Page 155 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

The Gospel and New Beginnings

In 1751, Thomas Thompson arrived in the Gold Coast in the area
we now know as Ghana. For years, Africans had observed the nominal
Christian traders who professed to be Christians but lived immoral lives.
While he tried evangelize both the traders and the Africans, Thompson
found them resistant to the gospel; however, he won a few African
converts. Hildebrandt highlights an example:

Three young men seemed very keen, so he arranged for them
to go to England to study in 1754. They did well in their studies,
but during their education two of these men died, leaving only
Philip Quaque to complete the course. Philip Quaque completed
his training and took Anglican orders, the first non-European since
the Reformation to do so. (72)

Quaque was appointed a missionary to the Gold Coast (Ghana) in
1765. He worked many years to plant a small Christian community in
West Africa in the face of much difficulty. We should remember Philip
Quaque for his pioneering spirit. He was representative of early efforts
to plant the true church of Jesus Christ in Africa by Africans.

Christianity and Islam

Before completing this chapter, we need to look briefly at the ongoing
conflict for the soul of Africa. We have followed this development
since the beginning of Islam in the seventh century. Historian B. A.
Ogot states:

The period from 1500 to 1800 saw a decline in Christianity in
Africa, especially in Ethiopia, on the east coast and to a lesser
extent, in the Kongo. Islam, on the other hand, gained ground in
West Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia and on the east coast. (445)

As we have noted, Catholic Christianity was brought to Africa by
the Portuguese and Spaniards; however, it was highly syncretistic
and coexisted with traditional religion. By the eighteenth century,
the Catholic Church in the Congo rejected white people and became
indigenous. We may make a similar statement about Islam since many
Africans accepted Islam and still practiced traditional religions. As a
result, there exists what we have already described as “Folk Islam.”

::: 145 :::