How many missionaries are in africa

Browse a list of all locations. ABWE is also at work in countries that restrict evangelism. Learn about limited access. Latin America. North America. Continue browsing. Your basket is empty. Browse missionaries and projects. Step 1 of 2. In it grew into Fourah Bay College. In the college became associated with Durham University in England, which awarded degrees to students of the college.

This special relationship continued until 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 In the C.

Secondary Schools in the Protectorate started later, following the establishment of Bo Government Secondary School in In 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. 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.

Public money was spent only on the small number of government schools, totaling nineteen when Governor Guggisberg assumed office in In the Governor introduced measures which helped the efforts of the missionaries. Among other things the regulations required that all teachers should be registered, and a minimum salary was fixed.

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.

Before , there were only three secondary schools and three teacher training colleges in Ghana. All the three secondary schools in Cape Coast were mission institutions.

Two important private schools with strong Christian influence must also be mentioned: Accra High School, founded in and Accra Academy, established in Teacher training colleges in Ghana did not expand as fast as the secondary schools. Nevertheless, the first higher institution in Ghana, now the Presbyterian Training College at Akuapem Akropon, was established in , first as a centre for training catechists, and later to train teachers as well as ministers of the Presbyterian Church.

In ten years after the founding of the first college, the Presbyterians opened a sister college at Aburi for the training of women teachers. It was not until that the government opened a teacher training college and a technical school in Accra.

The training college later became part of Achimota College. The first school in Nigeria was started by the Methodist missionaries at Badagry in This was the work of the great missionary, Thomas Birch Freeman, who placed two missionaries, Mr and Mrs.

Soon after the Methodist experiment, the church Missionary Society set up their own school at Badagry. These pioneer mission schools met with a discouraging response. They were closed down in in favour of schools opened in Lagos which, in , had one time British control.

Earlier in , the Rev. Within ten years the C. S had opened twelve more schools in what is today Cross Rivers State. By the close of the nineteenth century the major Christian missionary churches had opened elementary schools in many part of southern Nigeria with an enrolment of about 74, by the First World War. Soon after the start of elementary schools, the missionaries started opening higher institutions also.

Important among these, all in Lagos, were the Baptist Academy in , the C. Soon after secondary schools were opened in other parts of southern Nigeria, including Bonny High School, which was taken over by government in Following agitation by the people in , the government opened the old Yaba Higher College and Medical School, which awarded diplomas acceptable only locally.

This instruction in developed into the University College in Ibadan. The original Yaba College in Lagos has grown into a polytechnic. Predominantly Muslim territory, the North received western education later than the South.

By there were barely thirty schools in that vast area. As happened in Ghana, the development of training colleges in Nigeria was slower than secondary schools, though the C.

In the Gambia, as happened in other territories, the Christian missionaries did not confine their work to the spread of the Gospel alone. Thus as early as , the Roman Catholic Sisters started a clinic for the sick and for children in Banjul. The churches opened primary schools both in the capital and in the rural communities.

Their greatest legacy in the field of education was the foundation which the Methodist laid for what is today the Gambia High school. 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.

The tropical climatic condition in the country was not favourable to the early missionaries who came to the shores of 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.

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. For the West Africans, the acceptance of Christianity meant the total rejection of most of the cherished institutions upon which their society rested.

The problems created by the white missionaries themselves arose largely from a misconception of what Africa represented. And yet this was what earlier missionaries in pagan Europe had done when, for example, they had changed the Sabbath to suit the pagan Sun Day hence Sunday , and had also adopted the dates of the pagan festivals to celebrate Christmas Day and the Easter festival.

Indeed, in some situations the converts were taught to feel that they were absolved from obeying their own traditional rulers and certain laws of the state. These trends occasionally brought kings into conflict with the missionaries and their converts. The greatest problem faced by the early European Christian missionaries was, the tropical climate and health Hazards. Many missionaries died because of the climate and tropical disease.

This single problem made the missionary work very difficult. However, the discovery of quinine and other curative medicines in the late 19 th century made the history of the missionary work in West Africa a different thing altogether.

Almost all the missions in West Africa faced financial problems in the early stages of their missionary work. They relied very much on their home churches for their funds. But the funds and other needed materials even when available could not reach their station in time. This was because all the ships that came to the coast at that time were owned by trading firms and companies whose interest were basically on trade.

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. 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.

It was difficult for the European missionaries to communicate freely with the local people. They had to speak through few interpreters who did not have sufficient education to interpret correctly. In such situations, the message sometimes appealed to the local people depending on the efficiency of the interpreter.

Lack of transport from the coast to the interior parts of West Africa was one of the major difficulties encountered by the missionaries. There were only bush paths, and no roads in the early times. Their luggage and other necessities had to be carried on heads and took a long time before reaching the missionaries.

Besides, the missionaries had to travel longer distances to inland towns from their southern stations. Another difficulty that the early missionaries faced in the spread of Christianity was insufficient Christian literature at that time.

There were no Bibles in local languages, likewise grammar books were scant, so the missionaries had to spend time learning local languages, and translated the Bible and wrote series of grammar books. For instance, in Ghana, it was in that Rev.

Johannes Zimmermann wrote a grammar of the Ga language and translated the entire Bible and a Bible history into Ga. Then in , the Rev. John G. In , the first newspaper in Yoruba. Called the Iwe-Irohim, was published by the missionaries. Lastly, the missionaries were not used to eating our local foods. This made it difficult for the early missionaries to stay in the country for long. However, with time, they brought some crops, which they cultivated and which sustained them.

As an institution introduced by agents with radically different values, the Christian religion damaged the culture and traditional beliefs of the people of West Africa. 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. And yet the Asafo provided most of the services which a community needed: protection against military attacks, communal services, etc.

Often drumming and the harmless songs and dances of the people were condemned. The education provided in schools in early days also tended to place great emphasis on the superiority of western culture. Textbooks were heavily biased towards western ideas and values. 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.

In conclusion, the converts tended to look down upon many things in their ancestral culture. It would be wrong, however, to blame all these ills on the Christian missionaries alone. Some progressive Europeans, like the first principal of Achimota College, Rev. Frazer, did much to encourage the promotion of indigenous culture, but by and large the colonial authorities contributed to dwindling a good deal of our cultural heritage.

Boahen, A. Longman Group Ltd. London and Basingstoke, Fynn , J. K and R. Addo-Fening History for Senior Secondary schools. Evans Brothers, Ltd. Isichei, Elizabeth. In This Issue. World Newspaper Archive — African Newspapers. On Using the World Newspaper Archive.

Ariel Marcus. Research Assistant, Center for Research Libraries. Church Missionary Society Archive. Section VII. Edwin C. Bishop Hannington, a Missionary Hero. William G. Berry ? Charles D. Sophia Blanche Lyon Fahs International Aspects of Missionary Work Missionary work in Africa operated alongside the economic and political colonization of the continent.

Matthias Hallfell Bishop Hannington was among several missionaries killed during service in Africa.