This
chapter is captioned as 'Toward Maturity’. That is because full
scale maturity for the Church, which is basically theological, is still
a thing of the future.
We
have used the word ‘maturity’ here to signify that at least a beginning
has been made even if it is not at the most desirable or vital point. It
is therefore that area where growth towards maturity was most evident,
namely personnel, which will claim more of our attention in this chapter.
Admittedly this is not an adequate definition of maturity or indigenisation;
but it is a definition which can apply to that area, that is, personnel
where any form of growth toward maturity was discernible.
When
Agori Iwe returned from Oyo in 1928, he wrote an Urhobo primer containing
the words:
Mo
re kpo, wo nyori?
This
primer, called Mo re kpo, superseded an earlier one by Thomas Emedo.
Whether consciously or not Agori Iwe was calling on his countrymen to rise
to the situation with which they were confronted. For long they have been
led by intermittent missionaries from overseas, Sierra
Leone,
or Yorubaland. Now the people were themselves to build up the church earlier
brought to them.
To
this end Urhobo Districts of the C.M.S. were separated from the Yoruba
Mission and joined to the Niger Mission, in the belief that this was nearer
home. Similarly, converts from Uhowokori, one of
the earliest Christian centres, wrote to the Warri District Church Council
(D.C.C.) meeting at Ogunu and asked to be separated from Kwale District
since they were neither Kwale nor understood the Kwale language. This was
perhaps an unconscious obedience to the call: Mo re kpo.
This
need of home coming demanded an improvement on the first prayer book with
thirty-three hymns, translated by Ofodidun and S. C. Phillips.
A new prayer book by Agori Iwe, in which the earlier prayers were radically
revised and stripped of Yorubasim, soon appeared. A number of the old hymns
were re-written, and new ones translated. The result was a prayer book
with seventy-four hymns published in 1939.
Mo
re kpo, wo nyori?
Wo
kpo re? Yarhe.
By
implication, the youth were also being summoned to the Ministry, to make
the church their own. Thus, if there was an attempt at consolidation of
C.M.S. from 1914-1935, the period 1935-61 witnessed some growth toward
maturity. It is an era characterised by a rise of an elite, a class made
up of trained catechists and clergy as well as of trained school teachers.
True, missionary activities still continued till the fifties. But these
activities were on the decline. By 1961, (a year after Nigeria’s attainment
of independence) the missionaries in the area may have refused that the
Urhobo and Isoko could manage the churches themselves, but they must have
been conscious that their continuing as leaders, and not simply as co-workers,
could not then go any longer unchallenged.
It
has been shown that the definition of maturity in terms only of indigenous
workers or clergy is inadequate, but that personnel was the clearest evidence
of growth towards any form of maturity; that even the translations of prayers
and songs and the Gospels were not very satisfactorily done, let alone
composition of original prayers and songs which should have been preferred.
Imported hymnody, liturgies, and theologies continued to plague the church
for a long time to come, as if the Supreme and Universal God could not
be praised with songs and music that are truly Urhobo, or addressed in
prayers which well up from the people’s own hearts; as if to use the vehicle
of idioms and proverbs which is indigenous in teaching them about God was
a veritable profanation.
That
the present unhappy state resulted from accident rather than design, no
one denies. Those who brought Christianity were not Urhobo; they used their
native idioms and expressions. And some of them like Bishop Johnson were
accused of insisting that candidates for baptism must learn the Catechism
in Yoruba.
But that the unhappy state should persist, that Oghene should continue
to be viewed only through the eye of the missionary and whathe
says understood only through his mind is what was deplorable. The persistence
of the use of words like Creed and Onigbágbo[6]
at worship in Urhobo rather than Esegbuyata, which is what the ordinary
person understands, is to be decried. That this state persisted till the
sixties, it seems to me, is accounted for by the kind of people who constituted
the clergy class. It is thus necessary and instructive to consider here
the general staffing situation in the C.M.S. from 1934 to 61, and then
to examine also the selection and training of such personnel.
The Staffing Situation
By
1934 there were no more than eight trained men in Urhobo and Isoko in the C.M.S.Church,
and none in the other denominatins. In Urhobo, Agori Iwe was the only trained
Catechist, while Ejaife and Urhiafe were trained teachers from QyQ. In
Isoko, Ifode, Apena, Ockya, and Efeturi, were ally by 1934 junior catechists
from Awka, while Owode was the only trained teacher from the same college.
As yet thee was no single indigenous clergy. The
number of trained men was, however, to rise considerably between 1935 and
1961, a vindication of Thomas'’ earlier policy. In the Urhobo section,
the rise was consequent upon the change over from the Yoruba Mission to
the Niger,
which meant also that Awka instead of Oyo became the training centre.
Of
the persons trained during the period, many remained as teachers, a few
as catechists, and fewer still were those later sent for ordination courses.
Those sent for ordination courses include Nabofa, ordained at Abba in 1945;
Emoefe, ordained in 1951; and Arawore, ordained in 1957. The others who
did not go beyond the catechist stage were D. Egbebruke, I. Efedjama, and
Atikpe (ordained in 1975 or 76). Whilst the Awka-trained headmasters, but
far more in number, included J. Oghenekaro, D. Eferekaya, J. Adamadide,
D. Ohwovoriole, R. Ogbo, and M. Forae. Of these teachers, Eferekaya and
Forae also became ordained, but after 1961. One S. Egube was at this stage
the only Urhobo educated at D.M.G.S., and later at the UniversityCollege, Ibadan.
In
Isoko those who were trained and ordained before 1961 were Apena, Efeturi,
and Okerri in the C.M.S., and Ifode in the AfricanChurch.
The Awka trained catechists included Ovuworie, Amayo, Amagada, and Ockya
who was, much later after 1961, ordained in Ghana
as a Rev. Father of the Anglican Church. The trained teachers from Awka
in Isoko who were again far more than catechists, included Owode, Obukata,
Okoro, and A. W. Bovi. Bovi went through D.M.G.S., and later on became
the first IsokoUniversity
graduate. He too was later ordained in 1968.
All
these persons in some ways followed the footsteps of Agori Iwe, who, as
has been shown, was trained as Catechist at QyQ from 1924-27. Kidd in his
last report of 1931 expressed the desire that Agori Iwe’s ordination was
not to be unduly delayed. He attended Awka for an ordination course in
1938, following which he was ordained a deacon. He served for a year in
the then Eastern Nigeria,
and returned in 1940
to Ughelli. After his priesting in 1940, he took charge of Urhobo C.M.S.
Churches as Superintendent in 1942 and of C.M.S. Schools as Manager, working
under Archdeacon Burne who was based at Warri.
He served till 1948 and went to England
for further theological training in Birkinghead, Liverpool.
During those eight years the Urhobo enjoyed his services as a good shepherd,
and loved him in return for his love and service.
After
his return from England
in 1950, he was posted to Enugu
until 1951 December, when he came back to Urhobo. Upon Archdeacon Burne’s
departure in 1953, Agori Iwe succeeded him as Archdeacon in 1954. He soon
embarked on an elaborate programme to revive the churches under him. Lay
Readers, members of the Women’s Guild, and other prominent Christians were
required to submit their portraits for ‘filming’. Those submitted were
sent by Agoir Iwe to England
where they were made into stills (i.e, films in which there is no movement
at all). In 1955, during the Passion Week a convention of C.M.S. Churches
was held at Ovwodaware. The Christians under him assembled for activities
of varied nature: competition in singing, dancing, and reading of Ovhokpokpo.
In addition to this, Agori Iwe gave a series of lectures on the cross and
the Christian Faith.
The
Convention culminated with two related and significant displays: the film
in which a panaroma of Urhobo leading Anglican Christians was shown, and
a long procession on Easter Morning (about 4. A.m.)of
the Christians, dressed in glistening white with burning candle sticks
in their hands, while from their lips resounded songs of victory which
aroused sleepers in Ughelli township from sleep. The procession meandered
through the streets of the town before it returned to Ovwodaware where
a service of Holy Communion brought the Convention to a final end. Since
then, many of the Christians have yearned in vain for such another opportunity
especially as they see the Jehovah’s Witnesses carrying out a similar practice
which the Anglicans believe was copied from them. The grand and memorable
convention of 1955, organised exclusively by Agori Iwe and indigenous personnel
under him, was an indicator of some growth towards maturity. Since then
and until his consecration in 1961, trained teachers and the few indigenous
pastors there were, have acknowledged his headship, and taken over the
baton from the Missionaries. But the selection and training of this
personnel need to be examined.
Selection and Training of Workers
All
the person trained as teachers,
catechists, and priests up till 1961 were selected and occasionally sponsored
by the Church. Those who went through Secondary Schools and TeacherTrainingColleges
had to sit and pass the set entrance examinations; but the recommendation
of a candidate’s local church committee carried very heavy weight at the
interview. Academic achievement was not, therefore, the sole deciding factor.
The candidate’s church services, devotion to duty and obedience to local
church leaders, which was capable of degenerating into eye-service, and
in a number of cases did degenerate into
that, determined who was selected. In this situation, it was not uncommon
that only the docile and servile were selected for training, while the
bright but promising persons of independent spirits were left out for obvious
reasons.
What
was more, after the selection, many local churches did little or nothing
to provide candidates chosen from their community with funds. The result
was that some of those trained at Awka, especially as they learnt from
their Igbo counterparts of what financial assistance was given to them,
became disappointed with their own churches.
Another
aspect of the training programme deserves attention. This is the academic
quality of the few who were meant exclusively for the Church’s ministry.
In the first case, it appeared that Aitken’s kind of education persisted
even to theological colleges. It may be noted that even after the modification
of Aitken’s policy with the advent of Welch, the education received in
the primary schools was still of a very low standard. The majority of the
schools built were what were called Third Grade Schools, where the pupils
read only to standard two, while pupils in Second Grade Schools (which
were fewer) read up to standard four. Having received this low education,
the brightest proceeded to train as teachers, while the mediocres gravitated
to the Church’s ministry. It is, for instance, alleged that at Awka, it
was generally those who could not make their Teachers’ Grade Two examinations
who changed courses and trained as catechists and pastors. And yet the
C.M.S. was supposed to be training leaders who were to take over the running
of the church after the missionaries’ departure!
This
situation clearly jeopardised the future of the Anglican Church in Zurhoboland,
since the Church’s ministry appeared to be a job to be taken up when all
other avenues had failed. This might well account for the slow growth towards
maturity and for the clear lack of proper and full indigenisation later.
Not infrequently, nor surprisingly, there were frictions between pastors
and the Awka trained headmasters who came to the field to find that they
had to be under the managership of those who were academically their inferior
at college, since it was the pastors who became managers of church schools.
This situation also created another predicament, for headmasters after
training and appointment were tempted to change their courses without really
being called. Thus were created some of the problems with which the Church
in Urhoboland still now has to grapple. For some of those who claimed to
have been called into the ministry do not appear to justify this sacred
calling later in life.
A
sacred ministry made up of the people whose motives for joining are mixed,
and generally other than spiritual-motives of prestige and of dominating
rather than of humility and service, motives of gaining personal influence
and a lofty social status rather than of demonstrating self-sacrifice and
self-denial in the process of shepherding God’s flock, motives even of
economic aggrandisement rather than of eagerness to be rich in the spirit-this
could not contribute towards the spiritual growth of the church and the
attainment of mature manhood in Christ. And yet the stories of calls generally
heard give the impression that those who profess themselves to be called
were sincere. The case of the call of Apena which he personally narrated
to the writer may here be examined.
The Call of Apena
As
a boy Apena served in the 1914-18 World War. He returned to Ilpidiama,
his home town is Isoko, in 1920. At home he identified himself with own
people as a fisherman. It was while in pursuit of this trade that he claimed
to have received his call. He had set out from Ikpidiama for Erohwa to
purchase fish which he would take to the market at Port-Harcourt. Since
Patani lay on his route from Ikpidiama to Erohwa, Abraham Obaro, the headman
of Ikpidiama church, entrusted the church accounts to him to render to
Aitken at Patani. He did this and was about to depart when, according to
him, Aitken called him and charged him to serve the mission. Apena
said that he did not at once yield wholeheartedly since he feared that
that might disrupt his occupation. But back to Ikpidiama, he intimated
Obaro, probably in the presence of others, of what transpired between him
and Aitken.
Apena
said he was returning from Obaro’s house at dusk when he was called again,
this time by a voice which he heard from behind: “Apena, Apena.” He stopped,
turned
round, and saw the man calling to be one Josiah A. Akporerha, who had escaped
from persecution at Irri in 1916, and settled at Ikpidiama. As reported
by Apena, the conversation which ensued between the two ran thus:
Josiah:Who
was Simon Peter?
Apena:He
was a fisherman whom Jesus
called
and made a fisher of men.
Josiah:What
was Peter’s reaction?
Apena:His
response and surrender were immediate and
unconditional.
Josiah:If
Peter responded and surrendered immediately and
unconditionally,
know that the missionary who called
you
was being used by Christ, and unless you respond
as
Peter did, your knowledge of scriptures is of no
avail.
According
to Apena, this was enough to shatter his original plan. He could no longer
do what he thought: return from Port-Harcourt before responding to the
call. He regarded that incident as his real call to the Ministry, that
turning as his actual conversion. Later he joined the Evangelists who were
being trained by Latham (a co-missionary with Aitken) at Aviara, and with
them, after the completion of their training, spread the Gospel in Isoko.
Apena himself later attended ordination course at Awaka and was ordained
in December 1939.
The
genuineness of Apena’s call may be indubitable, but the general question
which we are called upon to raise is “Had he, or any other person in a
similar situation, found a better employment opportunity, say in the Government,
which from all observable evidence, would have advanced his economic status
and afforded him more material satisfaction, would he have preferred the
course he took?”In other words, is
the genuineness or otherwise of the call not dictated and determined by
a man’s state of mind, his educational cravings and circumstances which
may be basically economic? Has the one called, Apena in this case, not
an eye on the post of the Missionary who called him, and whose status,
socially and economically, he believes is higher than that of an ordinary
fisherman, and has he not the hope that he too could possibly attain to
that or a similar status? Had he another avenue through which to climb
the ladder of economic well-being, would he not have taken it? Here we
can only ask questions and not provide answers, since the whole issue of
vocation is essentially subjective. And a number of those called might
well have been initially genuinely called, even if later they betrayed
their sacred vocation. For, a majority of those allegedly called to the
Ministry have not always, at least in the eyes of the common but discerning
man, justified their sacred calling. And yet the rate of growth of Christianity
towards maturity in Urhoboland has inevitably to be determined by them.
It
has been suggested that the academic quality of the indigenous church personnel
was an index of the type of education-primary and post primary-that was
received. It will, therefore, be necessary to examine what facilities existed
for acquiring pre-theological and teacher training education, and whether
such facilities were improved upon and increased between 1935 and 1961
in a way to contribute to the total development and growth of Christianity
towards maturity.
Schools and Other Institutions
OkpariSchool,
where Urhiafe was posted in 1933 as headmaster on his return from QyQ,
was about the only central school
in the interior of Urhobo. The other central school at Uwheru was built
in 1931 while Uwheru was still regarded as part of, and so administered
with, Isoko. These two schools were fed by Grade II schools which went
up to standard four, while the latter was fed by Grade III Schools which
went only up to standard Two. But even these other schools (Grades II and
III) were few. The few which existed in Urhobo interior were at places
like Otovwodo, Okwagbe, Ewu, Egini, etc., and were built or re-organised
between 1931 and 1938 through the efforts of missionaries like Welch, Carr,
and Garbut under whom Agori Iwe worked.
In
Isoko the growth of primary schools appeared to have been faster, as it
was stepped up by the advent of Welch, who, as a pioneer educationist,
worked for and with the clan heads, and had as many as twenty-six schools
built. Of these, twenty-five were, according to Welch,
built by the clan heads, using clan labour. The most highly organised of
these primary schools was the IsokoCentralSchool
at Oleh, where pupils from Grade II Schools generally completed their courses.
But
the rate of growth of C.M.S. primary schools in Isoko and Urhobo was generally
slow. This affected the Churches since schools were organs of evangelisation.
But the slow rate of growth, both of Churches and Schools, is perhaps accounted
for by the 1939-45 War. Not only were missionaries withdrawn from the field,
but the poor economic conditions of the war time meant also that schools
and churches could not be built and run. If the schools were few, it meant
also that only a small percentage of the population received primary school
education. And yet, of this small percentage, many who were brilliant found
employment, after leaving school, with the Government or in Mercantile
houses at Warri and Sapele. Some others took teaching jobs, while a majority
of the drop-outs who evinced deep religious devotion became church teachers,
and later catechists, while very few became pastors.
This
posed a serious handicap to the Church. The Church was left for people
of low and weak calibre to manage, with the result that the process of
indigenisation and growth towards maturity was gravely retarded, particularly
since the church still functioned as an out-reach
of the Church of England, the emphasis on local personnel notwithstanding.
This personnel, incapable of taking initiative, concerned itself with echoing
“His Master’s Voice”, rather than indigenising the Church by imbibing and
making use of what is noble and wholesome in the people’s culture, and
could enrich the spiritual worship of the Church.
The
menacing question of sex morality already noted in the twenties at Sapele
recurred in the hinterland for a long time. Of the bright pupils from primary
schools who later trained at Awka as teachers, the names of a majority
were to be expunged from the list of teachers after working for a while
in the field, on account of alleged immorality. Generally, those so treated
usually found better paid jobs in the Government sector. The high-handedness
of the authority on such persons seldom redounded to the advantage of Christianity
in Urhoboland; for it weakened the numerical strength of the indigenous
personnel. In view of the scarcity of schools and of the non-availability
of workers, a more lenient and sympathetic treatment of alleged offenders
would have been more profitable to the Church.
After
the Second World War, particularly in the nineteen fifties, primary schools
increased in number. When in 1955 Universally Free primary schools were
introduced
together with secondary Modern Schools, the
C.M.S. built Modern Schools at various towns in Urhobo and Isoko.
As primary schools, and then secondary Modern
Schools increased, trained school teachers were sorely needed. Awka, though
much nearer to the people than Oyo, was nonetheless still too far away
to ensure adequate and constant supply of trained teachers.
Negotiations
for land on which to build a Teacher Training Centre at Oleh started as
early as September 1937. This cause was championed by Carr and Garbutt,
the white missionaries then in the district. But in consequence of excessive
red tape at the D.O.’s office in Ughelli, work could not begin as early
as was hoped. The government authority from Ughelli appeared to be accusing
the C.M.S. authorities, represented by Carr and Garbutt, of deceiving the
Oleh people and acquiring land from them at a cheaper rate and for a longer
period than was necessary or stipulated in ‘Native Land Acquisition Ordinance’
which the D.O. directed Carr to read. Furthermore, the D.O. not only appeared
to have influenced the Oleh elders to repudiate an earlier ‘agreement’
with the Trustees of the Diocese on the Niger
but also apparently threatened a court action.
Several letters, some of them scathing, were exchanged between Carr and
the D.O. at Ughelli, but happily after protracted negotiations the land
was acquired at the close of 1938. Work started in earnest in 1939 while
the course itself opened formally the following year. It was not, however,
until 1956, after the introduction of Secondary Modern Schools, that a
Higher Elementary Course was added and the College, designated St. Michael’s,
was up-graded. Thereafter, it became the centre for turning out C.M.S.
trained teachers for the area. Only those who intended to train strictly
as catechists or who were determined to be in the ordained ministry went
to Awka and Umahia respectively for their training.
These
developments, admittedly slow, were nevertheless indicative of the growth
of Christianity towards maturity in Urhoboland, since the developments
were consequent upon the introduction of Christianity in the area. The
general improvement witnessed in Isoko district in the late thirties and
early forties as a consequence of C.M.S. activities there drew some comments
from Bishop Lasbery
who reported that if those in Europe were to see what was happening in
Isoko, a one time backward district, they would rejoice and thank God.
He was thinking particularly of the Teacher Training centre, a bookshop,
a school farm, and a maternity and Welfare Centre that were already built.
With
the introduction of the TeacherTrainingCollege,
the regular and almost only occupation for a majority of the C.M.S. youth
became teaching except that, as has been indicated, those dismissed from
the Mission
because of alleged immorality, gained other, generally better-paid, jobs
with the Government in the towns. That a majority of the emerging elite
started with teaching is understandable, since no Anglican Secondary Schools
existed till 1957 to provide a broad academic training so that the youth
could be easily employed in offices.
In
1957, owing to the tireless efforts of Marioghae, Bovi, Vese, Okoro and
others, assisted by two white missionaries-Bernard and Macbay- the still
resident at Oleh-a Grammar School was opened at Emevor, and aptly named
after James Welch. It was initially planned by the entire Isoko Community,
which was prepared to leave its management with the Anglican Mission. But
as a result of rivalry and opposition from the Roman Catholics the arrangement
collapsed. This was not without its blessing since another secondary school, Notre
DameCollege,
was opened by the Roman Catholics at Ozoro.
The
opening of JamesWelchGrammar
School
meant that the DennisMemorialGrammar
School, Onitsha,
ceased to be the centre for the production of AnglicanSecondary
School
leavers for the Urhobo and Isoko people. In 1961, JamesWelchGrammar
School
turned out its first batch of students (30 in number) with a very good
pass rate of eighty-seven percent. In 1960, an Anglican Girls’ Grammar
School was also opened at Ughelli. The building of these institutions was
thus another indicator of the coming of age of Christianity in Urhoboland.
Maternity Centres
A
maternity home and training centre for girls, affiliated to IyiEnuHospital,
had been opened since July 1931 at Bethel.
The Welfare Training Centre was, however, moved fromBethel
in 1936 and re-opened at Igbudu, Warri in 1938, a blessing those around
Warri did not have while they continued under the Yoruba Mission. This
Welfare and Training Centre with a nurses’ home was not named after Bishop
Johnson, as might have been expected, but after Tugwell.
In 1934 another maternity centre was also opened, this time at Otovwodo
Ughelli, through the initiative of the local Christians, as a demonstration
of their preparedness to manage the Church themselves since they now received
advice, encouragement, and close supervision from the Niger Diocese. When
the headquarters moved to Ovwodawaren in 1947, the maternity centre was
also transferred there.
Bookshops
C.M.S.
Bookshops were opened at Oleh in 1926, at Warri in the early forties, and
at Ughelli in 1954. But the Ughelli Bookshop was in the same year lamentably
consumed by flames which burnt to ashes the first building on GovernmentCollege
compound which was used for the Bookshop. Another one was opened a year
later, but not nearly as grand as the first. It folded up before 1961.
Each
of these amenities-Primary Schools, TeachersTrainingColleges,
Grammar Schools, Bookshops and Maternity Homes-was an indicator of the
coming of age, if not of a thorough-going indigenisation, of Christianity
in Urhoboland. At this point, however, the general effect of Maternity
Homes (which was considerably wide spread) and of Bookshops and Schools
on the people may briefly be noted.
At
first it was mainly church members who attended the Maternity Centres.
The women missionaries, like Jewith, who worked in them
were generally very tender-hearted and motherly. Furthermore, the fees
were moderate and could be afforded by the average Urhobo or Isoko. As
the news of the kind treatment at these centres spread non-christian expectant
mothers also attended and the same benevolence shown to church women was
extended to them. The centres consequently became organs of evangelism,
and also a means of preventing the killing of twins. A number of women
who had previously not embraced Christianity did so.
Another
by-product of this amenity (as of hospitals later) in some ways deplorable,
was the neglect of traditional medicine. It has been shown that Edjo
like Eloho was extirpated in places like Okwagbe, in the conviction
that they were not longer necessary and helpful. But some of the traditional
medicines neglected in this manner are now for ever lost to posterity;
and yet in modern times the need to take traditional medicines more seriously
than before, to research into herbs, refine methods of application, and
use them to treat diseases, some of which are still incurable in the West,
is becoming increasingly realised.
The
third effect of maternity homes in the Urhobo Society is the alleged tendency
to lower the sex morality of the women folk. In the typical Urhobo context,
the notion is strong that no pregnant woman can deliver safely until she
has confessed to her husband and his Erivwin all the offences, particularly
those of adultery, which she committed. With the phenomenon of Maternity
homes, some women are now said to care very little whether or not they
are chaste, since once in a maternity home they would be safely delivered
without the necessary humiliation of confession. Not surprisingly, therefore,
there were men who debarred their wives from Maternity homes if they believed
that the women had confessions to make.
Unlike
maternity homes, the effect of bookshops on the community was sectional.
The sections directly affected were church men, school children and teachers.
For the bookshops stocked stationery, hymn books in English and Vernacular,
Bibles, and the Gospels in translations, primary school books like Oxford
Readers and simple story books. Had the educated few possessed enough initiative
and drive, simple story books could, at this stage, have been written to
preserve in English or Vernacular, Urhobo-Isoko folk lore and ballads.
But only very little has happened in this direction.
By stocking story books (even if from other parts of Africa) and items
like London GCE syllabuses, bookshops did provide some stimulus to many
of the youth, particularly school teachers, to work harder and become academically
better qualified.
These
adjuncts of missionary and church activities were a consequence of the
emphasis on education which thus gave rise to an elite class. The emergence
of this class meant that churches became better and more formally organised.
Students on holidays infused new life to their village churches by teaching
new tunes to songs and by reading and translating Old Testament portions
for first lessons at church services. In Isoko in the fifties, but also
in Urhobo in the sixties, singing competition became a regular feature
of the churches. Choirs of various churches trained their choristers and
competed at Group, District, and Archdeaconry levels.
But
the liturgy of the Church became more or less a matter of mere form. Prayers
were read mechanically by the conductor, and at the end of the congregation
chorused “Ise”.The meaning
of the prayers consequently seldom passed through the minds of the readers
or of the rest of the congregation.
Furthermore,
it is one of the ironies of history that some of the youth educated to
support the church later repudiated the very institution they were to uphold.
There were other attendant disadvantages from this class from the point
of view of the older generation, who found unpalatable the exegesis of
biblical passages by the educated youths and their somewhat exaggerated
dependence on reason rather than on faith. Some of the educated ones themselves
came to view church services more as occasions for social gatherings than
for spiritual worship. The result was that professed beliefs failed to
tally with actual behaviour. Truthfulness and rectitude, hall marks of
early Christianity in Urhoboland, receded into the background. Professing
Christians were no longer quixotic and strict with regard to morality,
but rather took the line of lease resistance, whether or not it meant a
repudiation of the ideals for which the early Christians stood. Men who
claimed to have been educated seized the advantage of “not being superstitious”to
commit criminal and sacrilegious acts such as removing unbelievers gods
by the road-side, goods which in times past would have remained intact
by mere imposition of them of iyori.
It
is perhaps as a result of this new situation that Isikpen’s mysterious
and enigmatic occurred. Iskpen of Evwreni, Igben of Ekuigbo, and Ikpen
of Ekrokepe, have names which sound remarkably similar. But they even have
more in common than their names suggest. They were all converts of the
first generation, and were headmen of their various churches, which they
either introduced or with the foundation of which they were vitally connected.
From the nature of things, they all should have died the same year 1951.
Igven and Ikpen did die that year, but Isiplen did not.
He
had been bed ridden for long, sick to the point of death, indeed believed
dead. Omonigho, Isikpen’s son-in-law. When
he returned, Isikpen, it was said, had recovered. According to Omonigho,
Isikpen helped him to lift the coffin into the house.
Isikpen told his own story somewhat as follows:
We
were three moving on a road, and I the eldest. The other two with whom
I met at crossroads, were coming from other cities. We journeyed together,
and I brought up the rear, being the eldest. We came to the end of the
road, and saw a raised galley or balcony-like structure, at the gate of
which stood a man (Jesus). He stretched forth the right hand, raised the
first in the group and received him within. And I heard a shout of joy
from beyond. He did the same to the second (of the group). But when it
came to my turn he called me by name.
“You
are Isikpen” he said, “ I am sending you
back to Urhobo. You are to go, visit all Urhobo churches, and narrate what
you saw. You should warn those who now treat my words with levity. I give
you two and a half days to do this.” After this opened my eyes, and was
well.
Isikpen
thus toured Urhobo C.M.S. churches to narrate what he was reported packed
full of eager audience.
The
case of Isikpen might well be a warning to the Christians particularly
the youth not to treat lightly the words they had been taught from the
beginning, whether they had gained book knowledge or not. In the period
immediately following Isikpen’s experience the Urhobo churches held combined
and revival services at which heart-searching addresses were delivered.
In addition to this, the practice of open air preaching was reactivated
as a means of winning converts. To this end, the District purchased a band
set with modern musical instruments and consequently involved the youth
in the task of spreading the Gospel. John Tebite, Isaac Isodje, and Enoch
Adeda, who were choirmasters, were the leading instructors in the use of
these instruments. By these had experienced, and to deliver the message,
which, he said, was committed to him. During his itineration, each of the
churches he visited methods-of revival services and open air preaching-C.M.S.
churches in Urhobo experienced a considerable reawakening abandoned. It
was later from Isoko, where Adam;s own movement of a similar nature was
gaining ground, that the practice of open air preaching once more spread,
after 1961, to Urhobo where one A. Asaboro had been attempting in his own
way to keep it going.
As
has been demonstrated, the hinterland churches witnessed a considerable
reawakening and growth towards maturity in the period 1935-61, especially
in terms of personnel, and the diverse institutions that were built. The
one patently static factor was liturgy. The perpetual rigidity of the liturgy
in the Anglican churches as in the Roman Catholic continued to baffle men
of discernment, even if it proved to be something of a marvel. For despite
this rigidity, church membership increased; but this must have been due
to other factors like open air preaching and the converts’ own personal
circumstances than tot he appeal of the liturgy which the generality of
the membership probably construed as a sacred and magical ritual which
was therefore not to be rashly interfered with. Thus, whether church members
found it meaningful or not, whether it spoke to their situation or not,
the pattern of worship was punctiliously retained. The prayers were reverently
recited. Even if in a Republican Nigeria the uniformed catechist prayed
fervently and heartily for “our most gracious Sovereign Lord, King George”
and besought God to “grant him in health and wealth long to live”. The
monstrosity of this anachronism did not bother the village church members
who were completely oblivious of the meaning and implications of a Republican
Nigeria, or of the fact that King George died long ago.
The
church’s rigid liturgy did not, however, appeal to, or bring in, new converts,
as we have observed. Conversions happened generally either through the
personal circumstances of the converted, or though lively and very often
indigenous music which the evangelists and their entourage normally adopted
at evangelistic campaigns. The foreign hymnody would then be, by and large
ignored, and indigenous music which enabled the Christians to demonstrate
their true African spirit, substituted. Also, during the singing competitions,
the excellence of original composition to indigenous music came to light
and was eulogised, even by the hierarchy of the church. And yet this hierarchy
has either never seen the need, or has been incapable of taking the initiative,
to include indigenous music in the Church’s liturgy. This could have been
more easily done to advantage in the hinterland churches than in the churches
at Warri and Sapele which we will now examine for evidence of growth towards
maturity before 1961.
Warri and Sapele 1935-1961
St.
Andrew’s, Warri, and St. Luke’s, Sapele have been the mother churches for
the C.M.S. congregations of Urhobo interior from the beginning. After 1935,
following the change over to the Niger Diocese, one result of which was
availability of resident pastors at Ughelli, the role of St. Andrew’s as
a mother church diminished, while that of St. Luke’s which continued with
Yoruba Mission till the end of our period completely disappeared.
To
be sure Warri still grew in importance; but this was not in respect of
Urhobo congregations alone. From a P.C.C. it became a D.C.C. area, and
finally an Archdeaconry headquarters when Warri Archdeaconry was created
and Burne made its first Archdeacon. His jurisdiction extended over the
Urhobo-Itsekiri congregations at Warri, the congregations in the hinterland-Urhobo,
Isoko, Western Ijo,
Aboh, Asaba, and Kwale, (with the exception of Obiaroku which like Sapele
went with the Yoruba Mission). This accounted for its diminishing role
as a mother church for the Urhobo.
As
we have seen the maternity and welfare centre at Bethel
in Isoko was transplanted from there in 1936 and re-opened at Warri in
1938. A Girls’ Teacher Training Centre was also to be opened there which,
like the welfare centre, answered the name Bishop Tugwell. Here female
teachers were produced for the schools.
In
so far as institutions have been taken as indicative of growth towards
maturity this was the case with Warri where the kind of indigenisation
that one expected in the hinterland could scarcely have happened owing
to its cosmopolitan character.
Church Building
There
has been an attempt, as far back as the time of Thomas, to build a larger
and more magnificent church house at Warri. After many years of contributing
money, the foundation stone was laid on 21st
March, 1939, but it was
not completed until after twenty one years. Various vicars laboured tirelessly
to see it completed: D.D.A. Coker, a retired clergy man from Sierra-Leone
who served at Warri in 1950-52, and C.A. Echenim who was there in 1955.
Coker itinerated all churches in Warri Archdeaconry,
soliciting for building funds. He was quoted as reporting in September
1950 that “The amount collected for 3rd September (during the
monthly rally) was £9: 17/~. We need more than this each month or
the new church will take 30 years to build”.
Five years later, Echenim urged his members to wake up, if the building
was not to take another 25 years. He urged his congregation not only to
give of their money, but also of their time to pray fervently for the completion
of the work. To this end he urged the members to organise themselves into
prayer groups or partners and meet once a week “for the sole purpose of
praying for this church building”.
Although mundane scientific investigation cannot ascertain the extent to
which such prayer groups expedited the project, Tennyson’s oft-quotedwords,
indicate that prayers are more efficacious than men will ever understand.
The building was completed in 1960 and provided a fitting venue for the
consecration of Agori Iwe on 30th
November 1961-an event
which was an outward manifestation of the coming of age of Anglican Christianity
in Urhoboland.
St. Luke’s Sapele 1935-1961
St.
Luke’s, with the outstations in the outskirts of Sapele, were the only
churches which turned a deaf ear to the call: Mo re kpo. Sapele
continued with Yoruba Mission till 1961. This is perhaps understandable
because the congregation was from its inception Yoruba influenced. Akande
who succeeded Kidd there and I. T. Palmer, the President of the Church
from 1908 till his death in 1952, were Yoruba.
If
St. Luke’s would not come with the other churches of Urhobo to the Niger
Diocese, it nevertheless had to surrender many of its outstations. Thus,
during the first Sapele District Church Council (D.C.C.) meeting of 1939,
Akande noted that some changes occurred; some stations which previously
formed part of the Sapele District were handed over to the Niger Diocese.
Consequently, St. Luke’s had to act in accordance with “the suggestions
by the C.M.S. at the 1936 E.C., held at Lagos, to the effect that Sapele
District should endeavour to open up new Mission Stations along the Creeks
to connect Gbekebo and Siloko in Ondo District Mission"”
Accordingly
Ikomi was later re-employed as Catechist with a specific duty assigned
to him; he was to attempt to effect the desired
link. He made Koko his base from where he itinerated
the outlying stations in an effort to connect that part of Sapele District
with Ondo. Through him new stations, like Aja-Oki, were opened. A canoe
was later provided for him and another for Akande himself, with which they
toured the stations in the Creeks. Apart from evangelising the Creeks,
St. Luke’s Church also made some efforts to evangelise the hinterland villages
around Amukpe and Idjerhe stations. A pastor was sent to Idjerhe in 1949,
but could not stay because of alleged hostility from the indigenes.
The
Sapele District was visited by Bishops Akinyele and Vining on various occasions
in their time. The District seemed to have been rated so high in the Yoruba
Mission that during the 1942 centenary of the introduction of Christianity
to Yorubaland out of the £1,000 budgeted for the celebrations, Sapele
was expected to contribute £20, while Benin, its sister District,
was to pay on £5. There must have been an exaggerated notion in Lagos
of the buoyancy of Sapele District, for the C.C.C. insisted that they were
not prepared to pay higher than Benin.
But if Lagos
over-estimated St. Luke’s position, there was
some grounds for this; for in 1942 I.T. Palmer left in his will for the
Church the sum of £500 (five hundred pounds), the same as he allocated
to TrinityMethodistChurch,
Tinubu, his home church in Lagos.
After
the long tenure of office of Akande, he was succeeded in January 1947 by
Rev. Canon S.A.F. Odunuga. Even before his arrival there was evidently
dissatisfaction and discontent at St. Luke’s, as a result of its multiethnic
composition. The Igbo had their own section, and later on the Edo,
followed by the Isoko. Two main groups were therefore left-the Yoruba and
the Urhobo (with the Itsekiri). The former laid claim to the church on
the ground that the church was founded by the Yoruba, chief amongst whom
was Palmer, although, as has been earlier indicated, the first Christian
community at Sapele was in fact organised by John Okitikpi, from whom Palmer
took over when Okitikpi died in 1906. The only claim of the Yoruba group
to St. Luke’s appears to be the fact that the Church had been built on
their land, and, either rightly or wrongly, they had regarded it as their
church from its inception. Thus, when QmatsQla and his group broke away
in 1917 because of alleged domination of St. Luke’s by the Yoruba, there
were other Urhobo and Itsekir who remained and together with their Yorba
counterparts regarded the church as theirs. Had St. Luke’s, Sapele followed
population of St. Luke’s would have found it more difficult to sustain
their claim to the church. This was perhaps understood and foreseen by
the authorities who refused to effect the change over.
When
in the fifties Urhobo membership of St. Luke’s increased considerably the
church suffered from inter-ethnic conflicts and rivalries. The Yoruba population
laid claim to St. Luke’s as did the Urhobo. Petitions and counter petitions
went to the Bishop of the Diocese, the Rt. Rev. S.O. Odutola. The conflicts
continued unresolved until after the creation of Benin Diocese in 1961.
The
chequered history of St. Luke’s, similar as it is to those of some other
churches earlier considered, leaves one in doubt as to the extent to which
Christianity has transformed its adherents. It illustrates the predicament
of the Christian church in Urhoboland, the predicament of a church in a
town made up of diverse ethnic groups, where despite the common faith professed,
the people fail to hold allegiance to a given centre, where bickering and
bitterness rather than harmony control the people’s-existence. This is
a slur on the ability of Christianity to foster unity. But the fault is
not in the stars but in “ourselves”-not in Christianity but in the Christians.
It seems that the Sapele controversy indicates that the C.M.S. church there
has made little progress spiritually.
But
viewed from another perspective, the controversy can be seen as consequent
upon a struggle by a people desirous of growth, especially if it be argued
that the Yoruba involvement at Sapele arose from the fact that they were
among the introducers of Christianity there. The Urhobo could then be seen
as demonstrating their readiness to carry on the church
which
was brought to them. But since the Yoruba were, since 1914, their fellow
Nigerians, and not white missionaries or even Gold Coasters, they did not
see their settlement at Sapele as a temporary one, even if the Urhobo felt
that the Yoruba should relinquish the church to them. If the Urhobo are
to be justified in their claim, it is because men like Ologodudu, Akande,
and even Canon Odunuga were regarded as missionaries, who, like white missionaries,
ought to go and leave the management of the church to the indigenes. Perhaps
viewed from this perspective, the Urhobo claim to St. Luke’s may be construed
as evidence of growth towards maturity.
The Baptists 1935-1961
Within
the Baptist church there was also some evidence of growth towards maturity,
but it was hardly noticeable until after 1961, and was preceded by disruption.
(i)Emergence
of Bethel
Baptist, Sapele
The
return of Aganbi from training in 1935 did not becloud the activities of
Omatsola, whose character knew little patience. Instead it enhanced it
for a while. It meant more hands for the work which had for long rested
squarely only on his shoulders. And throughout the thirties nothing appeared
to disrupt his activities.
But
in 1939, a Baptist convention met, following the arrival in Nigeria
from the U.S.A.
of the Executive Secretary of the Baptist Mission, accompanied by one Andrew
and his wife, with two other ladies, Maddry and Boatwright. In that convention
a decision was taken to purge Nigerian Baptist Churches of polygamists.
They could no longer as before hold positions of leadership. Qmatsola
who had hitherto found the Baptist convenient, was consequently confounded.
In 1941 having admitted that he had been living in polygamy,
he desired, like Henry VIII, to divorce his wife, and marry another. The
refusal by the missionaries to grant this request precipitated the 1942
crisis within the BaptistChurch
in Sapele.
The
American Missionaries withdrew fellowship from, or were ejected by, Omatsola.
With them were many of Omatsola’s Baptist,
who accepted the new stance. They were advised by Carson, the resident
missionary, to join some Baptist Christians who were worshipping in a house
in the compound of one Ayomanor, a chief in Sapele. The household church
there was started by Onakpoya Oghumiowo, fro EkuBaptistChurch.
After many who separated from Omatsola had joined the small group, it grew
rapidly. They were regularly visited from Eku by Aganbi who conducted their
services, since they had no resident pastor till 1945. In that year the
Church, on the advice of Carson,
invited one Awatefe to shepherd the congregation, which position he accepted, receiving
“a paltry salary of two pounds and ten shillings a month”.
This was jointly paid by the Church and the American Baptist Mission.
As
the church grew, it was properly organised and named Bethel Baptist
Church in 1946.After
this Awatefe left at the end of they year for the BaptistCollege, Iwo,
and the Seminary at Ogbomosho.
Thereafter, one Okerentie took over leadership from1947-50, when he too
entered Ogbomosho Seminary. The church thus continued from 1950-51 without
a resident pastor. Onakpoya and Omamogho, the elders of the church, had
to conduct services until 1952, when Agbaluwa was called upon to shepherd
it. Under his leadership the congregation grew so rapidly that the need
for a large house soon arose. A new church building was started in 1954
and completed in 1957. So magnificent and spacious was it that it was readily
chosen as a fit venue for the 48th annual session of the Nigerian
Baptist Convention in 1960, an indication that the Bethel Baptist, belonging
to the Nigerian Baptist Convention showed evidence of growth towards maturity
before 1961, particularly because the personnel by degrees became indigenised
although still under the general supervision of American missionaries.
(ii)FirstBaptistChurch
Sapele
After
the separation from Omatsola of what became the Bethel Baptist, Omatsola
named his church the FirstBaptistChurch,
and affiliated with the Baptists at Benin,
answering the name United Baptist Mission, (U.B.M.) but his union was short-lived.
After five years Omatsola broke away and started to seek re-union with
the American Baptists. It was during the years of conflict with the American
Baptists that Eku hospital was built, since the missionaries preferred
to invest their money and human resources in an area whose members were
constantly loyal to them. It was not until 1963 that reconciliation with
the American Baptists was actually effected, and Omatsola “rehabilitated”.
Omatsola’s
Baptist Church was incapable of independent existence; the few Baptist
churches, like that at Okwagbe, which continued with him in the years of
separation from the NBC, suffered from lack of funds and hence also from
unavailability of personnel and improper organisation. An impoverished
and improperly organised church has little chance of surviving, let alone
of growing in any direction.
(iii)OkwagbeBaptistChurch
When
there was the internal disruption within the Baptist Mission, a number
of the churches earlier founded through Omatsola’s efforts followed him
and abandoned the American Baptist Mission, to their detriment. This was
the case with Okwagbe (waterside and inland) which had, under the American
Baptist Mission, built a school in 1937.
This school had no teachers after the 1942 crisis. Before then, they had
been under Eku Association, and had been constantly visited by Aganbi,
Brantley ( white missionary), and occasionally
by Omatsola. As a consequence of the break, no missionaries or trained
workers visited the church and school at Okwagbe which therefore suffered.
Only after a long period of twelve years did Okwagbe Baptist realise what
she had lost educationally, spiritually, and socially, by deciding to follow
Omatsola, especially as she saw the progress of sister churches which continued
with the American Baptist. In 1954, Okwagbe left Omatsola and rejoined
the American Baptist, a reconciliation of which resulted in a re-awakening
of the work at Okwagbe. Church teachers and pastors were despatched there
to revive the work, but, by 1961 Okwagbe was still finding her feet and
learning heavily on more established N.B.C. churches. The growth or otherwise
of these other churches is indicated in Aganbi’s report on them.
(iv)Aganbi’s
itineration of Baptist Churches (1947)
After
the return of Aganbi from training in 1935, he itinerated
Baptist churches in Eku and environs, and opened new ones. This activity
continued with renewed vigour after his ordination in 1940. His itineration
which after 1942 was limited to those churches that conformed with
American Baptist principles, was aimed at encouraging them and assessing
their relative strength. His short reports on some of them visited in 1947
reveal their strength, and indicated that they were still in infancy. But
they give a clear picture of the Baptist churches, their organisation,
self-understanding and estimation vis-à-vis some other Christians.
The report also indicated a measure of growth of the Baptist churches during
the period. Perhaps what emerges most clearly from the report is Baptist
self-understanding. Aganbi emphasised self-identity and self-awareness
as well as the need to consolidate Baptist churches in Urhoboland. This
need sometimes involved antagonism toward some other christian
groups.
The
towns he visited included Ajagololo Adagbrasa, Oviri, Orere-Okpe, Imode,
Oginibo, Ohwahwa, and Okwama. In some of them with primary schools, the
teachers were severely attacked. For instance those at Imode who were described
as having “no interest in church work” were considered to be responsible
for the retrogression of the work there. Aganbi described what Baptist
organisations existed at Imode as “dead and ready for burial”-a situation
which might have been different had the teachers been committed to the
Baptist cause.
Aganbi
considered that before the Baptist church could thrive and flourish her
members in any one community must be conscious of their traditions and
evince a competitive spirit with other christian
groups. At Oviri, for instance, he called on the members to stand their
ground against Roman Catholics, and appealed for financial help from the
headquarters by means of which a Baptist trained teacher could be provided
for the young Baptist school at Oviri, particularly since the Oviri “are
fed up with quack schools who are corrupting the education of their children”.
Aganbi who confessed his previous opposition to “the idea of establishing
and nourishing schools” now frantically urged the Baptist authorities to
support schools, which are a means of evangelisation. He argued that the
activities of Jesus included teaching, preaching and healing, a “trinity”,
Aganbi says, that must be preached by Baptists to check what he called
“Roman Catholic aggression”.
Proper
teaching and instruction could be given not only through the schools, but
through the churches, and by means of open air campaigns. This was what
Aganbi did at Orere-Okpe, which he described as the seat of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
It was through instructions and rallies that he said he was able to save
Baptists at Orer-Okpe from their seducers, the Jehovah’s Witnesses. In
some of the other churches like Oginibo where proper and regular teaching
and instruction had been carried out, all Baptist organisations thrived
and flourished. As has been indicated weaker churches like Okwagbe Baptist
had to lean heavily on Oginibo which was more established and was growing
considerably.
To
foster the task of instructing these churches which Aganbi itinerated frequently,
he not only wrote an Urhobo primer but translated the Fourth Gospel into
Urhobo in 1947/8 despite an earlier one translated as early as 1929 by
Agori Iwe of the Anglican Church. This is, of course, another example of
the self-consciousness and separate existence of the different denominations.
Aganbi also translated hymns into the vernacular for use in Baptist churches,
an attempt intended to help growth towards maturity of the churches under
his supervision.
At
Eku, Aganbi’s own seat, a dispensary started in 1947 was later converted
to a hospital formally opened on 27
July 1950. Aganbi noted
in his report that the dispensary, as it was then, was a potent organ for
evangelism, its effect reaching all Urhobo and Isoko people. From its inception
a practice started of preaching and praying for the patients each morning
before they are treated. Many converts have been made into the Baptist
fold, not only from the unbelievers but even from other Christian groups.
The total effect of the hospital on the Urhobo-Isoko society is similar
to what has been noted in connection with the introduction of maternity
homes by the C.M.S. For the sick Urhobo, Eku hospital is now the pool of Bethsaida
or of Siloam.
Aganbi’s
report showed much evidence of narrow mindedness, a rather hostile attitude
towards other groups like Roman Catholics and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and
little of growth towards maturity except only in terms of translations.
It underlined Aganbi’s fanaticism and the tenacity with which he held the
Baptist brand of the Christian faith. Since he was the chief Baptist voice
in Urhoboland, his attitude, which may indeed be different in degree but
not in kind from that of other denominations, must be seen as normative
of Baptist attitude in that area. He gave a continued and effective leadership
to Baptist churches in Urhobo and spread it to the Isoko speakers in 1956,
a year before he died.
By
1961 these churches were growing considerably. There were as many as Four
Associations
of Baptist churches which have survived to the present day: the Eku Association
comprising Agbor, Abraka, Agvarha and Isoko; Oginibo, comprising Ughelli,
Olomu, Ughievwe and Udu Baptist churches; Sapele Association made up of
Sapele, Okpe, Warri, and Oghara; and finally Idjerhe Association embracing
churches in Idjerhe clan. Each of the churches in the Association is supposed
to run certain organisations-Women’s Missionary Union (W.M.U.), Lydia,
Girls Auxiliary (G.A.), and Sunbeam (for children not older than nine).
Although
the Baptists grew numerically in the fifties, the measure of maturity and
selfhood attained before 1961 is disappointing; and that because of indiscriminate
attachment to the American Baptists who invariably dictated the tune. But
later, with the emphasis on the Nigerian Baptist Convention, the American
gradually handed over to indigenous personnel. But it was not until after
1961 that this became noticeable. The translation
of the Fourth Gospel and of a number of songs by Aganbi from English into
Urhobo, though not always accurate or very successful, are nevertheless
indicative of growth towards maturity.
Pentecostalist Churches
Here
it will be difficult to talk of growth towards maturity, since they did
not feature in Urhoboland till about the close of the period. Apart from
a few Christ Apostolic Churches in Isoko in 1948, and another at Odion,
Warri, in the mid 30’s (which in 1941 acquired a school formerly belonging
to one Edema Arayuwa and still then known as OgishiMemorialSchool,
Okeri), Pentecostalist churches did not come into Urhobo till 1954. In
that year, American World Christian Crusade came to Sapele under the leadership
of R. Cock with a declared purpose: to evangelise and win souls (both churchmen
and traditionalists) for Christ. Their ministry included one of faithhealing,
which happened during revival services, and it naturally drew crowds to
them. Elton, a pastor at Ilesha,
was instrumental to their coming.
When
they arrived, the Crusaders used Sapele (as earlier Missionaries had done)
as a base. From there they evangelised Oghara, Idherhe, and Okpe areas,
and moved to Warri, Ughelli, and other towns in Urhobo. While at Sapele
they associated with the first Baptist Church of QmatsQla, in whose church-house
they started a BibleTraining
School
in 1955. Here evangelists were trained and equipped for their work farther
afield. As their members increased they acquired land from one Umukoro
Mude, of Okpe, through the help of Festus S. Eda, later known as Chief
Okotie-Eboh. On this land at Macpherson Road Sapele, they first established
a station and held their revival services. One J. W. O. Aki was the interpreter
for the Urhobo section.
The
thousands of converts made were not initially constituted into a separate
church, but were asked to join denominations of their choice. Apostle J.
A. BabalQla from Efon-Alaiye, who followed this movement to Sapele, seized
this opportunity to establish his own churches (ChristApostolicChurch)
all over Urhoboland, using the myriads of converts made by the crusaders.
For, following the mass evangelisation at Sapele which drew so many (especially
those who wanted healing) from the interior, the converts left for their
various towns to organise independent churches. They were visited by the
crusaders as overseers, when invited to do so. But the American crusaders
never
laid claim to these churches. Thus, on coming to any of such congregations,
BabalQla explained what the Christ Apostolic Church (C.A.C.) stood for
and if the congregation accepted his leadership, they became his members.
In this way BabalQla’s C.A.C spread throughout Urhobo and became particularly
strong in Okpe area where the C.M.S.Church
had been weakened by M. Ebossa’s Erhi Movement of 1929. C.A.C. churches
also grew up in Ephron, Agbarho, and Ughelli areas.
Other
congregations which preferred to be unattached continued their independent
existence answering such names as “Gospel Mission”, “The Apostolic Church”,
etc., while some of them later died out through mixing the Christian faith
with Urhobo traditional religion. One of the congregations which was not
permanently merged with the C.A.C., until after 1961 was that which sprang
from the original spot where the crusaders worked at Sapele, that is, those
who remained and acquired land from Mukoro Mude. This was the congregation
tended by Aki and for which he was ordained a pentecostalist
pastor in 1958.
This
particular church, like St. Luke’s, Sapele, was made up of different ethnic
groups with similar frictions and rivalries (to what happened in St. Luke’s),
and in this instance even resulting in court cases. Evidence of growth
towards maturity is here patently lacking. Aki, the pastor of the congregation,
had in fact to desert it. He joined the Anglican Church, to which he formerly
belonged, in 1963. The American crusaders themselves
who had been visiting the church and other Protestant churches when invited,
moved in 1959 from Sapele to settle at Abraka where they now are.
In
Isoko there were also a number of Faith Tabernacle churches from 1938 onwards;
but they were converted to Christ Apostolic by an IjQ revivalist in 1948,
and acquired by Apostle BabalQla in 1955 during his itineration of that
area.
All the pentocostalist churches operate very much like the Faith Tabernacle
at Agbarho and forbid the use of curative medicines. It was, however, not
until after 1961 that their growth became marked, and their claim as authentic christian
organisation recognised by other denominations.
The R.C.M
The
Roman Catholics have already been considered. It is difficult to classify
growth within that communion in Urhoboland as “towards maturity”. It certainly
grew numerically particularly among the Urhobo speakers. But virtually
only their school teachers and catechist were indigenes. The priesthood
remained practically till the end of the period, an expatriate concern.
Before 1961, there were only three Urhobo ordained Roman Catholic Reverend
Fathers, and even up till the time of writing no Isoko Roman Catholic has
been ordained. At that same time, there were four Urhobo Anglican priests,
Agori Iwe, Nabofa, Emoefe, and Arawore, while in Isoko there had been ordained
Apena, Efeturi, and Okerri.
The AfricanChurch,
though “African” from the beginning, did not show enough evidence of maturity
before the end of the period. By 1961 there was only one UrhoboAfricanChurch
priest, Rev. Okirhienyefa, and one from Isoko, Ifode. Their organization,
through patterned after the Anglican, seems to have suffered considerably
from lack of sense of direction and proper control. The Pentecostalist
and the Faith Tabernacle churches were similar to the AfricanChurch
in this respect, i.e. of apparent lack of proper organisation. But the
Pentocostalist (excluding the Faith Tabernacle) came late to Urhoboland,
with the result that no evidence of their growth towards selfhood is recognisable
before 1961. The Faith Tabernacle itself has almost died out.
The
Jehovah’s Witnesses, members of God’s Kingdom Society, have from the beginning
been manned solely by Urhobo and Isoko. While the former receives directives
from the U.S.A.,
the latter is purely indigenous. The kind of growth (apart from numerical)
noticeable in both defies a clear-cut analysis. This is particularly so
with Jehovah’s Witnesses. For though making use of local personnel, they
received directives from overseas and hawk imported ideas in their official
magazine, The Watch Tower. Perhaps they would never think,
much less talk, in terms of growth towards maturity and selfhood, since
they consider that their society, being universal, should do its thinking
and organisation universally.
Conversely,
the God’s Kingdom Society is so locally managed by virtue of its origin
that to talk of growth to maturity, in terms of indigenisation, would be
equally meaningless. The question does not arise. For,
from birth, it has been self-supporting and self-propagating. They
are peculiar in including almost everything in Urhobo-Isoko culture which
cannot be justly styled “devilish” in their worship. They employ indigenous music,
use opiri and udje[43]
songs at services. Evidently this largely accounts for the great appeal
their organisation has for the Urhobo-Isoko people. The only area where
they have not been indigenous is with respect to the Bible. Although they
started since 1934, they have not made any attempt to translate any part
of the Bible into Urhobo as the C.M.S. and the Baptists have done.
Conclusion
As
was indicated at the beginning of this chapter, the kind of growth towards
maturity that occurred in the churches involved little or no indigenisation
of the liturgy and theology. The hymnody continued to be foreign,
the prayers used at worship only those translated. Only the workers increasingly
became indigenised. Since very little of the culture was borrowed and baptised
into the life of the church, those Christians who took their faith seriously
tended to be cut off from their kith and kin, and from their traditional
ethos. Nevertheless a majority of others, despite the theory of absolute
detachment from the native culture and religion enunciated by the authorities,
in practice became involved in things like festivals and funeral ceremonies.