What Christendom Has Sown in Africa
IN 1867, Charles Lavigerie, a French Catholic, came to Africa as the newly appointed archbishop of Algiers. “God has chosen France,” he said, “to make of Algeria the cradle of a great and Christian nation.”
Lavigerie’s dream extended beyond Algeria. In fact, he sent missionaries across the desert with the goal of “uniting Central and Northern Africa to the common life of Christendom.”
Meanwhile, in the western, southern, and eastern parts of the continent, Protestant missionaries were already at work. They braved many hardships, such as recurrent attacks of malaria, with its symptoms of shivering, sweating, and delirium. Quickly weakened by tropical sicknesses, many died soon after arrival. But others kept on coming. “Anyone who travels in Africa,” stated Adlai Stevenson, “is constantly reminded of missionaries’ heroism. . . . They fought yellow fever, dysentery, parasites and . . . I saw . . . their gravestones—all through Africa.”
Missionary Fruitage
As missionaries penetrated Africa, they found that most tribes were illiterate. “Of the roughly eight hundred [African] languages,” explains Ram Desai in his book Christianity in Africa as Seen by Africans, “only four were written before the coming of the missionaries.” So missionaries invented a way of writing these unwritten languages. Then they produced textbooks and set out to teach the people how to read. To that end they built schools throughout Africa.
The missionaries also built hospitals. “There is no other agency that can match their record of humanitarian work,” acknowledges Ram Desai. Besides medical care, Africans sought the material goods of Europe. Some missionaries set up trading posts, as they believed that this would attract converts. For example, the Basel Mission from Switzerland established a trading company in Ghana. They discovered that cacao trees grew well there, and today Ghana is the world’s third-largest producer of cocoa.
An outstanding achievement of Christendom’s missionaries was their translating of the Bible. Yet spreading the Bible’s message carries with it a further serious responsibility. The Christian apostle Paul showed this by asking: “Do you, . . . the one teaching someone else, not teach yourself? You, the one preaching ‘Do not steal,’ do you steal?” The Bible warns that those teaching Christianity must themselves live up to the fine principles set out in God’s Word.—Romans 2:21, 24.
What about Christendom’s mission to Africa? Has it honored the God of the Bible, or has it played false to Christian teachings?