Page 196 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

contradiction in calling the nineteenth century “the great century
of mission” because missionaries were laying the foundation for
rapid advance.

Bible Societies

In any history about the church in Africa, one must devote a few words
to the development and ministries of the Bible societies. When people
have the Word of God in their heart language, they have the potential
to build a strong church. Without the Bible societies, missionaries
would have lacked the proper tools for their task. Bible societies were
formed quite frequently in Protestant countries. Later, many countries
cooperated to form the United Bible Society in London.

Through the years, four of these Bible societies have made an
enormous contribution to Christian missions around the world: The
British and Foreign Bible Society was established in 1804; the National
Bible Society of Scotland was begun in 1809; the Netherlands Bible
Society began in 1814; and the American Bible Society emerged in 1816.
The church in Africa is greatly indebted to the dedicated people who
translated, published, and distributed the Word of God.

I attended the Tanzania Assemblies of God General Council when the
Kiswahili edition of the Fire Bible was launched. This new translation
produced by the Assemblies of God Bible Alliance in cooperation with
Bible Societies provides a Bible in major languages with accompanying
Pentecostal commentary. It is difficult to describe the scene of jubilation
as the Bible was distributed. This scene is being repeated across
the continent.
Faith Missions

William Carey
After publishing his famous book to which we have already referred,
Carey established the Baptist Missionary Society. Churches such as the
Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Moravian, and others, who
were part of this society, achieved worthy results. While the church-
related missionary movement remained near the coast of Africa,
much of interior Africa was still unreached with the gospel by as late
as the 1880s.

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