Published: March 1, 1997
Great Christians in History
"Samuel Adjai Crowther"
By A.F.
Walls
Samuel
Crowther (about 1806-91) was the outstand- ing African Christian leader
of his time. Adjai (prop- erly Ajayi) was born in the Egba group of the
Yoruba people in what is now Nigeria. When he was about 15, he was captured
by slave raiders. But the slave ship was intercepted by a British warship,
and Adjai was taken to Sierra Leone where he was converted and baptized,
taking the name Samuel Crowther. Outstanding at school (and a foundation
pupil of Fourah Bay College) Crowther became a teacher for the Church
Missionary Society, and was a pioneer of Yoruba services in Freetown.
He was one of two CMS representatives of the 1841 Niger Expedition, and became convinced that the evangelization of inland Africa must be carried out by Africans. Ordained in London in 1843, he was appointed to the new mission in his own Yorubaland. Among the first converts were his long-lost mother and sister. Crowther achieved much as evangelist, translator and negotiator. He impressed many, including Queen Victoria, when he visited England. He led the new Niger Mission in 1857 and in 1864 became the first African anglican bishop. His all-African staff operated over hundreds of miles of the Niger territories.
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