Interpretación y discusión de los resultados

The partnership of the LBMEC with the missionaries of the FMB of the Southern Baptist Convention has had a unique role in Liberia. Missionaries have traversed the world seeking to make an impact for the Kingdom of God. The question that often goes unanswered would be: What impact did they make? This research project attempts to begin to answer that question in regards to the 40 years of missionary involvement in Liberia by the Southern Baptists from 1960 – 2000.

In 1960, Baker James Cauthen (President, FMB) and Cornell Goerner (Africa Secretary) proceeded to Liberia to explore the possibility of re-entering Liberia. The discovery trip was the result of a meeting at the Baptist World Alliance in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at which they met with Dr. Tolbert who was serving as the President of the BWA, President of LBMEC, and Vice-President of Liberia. The two men were invited to survey Liberia with the intent to reopen mission work (Cauthen 1970:170).

After visiting Liberia and days of prayer and consultation, the men were led to a moment at the Ducor Hotel that Goerner describes:

119

Just before leaving Monrovia, Cauthen and Goerner knelt on the carpeted floor of their suite at the Ducor Hotel and joined in a prayer led by Tolbert that God would guide the FMB in a decision to be made at its next meeting, when Cauthen was to bring a recommendation that a mission program be launched in Liberia at the warm invitation of the LBMEC. It was no surprise to anyone that the vote was an enthusiastic affirmation (Goerner 1980:1).

The historic decision to return was the renewal of a partnership that had been dormant since 1876 (Cauthen 1970:170). This, like many other missionary efforts was a barrier and an influential factor. In one sense, because of the relationship with Tolbert and the LBMEC, there was a carte blanche access for the missionary efforts and proclamation of the Gospel. On the other hand, it was a partnership with the Americo-Liberian elite which was flush with implications that proved to be a barrier.

An astute historian would immediately recognize the irony of the partnership between these two entities. Liberia was established as a colony by and for freed American Negro slaves. At the same time, Southern Baptists were in the process of forming into a convention primarily over the issue of slave ownership.

In the US, Baptists from the North and South were aligned as the Triennial Baptist Convention which was founded in 1814. However, in 1840, the American Baptist Anti-Slavery Convention was formed by the northern states with the purpose of calling for the exclusion of any missionaries or candidates who were slave holders (Cauthen 1970:15, 20). After a protracted struggle, delegates from the Southern States met in Georgia to organize themselves as the Southern Baptist Convention.

The purpose of the newly formed SBC was delineated in the preamble:

We, the delegates from the Missionary Societies, Churches and other religious bodies of the Baptist Denomination in various parts of the United States, met in Convention, in the city of Augusta, Georgia for the purpose of carrying into effect the benevolent intentions of our constituents, by organizing a plan for eliciting, combining, and directing the energies of the whole denomination in one sacred effort, for the propagation of the Gospel, agreed to the following rules, or fundamental principles (Southern Baptist Convention, Annual, 1845:3).

120

The SBC was formed for the purpose of having the freedom to express its evangelistic and missionary zeal, however, it “does not erase the fact that an ethic condemned by history, the institution of slavery, was the catalyst of change” (Cauthen 1970:7). The long relationship of the SBC with Liberia in light of the challenges of race relations in the US is an interesting study. One hundred and sixty years later (June 2012), Southern Baptist messengers elected Fred Luter as the first African-American President of the SBC during the annual convention in New Orleans. This researcher has the privilege to know Dr. Luter and attend that historic event.

Jesse Fletcher described the early history of American Baptist in the US as being a result of the Great Awakening. Before that, there were relatively few American Baptists, and most were in the North. One exception was a small group of Baptists who had migrated to Charleston, South Carolina in the late 1600s, the earliest known Baptist work in the southern US (Cauthen 1970:4-5). This regional presence would change with the Great Awakening. The religious movement saw the rise of Separate Baptists in the South and within a period of 30 years become a predominant religious group in the southern states. This new denominational presence brought with them a great missionary and evangelistic zeal which became the foundation of the SBC.

Fletcher cited an example of this zeal in Sandy Creek, North Carolina where the church later became the mother church to 42 new churches (Cauthen 1970:5).

The missionary spirit that emerged with the impact of the Great Awakening revolutionized Baptists. In 1792, a Baptist cobbler in England, William Carey, set sail for India to preach the Gospel. This marked the beginning of a modern missionary era and set the Baptist missionary movement into motion (Cauthen 1970:6-7). This movement would lead to the formation of the Triennial Convention.

The birth of Baptist missions was intertwined with the movement to establish a colony in Liberia. In 1815, Lott Carey formed an organization called the African Missionary Society in Virginia. Carey and Teague were inspired by the Latter Day Luminary and surrendered their lives to missionary service. Assisted by the Triennial

121

Convention and outfitted by the African Missionary Society, Carey and Teague were aboard one of the first ships sailing for Liberia, forming Providence Baptist Church.

After the SBC was formed, they established the Foreign Mission Board in Virginia.

No explanation was ever given about the choice, but it coincided with the creation of the African Missionary Society in Richmond, which initiated mission work in Liberia.

Eventually, Southern Baptist would become involved in Liberia (Cauthen 1970:23).

Southern Baptists quickly embarked on a missionary enterprise. With the formation of the SBC, the convention agreed that missionaries already serving would be able to choose which convention to affiliate to. John Day,⁸⁵ a missionary in Liberia, decided to relinquish his affiliation with the American Baptist in favor of the SBC. At the time of his appointment in 1846, he was serving as a judge and had a business, but also gave full attention to missionary service. A. L. Jones was also appointed, but he died before news of his appointment reached Liberia. By the following year, two more colonists were appointed as missionaries. B. J. Drayton was appointed in 1984 as the first missionary sent from the US to Liberia (Cauthen 1970:137-138).

One of the early appointees to West Africa was Thomas Bowen who served as a missionary to the Yoruba speaking people in what is now Nigeria. Bowen had a difficult tenure for a variety of reasons and only served for six years. Bowen spent some time in Monrovia on his way to Yorubaland and he “was impressed by what he saw of the settlement which he believed had the making of a great nation” (Bowen 1858:xiii). Bowen also began to recognize the cultural Christianity that would become pervasive and a barrier to evangelization. He observed that there were four churches in Monrovia including the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Episcopalian (Wold 1968:132).

85Sanneh (1983:103) highlights Day as a significant contributor to early Christian work and theology in Liberia. Day served as a cabinet maker by trade, a Supreme Court Justice for Liberia, and as a minister of the Gospel in the new land. His family tragically died of illness early upon their arrival. Day was praised as a person of great integrity, reinforcing the notion that many early leaders were inclined towards both Statehood and responsible churchmanship.

122

Serious changes to the work in Liberia began to take place. By 1856, the SBC had assumed all responsibility of missionaries in Liberia as the American Baptist Missionary Union and the Northern Baptist Board discontinued work in Liberia.

Shortly thereafter, the Civil War broke out in the United States in 1861. For a period of five years or more, all of the missionaries in Liberia and Sierra Leone were cut off from support, but continued their work (Cauthen 1970:140-143).

In 1871, the Board commissioned A. D. Phillips to survey West Africa as a part of a fact-finding mission. While in Liberia, he engaged eight men to continuing serving as mission workers with limited financial assistance. Soon afterwards, Phillips resigned his post and most of the Liberian missionaries were dismissed because of internal problems. There were 20 churches still in operation, but many of the schools had closed because of limited financial assistance. Phillips replacement, W. J. David, returned to Monrovia in 1876 to settle all accounts and to close the Liberian Mission.

The FMB, for the next 71 years, concentrated on missions in Nigeria. The SBC would not return to Liberia until 1960 (Cauthen 1970:143-144).

With the end of the relationship with the SBC, the LBMEC was formed in 1880 and Joseph Cheesman was elected President. The lack of foreign assistance was a blessing in disguise as it made Baptists the most independent denomination in Liberia, but also hindered missionary expansion because of the lack of initiative in the area of evangelization (Wold 1968:64).

It is important to understand the different streams of Baptist tradition in Liberia in order to accurately assess the evangelization efforts. There are three primary groups of Baptists in Liberia. The first group of Baptists was those who were a direct historical presence from the colonists led by Carey and Teague. They had no white missionaries until the partnership with the SBC through the LBMEC in 1960. This group formed the LBMEC and is the largest Baptist group (Wold 1968:61).

123

The second group of Baptist were those of independent churches and missionary groups. These would include groups like Dr. Horton, Mother George, and others led by black Baptist missionaries, most of who became naturalized Liberians. Some eventually linked with and related to the SBC missionaries, but not with the LBMEC.

Several missionaries and independent groups were loosely related to the National Baptist Convention, USA. National Baptist supported Klay Mission, Suehn Industrial Academy, and built the Carrie Dyer Memorial Hospital. The National Baptists had an influence, but were not considered a leading presence in Liberia (Wold 1968:65).

One of the most beloved missionaries figures in Liberian Baptist religious history was a lady affectionately known as Mother George. Eliza Davis George served for many years with the National Baptist Convention, but later independently with limited support from a few American friends (Cauthen 1970:171). George was a native of Texas and it was said that in her childhood, she had a dread of spending her life in missionary service in Africa. She arrived in Liberia in 1913, working primarily in the southeast among the Kru-speaking population in Sinoe County. George founded the Elizabeth Native Interior Mission which became well known for schools and training of young leaders (Partor 1998:65). In 1961, George was 85 years old and had established a network of many churches including about 13 in the Greenville area.

She turned over some of her work to arriving Southern Baptists (Wold 1968:67).

The first couple appointed specifically for Liberia by Southern Baptists under the new partnership with the LBMEC was John and Betty Carpenter. They initially served in partnership with the ministry of George and there was significant growth of churches.

The Southern Baptist missionaries brought the independent churches together, although some chose to maintain their autonomy (Cauthen 1979:171). Many years later, Carpenter served as the first President of the Liberian Baptist Theological Seminary (LBTS) and brought to that institution a healthy understanding of engaging the indigenous people of Liberia. Many of the seminary trained leaders of the Mano and Gio were influenced by the leadership of Dr. Carpenter and LBTS.

124

Dr. and Mrs. Horton also came to Liberia as missionaries through the National Baptists and founded an independent Baptist mission, the Baptist Native Direct Conference. They worked among the Bassa people and started the influential Saint Simon Baptist Church. The NBC later withdrew their support, but the Horton’s remained and became Liberian citizens. They planted many churches among the Bassa people. They, like Mother George, later partnered with the incoming Southern Baptists because of old age and ill health (Wold 1968, 43). There are a number of other independent Baptist works, but these were among the more prominent.

This research question is about the extent of the evangelization of the Mano and Gio, but it is important to understand the missionary and national relationships. The missionary movement among early Baptists was by those who were Americo-Liberian and tended to function from within that society. The missionary groups from within the community tended to be less critical of the status quo which alienated the indigenous Liberians. The missionaries were bi-vocational and connected to the Americo-Liberian community. This would be one of the reasons why the LBMEC was confined to the English speaking communities on the coast. The Baptist pastors did not have the financial support to embark on interior missions and build stations like the foreign missionaries of the Mid-Baptist or Inland Church (Wold 1968:63).

The Baptist denomination was one of the few that attempted to be self-supporting. A comparison revealed that in 1855, the Methodists received foreign missionary subsidy of $24 000 USD, while the Baptist only $4 000 USD. By the end of the Civil War in the US, the LBMEC was receiving no support at all. In 1875, records reveal that Providence Baptist Church assessed each adult male member 12 ½ cents to try to be self-sustaining. A financial comparison in 1951 between the NBC and LBMEC was telling: The LBMEC had an annual budget of $42 000 with $7 600 from abroad. In contrast the National Baptist was sponsoring schools and hospitals to the tune of $100 000 and another $40 000 to the Lott Carey Mission. All of these aspects played a role

125

in the Southern Baptists decision to partner with the LBMEC who at the time, were much less dependent or tied to outside relationships (Wold 1968:64).

In 1948, following World War II, the Advance Program was launched by the FMB.

The goal was to expand to as many new fields as possible, including Liberia. By 1960, Cauthen and Goerner, were on their way to Liberia (Cauthen 1970:170).

Goerner wrote an article for the Centennial celebration of Ricks Institute and conveyed this development in an unpublished work.

The reunion took place under the apparent guidance of God! By chance, skeptics might say, the President of the LBMEC took a seat on a plane from New York to Rio de Janeiro to discover that the man next to him was also going to the Baptist World Alliance meeting in Rio. Dr. Baker James Cauthen identified himself as the executive secretary of the Foreign Mission Board of the SBC. Dr. William R. Tolbert, then Vice-President of the Republic of Liberia, could hardly believe his ears! He had just left the United States reluctantly, regretting that there had been no time in his busy schedule in Washington and New York to communicate with the Southern Baptist organization, since he had come to feel definitely led to propose some joint projects in Liberia. The long plane ride provided the opportunity needed, and an animated conversation between the two followed. By the time they reached Rio, a plan was being formulated.⁸⁶

The FMB began to move quickly to facilitate the new work. Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Poe were missionaries assigned to the neighboring country of Guinea, but were unable to gain a permit of entry. They were waiting in Monrovia for instructions from the FMB and were re-assigned to become the first Southern Baptist to return to Liberia. During the years of the Open Door policy, it was a requirement that all mission organizations be involved in education. Therefore, it was agreed that the initial way Southern Baptists could assist was to strengthen Ricks Institute, a school on the outskirts of Monrovia. Poe was made Principal and financial assistance from the Board quickly improved the facilities and quality of the school (ASBC 1962:130-134).

86Goerner, Cornell H. Southern Baptist in Liberia, 1960-1980. (Unpublished).

126

The Carpenters were officially appointed in December of 1960 and arrived in Greenville in Sinoe County. At that time, there were no connecting roads and a boat or plane was necessary to reach the region (ASBC 1963:142). ⁸⁷ The Carpenters initially assumed the work of an aging Mother George who had established a number of churches among the Kru and were able to draw these groups together in a healthy spirit of fellowship in cooperation with a goal towards remaining self-sufficient and being evangelistic (Wold 1968:68-69). Sinoe was one of the first outlying areas of Southern Baptist work to experience growth. The number of churches increased from 17 to 27 in a short span of time. Carpenter instituted a school for pastoral training and built facilities for a book store with a reading room (ASBC 1963:142).

The initial FMB strategy in Liberia involved focusing on the interior regions. The FMB were expected by its partnership to support education which it did through Ricks Institute, but it quickly began appointing missionaries for evangelism to the interior regions. The question of consideration for the FMB missionary presence in Liberia was: Would it fall prey to the same forces that saw other groups aim at the interior, but in the end, spend most of the resources on the coastal cities?

In the first official action of the Southern Baptist Mission in Liberia, a couple was requested and assigned to Sanniquellie in Nimba County (ASBC 1962:134). This was significant to the research question because it was the first attempt to engage the Mano and Gio people by Southern Baptists even though other groups such as the Mid-Baptists and Liberian Inland Mission were already engaged. Agnes and William Mueller, one of the first couples to arrive, were initially appointed to Ricks Institute, but shortly thereafter were assigned to Nimba. They were followed by the Grossmans who opened the work in Yekepa. Both couples only stayed a few years before transferring, but were instrumental in starting the work in Yekepa.

87ASBC is the Annual Southern Baptist Convention report by year.

127

By 1963 Liberia had 13 missionaries and had missionaries in Saniquellie and Tchien.

The mission work in Tchien was started by Carolyn and Bradley Brown, but a year later, they moved to Lower Buchannan. Tchein would prove to be a difficult place for Southern Baptists. In Buchannan, the Browns and Ted and Bea Cromer partnered with the LBNDC that consisted of 30 churches founded by Horton. They worked to train pastors and start new churches to reach the Bassa (ASBC 1965:143).

Baptist missionaries continued to arrive in Liberia throughout the decade. Margaret Fairburn came to work alongside the Women’s Missionary Union of the LBMEC.

She began Girls Auxiliary, Royal Ambassadors and Sunbeams which were traditional

She began Girls Auxiliary, Royal Ambassadors and Sunbeams which were traditional