The European Christian missions preached the Gospel, built churches, and seminaries translated the Bible to Ghanaian Languages such as Ewe, Ga, and Twi. Then share it on your favourite social media platform for the benefit of others you care about. Born in Cambridge, Mass., in 1933, Vincent Burke was the third of Walter and Eleanor (nee McGoff) Burkes four sons. For instance, in Nigeria, one of the first groups of missionaries to introduce organised medical services were the Roman Catholics. %PDF-1.7 % In 1859, the first newspaper in Yoruba. 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). 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. First, I looked at how educational outcomes depended on the distance to historical missions. Within ten years of Father Bergheros visit, the Roman Catholic Church in Nigeria had become so well established that it ceased to be under administration from Dahomey. In 1981, Father Burke was promoted to headmaster and rector of Pope John XXIII Secondary School and Minor Seminary in Koforidua. 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). 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. While they frowned upon bridewealth, female genital cutting, or matrilineality, they held a special grudge against polygamy. The three models of Secondary education in Ghana since colonial times are the Mfantsipim School founded by the Church (mission) in 1876, Achimota School in 1927 established by the British Colonial government The education provided in schools in early days also tended to place great emphasis on the superiority of western culture. They were followed in turn by the Methodists and the Roman Catholics. The lead was followed by other missionaries, notably the Roman Catholic, whose first higher institution was St Edwards Secondary School in Freetown. These attempts were traumatic for the students and threatened the survival of unique cultures. grammatical name 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). Europe in those days looked upon Africa as the Dark Continent with very primitive civilizations, and most Europeans refused to adapt their religion to suit the local situation. In Ghana the Presbyterians were pioneers in reducing Ga and Twi into writing. This was around the same time that the first Portuguese sailors arrived on the coast of Ghana. The education and skill development of the people is the highest, most potent agent of national development that the Church imparts to its output of students, scholars, and professionals who perform various precious roles in the various sectors of the national economy for national development,' he stated. Website design and development by Americaneagle.com, Inc, Society of the Divine Word- Western Province, Society of the Divine Word- Southern Province. The Methodists, known as the Wesleyan Missionaries (after their founder), arrived in Freetown in 1811. Until almost the end of the colonial period education was still largely in the hands of the churches. Moreover, speaking through interpreters is a defective means of communicating ones thoughts to ones audience. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. Among other missionary hospitals of long standing and reputation are those run by the Methodists at Wenkyi in the Brong-Ahafo Region, and by the Seventh Day Adventists at Kwahu Atibie in the Eastern Region. 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. Required fields are marked *. Lack of transport from the coast to the interior parts of West Africa was one of the major difficulties encountered by the missionaries. In an ironic twist, the more Africans became versed in the Bible, the more they began to challenge missionaries. It was not until 1909 that the government opened a teacher training college and a technical school in Accra. Another important Catholic missionary in this area was the Irishman, Bishop Shanahan. He moved to Techny in 2016. This box contains: the correspondence of Bishop See thematic groupings of our digital collections, See all of our digital collections in one place, Ghana in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1886-1951, Copies of letters received, 1890-1927; West Africa, vol. To their minds, Africans were too backward and needed help to become more civilized. The resulting atmosphere of disunity enabled the European colonialists to easily achieve their goal of economic exploitation. 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). Their personal and family choices influenced the expansion speed of missionary education. For three years, he taught English and biblical ethics. About the same time, the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) headed by the Rev. Thank you! Establishment of Christian Churches In Nigeria. Your email address will not be published. And thats why I decided to look deeply into this issue. (As at December 2020). There were several reasons for this poor education, some intentional and some not. 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. Apart from giving to the converts a new religious faith which they consider is superior to the traditional religions, the Christian missionaries did pioneering work in introducing new crafts, industries, Western education and modern health services. It also plays an important role in organization of inheritances within matrilineal houses and thus exerts influence from a legal point of view. Amidst much honest missionary activity in the country for two centuries, prosperity gospel teachers have also gained influence, and numerous indigenous cults have arisen with distinct appeal and just enough truth to create confusion and syncretism. The Journal of Negro Education (JNE), a refereed scholarly periodical, was founded at Howard University in 1932 to fill the need for a scholarly journal that would identify and define the problems that characterized the education of Black people in the United States and elsewhere, provide a forum for analysis and solutions, and serve as a vehicle for sharing statistics and research on a national basis. Metadata. Following ordination, he was sent to Washington, D.C., and the Catholic University of America, where he earned a masters degree in English literature. First, alignment can help you communicate your . Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. In such situations, the message sometimes appealed to the local people depending on the efficiency of the interpreter. The early missionaries set up craft centres as part of their educational programmes. Hilliard, F.H., 1957. Predominantly Muslim territory, the North received western education later than the South. Their luggage and other necessities had to be carried on heads and took a long time before reaching the missionaries. New missionary societies (the LMS, the CMS, the Holy Ghost Fathers, the White Fathers, etc.) As founder and director at CEGAST, he has successfully coached thousands of students in English, Literature, and related subjects for major international examinations. 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. Establishment of Christian Churches In The Gambia. Their arrival in South Africa was aimed particularly at spreading the Word of God. Being ignorant of ones history causes one to lose part of ones identity and pride in that identity, and one is therefore more vulnerable to attacks denouncing ones culture as inferior, especially if at the same time one is being taught the noble history of another culture. As Sir Henry Johnston, a key figure in the Scramble for Africa says, they [the mission stations] strengthen our hold over the country, they spread the use of the English language, they induct natives into the best kind of civilization, and in fact, each mission station is an essay in colonization (Johnston cited in Sheffield 1973:10). Ayandele (1966:283), writing in the 1960s, says, By their [the missions] efforts the main languages of Nigeria have been preserved as a lasting legacy to the Ibo, Yoruba, Efik, Nupe and Hausa. However, this practice was in fact probably more due to stereotypes of African ignorance than an interest in being culturally respectful: missionaries may have believed that it would take too long to teach a superior European language to the unintelligent natives when the natives souls were in such desperate need of saving. 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. bible knowledge A History of West Africa, Cambridge University Press, 1969, Fynn , J. K and R. Addo-Fening History for Senior Secondary schools. 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. Before we examine the contribution of Christian missionaries in Ghana, we need to identify the missionaries that came to Ghana. The greatest problem faced by the early European Christian missionaries was, the tropical climate and health Hazards. 2 (1983): 116-143. Literature They worked to write the bible, dictionaries and textbooks in such Ghanaian Languages as Ewe, Fanti, Ga and Twi. The European missionaries engaged in trading and other commercial activities as well. Some early success included the Liberian coast where Afro-Americans and freed slaves were converted. ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. 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. Longman Nigeria Plc., 1994, Boahen, A.A. et al Tropics in West Africa History. Copyright 2003 - 2023 - UKEssays is a trading name of Business Bliss Consultants FZE, a company registered in United Arab Emirates. It is possible to hear the tune of this missionary hymn. He had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. History books tended to exaggerate in achievements of Europeans, making no reference to Africans own great past. One method of discouraging traditional practices was to give students a fully Western education. 1991. 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. Some observers have argued that the Europeans used the Christian bible to justify the practice of slavery and the slave trade. The result is that today, many Africans are alienated from their authentic ways of life. 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. The impact of Christianity on West African society has persisted to this day. It is obvious that the main reason why the missionaries came to Ghana was to convert the indigenous people to the Christian faith. In Fanteland, the Methodists and Roman Catholics pioneered similar works. 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. 2: Trans-Saharan Trade. The practice of inflicting multiple wounds on the bodies of so-called spirit babies now belongs to history. Hastings, Adrian. As a mission school graduate noted, local history was almost totally ignored. 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. Private Study As a predominantly Roman Catholic country, France encouraged Roman Catholic missionaries right from the start of her colonial activities in West Africa. Finally, education affects many other aspects of peoples lives, including economic opportunities and political attitudes. Several missionaries died at a youthful age due to the unfriendly tropical climate. A tiny act of kindness is remembered by a young man in need. A.G. 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. Among the Christian missionaries that came to the Gold Coast (Ghana) were the following. Through hard work and persuasion she succeeded in stopping the practice among the people of killing twins. These contradictions are surprisingly absent from contemporary research. Was this information useful? The Committee for Women's Work was responsible for the education of native girls. The early African converts to Christianity, were made to abandon their ancestral culture and way of life as pagan therefore to be shunned. Africa Christian Press, 1996. 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. (with Examples), Top 20 Topics in English for Academic Purposes, 7 Rules of Referencing and Citation in Academic Writing, 10 Importance of Referencing and Citation in Academic Writing, How to Get a Degree Without Going to High School, Joseph Rhodes Dunwell Methodist Missionary, 1835, Thomas Birch Freeman Methodist Missionary, 1838, Thomas Thompson Society for the Propagation of the Gospel/Anglican, 1752, Wesley Girls High School, Cape Coast Methodist missionaries, Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast Methodist, Adisadel College, Cape Coast Anglican Missionaries, Holy Child School, Cape Coast Roman Catholic, St Augustines College, Cape Coast Roman Catholic, Archbishop Potter Girls School, Takoradi, Aburi Girls Secondary School Presbyterian, St Monicas High School, Mampong Anglican. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. An Alumnus of the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, a Journalist, Author and a Philanthropist. Thus by training Africans to fill only the lower levels of the colonial administration and providing skilled workers from the vocational and agricultural schools who contributed to the economy and were less likely to question colonial rule than more educated Africans, mission schools helped to strengthen colonial rule. He introduced the Methodist Church in Asante in 1839, and won the support of the Asante king, Otumfour Nana Kweku Duah I who reigned between 25th August 1834 to 27th April 1867). ABWE is also at work in countries that restrict evangelism. senior high school economics This hymn sums up the reasons why the Christian missionaries came to Africa and other parts of the world. Their greatest legacy in the field of education was the foundation which the Methodist laid for what is today the Gambia High school. Today, human sacrifice is generally frowned upon and considered an abomination. And traditionally polygamous societies would have higher educational outcomes today. missionaries was the development of literature in Yoruba. They discovered that the holy book did not clearly prescribe monogamy, and contained several examples of renowned Christian polygamists. The blessings which Christianity has brought to West Africa are many. Registered office: Creative Tower, Fujairah, PO Box 4422, UAE. In the 19thh century, too, Afro-Brazilians returned to Benin and Nigeria with Catholicism. His work, however, did not extend much beyond Cape Coast and the neighbouring area. New team members can be part of establishing a biblical foundation for the next generation of believers, the growth of nationally-led churches, and church planting in Ghana. Church history, history of Christianity, religious history: some reflections on British missionary enterprise since the late eighteenth century. Church History 71, no. 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. Baker Pub Group, 1996. Cultural deprivation is what many of us suffer from []. Foremost in the contribution of the early Christian missionaries to the development of Ghana is their efforts to bring Western education to Ghanaians. Thus, because of the motive of proselytization, unqualified teachers, and inter-denominational rivalry, missions frequently provided poor education. Ramseyer had at first not intended a missionary sojourn in Ashanti. Besides education, they cared for the sick. 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. For instance, on 2nd October 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society was formed followed by the interdenominational London Missionary Society which was established in 1795. The others include the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804, which was tasked with the responsibility of promoting the translation and printing of the Holy Bible. Although Lokoja had a small C.M.S. Debate Speech: Religion Has Failed Society, A Speech Outlining the Achievements and Problems of Your School, 7 Factors Accounting for the Shortage of Capital In West Africa, The Resurrection of Jesus According to Marks Gospel. Box 6000, Techny, IL 60082-6000. Discipleship and leadership development are needed in order to support local churches and their growth in Ghana. By 1914 there were barely thirty schools in that vast area. A new attempt to spread Christianity was made when the Church Missionary Society (CMS) arrived from Britain in 1821. Their records from World War One show their distance from the war and yet that it did affect their decisions. The first Europeans arrived at the West-African Coasts at the end of the fifteenth century. But with colonial conquest and antimalarial drugs, they moved further into the continent. Burns & Oates, 1979. 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. 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. He told me that that amount of money could pay for school fees for five students in secondary school in Ghana.. Frank Ogodo Ogbeche They provided missionaries a way to spread Eurocentric norms and attract new converts. Wed love to get to know you and discuss how God is calling you. It was difficult for the European missionaries to communicate freely with the local people. 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. 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. But Annor (1989) writes that before Europeans came to colonize Africa, Africans had a way of producing artifacts. 2023 Society of the Divine Word. 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. Efforts to change these norms were often aimed at women. skills for his or her future role in the society (Hetherington, 1979; Davidoff, 1980; Aboagye, 1997). One is led to ask, why this sudden development? Today almost all of the population is Presbyterian, although the ancestral royal cult and many spirit cults still flourish. Among the first missionaries was the Rev. One of them, Philip Quaque, returned in 1765 as an ordained priest. The governor had observed the bad moral life of the Europeans in the fort. 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. In this chapter, we shall examine how Christianity and Western-style education influenced West Africans values, attitudes and life-styles. That missionaries used the vernacular illustrates the fact that missionaries were principally evangelists, and that they considered their other roles, including their role as educators, as less important. ASSESS THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF GHANA. As churches of the Volta Region begin reproducing, ABWE wants to reach out to Ghanas unreached people groups in its eight other regions. Christian missions also took a leading role in the campaign to end the slave trade and to suppress slavery. 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. African Drama Waterville Pub. In addition to promoting a monogamous lifestyle in their schools, missionaries often insisted on divorces before polygamists or their children could even enrol. People all around the world are searching for hope, but many dont have someone to tell them about the hope found in Jesus. Lake Volta provides a vital venue for aviation evangelism in remote areas. No plagiarism, guaranteed! 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. 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. Further, the missionaries introduced improved methods of farming together with modern farm implements. 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 the West Africans, the acceptance of Christianity meant the total rejection of most of the cherished institutions upon which their society rested. 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. For several years they paid attention to slave trade rather than evangelization and Christianization of the people of West-Africa. As we help existing churches become healthy through theological education, discipleship, pastoral training, and leadership development, we desire to see church-planting efforts within the local church soon follow. African poetry Initially, their activities focused on coastal areas. Missionaries and the intellectual history of Africa: a historical survey. Itinerario 7, no. They had to speak through few interpreters who did not have sufficient education to interpret correctly. As one Eritrean student remarks, Our sisters [the Italian Sisters] would have undoubtedly taught better and more, but the Italian government in the colony did not permit Eritreans to get good instruction (T.T. Yes! The system was devoid of any cohesive national policy. In 2006, Father Burke was appointed lecturer at the newly founded Catholic University College of Ghana in Sunyani. 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. This allowed me to estimate the impact of mission schooling directly. Barely ten years later, after the first missionaries arrived, the Methodists, for example, had started a station as far inland as MacCarthy Island. In Ghana, missions strategically weighted costs and benefits when choosing where to establish their churches and schools. 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.. churches were firmly established in several important towns, such as Abeokuta (1846), Lagos (1851), Ibadan (1853), and Oyo (1856). 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. Wm. Secondary Schools in the Protectorate started later, following the establishment of Bo Government Secondary School in 1906. They were closed down in 1852 in favour of schools opened in Lagos which, in 1851, had one time British control. T. Nelson. Ghana continued to call. 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. The first school in Nigeria was started by the Methodist missionaries at Badagry in 1842. 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. From simple essay plans, through to full dissertations, you can guarantee we have a service perfectly matched to your needs. Mission schools were popular because of the new skills and opportunities they offered. This is the famous Presbyterian Teacher Training College founded in 1848 at Akropong-Akwapim. African prose Mission societies often expanded into territories before colonial powers did, and providing education only cost them a little more. Thomas Thompson, arrived in Cape Coast in 1752. English Reiterating what teacher education must encapsulate, Adegoke (2003) and Benneh (2006) indi-cated that the mission of Ghana's teacher education is to pro- Rather, it denationalized and facilitated the indignity and loss of cultural identity of the Ghanaian. A new era began with the settlements of Black Christians from Nova Scotia in Sierra Leone in 1787 and the missionary advance inland from Cape Town beginning with the arrival there of J. T. van der Kemp in 1799. In Nigeria, one of the lasting works of the C.M.S missionaries was the development of literature in Yoruba. 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. Their converts, for many years, were confined to the people of southern Nigerian extraction resident in the north, and to the-large non-Muslim population of the north. Who is Mrs. Konrad in Second Class Citizen? For this reason, missionaries believed they were doing their students a favour by discouraging traditional practices and promoting Western ones. In fact, the Christian missionaries encouraged Ghanaians to reject African names and choose Christian names instead. Amma Darko The CMS began to work in the freed slave villages in Sierra Leone in 1804 and the Methodist in 1811. His work, however, did not extend much beyond Cape Coast and the neighbouring area. Joseph Dunwell. He introduced the Methodist Church in Asante in 1839, and won the support of the Asante king. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
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contribution of missionaries to education in ghana