Some observers have argued that the Europeans used the Christian bible to justify the practice of slavery and the slave trade. Christianity reborn: the global expansion of evangelicalism in the twentieth century. The Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican missions all made a major contribution to education in Ghana and Africa as a whole. The first missionaries to come to Ghana were the Roman Catholic missionaries in the 15th century and the Anglican missionaries. For instance the scholar E.A. Further, the missionaries introduced improved methods of farming together with modern farm implements. Before 1925, there were only three secondary schools and three teacher training colleges in Ghana. 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. For instance, on 2nd October 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society was formed followed by the interdenominational London Missionary Society which was established in 1795. 522 0 obj <>stream This allowed me to estimate the impact of mission schooling directly. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. Contribution of Christian Missionaries in Ghana, Reasons Why Christian Missionaries Came to Africa, Discontinuation of Outmoded Cultural Practices, Negative Effects of Missionary Activities, Negative Impact on Traditional Authorities, Limited Support for The Production of Local Food Crops. In an ironic twist, the more Africans became versed in the Bible, the more they began to challenge missionaries. 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. They had to speak through few interpreters who did not have sufficient education to interpret correctly. Edward Berman notes that contemporary critics of the missionaries felt that missionaries were more interested in increasing enrolments in their respective churches than in pooling their resources for the benefit of African education (Berman 1974:533). Johannes Zimmermann wrote a grammar of the Ga language and translated the entire Bible and a Bible history into Ga. Then in 1874, the Rev. crs questions and anwers The traditions and values of the community, as well as the meaning of life, were taught to the child. Their records from World War One show their distance from the war and yet that it did affect their decisions. 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. 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. Schools were deemed important. 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. 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. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. It is simply one of the gross evils of heathen society which, like habitual murder or slavery, must at all costs be ended. Arnold, 1986. Etherington, Norman. Get full access to all 9,566 pages that make up the Ghana in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1886-1951 collection. 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). which were for females (Graham, 1971). As long as the Africans could read the Bible, the missionaries were satisfied that they had had enough academic education. Properly meant by Anglo-Saxon standards. Mission schools were popular because of the new skills and opportunities they offered. 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. Although it can be said that Christian missionaries benefitted Africans by bringing in the more advanced Western education to the European colonies in Africa, it is believed that the mission schools in fact had a negative impact on the native peoples. In the 19thh century, too, Afro-Brazilians returned to Benin and Nigeria with Catholicism. While the protestant evangelical movements were gaining ground in West Africa, similar movements were being promoted by the Roman Catholic Church in Europe. Hope Waddell started pioneering work, in 1846, in Calabar. They constitute the benefits that the missionaries brought to Africa as a whole. Longman Nigeria Plc., 1994, Boahen, A.A. et al Tropics in West Africa History. Thus, as early as 1823, the Roman Catholic sisters started a clinic for the sick and for children in Banjul. 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. hR]0+^$%K{_"/HevgV+bH6L %)`\ #\E*63Z_TsxlRZj:[/\IL-1b-i Father Burke, whose students included Father Tetteh and Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle of Accra, arrived in Ghana, West Africa, in 1963, only four years after the country gained independence from Great Britain. All rights reserved. These attempts were traumatic for the students and threatened the survival of unique cultures. However, the motivation behind teaching Africans basic literacy and mathematics might not have been a cause for concern if not for the fact that the religious motivation curtailed education. He was followed, three years afterwards, by the Rev. Copyright 2003 - 2023 - UKEssays is a trading name of Business Bliss Consultants FZE, a company registered in United Arab Emirates. They provided missionaries a way to spread Eurocentric norms and attract new converts. By 1885, the church had spread further inland, thanks to Father Joseph Lutz who started work around Onitsha in 1886 and spread the gospel in many parts of the present day Imo and Anambra States. Although modern scientific research has confirmed the medicinal properties of these concoctions, traditional medical practice had several shortcomings. John G. Christaller (described as the Father of Twi Literature) produced a Twi grammar and dictionary, a collection of Twi proverbs, a Twi translation of the Bible as well as prayers and hymns. The others included the Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African peoples. The Church had its strongest hold in the Senegambia area. It was difficult for the European missionaries to communicate freely with the local people. 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. Specifically, it addresses the unique role of Christian missions in. In Sierra Leone, the Church Missionary Society (CMS), offshoot of the Anglican Church, was the first to become firmly established chiefly among the freed captive and freed slave settlers from Britain, Nova Scotia and other parts of the New World. They discovered that the holy book did not clearly prescribe monogamy, and contained several examples of renowned Christian polygamists. 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. While it has brought undoubted benefits, it has also harmed the traditional way of life. English for life While the Evangelical Presbyterian missionaries were the First to develop literature in Ewe, the Roman Catholics were responsible for Nzima literature. The Journal of Negro Education, 2019 Burns & Oates, 1979. To put it differently, the motive was to gain acceptance in the sight of God so that after death they would be judged kindly by the heavenly father. The CMS began to work in the freed slave villages in Sierra Leone in 1804 and the Methodist in 1811. If a government fails to regulate schools at all, they have no right to complain that the education in their colony is poor. In addition, the contributions of celebrity missionaries, such as Christian Schwartz, William Carey, Alexander Duff, and James . Through hard work and persuasion she succeeded in stopping the practice among the people of killing twins. By focusing on the African demand for education, I showed that Africans were not just passive recipients of mission schooling. However, the discovery of quinine and other curative medicines in the late 19th century made the history of the missionary work in West Africa a different thing altogether. He worked zealously as an evangelist and schoolmaster in the Castle School until his death in 1816. T. Nelson. Christian Religious Studies The pastors of the Church Missionary Society, from Badagry and later from Sierra Leone, visited these Christian communities in Abeokuta and other towns. We must not lose sight of the fact that the colonial government in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa relied on the activities of the missionaries to help them achieve the objectives of colonial rule. endstream endobj 504 0 obj <>>>/Lang(en)/MarkInfo<>/Metadata 55 0 R/Outlines 135 0 R/Pages 498 0 R/StructTreeRoot 142 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences<>>> endobj 505 0 obj <>/MediaBox[0 0 612 792]/Parent 499 0 R/Resources<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> endobj 506 0 obj <>stream Two other training colleges opened by the missionaries, in the early days, were the Wesley College in Kumasi (1922) and the Roman Catholic Training College at Amisano, near Elmina (1931) which in 1936 moved to the campus of the newly founded secondary school, St Augustines College at Cape Coast. 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. It was not until 1909 that the government opened a teacher training college and a technical school in Accra. In 2011 at age 77, he retired from teaching and returned to the United States. 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. 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. Prior to the advent of western education, Ghana's traditional social structures had inbuilt opportunities for mobility. His immigrant Irish-born parents instilled faith and a firm work ethic in their sons. quiz The contents of this tutorial will serve as a guide for a suitable essay on the below WAEC/WASSCE History past question. Request Permissions. Important among these, all in Lagos, were the Baptist Academy in 1855, the C.M.S. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. The story of the planting of Christianity in Nigeria would be incomplete without a mention of the Italian Roman Catholic priest, Father Berghero. Moreover, the Islamic religion was also being introduced to the southern section of the country by Muslim immigrants from the north of the colony. Hugh Goldie and William Anderson. They relied very much on their home churches for their funds. They therefore set about to achieve this through introduction of formal education among the Batswana people. 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. J. G. Christaller produced a Twi Grammar and Dictionary. 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. Email: henrydonsco@gmail.com This thesis discusses and assesses contribution of Christian Missionaries to education in Meru from 1908 to 1963. Their activities had both positive and negative effects on Ghanaian society. 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 [] Within ten years the C.M.S had opened twelve more schools in what is today Cross Rivers State. 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. Waterville Pub. 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. Founded in 1875 by St. Arnold Janssen, we number more than 6,000 missionaries. PROBLEMS FACED BY THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. In fact, most of the norms opposed by missionaries concerned gender relationships. For instance, in the Salisbury region of Rhodesia, it was reported in 1924 that no male teachers had educational qualifications (Bone 1969:28). The work of the Basel Missionary Society was taken over with the consent of the Basel Mission Home Board by the United Free Church of Scotland whose ecclesiastical organization was Presbyterian. They were closed down in 1852 in favour of schools opened in Lagos which, in 1851, had one time British control. Although Lokoja had a small C.M.S. He was very simple in dress and in the use of modern technology, Father Tetteh said. ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. 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. Vol. Among the first missionaries was the Rev. I will earn a commission if you follow a link to purchase a product. This decreased the zeal with which people began to accept the Gospel leading to nominal Christianity. 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. 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