Christian Missions in the World, in Africa and in Rwanda

1Why this topic matters

Many Rwandan secondary schools, hospitals and parishes were founded by Christian missions. The story of those missions explains a great deal about Rwanda today: its schools, its written Kinyarwanda, and also some painful chapters of its history. This lesson traces Christian mission across the world, in Africa and in Rwanda, and weighs its effects honestly.

21. Mission across the world

• Europe: from the 4th century onwards, monks and missionaries carried Christianity across Europe; for example, Patrick preached in Ireland in the 5th century.
• Divisions: in 1054 the Church split into the Orthodox Church in the East and the Catholic Church in the West. In 1517 Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation, which produced the Protestant churches.
• The Americas and Asia: from the 16th century, Catholic missionaries travelled with European explorers and traders.
• The 19th and 20th centuries: Protestant mission societies, such as the Church Missionary Society (founded 1799), and Catholic orders sent thousands of missionaries to Africa and Asia. In the 20th century, Pentecostal churches spread rapidly.

32. Christianity in Africa: three waves

Wave 1: the early Church (1st to 7th centuries). Africa was one of the first places to receive Christianity. The Bible tells of an Ethiopian official, "a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians" (Acts 8:27), who met Philip on the road to Gaza; "they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptised him." (Acts 8:38). Egypt became a Christian centre, and its Coptic Church still exists. North Africa produced great Christian writers such as Augustine of Hippo (354–430). In the 4th century King Ezana of Aksum, in today's Ethiopia, became a Christian; the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is one of the oldest churches in the world.

Wave 2: the Portuguese (15th and 16th centuries). Portuguese missionaries reached the coasts of Africa. In the Kingdom of Kongo, King Afonso I, who ruled in the early 16th century, became a Christian and encouraged the faith.

Wave 3: the modern missions (19th and 20th centuries). Missionaries came inland with explorers and, later, with colonial rule. The Missionaries of Africa, known as the White Fathers because of their white robes, were founded in 1868 by Cardinal Charles Lavigerie. In Buganda (Uganda), young Anglican and Catholic converts were killed for their faith in 1885–1887; they are remembered as the Uganda Martyrs.

43. Christianity in Rwanda

54. Methods used by missionaries

1. Preaching, supported by trained Rwandan catechists (teachers of the faith).
2. Schools, which taught reading and writing along with religion.
3. Hospitals and health centres.
4. Translating the Bible and writing books in Kinyarwanda.
5. Training Rwandan priests, pastors and religious sisters.
6. Winning the support of kings and chiefs.

65. Effects of the missions: a balanced view

Positive: schools and literacy; hospitals; written Kinyarwanda and books; care for orphans and the poor; a message of love and forgiveness that many Rwandans embraced.

Negative: missions worked closely with colonial rulers; many missionaries looked down on Rwandan culture and traditional religion; and, together with the colonial administration, they spread false ideas that divided Rwandans into supposed "races" and favoured some over others in schools and leadership. These divisive ideas helped to prepare the ground for the hatred that led to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. In 2016 the Catholic bishops of Rwanda publicly apologised for the wrongs committed by members of the Church.

Worked example

Question: Assess the impact of Christian missions on Rwanda. (4 marks)

Model answer: On the positive side, missions opened schools and hospitals: many of Rwanda's oldest schools, such as those around Save and Kabgayi, began as mission schools, and they spread literacy (2 marks). On the negative side, missions were closely linked to colonial rule and, with the colonial state, spread divisive ideas about Rwandans that contributed to later ethnic hatred (2 marks). A good answer gives both sides and a short conclusion.

Practice