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The Effect Of Denominational Practices On The Growth Of The Church
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Christianity
in Nigeria dates back to the 16th century when the Portuguese
introduced Latin Christianity in Benin and Warri. Looking at
Christianity from that early beginning to the present time, many stages
of development had taken place resulting to the planting and growth of
churches.
The period of denominationalism and missionary activities
started from 1840 when missionary bodies set up in Europe and America in
the 18th century6 succeeded in converting Nigerians to Christianity and
opened permanent mission stations among the people. The period was just
after the abolition of the slave trade; the abolition of slave trade
stimulated a fresh religious enthusiasm among the Europeans and
Americans. With the support of the missionary bodies, “The freed slaves
in places like Sierra Leone and Abeokuta encouraged missionary
enterprises. This was a period of denominationalism when many churches
from the British Isles and America sent missionaries to the coast and
interior of Nigeria. The Anglicans under the Church Missionary Society
(CMS), were the first but the Niger Expedition in which they came in
1841 failed. However, the first successful penetration of Christian
mission into the interior of Nigeria was made in 1842, when the Wesleyan
Methodists on the invitation of the freed slaves who had settled at
Badagry and Abeokuta, sent Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman and an assistant
William de craft and his wife from the Gold Coast (Ghana) to Badagry and
some months later Henry Townsend to Abeokuta.
In the more southern
part of the country, on the Cross River in the old slave-trading town of
Calabar, the Presbyterians sent Rev. Hope Masterton Wadded accompanied
by Mr. and Mrs. Edgerl A. Chishalm and E. Miller, who arrived in Calabar
in April 1846, to establish the church of Scotland Mission. Their work
was very successful because a Presbytery, the Presbytery of Biafra, was
created in 1858. The American Baptist Mission began work in Nigeria in
1850. The Rev. Thomas J. Bowen, the Pioneer Missionary, established
stations at Ijaiye and Ogbomoso. The Roman Catholicism, through the
Society of the African Missions, came in 1862. The ex-slaves were
organized and stations established in Lagos and Abeokuta. When the
Italian Priest, Father Broghero, visited Lagos in 1863, there was a
catholic church in Yorubaland. The Holy Ghose Fathers started work among
the Igbo of Eastern Nigeria in 1885 through Father Joseph Lutz working
at Onitsha. Samuel A. Bill started the Qua Iboe Mission in the Qua Iboe
River area from 1887, though it was not until 1891 that the Qua Iboe
church was established as an Independent evangelical and
interdenominational body.
Mission work in Northern Nigerian started
in 1893 through Rolland Bingham, Walter Gowans, and Thomas Kent in 1904,
the Sudan United Mission (SUM) joined the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM)
in the mission work in the North, concentrating in the regions of
Adamawa, Benue and Bornu.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]The study on the effect of denominational practices on the growth of the churches tries to find out ifdenominational practices have significant effect on church growth; the study also tries to identify the different denominations in Nigeria and their impact on churches; the study tries also to know whether denominational practices contribute to church growth. Primary data was used for the purpose of the study with a sample size of 60 respondents; the study concluded that denominational practices ... Continue reading---
