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A MISSIONAL APPROACH TO THE TRADITIONAL SOCIAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE NSO’ PEOPLE OF CAMEROON BY PETER SIYSI NYUYKI (14442168) THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA, FACULTY OF THEOLOGY, DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE OF RELIGION AND MISSIOLOGY IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PhD) IN THE SUBJECT SCIENCE OF RELIGION AND MISSIOLOGY SUPERVISOR: DR. ATTIE VAN NIEKERK APRIL 2017 © University of Pretoria DECLARATION I hereby declare that, except for the references to other people’s works, which have been duly acknowledged; “A Missional Approach to the Traditional Social Associations of the Nso’ People of Cameroon” is as a result of my own research and that it has not been submitted elsewhere for another degree. Additionally, I take responsibility for any inaccuracies and shortcomings, which may be detected in this work. _______________________ Date: ___________________ Peter Siysi Nyuyki (Student No.14442168) ________________________ Date: ____________________ Dr. Attie van Niekerk (Supervisor) i © University of Pretoria DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my elder brother, Gaius Yuwong for his tireless efforts in seeing to it that all of us in the family grow responsibly. “I do not claim that I have succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself” (Philippians 3:12). ii © University of Pretoria ACKNOWLEDGMENT No one has yet been able to carry out any research without assistance from other people. That is the reason why the first acknowledgement of any scholarly work is based on sources used. That has been done in this work as required. Yet a host of other people, churches and institutions assisted me immensely and deserve to be acknowledged as well. I would like to begin by expressing my hearty thanks to the Rev. Prof Christoph Stebler and the wife Mrs. Cornelia Stebler and the Rev. Moto-poh Alfred for having encouraged me to take up this challenge in the field of missiology. Their moral and financial support will never leave my memory. My sincere gratitude goes to the then Moderator, of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC), the Very Rev. Dr. Festus A. Asana for beginning the process of signing the scholarship form from the Methodist Church Britain. My sincere gratitude equally goes to the present Moderator of the PCC, the Right Rev. Fonki Samuel Forba for having completed the process of signing the agreement form for the scholarship from the Methodist Church Britain and for granting me permission on behalf of the PCC to study. I wish to express my gratitude to the Rev. Aboseh Ngwana and the Rev. Ajime Nelson, who as secretaries to the Moderator of the PCC equally facilitated the process of my scholarship in one way or the other. I am thankful to the Methodist Church for granting me the scholarship for the second time. The other one for Master of Arts in Applied Theology and this one for the PhD. Thank you immensely for equipping me for God’s mission. I am thankful to the University of Pretoria for granting me admission to study in this wonderfully, reputable and organised institution of learning. Your library resources were of great value to this research. I would like to express special gratitude to the Head of Department of Science of Religion and Missiology for the ten books he sent to me electronically when I was admitted in 2014. They were of wonderful assistance. I would equally like to express my hearty thanks and gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Attie van Niekerk for his skills and experience in supervision. Indeed, without him this work could not have reached this stage by now. He made extra efforts as he responded to my emails promptly and equally read my work and commented promptly. The critical remarks you made during our meetings were very helpful. iii © University of Pretoria I am grateful to the Rev Dr. Jonas N. Dah, the Rev. Dr. Mbengu David Nyiawung, the Rev. Dr. Fossouo Pascal, the Rev. Fochang G. Babila, the Rev. Nsai Godlove, the Rev. Kang Felix, the Rev. Mrs. Lambiv Yele Marceline, the Rev. Akih Abraham, the Rev. Ewala Jeremiah and the Rev. Bah Geoffrey who created time from their tight schedules to read through my proposal and make useful comments before it was completed and submitted. I would like to express special thanks to the Rev. and Mrs Akih, studying in the University of Pretoria for all the follow ups they made in the University of Pretoria on my behalf and for all assistance they gave me during the time I spent with them at the Sedibeng House of Studies in Pretoria. My gratitude goes to the Very Rev. Dr. Nyansako-ni-Nku and the Rev. Dr. Dah. for giving me access to their libraries. I equally wish to thank them for the critical remarks they offered when they read portions of my work. I remain grateful to Mrs. Sandra Duncan for having done language and technical editing of the work. I wish to express my gratitude to Mrs. Dah who encouraged me each time I came to do some research at Quelle, Bamenda. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Christians of all the congregations of the PCC where I have served and/or visited as pastor. Your spiritual, moral, material and financial support have been of great assistance to my entire family. I wish to express my hearty thanks to the Rev. Menoh Daniel – the librarian of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Kumba who gave me all the assistance expected from a librarian. Whenever I needed books he gave them to me with joy. I am thankful to all the students of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Kumba, especially, those who worked in the library and the computer laboratory at the time I was writing my proposal for this work. Many of you assisted me and if I attempt to list the names I may forget some. Please, accept my acknowledgment of your support. I am grateful to all my brothers and sisters, all my in-laws, all friends and all well- wishers, whose support in various ways helped me immensely. I am thankful to my wife, Mrs. Nyuyki Maxceline and children: Nyuyki Mandela Tatinyuy, Nyuyki Vera Sysinyuy and Nyuyki Blessing Diale Ghakanyuy for allowing me to take leave of them and study. Addititional thanks go to my wife for having assisted in typing some portions of the work. A head without the neck cannot turn well. Without my wife, I could not have registered such a success in this research. Finally, I am thankful to the Almighty God for the strength, the health, the sense of discipline, vision and all God has done to see to it that I reach this step. My glory and praise be to God, now and always. iv © University of Pretoria ABSTRACT This research deals with Christian missions and African cultures. It focuses on the traditional social associations of the Nso’ people of Cameroon. The main problem the research addresses is that missionaries who came to Nso’ mostly imposed their culture on the Nso’ and by extension Africa in the name of Christianity. What this research refers to as traditional social associations is what the missionaries prejudicially termed secret societies. The research argues that these traditional social associations are not secret societies. They are rather custodians and preservers of Nso’ culture. Their activities are largely social, and revolve around eating and drinking. The research compares the case of Nso’ with missionary endeavours in North Africa: Egypt, Axum and Nubia and in Sub-Saharan Africa. In all these areas, the following commonalities are found: insufficient interest in the indigenous languages, syncretism, the tendency of mission to always link with colonialism and to despise the African worldview. In all these areas, the result was conflict between mission and indigenous culture, and conflict within the traditional cultures. In order to appropriately engage contexts in Africa that have traditional social associations like Nso’, the researcher proposes the use of an integrated missional approach. By integrated missional approach the researcher means a perspective that takes theology, anthropology, sociology and culture seriously when carrying out the mission of God (missio Dei). The researcher presents an integrated missional approach that is constructed in the light of contextualisation. This approach is based on Niebuhr’s typology that is described in his book Christ and culture and as analysed by Kraft in his Anthropology for Christian witness. The following sociological theories: functionalism, conflict theory, phenomenology and social identity theory are used to discuss how certain realities operate in human communities. Using content analysis as his predominant methodological approach to the data collected, the researcher concludes that culture has been, is, and will continue to be the main vehicle for mission. Hence, the traditional social associations of the Nso’ people, which form the core culture of Nso’ need to be seen as an opportunity for evangelisation. The research shows that the missionary era in Nso’ in particular and Africa in general has ended and that the era in which the local church is finding its own identity is underway. v © University of Pretoria KEY WORDS Christian missions, African cultures, a missional approach, traditional social associations, Nso’ people, Cameroon, mission churches, and worldview. vi © University of Pretoria ABBREVIATIONS ART African Traditional Religion Dr Doctor Rev Reverend BM Basel Mission PCC Presbyterian Church in Cameroon RCM Roman Catholic Mission WCC World Council of Churches TEF Theological Education Fund TSA Traditional

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