No Turning Back: A HISTORY OF AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN INVOLVEMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, 1833-2000

BOOK SUMMARY FOR WEBSITE As a new century and millennium begin, there could be no more appropriate time to tell the amazing story of American Presbyterian involvement in global mission during the past two centuries. As part of this Mission History Project, the writer has focused on American Presbyterian witness and work in sub-Saharan Africa from its beginnings in 1833 until the year 2000. The very title of the book indicates a basic reality. The African continent is pulled in two directions, with Islam the major faith system of those peoples north of the Sahara as well as along the continent's eastern edge, and Christianity rapidly becoming the predominant faith of those below the Sahara. Sub-Saharan Africa is the area of the world where the Christian movement is growing more rapidly than anywhere else in the world, so that by the year 2000 it has become the region with the largest percentage of its population claiming the name Christian. Africa has experienced profound political change in the past half century as it has moved from the era of colonialism into a period of struggle for nationhood. Africa contains a larger number of developing nations than any other continent and faces horrendous economic problems that affect every aspect of the lives of its people. Africa has endured immeasurable suffering because of wars of liberation and inter-tribal conflict. Africa is now struggling with the plague of HIV/AIDS and other diseases which devastate its people. Africa is where the struggle for a world free from the bondage of racism finds its most intense expression. The story of the Christian movement in Africa is one that both thrills and instructs us as we consider the prospects for the Christian movement in the new millennium. This book attempts to tell the story of American Presbyterian involvement in this amazing Christian movement, from its beginnings in the early nineteenth century until the end of the twentieth century. Certainly it is impossible to tell the whole story, for there is so much that deserves to be told of committed people, of heroic deeds, of history-shaping events, of great accomplishments as well as great catastrophes. The purpose of this book is to enable the reader to "see the big picture", in order to grasp major developments which have taken place and which have profoundly changed the direction of Christian mission. The major sections of the book are the following: Chapter I Entering an Unknown Continent: Pioneer Evangelization (1833-1914). In the early 19th century, sub-Saharan Africa was largely an unknown continent, known to the West primarily through the institution of slavery. The earliest attempt of American Presbyterians to enter that continent was through accompanying the return of freedmen to Liberia, a venture that proved both unsuccessful and tragic. After several aborted efforts, American Presbyterian missionaries entered the West African country Cameroun and expanded their witness in that country. Following division in the American Presbyterian family brought about by the Civil War, Southern Presbyterian missionaries entered Central Africa, beginning pioneer evangelization in the Kasai Region of Belgian Congo. Still later, missionaries of the United Presbyterian Church of North America ventured south from Egypt to the Upper Nile region of the Sudan, initiating work among the animistic Nilotic peoples. These were years of courageous and sacrificial work by individual missionaries, with strong emphasis on evangelization. Chapter II Working between World Wars: Mission Expansion (1914-1940). Following the disruption of the First World War, the "missions" increased in size and strength. In addition to evangelistic work, the organized missions expanded their educational and medical work, establishing schools providing primary and secondary education and hospitals from small clinics to larger institutions. Too often the missions kept all the work under