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JAMAICAN MISSIONARIES in CAMEROON Jaap Van Slageren Cameroon Accepted Christianity Through a Great Variety of Denominational

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JAMAICAN MISSIONARIES in CAMEROON Jaap Van Slageren Cameroon Accepted Christianity Through a Great Variety of Denominational JAMAICAN MISSIONARIES IN CAMEROON Jaap van Slageren Cameroon accepted Christianity through a great variety of denominational and national filters: Flemish Catholics, British and German Baptists, German, French, American and Dutch Presbyterians, and German, Norwegian and American Lutherans. When the Germans occupied Cameroon in 1884, the British left and Basel took over. When the Ger- mans in 1915 were defeated in Cameroon, Paris replaced Basel. The Americans entered Cameroon from Gabon in 1850 and in 1890 the 1 Catholics entered the missionary scene.' Perhaps most notably of all, Jamaican Baptists exercised a decisive influence on the course of mission- ary and church history of Cameroon. Their years of Christian endeavour preceded all other missionary efforts and took place from 1841 to 1852. Their engagement ended with the sudden retreat of the Jamaican Baptist Mission from the field. Despite this, a handful Jamaicans continued to serve the mission. They were employed by the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) and were due to co-operate with British preachers. However their importance is usually not recognized and their presence in Cameroon is not even mentioned in important books about the history of Christian Missions (K.S. Latourette, S. Neill). Nevertheless, some form of Jamaican experience, especially in regard to their spirit of freedom and emancipation, remained a basic dimension of the identity of the Cameroon Christians and churches. To fill the gap about the meaning of the Jamaican mission and their workers in Cameroon, the following remarks on the mission in Cameroon can be made. The Baptist Tradition in Jamaica It was in 1793 that an ex-slave from Virginia named George Liele (or Lisle) began his Christian preaching in Jamaica. His Baptist faith was rooted in an Afro-American Christian tradition. The early Baptists who resulted from his preaching, became an intrinsic part of the local Negro culture and the poverty stricken populations of the slave-plantations, and were therefore not ready to have links with the British Baptist Mission.' 1 B. Sundkler and C. Steed, A History of the Church in Africa, Cambridge: University Press, 2000, 259-71. 2 V. Lantemari, The Religions of the Oppressed, A study of Modern Messianic Cults, New York: 1963, 133-4. 146 In 1806 the Jamaican House of Assembly passed a law prohibiting Negro-Christians to organise prayer and study sessions on the plantations and so these groups were dependent to a large extend on the Planters' goodwill and consequently were in an exceedingly vulnerable position.' Therefore the local leaders managed to establish a partnership between British and Jamaican Baptists, which resulted in a missionary assistance of British representatives of the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) from 1814 4 onwards.4 Their first task was not to build up communities and to evangelise, but to contribute to the social and spiritual well-being of the people in general. And so Thomas Burchell, James Phillippo and specially William Knibb became ardent advocates for the freedom of the slaves. After the abolition in 1834 they continued their fight against apprentice- ship, a system not much better than slavery that ended in 1838. The missionary preaching brought more than freedom alone. The missionary acts of solidarity with the fate and sufferings of the slaves stimulated largely the growth of the Christian communities. Emancipation was even followed by such a rapid growth in black membership of the church and self-supporting black communities, that the Jamaican Baptist Association in 1842 determined to relieve the Baptist Missionary Society of its respon- sibilities. In 1845 it was even decided to transform this mission board into the independent Jamaican Baptist Church. This new and independent relationship met a critical opposition by the BMS-committee in London as 6 to charge them with 'indiscreet conduct' .6 Exploratory Visit to Fernando Po and Cameroon The formation of the Jamaican Baptist Missionary Society (JBMS) in 1842 can be seen as a natural first-fruit of the above-mentioned decision. Among their members a keen desire was bom to bring the gospel to their native continent of Africa from where they had been stolen.' At a Baptist meeting, 100 poor labourers offered enthusiastically a week's wages for 8 missionary work in Africa.8 Together with the (English) BMS a training college for the African mission in the Jamaican Calabar (near Rio Bueno) 3 Horace O. Russell, The Missionary Outreach of the West Indian Church, Jamaican Baptist Missions to WestAfrica in the Nineteenth Century, [Research in Religion and Family: Black Perspectivesvol. 3], Bern & New York: Peter Lang, 2000, 20. 4 B. Stanley, The History of the Baptist Missionary Society 1792-1992, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1992, 68-88. 5 K.S. Latourette, A History of the Christian Missions, vol. 5. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1947, 53-4. 6 London, BMS, Manuscript CL. J. Parsons, The First Hundred Years, 10. 7 Idem. 8 E. Isichei, A History of Christianityin Africa, London: SPCK, 1995, 166. .
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