Meanwhile, the Scottish missionary, Mary Slessor, had established a reputation in the Cross River area as a nurse. Let's look in-depth into these scholarships. In 1902 the Methodists opened a clinic at Igbo-Ora. The colonial Eritrean government ensured that native Eritreans received poor education by permitting them to only attend school up to the fourth grade (Miran 2002:127). 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. 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. 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. 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. Some of these effects are still with us today. Young Vincent began his studies with the Society of the Divine Word at Divine Word Seminary at Miramar in Massachusetts in 1947. 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. The blessings which Christianity has brought to West Africa are many. The others include the French trading posts at Grand Bassam (Ivory Coast), Assinie and Libreville in Gabon. After more than 20 years at Pope John XXIII School, he returned to the United States and served as parochial vicar at Blessed Sacrament-Our Lady of the Divine Shepherd in Trenton, N.J., where he lived with Father Tetteh. Despite their significant contributions to education, local language development, agriculture and the economy as a whole, the missionaries have been criticized severally. 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 If your specific country is not listed, please select the UK version of the site, as this is best suited to international visitors. The Methodist Church Ghana came into existence as a result of the missionary activities of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, inaugurated with the arrival of Joseph Rhodes Dunwell to the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1835.Like the mother church, the Methodist Church in Ghana was established by people of Anglican background. In such situations, the message sometimes appealed to the local people depending on the efficiency of the interpreter. 1 (1971): 103-115. education was an important means for mission evangelization. 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. The Ghana Education Decentralization Project (GEDP), launched in 2010 and ended in 2012, has increased the influence of local authorities over management . The contents of this tutorial will serve as a guide for a suitable essay on the below WAEC/WASSCE History past question. 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. Box 6000, Techny, IL 60082-6000. On the opposite side, the coming of the Christian missionaries brought in its wake certain negative developments like disregard for African culture and rebellion against traditional authority. It is possible to hear the tune of this missionary hymn. They constitute the benefits that the missionaries brought to Africa as a whole. In fact in 1966, Father Burke led students to a victory in a national educational contest called the Ghana TV Cup. Registered office: Creative Tower, Fujairah, PO Box 4422, UAE. Other missionaries opened mission stations in the country. The Akim area had about 3400 converts over 32 villages and there were about 900 children distributed in 27 Schools. This comes at no extra cost to you. Johannes Zimmermann, for example, produced a Ga dictionary, Ga bible and grammar book. One is led to ask, why this sudden development? History of the church in Africa: a survey. Again, the missionaries persuaded Africans to abandon the practice of tribal marks. They also introduced vocational education in the country. Aligning Your Teaching Philosophy with Your Institution's Mission They were at the forefront during the fight for self-rule in Ghana. While the Evangelical Presbyterian missionaries were the First to develop literature in Ewe, the Roman Catholics were responsible for Nzima literature. Given the fluctuating standards between schools and regions and the lack of qualified teachers in the mission schools which had monopolies in well into the mid-twentieth century, it should come as little surprise that the quality of education continues to be a concern in many former colonies. 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. Teacher training colleges in Ghana did not expand as fast as the secondary schools. Moreover, it was not in the colonial powers interest for the natives to become too educated, as they might become self-reliant and could conceivably demand independence from the colonial power, so encouraging the less intellectual agricultural schools was in the governments interest. By February 2, 1918, all Basel missionaries had been deported from the Gold Coast. The consequences of norm conflicts are likely to manifest beyond educational pursuit. Hundreds of believers were baptized, branches organized, and a mission established. The Basel and Methodist Missions, for example, introduced scientific agriculture in Ghana. Bamgboye & Company Press, 1976. Despite the skills and opportunities mission schooling afforded, many Africans were not willing to pay the price. Governments are also not free from blame even if they had a laissez-faire educational policy, as in Ghana, where until 1944 the registration of schools was not required and no attempt was made to exert detailed control even over the activities of grant-aided [by the government] institutions except for a series of minimal registrations (Foster 1965:114). The reservation of high-level positions in the colonial administrations for Europeans and the corresponding mission education that provided education fit only for lower positions meant that the withdrawal of European rule could cause serious political instability in the newly independent colonies. For more than a year, Ghanaian Saints continued to practice their faith in their homes. He had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Roman Catholic and Anglican missionaries came to the Gold Coast from the 15th century. The First Missionaries were sent as a result of a request by Major de Richelieu, Governor of Christiansborg. Listen as we explore missions, theology, and practice to help senders and goers alike. senior high school government The Presbyterians, also, opened hospitals in several parts of the country, including the one at Agogo in Asante-Akyem. senior high school English Buchi Emecheta Secondary Schools in the Protectorate started later, following the establishment of Bo Government Secondary School in 1906. 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. The training college later became part of Achimota College. Predominantly Muslim territory, the North received western education later than the South. In spite of the division, the parent Methodist missionary church played an important role in the history of Christianity in Sierra Leone. He told me that that amount of money could pay for school fees for five students in secondary school in Ghana.. 2006 - 2023 Microform Academic Publishers | Microform Academic Publishers is a division of Microform Imaging Limited (Company registered in England no. 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. Christianity in Ghana - Wikipedia Metadata. Etherington, Norman. These Christian converts considered themselves to be holier than their traditional rulers and elders. 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. It is obvious that the main reason why the missionaries came to Ghana was to convert the indigenous people to the Christian faith. Ekechi, Felix K. Colonialism and Christianity in West Africa: The Igbo Case, 19001915. The Journal of African History 12, no. The expansion of the missionary movement into Africa was part of the growing conception of Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African peoples. A special memorial Mass was celebrated at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra, Ghana, on Oct. 9. The missionaries believed that in order to stabilize the faith of converts and to assist in character development, it was necessary that they should be able to read the scriptures or other books of religious instruction, translated by the missions. 2023 Society of the Divine Word. History books tended to exaggerate in achievements of Europeans, making no reference to Africans own great past. For instance, in Nigeria, one of the first groups of missionaries to introduce organised medical services were the Roman Catholics. Hope Waddell was later joined by the Rev. The quest for an all-inclusive development model of Ghana and other developing nations, therefore, calls for an insight into the role and responsibilities of religion toward education. wassce literature questions. For example, they made our people view polygamy and puberty rites as pagan practices. 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 74,000 by the First World War. Initially, a majority of the missionary journeys was done with English-Speaking Protestants and later, in the 1820s and 1830s, they were joined by continental Protestantism from Germany, Switzerland and France. Christian Missionaries and Education: Presbyterian Educational Ralph teaches English for Academic Purposes (EAP) online. 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. For instance, the Basel Mission established the first teacher training college in Ghana. In 1981, Father Burke was promoted to headmaster and rector of Pope John XXIII Secondary School and Minor Seminary in Koforidua. Also the missionaries set up model farms where scientific agriculture was taught and new crops were introduced for the people, to go alongside longstanding indigenous production. I well remember when he came to live with me in Trenton. 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. I found that while educational outcomes are generally better in places that were exposed to Christian missions in the colonial era, traditionally polygamous societies benefited less. West African Senior School Certificate Examination. Among the early Protestant evangelical societies founded in Great Britain were the Baptist Missionary Society, the Church Missionary Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Wesleyan Missionary Society and what became known as the Presbyterian Missionary Society of the Church of Scotland. NUUT Co. Ltd. Kumasi, Ghana, 2011, Baarkinado. The foreign exchange earnings helped to develop Ghanas infrastructure. Mission schools provided a steady stream of educated Africans capable of filling the lower levels of the colonial administration and operated vocational and agricultural schools (Ayandele 1966: 295; Foster 1965: 90-91; Sheffield 1973: 10-11). Again, the missionaries helped to pacify Africans while their rich natural resources were being plundered by the colonial government. In 2011 at age 77, he retired from teaching and returned to the United States. After a time the idea becomes ingrained -it is heathen and unchristian to be an African culturally (Awori cited in Berman 1974:536). Although there were many disagreements between European missionaries and African populations, antagonising polygamy is probably the best-documented norm conflict. It included the opening up of Africa to forces of change namely commerce (legitimate commerce, i.e. The Methodists, known as the Wesleyan Missionaries (after their founder), arrived in Freetown in 1811. Study for free with our range of university lectures! In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. Debrunner, Hans Werner. The study examines the historical foundations of Western education in Meru and factors that influenced its development. As a mission school graduate noted, local history was almost totally ignored. 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). However, with time, they brought some crops, which they cultivated and which sustained them. No plagiarism, guaranteed! Being able to speak and write in the colonisers language was considered a privilege. independent learning Given their priorities, it should thus come as little surprise that missions often provided poor education to the African pupils. In fact, Jacobus Capitein, a former Ghanaian slave who became a priest in the Dutch Reformed Church in the 18th century was on record to have defended the practice of slavery. As a predominantly Roman Catholic country, France encouraged Roman Catholic missionaries right from the start of her colonial activities in West Africa. Third, rivalry between the various Christian denominations also contributed to the poor standards of education. Their economic activities went beyond the development of agriculture. Again, the Wesleyan missionaries established Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast in 1876. The people received the message with indifference. Missions, Education and Conversion in Colonial Africa By focusing on the African demand for education, I showed that Africans were not just passive recipients of mission schooling. 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). 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). These pioneer mission schools met with a discouraging response. The Methodists founded Mfantsipim (1876) for boys and Wesley Girls High School (1884). A tiny act of kindness is remembered by a young man in need. 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. After six years at St. Peters, Father Burke was named chaplain and professor of English literature at St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Osu, Ghana. The Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican missions all made a major contribution to education in Ghana and Africa as a whole. By 1914 there were barely thirty schools in that vast area. 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. The Journal of Negro Education, 2019 Besides education, they cared for the sick. Contribution of Christian Missionaries in Ghana - Cegast Academy quiz Two important private schools with strong Christian influence must also be mentioned: Accra High School, founded in 1923 and Accra Academy, established in Christian missions also took a leading role in the campaign to end the slave trade and to suppress slavery. hbbd```b``vd d"e ] DrI`5 d"(/ %%EOF In 1950 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. In the 19thh century, too, Afro-Brazilians returned to Benin and Nigeria with Catholicism. The Committee for Women's Work was responsible for the education of native girls. The Wesleyan and Basel missionaries established schools in Cape Coast, Accra . They provided missionaries a way to spread Eurocentric norms and attract new converts. In the later 19th century, the immense African interior remained the principal object of the Catholic Priests, and from 1867 until his death in November 1892 Cardinal Lavigerie planned the planting of churches in Africa South of the Sahara. In addition to teaching, he served as national spiritual director of the Ghana Sacred Heart Enthronement Centre and spiritual director of the Accra Diocesan Sacred Heart Centre. A history of Christianity in Ghana. Soon after, in 1835 they moved up to Akropon on the hills in Akuapem, where the pioneer missionary the Rev. In 2006, Father Burke was appointed lecturer at the newly founded Catholic University College of Ghana in Sunyani. Then share it on your favourite social media platform for the benefit of others you care about. Another important German missionary was Wilhelm Johannson, better known by the English version of his name, William Johnson, who is revered in the history of the CMS in West Africa. 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. For instance the scholar E.A. 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Similar developments were carried out by the missionaries in other Nigerian languages, Efik, Kanuri, Igbo, etc. 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. The Roman Catholics established their first secondary school, St Augustines, at Cape Coast in 1936. Besides being an online tutor, Ralph is an author and expert digital marketer with proven skills in SEO content writing. Often drumming and the harmless songs and dances of the people were condemned. Father Burke became director of the Divine Word Language and Cultural Centre in Ghana. His funeral Mass was Sept. 27, followed by burial at St. Mary Cemetery at Techny. One of them, Philip Quaque, returned in 1765 as an ordained priest. 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. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. In 1910, a prominent report of the World Missionary Conference concluded: [T]here can be no question of polygamy. C.M.S. Yet, the relationship between European missionaries and African populations had some contradictions. So why did the European missionaries come to Ghana and other parts of Africa? Establishment of Christian Churches In Sierra Leone. Education in Ghana - Wikipedia He introduced the Methodist Church in Asante in 1839, and won the support of the Asante king. Sign in to view the collection. Longman Nigeria Plc., 1994, Boahen, A.A. et al Tropics in West Africa History. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. The constant tensions between traditionalists and Christian converts often erupted into all-out conflicts. Some earlier scholarship on mission education has taken this as a positive impact of the missionaries. Longman Group Ltd. London and Basingstoke, 1986, Fage, J.D. Through academic lessons and lessons on Western etiquette and hygiene, mission students were isolated from their traditional cultures, a traumatic experience that would continue to trouble many students for the rest of their lives. Lack of transport from the coast to the interior parts of West Africa was one of the major difficulties encountered by the missionaries. The next major Christian missionaries to go out to Sierra Leone were the Roman Catholics. 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. Properly meant by Anglo-Saxon standards. African prose 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. ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. Moreover, they introduced new crops into the Ghanaian economy. 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 [] For instance, the Basel Mission established Basel Mission Trading Company (UTC) in 1859. Another negative impact of mission education was that it weakened traditional societies, which in many ways further served the colonial cause. Rather, it denationalized and facilitated the indignity and loss of cultural identity of the Ghanaian. 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. The mission schools trained Africans to be able to work as translators, messengers and office clerks for the colonial government. Africa Christian Press, 1996. The Rev. 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. Andreas Riis, assisted by a team of West Indian evangelists, laid the foundations of the Basel Missionary Church in the country. Father Vincent Burke SVD, 83, recipient of Ghanas Officer of the Order of Volta Award, passed away at Techny, Ill., on Sept. 21. Important among these, all in Lagos, were the Baptist Academy in 1855, the C.M.S. It offered the most direct path towards prestigious jobs in colonial administrations and European enterprises. Missionaries travelled through dense evergreen forests, crossed rivers and climbed mountains to bring the Gospel to as many Ghanaians as they could. 3 (2002): 555-584. 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. Some early success included the Liberian coast where Afro-Americans and freed slaves were converted.

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