. However, attending mission schools also meant exposure to colonial indoctrination. They did a lot to impact the social and economic lives of Africans. He told me that that amount of money could pay for school fees for five students in secondary school in Ghana.. But Annor (1989) writes that before Europeans came to colonize Africa, Africans had a way of producing artifacts. The early missionaries set up craft centres as part of their educational programmes. others adopted a system of education varied from one and the other hence, lacking consistency in the educational sector [3]. This made it difficult for the early missionaries to stay in the country for long. 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. But with colonial conquest and antimalarial drugs, they moved further into the continent. In the Gambia, as happened in other territories, the Christian missionaries did not confine their work to the spread of the Gospel alone. The Church had its strongest hold in the Senegambia area. In 1859, the first newspaper in Yoruba, called the Iwe-Irohim, was published by the missionaries. Catholic Higher Education and Mission in Nigeria: The Contributions of Father Burke became director of the Divine Word Language and Cultural Centre in Ghana. Not only did mission education strengthen colonial rule, but it also weakened traditional societies and implemented poor standards of Western education. Rather, it denationalized and facilitated the indignity and loss of cultural identity of the Ghanaian. 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. The Christian Connector is a great resource for Christians and aspiring ministry leaders and missionaries to apply for scholarships. For instance, in Ghana, it was in 1858 that Rev. In 1858 the Rev. According to the Head of the Methodist Church in Ghana, Mmofraturo was established in Kumasi, 'when it dawned on the early Wesleyan Missionaries that when the girl child was educated, she could grow up to face the challenges of the fast-changing world. The Society of the Divine Word is the world's largest Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers who focus on missionary work. Discipleship and leadership development are needed in order to support local churches and their growth in Ghana. Similar developments were carried out by the missionaries in other Nigerian languages, Efik, Kanuri, Igbo, etc. Johann Christaller produced a similar work in Twi. 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 study simply offers systematic, long-term evidence of it. An attempt to respond to this question informs the underlying interest for this paper, namely, to explore the extent to which these institutions, especially . The Christian religion teaches the doctrine of one supreme God and is opposed to the worship of any other forms of deity. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. All work is written to order. 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. The Methodists, known as the Wesleyan Missionaries (after their founder), arrived in Freetown in 1811. Another difficulty that the early missionaries faced in the spread of Christianity was insufficient Christian literature at that time. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. They constitute the benefits that the missionaries brought to Africa as a whole. In traditionally monogamous societies, primary school completion increased by about eight percent, but only four percent in polygamous societies. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. The others included the Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African peoples. Role of Missionaries in Colonial African Education - UKEssays.com Christianity in northern Nigeria. Request Permissions. These missions significantly influenced the systematic educational development in the Gold Coast. They were to spread the message of the Gospel, render social services to the people and to assist in the suppression of slavery and the slave trade. 503 0 obj <> endobj Therefore, whether through their rigid educational polices or lack thereof, colonial governments contributed to the poor education, though there is no denying that missionaries also contributed to the quality of education to a great extent. The foreign exchange earnings helped to develop Ghanas infrastructure. The third, St Nicholas Grammar School (now Adisadel College), was founded by the Anglican Church in 1910. This box contains: the correspondence of Bishop See thematic groupings of our digital collections, See all of our digital collections in one place, Ghana in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1886-1951, Copies of letters received, 1890-1927; West Africa, vol. Asuikante Gabriella Atengdem - Senior Research Assistant - University Among other things the regulations required that all teachers should be registered, and a minimum salary was fixed. All the three secondary schools in Cape Coast were mission institutions. In this essay on the impact of Christian missionary activities on Ghanaian society, we shall examine the role of the missionaries in the development of Ghana and the rest of Africa. They include Sierra Leone 1900-1933; Ghana 1903; Cape Verde 1904-1910; and St Vincent 1907-1912. Longman Publishing Group, 1980. 4; img 109. As one Eritrean student remarks, Our sisters [the Italian Sisters] would have undoubtedly taught better and more, but the Italian government in the colony did not permit Eritreans to get good instruction (T.T. To their minds, Africans were too backward and needed help to become more civilized. One Liberian student recalls that we were taught to dress properly, to eat properly, to speak properly. 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. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Being able to speak and write in the colonisers language was considered a privilege. It is important for several reasons.