The Whisper That Echoes Through Africa

by Shirley Nyasha

  Ephesians 6:7-8 (ESV)

  7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.

  When our love for lost nations, tribes and people is deep and constant our reward will be eternal. This is the love of Jesus reaching out, and mediated through Christians by the Holy Spirit. Unless we feel the magnificence of Christ, we will not be able to fully rise to the magnificence of the missionary call; and we will not have the passion to draw others to experience His magnificence. This can only flow from a life that is fully abandoned to God, when we live a life in His presence at all times – be it times of worship, intercession, feeding on His word, desiring more of Him, desiring to know Him and seeking His face.

  Romans 8:35-39 (ESV)

  35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."

  Africa’s Destiny – World Missions

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  "God has huge plans for the world today! He is not content to merely establish a handful of struggling churches among each tongue, tribe and nation. Even now He is preparing and empowering His Church to carry the seeds of revival to the uttermost ends of the earth."

  - David Smithers

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  The last two hundred years witnessed great advances in mission work, which changed every area of society. The first era was on the ‘Coastlands’ (1793) pioneered by William Carey. The second era was the ‘inland’ 1854 pioneered by Hudson Taylor. The third era involved ‘Hidden People’ (1935) with Cameron Townsend and Donald McGavran. We are now in the fourth wave, ‘The Two Thirds Missions’ and this is where we come in as Africa - where we begin to fulfil our God-given destiny as a continent. Are we fulfilling our destiny as a continent? The answer is Yes and No. We are beginning to see a wave of African missionaries raising up and going to the nations. We have Zimbabwean missionaries in India, Zambians in Senegal and Thailand, South Africans in Turkey and China to mention but a few. Very few of the African missionaries have the full support of their churches.

  We still need to engage more into our inheritance. Psalm 2: 8 says ‘Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance’. The ethno-linguistic peoples of the world are the inheritance of all believers. What is your ethno-linguistic people group that you can name and say: “This people group is my inheritance”? There are about 6,947 peoples groups, of which some 2.83 billion people have yet to hear the Gospel; and your inheritance is among one of these groups. Ask God today to give you one of those groups as your inheritance. When you ask, know that it comes with great responsibility and sacrifice.

  Brazil and South Korea are now among the top sending nations in the world. In the same way, Africa can become part of the sending nations as well. Nigeria is coming up with sending missionaries. When missionaries came to Africa, they were intent on spreading the gospel and establishing churches. In their eagerness to spread the Gospel and establishing churches, and seeing the needs of the people, they often did not adequately encourage the churches they planted to send their own missionaries. Thus the picture of a missionary, to the great majority of African Christians, is of those who come from overseas; or at least from another country. That picture is depriving the church in Africa of its inheritance. God does not need us to reach the world, but He wants us to be part of the big plans, He wants us to be co-creating with Him. God has being revealing Himself to Muslims through dreams and visions, and they are becoming followers of Christ. Others, by reading the scriptures, are getting a revelation of God. But God is saying that He wants us to be part of this… part of reaching other nations… part of reaching the vast majority of the unevangelised with the Good News. And the way for them to hear the Good News is for a preacher to be sent to them!

  Romans 10:13-15 (ESV)

  13 For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

  The 10/40 Window: - Part of Africa’s Inheritance amongst the nations.

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  "Brother, if you would enter that Province, you must go forward on your knees."

  - J. Hudson Taylor

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  The success of the coastlands missions later motivated a new generation to reach the interior regions of the continents. This success led to a focus on people groups, most of which are in the 10/40 Window. And most of the people in the 10/40 window have not yet had the opportunity to hear of the Gospel. Not only have hey not heard the gospel. The transforming power of the Gospel has not yet penetrated this area. The 10/40 Window contains three of the world's dominant religious blocs: Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. 2 Corinthians 4:4 "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. This scripture is so true when we think of the people of the 10/40.

  Part 2

  Chapter 4

  The Church and missions in Africa today

  Little information has being recorded of the first African Missionaries. As early as the 19th Century there was a significant move of African Missionaries. The Christian Church in Africa has being enjoying unprecedented growth in the two-thousand-year-old history of Christianity. Statistics show that by 1900 there were approximately eight million Christians (10% of the entire population) in Africa. Over a period of a hundred years this figure has increased dramatically. By 2002, 351 million people (approximately 48% of Africa's population and 60% of the population south of the Sahara) considered themselves to be Christians.

  The modern Church in Africa comprises 15 000 different denominations and groups, of which 13% are Protestant, 10% Independent, 4% Anglican, 15% Roman Catholic and 6% Orthodox Christians. Protestantism is growing fastest (4,2%), with Independent Churches second (3,9%) and the Anglicans third (5,2%). [ii]

  Despite these efforts, at the dawn of the twenty-first century there are still as many as 1 300 tribes in Africa who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Most of them live in North Africa, where Islam is the dominant religion. More than 17 500 Christian missionaries representing 620 different missionary organizations currently work in Africa in an attempt to preach the Gospel to these neglected tribes.

  Thus, Africa has gone from a continent with little of the Gospel message to a continent with the largest number of Christians and church growth. Alongside this Christian growth, there has been steady growth of African missionaries rising up and taking their place in fulfilling the great commission throughout the continent and beyond. In 21st Century, we are seeing a new global trend regarding the role of missionaries. With this trend there is also an undeclared rivalry between western missions and the emerging ones. While the emerging missions are craving for space and visibility in the new things the Lord is doing, with and through His Church globally, the older ones are fighting for relevance and sustenance of the status quo.

  Concerning the ‘research’ aspect of this book, it has been hard to come up with concrete figures for statistics. The figures included in this book are estimates of the data collected from churches, organization and estimates from individuals. It is said that, “Statistics in Africa is always a guessing game.” It is a sad comment, but often too true in the past. Things are slowly improving, though still it is hard to get the necessary information/statistics from churches or organizations.

  Historical Background

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  "It's amazing what can be accomplished if you don't worry about who gets the credit."

  - Clarence W. Jones

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  I want to acknowledge the crucial missionary enterprises of the western church, not only to Africa, but to other countries outside the continent. Africa was once referred to as the ‘‘White Man’s Grave”, and still they did not give up on seeing Africa reached with the Gospel.

  The history of missionaries that came to Africa is with mixed emotions, as it is associated with European colonization and the spread of European civilization. Some of the great missionaries such as Moffat had the philosophy of “Bible and Plough,” which was expanded by Livingstone’s philosophy of “commerce and Christianity.” Mary Slessor insisted on the necessity of trade to raise the African standard of living and make the people suited to Christian ethical standards. The future of Christianity in the eyes of the missionaries depended on European influence and trade – however, a few missionaries did oppose the underlying concepts of imperialism. It was the missionaries, more than any other outside influence who fought against the evils that was brought by colonization and imperialism. Their stand for racial justice often made them despised by the other Europeans. Without the missionaries, many of the crimes of colonization would have gone unchecked.

  When Livingstone first arrived in Cape Town, he was not impressed with the Work of the missionaries, and he sharply criticised their work. The missionaries concentrated in a small area and discouraged indigenous leadership. The missionaries were envious and back-biting, there was lots of division and contention amongst them. The more Livingstone encountered the inhuman slave traffic of the Portuguese and the Arabs, the more convinced he became that only the combination of commerce and Christianity could save Africa. The foreign slavers stayed in business due to the cooperation of other tribes (who captured slaves for the traders). His solution was to bring in legitimate commerce to Africa; this could only be done if a navigable trade route could be found. [iii]

  Most of the missionaries focused more on evangelism instead of discipleship. Their focus was on churches being planted and producing pastors. Robert Moffat tantalised Livingstone with the thrilling opportunity for evangelism to places where no missionary had ever gone. The typical 19th century missionary was an evangelist, whose time was largely consumed with saving souls and planting churches, even if they practised medicine. [iv]

  The tension between the missionaries and their African colleagues, assistants and parishioners was evident - as missionaries maintained a rigid hold on the churches they had founded, which were closer in thoughts and attitudes to the colonial officials and European settlers. By 1935 many missionaries still did not believe that Africans could hold positions of responsibility in the church comparable to positions they held in the nineteenth century prior to the establishment of the colonial rule. Christian values were needed in decolonising of the church; this was not just in the forms of structure. This went beyond the question of control, content and from of Christian churches; it involved the whole development strategy. [v]

  Revival versus Reformation

  Most of the missionaries that come to Africa came with a revival mentality (getting people evangelised, getting people saved, and new churches started). If they had come with a reformation mentality, the process would have continued to seek to ensure that people lived out biblical truths in every part of their lives, as of well as that of their nation. When we look at great reformers such as John Calvin and the rebuilding of Geneva, John Wesley over England, William Carey in India, Abraham Kuyper in Netherlands, Frank Buchman in the U.S.A - these men focused on, and understood the need for teaching the nations how they should live. And we still see the lasting effects of those reforms in the societies they lived and worked.

  Often it has being said of African Christianity that its roots are spread widely and lack depth. The Gospel of Salvation has been widely preached and shared, yet there very little on the Gospel of the Kingdom. Once we begin to see the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom, we will begin to see change in our continent. When you walk in town on a Sunday, the majority of the people are going to church, and the shops are closed. Almost everyone in Zimbabwe at some stage will quote a scripture, but we are not seeing the fruits of the transforming power of the Gospel. Our Christianity is somehow still based on outward, but not inward, works. In a nation with such a large population professing Christ, we shouldn’t be seeing the rampant corruption that we have in our country, or things such as the reckless and selfish driving that we see on our roads, or the disregard for the environment when we throw our rubbish onto the streets without a second thought. As a continent, we need to come to the realisation of the Great commission in not only preaching, but also in the area of teaching and discipleship.

  Hence we see the struggle for European missionaries of multiplying African missionaries in the midst of colonization. How do you reform a nation in the midst of colonization, and raise up a nation when the full gospel is not reflected, both the Gospel of the Kingdom and the Gospel of salvation?

  The church was relatively established by the mid-1900s on the West Coast, including Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia and the territory known as the Gold Coast (part of modern-day Ghana, Burkina Faso and Benin). Sierra Leone was the launching pad for a number of large-scale missionary outreaches which eventually led to the establishment of Christianity in Nigeria and the southern regions of modern-day Niger. In most of the instances, local missionaries played a vital role in seeing the Gospel taken further into the interior and the success of it. [vi]

  While missionaries were often the first Europeans to explore the unknown regions of Africa, and to make contact with tribes living in these areas, they were soon to be followed by other Europeans who were interested in obtaining the wealth of Africa. During the colonial era, the Christian Church made great strides in establishing churches in regions where until that time it was deemed impossible. By 1914 the Church was well established in nineteen countries. This was a very fruitful period, when thousands of people converted to Christianity. The expanding church played a leading role in the transcription of African languages, teaching people to read and write. The people also benefited in other ways from the expansion of the Christian church, such as the establishing of hospitals, provision of medical care, implementation of scientific agricultural methods, introduction of new crops, and various technical skills. [vii]

  Chapter 5

  The First African Missionaries

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  "We who have Christ's eternal life need to throw away our own lives."

  - George Verwer

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  The first missionary from Africa was sent out in the early 1760s by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (see article: "Christian missionary work in Africa I"). Since the growth of Christianity in Africa during the twentieth century, thousands of congregations and individuals have become actively involved in missionary work. By 2001, some 12, 500 missionaries from Africa were working in missionary fields worldwide.

  Samuel Adjai Crowther

  Samuel Adjai Crowther was probably the most widely known African Christian of the nineteenth century. He lived through a transformation of relations between Africa and the rest of the world. By the time of his death, the confidence hope of an African church led by Africans (a reality that he seemed to embody in himself) had dimmed. Mr. Crowther was an eminent clergyman. His young namesake was to make the name far more celebrated.

  Crowther had spent those early years in Sierra Leone at school getting an English education, adding carpentry to his traditional weaving and agricultural skills. Crowther was one of the first students of Fourah Bay College, a college started after the Church Missionary Society had decided to start a school of higher learning in order to boost the future prospects of Sierra Leone.

  Crowther was one of the team of missionaries that went on the Niger Expedition. He was an eloquent, well informed clergyman. Henry Venn, the CMS secretary who organized the visit, believed that it was Crowther who finally moved the government to action.

  Crowther was one of the chief contributors to the
translation of the Yoruba version of the scriptures, along with some of the best linguists of the time.

  Another Niger Expedition was sponsored in 1854 by merchant McGregor. It revived the vision he had seen in 1841 - a chain of missionary operations hundreds of miles along the Niger, into the heart of the continent. He urged a beginning at Onitsha, in Igboland.

  The opportunity was not long in coming. In 1857, he and J. C. Taylor, a Sierra Leonean clergyman of liberated Igbo parentage, joined Laird's next expedition to the Niger. Taylor opened the Igbo mission at Onitsha; Crowther went upriver. Shipwrecked, and stranded for months, be began to study the Nupe language, and surveyed openings to the Nupe and Hausa peoples. The Niger Mission had begun.

  Henry Venn soon made a formal structure for it, but it was a Mission with a new principle. Crowther led a mission force consisting entirely of Africans. Sierra Leone, as he and Schön had foreseen so long ago, was now evangelizing inland Africa.

  For nearly half a century that tiny country sent a stream of missionaries, ordained and lay, to the Niger territories. The area was vast and diverse: Muslim emirates in the north, ocean-trading city-states in the Delta, the vast Igbo populations in between. It is cruel that the missionary contribution of Sierra Leone has been persistently overlooked, and even denied.