Other Roman Catholic hospitals were built in all the nine regions of the country; including those at Asikuma and Foso (Central Region), Akyem Swedru (Eastern Region), Berekum (BrongAhafo), Maase (Asante Region) and Anfoega (Volta Region). ]v#5%{,%Y{iKsZ|Cm7NismGmg_zxKYh?>bQ?ni8G.wx:qAm$ eb!^Kr$,.9Qq^|1. The story of the planting of Christianity in Nigeria would be incomplete without a mention of the Italian Roman Catholic priest, Father Berghero. The achievement of the purpose of these Christian Missions came with some costs. Evans Brothers, Ltd. London. Debrunner, Hans Werner. Among these were the Congregation of the Holy Ghost (commonly known as the Holy Ghost Father), the Society of African Missions (SMA), the Society of Missionaries of Africa, popularly known as the White Fathers because of the white Muslim-like clothing which the Fathers wore, and the society of the Divine Word (SVD, abbreviated from its Latin name). Another important missionary doctor was J. R. Stephen who for many years headed a missionary hospital at Ilesha. Furthermore, mission schools discouraged traditional ways of life outside of the classroom. In Ghana the Presbyterians were pioneers in reducing Ga and Twi into writing. 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. Thus, because of the motive of proselytization, unqualified teachers, and inter-denominational rivalry, missions frequently provided poor education. Andrew Jackson Foster (1925-1987) was an American pioneer of deaf education in several countries in Africa. PROBLEMS FACED BY THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. Vol. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. 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. English A special memorial Mass was celebrated at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra, Ghana, on Oct. 9. Ghana sits on West Africas coastline along the Gulf of Guinea, bordered by the Ivory Coast and Togo to the west and east and Burkina Faso to the north. During the first half of the 19th century they targeted healthier places, with relatively lower malaria-risk, where European missionaries could survive and train local African missionaries and teachers (Jedwab et al. Success followed the efforts of the pioneer missionaries. A history of Christianity in Africa: From antiquity to the present. Similar organizations were formed in several other European countries. An Alumnus of the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, a Journalist, Author and a Philanthropist. Third, rivalry between the various Christian denominations also contributed to the poor standards of education. 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 . 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). senior high school history In 2011 at age 77, he retired from teaching and returned to the United States. We've received widespread press coverage since 2003, Your UKEssays purchase is secure and we're rated 4.4/5 on reviews.co.uk. Without denying that prior to the introduction of Christianity in West Africa the people had developed their own crafts, one must admit that it was Christian missionaries who introduced modern forms of crafts such as carpentry and masonry. Let's look in-depth into these scholarships. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. Specifically, it addresses the unique role of Christian missions in. All work is written to order. The missionary and colonial education aimed at character training and civilization resulted in cultural annihilation and religious, and linguistic hegemony. Prominent among the early Christian missionaries to come to the Gold Coast (Ghana) were the Roman Catholic, Methodist, Basel, Bremen and Anglican missions. bible knowledge 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. For three years, he taught English and biblical ethics. Within ten years the C.M.S had opened twelve more schools in what is today Cross Rivers State. One of them, Philip Quaque, returned in 1765 as an ordained priest. The Committee for Women's Work was responsible for the education of native girls. 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. African prose 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. In December 1868 he went with his wife and child to Anum in the present-day Volta Region of Ghana. 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.. Support earthquake relief and outreach efforts, biblical foundation for the next generation of believers. 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. Establishment of Christian Churches In The Gambia. At the time of its inception, however, there was no publication that systematically or comprehensively addressed the enormous problems that characterized the education of Blacks in the United States and elsewhere. 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. Moreover, mission education formed a poor foundation for future educational conditions in the former colonies. Although modern scientific research has confirmed the medicinal properties of these concoctions, traditional medical practice had several shortcomings. The effects of work done by Bishop Ajayi Crowther, assisted by the Igbo recaptive the Rev. The Essay Writing ExpertsUK Essay Experts. In 1902 the Methodists opened a clinic at Igbo-Ora. C.M.S. His viewing and wake service took place on Sept. 26 at the chapel in the Divine Word Residence at Techny. The Wesleyan and Basel missionaries established schools in Cape Coast, Accra . Teacher training colleges in Ghana did not expand as fast as the secondary schools. senior high school crs Last, missionaries provided a very poor education, causing their students to be ill-equipped for social or material success, as they believed education to simply be a means for proselytization, were unqualified teachers, and allowed inter-denominational rivalries to interfere. It also talks about all the mission societies from all denominations engaged in educational works. Moreover, speaking through interpreters is a defective means of communicating ones thoughts to ones audience. Missionaries travelled through dense evergreen forests, crossed rivers and climbed mountains to bring the Gospel to as many Ghanaians as they could. This study simply offers systematic, long-term evidence of it. From simple essay plans, through to full dissertations, you can guarantee we have a service perfectly matched to your needs. In the case of Ghana, like other nations, the impact . The early Christian missions concentrated their activities not only on religious matters. 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. Among the Christian missionaries that came to the Gold Coast (Ghana) were the following. The missionaries seemed to have concentrated much of their effort on the production of export crops. For instance, in Nigeria, one of the first groups of missionaries to introduce organised medical services were the Roman Catholics. Etherington, Norman. This research was funded by the European Research Council. As Ayandele points out (1966:285), the ideal of many of the missions was to make their converts live literally as the unlearned and ignorant apostles of old. This ideal, combined with the fact that many missionaries discovered that Africans with only basic education were best at spreading the Gospel, meant that missionaries were reluctant to provide higher primary or secondary education (Ayandele 1966:286). They worked to write the bible, dictionaries and textbooks in such Ghanaian Languages as Ewe, Fanti, Ga and Twi. station in 1858, it was not until 1889 that the missionaries entered Hausaland, which was predominantly Muslim. Secondary Schools in the Protectorate started later, following the establishment of Bo Government Secondary School in 1906. Another contribution of missionaries to the development of Ghana was their pioneering role in writing many local languages. 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. Kalu, Ogbu. Called the Iwe-Irohim, was published by the missionaries. What would have happened if missionaries had not insisted on monogamy? student life ABWE is also at work in countries that restrict evangelism. 0 These missionary societies laid the foundations of the Roman Catholic Church in West Africa, which lasted through to the independence period when African clergy replaced the white pastors. ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. Learn how your comment data is processed. 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. For this reason, missionaries believed they were doing their students a favour by discouraging traditional practices and promoting Western ones. 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. Their educational activities helped spread literacy and vocational skills training among Ghanaians. further studies 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 Then share it on your favourite social media platform for the benefit of others you care about. 2023 Society of the Divine Word. 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. hbbd```b``vd d"e ] DrI`5 d"(/ 522 0 obj <>stream education was an important means for mission evangelization. In 1858 the Rev. In regions where a denomination felt threatened by another denomination, the denominations were more likely to establish more schools in an attempt to gain more converts than their rival, while in regions such as northern Nigeria, where colonial policy prevented too much rivalry, schools were scarce (Bassey 1991:45). There were only bush paths, and no roads in the early times. Human Zoos: Untold History of Suppression, The Legend of King Ulu (Ancient Thai Folklore), The Kingdom of Saud of The Arabs (Saudi Arabia), The Wesley Brothers of Oxford University (1700s), Razia Sultan of Medieval India (786 Years Ago), The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (The Revelation), Education in Africa: The Impact of Colonialism, Why The Legendary Geneva Bible was Banned. In the Western Region, the Catholic Sisters running a hospital at Eikwe specialized in maternity cases, and like Slessor in Nigeria succeeded in stamping out the practice of killing twins at birth. Besides education, they cared for the sick. essay writing The American Episcopal Evangelical (A.M.E.) Zion Church owes its foundation in Ghana to Bishop J. Bryan Small, who started work first at Keta in 1898. An attempt to respond to this question informs the underlying interest for this paper, namely, to explore the extent to which these institutions, especially . They provided missionaries a way to spread Eurocentric norms and attract new converts. Church history, history of Christianity, religious history: some reflections on British missionary enterprise since the late eighteenth century. Church History 71, no. Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century, informal education existed in Ghana with the goal of introducing young people into the society. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. Christianity reborn: the global expansion of evangelicalism in the twentieth century. Foremost in the contribution of the early Christian missionaries to the development of Ghana is their efforts to bring Western education to Ghanaians. First, I looked at how educational outcomes depended on the distance to historical missions. These contradictions are surprisingly absent from contemporary research. In Ghana the Presbyterians were pioneers in reducing Ga and Twi into . However, as Jonathan Miran (2002) argues in his work on the roles of missionaries and the Italian state in Eritrean education, missionaries should not be held solely accountable for the poor standards of education. missionaries was the development of literature in Yoruba. It also plays an important role in organization of inheritances within matrilineal houses and thus exerts influence from a legal point of view. The first missionaries to come to Ghana were the Roman Catholic missionaries in the 15th century and the Anglican missionaries. Lastly, the missionaries were not used to eating our local foods. The Basel Mission. His request to the Danish Crown for missionaries was forwarded to . Being ignorant of the significance of certain institutions and practices of the people of West Africa, and occasionally being misled by their over-zealous followings into wrongly interpreting the peoples heritage, the missionaries compelled pupils in their schools and docile adult converts to shun their own ancestral practices. The anti-slavery issue and the humanitarian conscience also played a vital role in stimulating European interest in Africa and gave an impetus to mission work. 2006 - 2023 Microform Academic Publishers | Microform Academic Publishers is a division of Microform Imaging Limited (Company registered in England no. Already have a license? Development of Education in Sierra Leone. In this chapter, we shall examine how Christianity and Western-style education influenced West Africans values, attitudes and life-styles. In short, it was a very successful mission in making us little black Anglo-Saxon Protestants. S.J. opened was the Christian Institute, established in 1814 for the training of teachers, catechists and priests. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in the name of Father Burke can be made for the care of elderly and infirm missionaries and sent to The Rector, Divine Word Residence, 1901 Waukegan Road, P.O. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. Some progressive Europeans, like the first principal of Achimota College, Rev. Thomas Thompson, arrived in Cape Coast in 1752. Similar developments were carried out by the missionaries in other Nigerian languages, Efik, Kanuri, Igbo, etc. The tropical climatic condition in the country was not favourable to the early missionaries who came to the shores of West Africa. Instead of adapting the teachings and practices of the new religion to suit indigenous values, as it did when the same Christian religion adopted Greek, Roman, German and Anglo-Saxon native practices, the early Christian missionaries condemned totally as pagan, and to be avoided by their converts, whatever they considered strange. Among other things the regulations required that all teachers should be registered, and a minimum salary was fixed. Hildebrandt, Jonathan. Within a short time the missionaries spread their activities inland. Even if secondary education was provided, it was often reserved for the sons of local chiefs (Oliver 1952:212; Beck 1966: 120), an elite the colonial government could then call upon to help rule the colony, a common practice in colonial Africa. In fact, the Christian missionaries encouraged Ghanaians to reject African names and choose Christian names instead. Other missionaries opened mission stations in the country. They impressed it upon their converts not to have anything to do with these traditional practices. Hope Waddell of the Church of Scotland had opened a school at Duke Town, Calabar. Thus, as early as 1823, the Roman Catholic sisters started a clinic for the sick and for children in Banjul. non-slave trade), Christianity, Civilization and Colonization. Please click this link to download the chapter. The Christian Connector is a great resource for Christians and aspiring ministry leaders and missionaries to apply for scholarships. Literature 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 . Containing 9,566 pages belonging to 77 documents housed in 6 volumes As outlined in the short history entitled. THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES AND VERNACULAR LITERATURE; Another valuable contribution of the Christian missionaries in West Africa was the development of literature in the local vernaculars, this included the translation of the Bible into some of the important local languages. However, accustomed to monogamy, few European missionaries were open to such arguments. The expansion of the missionary movement into Africa was part of the growing conception of Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African peoples. 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). 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. In the days of Portuguese contacts with Nigeria, Catholic priests had established missionary stations in Benin and the neighbourhood. 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. Mission Statement The First Missionaries were sent as a result of a request by Major de Richelieu, Governor of Christiansborg. 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. In such situations, the message sometimes appealed to the local people depending on the efficiency of the interpreter. It included the opening up of Africa to forces of change namely commerce (legitimate commerce, i.e. The missionary impact on education would have far-reaching consequences, as their creation of a weak basis of education would slow down the political and educational development of many former colonies in Africa. Above, we have described the role that trading companies, missionaries, and the government played for the spread of Western education in the coastal areas from the late sixteenth century onwards. For example, they made our people view polygamy and puberty rites as pagan practices. mock tests The role of the Christian missionaries in Ghana and West Africa was not limited to the education and agricultural sectors alone. They were followed by other major missionary bodies, including the Methodists and the Roman Catholics. In conclusion, the converts tended to look down upon many things in their ancestral culture. The pastors of the Church Missionary Society, from Badagry and later from Sierra Leone, visited these Christian communities in Abeokuta and other towns. Public money was spent only on the small number of government schools, totaling nineteen when Governor Guggisberg assumed office in 1919. 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. For instance the scholar E.A. He had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Request Permissions. Up to Guggisbergs time, the church schools did not receive grants from the government. 2 Longman Group Ltd. London 1974, Ampadu B.K Notes on History of Ghana for Senior High Schools. In conclusion, the educational enterprise of the Christian missionaries in the British and Italian colonies of Africa during the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries was primarily negative for the African pupils. 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. Senior High School Literature The Basel and Methodist Missions, for example, introduced scientific agriculture in Ghana. For instance, in southern Nigeria, the CMS policy was to teach in the vernacular at the primary level, while the Roman Catholic Missions policy was to teach in English (Bassey 1991:42). Registered office: Creative Tower, Fujairah, PO Box 4422, UAE. Thank you! Another important Catholic missionary in this area was the Irishman, Bishop Shanahan. Again, in West-Africa, the efforts to go beyond the coast to reach those inland with the gospel coincided with the southwards expansion of Islam which posed some threat to the expansion of the work of Christian evangelizing missions. Ekechi, Felix K. Colonialism and Christianity in West Africa: The Igbo Case, 19001915. The Journal of African History 12, no. They include Sierra Leone 1900-1933; Ghana 1903; Cape Verde 1904-1910; and St Vincent 1907-1912. One of the missions most important contributions to the colonial regimes was their role in educating the native Africans. In 2006, Father Burke was appointed lecturer at the newly founded Catholic University College of Ghana in Sunyani. 2236624), The beginning of Africanisation : the dawn of the missionary motive in Gold Coast education, Early colonial and missionary records from West Africa, West Indies material in the archives of the USPG, 1710-1950. The contents of this tutorial will serve as a guide for a suitable essay on the below WAEC/WASSCE History past question. 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. Hilliard, F.H., 1957. I will earn a commission if you follow a link to purchase a product. To apply, students simply fill out a quick form. In spite of all this, with the advent of the First World War in 1914 in the Kwaku District there were 21 congregations with a total of over 2500 members. Some observers have argued that the Europeans used the Christian bible to justify the practice of slavery and the slave trade. 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 early African converts to Christianity, were made to abandon their ancestral culture and way of life as pagan therefore to be shunned. Operational Christianity started 267 Years ago. Hugh Goldie and William Anderson. They also prescribed many taboos which, in the light of modern medical science, had no relation whatever with the illness being treated. Longman Publishing Group, 1980. Box 6000, Techny, IL 60082-6000. 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. Although there were many disagreements between European missionaries and African populations, antagonising polygamy is probably the best-documented norm conflict. 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). Wed love to get to know you and discuss how God is calling you. Some of the missionaries came with them (549 years ago) but many died from the cruel tropical weather of forested West Africa. In many instances, they made their converts rebel against traditional rulers and other spiritual leaders. Its general scope extends to both Roman Catholic as well as Protestant missionaries in relation to education works. His work, however, did not extend much beyond Cape Coast and the neighbouring area. Shaw, Mark. Required fields are marked *. 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. Christian missionaries were the first to introduce European-style education in sub-Saharan Africa. He knew me as a boy [in Ghana] who washed his car and went with him when he said Mass at mission stations, yet [as an adult] he treated me as an equal, Father Tetteh said. endstream endobj startxref Bamgboye & Company Press, 1976. 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). This Western education imparted to the Ameru by the Church of Scotland Missionaries, Consolata . 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. churches were firmly established in several important towns, such as Abeokuta (1846), Lagos (1851), Ibadan (1853), and Oyo (1856). The struggle over polygamy is well-known to historians and anthropologists. The positive contribution of Christian missionaries in Ghana can be felt in such areas as education, local language development, stoppage of outmoded cultural practices, agriculture and commerce. This hymn sums up the reasons why the Christian missionaries came to Africa and other parts of the world. They relied very much on their home churches for their funds. The work of the missionaries also had little success initially. 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. Its message was that of love and the universal brotherhood of mankind. 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 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. Ghana continued to call. Box 2 of the papers relating to the Society's activities in West Africa. The missionary activities in Nigeria, especially their educational programs helped to whip-up the consciousness of a shared identity and helped to train a new set of elite that championed the course of nationalism and constituted a virile leadership for the young nation at independence.Click to see full answer What is missionary education?A mission school or [] Are you ready to discover the points for an essay on the contribution of the Christian mission to the social and economic development of Ghana? Textbooks were heavily biased towards western ideas and values. About the same time, the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) headed by the Rev. Some earlier scholarship on mission education has taken this as a positive impact of the missionaries. Father Jean Marie Coquard, operating in and from Abeokuta for forty years, was renowned among the Egba as a priest and surgeon in the second half of the nineteenth century. In traditionally monogamous societies, primary school completion increased by about eight percent, but only four percent in polygamous societies. Study for free with our range of university lectures!