One of the great contributions of CMS to African Christianity was its encouragement and support of the mission of ex-slaves in West Africa, led by Samuel Ajayi Crowther and his associates.
As Yale professor Lamin Sanneh has noted, this movement brought a new world order into being, a world order achieved not through colonial power or military might but by something radically opposite. Its agents were drawn from among the world’s most repressed and downtrodden who became champions of freedom, dignity and enterprising evangelical faith.
The outcome was a high-octane faith that exulted in the freedom Christ offered. The principles of anti-slavery and freedom became keynotes of a massive movement that few white people fully comprehended. At one stage Sierra Leone was sending a higher proportion of its population into missionary service than has ever been achieved anywhere.
On Sunday I visited Killerton Chapel, built by Sir Thomas Acland, 1841.
According to the Killerton website Acland invited anti-slavery campaigner Samuel Crowther to the chapel [visit? preach?] Crowther later became the 1st black bishop in the Anglican Church #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/9S42fN958T
— Laura Sangha (@_drsang) October 25, 2019