Bringing Christianity to Nigeria
The Origin and Work of Protestant Missions

Protestant missionary work began in Nigeria with the arrival in September l842, of a Wesleyan Methodist Church missionary. He had come in response to the request for missionaries by the ex-slaves who returned to Nigeria from Sierra Leone.

The study of missions over the centuries is a mammoth task. It is impossible for us to fully understand and grasp what it was like for the early missionaries when they entered Nigeria. When we are made aware of the great darkness and the evil forces which were at Work in those days, can we appreciate how the gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit can destroy these powerful forces of the devil and rejoice in the fact that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,” the old has gone, the new has come.”

One cannot help but be amazed at the way many faced martyrdom and sacrifice for the cause of Christ and the advancement of God’s kingdom in that land. In spite of many dangers and much opposition they ventured into the unknown with hearts burning to do the will of God with their lives.

Even though this study is limited to the country of Nigeria, if half the story were told it could fill many libraries. By depending significantly upon the archival and written records of the various Missionary Societies and their missionaries, there are many limitations and many gaps in our knowledge, as we are looking at the situation and the interpretation of events as through the missionaries’ eyes.

Nigerians could have given another, or a different, account of how their lives, their community and their country were affected, when the claims of Christ, as presented by the ‘white man,’ came to them.