Asase Ba Podcast - S4E1: The Impact of Christian Missionaries in Ghana: Basel Mission

Oct 17

Transcript

Content

The Basel Mission in Ghana
History of the Basel Mission
Basel Mission: Early Days in Ghana
The Basel Mission Stations: Akropong and Abokobi
Converting Ghanaian People: Techniques and Strategies
The Basel Mission and the Salem Pattern of Settlement
The Basel Mission Schools
Child Labour in the Basel Mission
Impact on Traditional Religions and Christianization
The Impact of the Basel Mission in Ghana
What Happened to the Basel Mission?
My Final Thoughts

Hello, and welcome to Asase Ba, a podcast that honours oral tradition and shines a light on Ghanaian stories that are often untold or silenced. I'm your host, Michelle, and my pronouns are she/her. Welcome back, everyone, to the season four premiere. I'm really excited to be back and give you some history, good conversations, and some solo episodes.

I feel good to be back, honestly. Usually, I release a season during the summer, and thIs season came back a little bit in the fall. But that's okay because I really needed the break.

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I'm super proud of the website, so go check it out at asaseba.com. If you find a resource that is easily accessible and would be a good fit for any of the resource pages, feel free to submit it on the form at asaseba.com, and it might just appear on the website.

Okay, so I'm going to launch straight into the topic today because I'm in my history bag. But before I do that, if you want to support the podcast, there are two ways to do so.

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The Basel Mission in Ghana

Okay, now let's get into this episode. I'm sure a lot of listeners have heard about Christian missionaries and their impact in Africa, or basically anywhere that Europeans colonized. We've heard people talk about it and say that missionaries aided in colonization (which they did) and this is often said in regard to Ghana.

We often hear things like "They gave us the Bible while they colonized the lands." But I wanted to dig deeper and find out the history. It's so easy, especially on the Internet and social media, to just say things and not really go in-depth and treat ourselves, our history, and our people as passive people that just consumed anything that was given to us.

So today, I wanted to look at the history and talk about the impact of Christian missionaries in Ghana. Not all Christian missionaries, because there were a lot. I want to focus on the Basel Mission.

You might have heard of them, at least maybe seen pictures they've taken. A lot of vintage photos from the 1800s and early 1900s that circulate on social media—the ones you see of people on the Gold Coast (which is what Ghana was called back then for those who don't know)—those photos were taken by missionaries, particularly the Basel Mission.

That's one area in the social media era where Basel Mission is mentioned. But they were way bigger than that. One of their major establishments in Ghana, in particular, is the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, among other things. So let’s dig a little deeper and learn about the Basel Mission and its impact on Ghanaians.

History of the Basel Mission

The Basel Mission was founded in 1815 in Basel, Switzerland by a group of German and Swiss folks who came together to form an alliance. They were afraid that Napoleon, a French military commander during the French Revolution, would take over their towns.

When their towns were spared, they came together to form a non-denominational and evangelical Christian organization called the Basel Mission.

As a result of being spared, they established a seminary to train missionaries and preach the word of the Lord to the world. They operated in Russia, India, Nigeria, Cameroon, Latin America, and of course, the Gold Coast or present-day Ghana.

The Basel Mission became the biggest seminary school in Europe and ventured out into the world with their new resources. They came to Ghana, specifically Christansborg (modern-day Osu) as a request from the Danish governor.

The governor thought that the European traders, business people and their offspring, were heathens and had lost their Christian way. According to him, they were leading immoral lives.

At the time, there was usually a chaplain at the fort. Christiansborg Fort had been vacant for about 15 years, and the Danish governor was actually the one preaching to its residents. But he wanted assistance.

He wanted missionaries to come and teach the word of the Lord. So the Basel Mission arrived in Christiansborg, Gold Coast in 1828 with the goal of spreading the word of the Lord.

Basel Mission: Early Days in Ghana

The first missionaries stayed in Christiansborg, but many died from malaria and other diseases. In 1835, they went to Akropong in the Eastern Region but later abandoned it due to internal conflict at the time.

They returned in 1839 and set up a major missionary station. In the early days, the schools were conducted in huts or buildings, or someone's living room. A lot of the early converts were ex-slaves who had either escaped or were purchased free by the mission.

When I say ex-slaves, I mean slaves within Ghana. Many early converts also included free members of society who had broken taboos, were deserted, widowed, divorced, childless women, and orphans.

The early converts were marginalized and ostracized individuals with nowhere else to go. It surprised me to learn that some of the free members included princes who couldn't become kings or chiefs due to the Akan matrilineal system.

The mission became a space for women who didn't adhere to societal norms and had little security. Interestingly, although not interestingly, a lot of the leading members of their congregation were men, though the evangelists, teachers, and church elders were European in the early days.

Contrary to what some people believe, we didn’t passively accept missionaries when they arrived. There was resistance from people who either feared or didn’t trust them. To them, the missionaries were in conflict with the King’s authority and the societal rules, traditional religions and judicial system.

So some people were like, “I don't trust you. Who are you coming to talk about all of this stuff that goes against our society?” But some people also saw the missionaries as people that were just coming to build houses in the community.

The Basel Mission Stations: Akropong and Abokobi

The missionaries first came to Akropong in 1835 but left shortly due to internal conflicts. They returned in 1839 and were invited by King Ado Dankwa, who sold land to Danish minister and missionary Andrea Riis.

The land became the first major mission station and the headquarters of the Basel Mission. In 1848, they set up a Christian town, a boys and girls school, and a seminary for training evangelists in Akropong.

This eventually turned into the first Presbyterian Church in Ghana—which I know a lot of you are familiar with. It has branches all over Ghana and the diaspora. When I was a kid, I went to a Presby church so we can see its influence today.

Another major hub of the Basel Mission was in a town called Abokobi, located in the Greater Accra region. Their stations were modelled after the Salem pattern of settlement which were small towns that isolated converts from locals. The missionaries created this town to promote a self-sustaining Christian lifestyle. In these towns, they didn’t tolerate any deviation of behaviour.

Converting Ghanaian People: Techniques and Strategies

The Basel Mission didn’t just saunter into Ghana and get people to passively accept Christianity. It took a long time for them to convert. They figured that people weren’t going to willingly accept what the mission was telling them. So they employed specific techniques to get the local population to join their mission stations.

One of the techniques was bringing Black people from the West Indies to preach and evangelize to Ghanaians. Many of them were from Jamaica because the missionary thought they could better handle the heat and withstand tropical diseases. A lot of the European missionaries could not handle the heat. Many of them died from malaria and other tropical diseases.

The missionaries also thought that if locals saw Black missionaries, they would be more relatable and could be a “good” example of what a Christian African could look like.

Another technique the Basel Mission used was building schools and training centers. They wanted children to read the Bible and sing hymns and so they built these schools to teach European curriculum, including reading, writing, math, geography, and biblical history.

One of the major goals of the Basel Mission was to preach the Bible in a way that locals would understand—in their mother tongue. Some schools taught children in local languages such as Twi and Ga, which helped the children absorb the messages of the mission. Every missionary was trained in language skills before arriving and encouraged to learn the language.

Twi and Ga were selected as the main languages of instruction and so the missionaries produced grammar books and translated the Bible into Ga and Twi so children and the people learning these messages could further absorb their messages.

They published the Ga Primer, a grammar dictionary in 1857. They also published the Grammatical Sketch of the Ga Language in 1858, and the Twi dictionary in 1881. Some of the local Ghanaian missionaries helped in these efforts.

Another technique the Basel Mission used was converting women so that they can pass down their faith to their children. Women were seen as devoted mothers that were educators to their children and in charge of the household.

The Basel Mission also gave locals access to cocoa and other agricultural crops, providing an economic incentive to convert and join the mission. They started a farm and school called the Basel Mission Trading Company in 1859 to train locals in agricultural studies.

Many of the West Indians that came to the Gold Coast knew a lot about agriculture. They grew things like coffee, tobacco, cotton, sugarcane, and breadfruit trees in their countries so the Basel Mission got them to teach locals agricultural skills.

Many locals saw this as a way to get a job, help family, get a coin, get a bag. They thought, “This mission looks attractive, maybe I should convert so that I can make money.”

The Basel Mission used this economic trade to sustain itself and eventually started a farming school called the Basel Mission Trading Company in 1859. The goal was to train the locals in agricultural studies. This wasn't their initial goal but it was popular and made them a lot of coin so they decided to really hone in on this side hustle.

They also built industrial establishments and workshops in Christiansborg for wheelwrights, locksmiths, blacksmiths, shoemakers, bookbinders, etc. This became a way to promote the economic side of joining the mission.

The Basel Mission and the Salem Pattern of Settlement

Another technique that the Basel Mission used was isolating early converts from other community members via Salem self-sustaining Christian towns. I mentioned this a little bit earlier in regard to their major mission stations: Akropong and Abokobi. Let's get into more detail.

Salem is a socio-religious experiment, which was influenced by German pietistic movements. Pietism emphasizes a personal relationship with God and applying the Bible to your daily life. This is in contrast to the scholastic interpretation of the Bible, which emphasizes reading and accepting the Bible on an intellectual level.

Salem towns came to fruition with the goal of integrating Christian teachings into one’s daily life. So the Basel Mission brought this to the Gold Coast. In these Salem towns, Christians married other Christians and the converts wore European clothing.They didn’t walk outside of the community because many feared being ridiculed or attacked by locals living outside Salem townships.

As a result of Salem townships, many people were alienated from their cultural towns and instilled with Western views and values. As the Basel Mission grew popular, they later branched out to different towns and villages within the Gold Coast.

The Basel Mission Schools

The Basel Mission set up missionary stations in Aburi, Accra, Apam, Dodowa, and later in Kumasi. They also built more schools, churches, and training facilities. They built these schools to enlist helpers, clerks, interpreters, teachers, and evangelists to push their mission forward. Another reason was to bring Africans into the closest contact with what they deemed as Western civilization.

In the early days, people didn't care too much for the Basel Mission. But later on, they saw that it enabled their children to find clerical employment and make money so they thought it would be a good investment to let their children join the mission. In the late 1800s, the division between converts and non-Christians started to crumble. Even within families, some members were Christian while others were not.

Child Labour in the Basel Mission

Many mission stations used child labour to achieve economic stability. Not only were they operating missionary schools, they were big in agriculture and cash crop production. Adult labourers had their own responsibilities and couldn't stay in mission schools all day.

The Basel Mission became the first group of missionaries to establish boarding schools in Ghana. Boarding schools enabled the mission to closely monitor the children and assign labour tasks. Unlike adults who could leave after classes, the children remained under constant watch within the boarding school's insular community.

However, the children often rebelled by initiating strikes, demanding payment for labour, and leaving the mission station altogether. Parents often supported their children in these efforts.

The majority of children in the schools were boys. Boys were often engaged in seasonal activities. Girls were less likely to attend missionary schools due to domestic duties or responsibilities at home so parents were hesitant to send their girls to schools.

In the schools, the Basel Mission enforced a gender division of labor, mirroring European cultural norms. While gender expectations and misogyny existed, African women were engaged in trades that European women typically did not participate in. Thus, the Basel Mission diligently enforced gender divisions, with girls being taught sewing and boys learning trades and agricultural work.

Impact on Traditional Religions and Christianization

The Basel Mission didn’t pay much attention to the concept of Onyame, the Akan Creator, as they equated it with the Christian God. They viewed Onyame and the Christian God as indistinguishable.

The missionaries also disregarded ancestral worship due to their limited knowledge and understanding of it. Instead, they focused on discouraging the worship of Abosom which are deities in the Akan religion. Despite the conversion to Christianity, many people continued seeking guidance from traditional priests and priestesses.

And we kind of see that today. We hear about pastors visiting priests and priestesses and traditional healers. But just to speak on the impact of the Basel Mission and their condemnation of Abosom, deities or what they called “lesser gods”, here’s a hymn that the children used to sing:

“God has sent us to labour in his garden which has been destroyed by Asumanfo (Akan charm makers) and Akomfo (Akan priests/priestesses/diviners). Send us by your grace to the Africans because they are doomed; send us to your people.”

Imagine children singing this all the time, singing this very anti-Black, anti-their customs and traditions hymn. Imagine the impact that it would have on them.

The Impact of the Basel Mission in Ghana

Western Education

One of the impacts of the Basel Mission in Ghana is the formal education system. I want to stress that this is the Western and European educational system, because prior to colonization, education existed, primarily in informal ways.

Parents and community members were teaching morals. Elders were also teaching children about history and society through storytelling. Specialized trade like drumming, pottery and weaving was another way to acquire new skills. There was also a robust teaching system to become a priest or priestess.

Prior to the Basel Mission, elders taught children via oral tradition. When the Basel Mission came, they cemented a Western, European education system.

Spread of Christianity

Another impact of the Basel Mission was the spread of Christianity around Ghana, sometimes at the cost of traditional religions. I talked about how they would sing anti-Black hymns and demonize traditional spiritualities, specifically, worshipping of deities.

They also spread the idea of “Christian femininity”—what they deemed as Christian femininity—which consists of a nuclear family, monogamy, and domesticity. They also emphasized the role of women as mothers and wives.

Clerical Professions

The Basel Mission contributed to the rise of clerical professions due to the introduction of cocoa, writing and clerical jobs. As I mentioned earlier, they also built the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and we see its influence today.

What Happened to the Basel Mission?

During World War I, the colonial government (the British) took over. They deported many European missionaries because of international conflicts as a result of the war. Many of them left the Gold Coast by 1918 and Gold Coast missionaries took over and continued on with their mission.

Today, Mission 21 runs the Basel Missions’ operations and has been doing so since 2001. According to their website, they’re engaged in “sustainable development cooperation and humanitarian aid for peacebuilding, education, health, food sovereignty and income generation.” They’re a missionary, don't get it twisted. Maybe this is their branding, but that's what they have on their website. They're still active in Ghana today.

A major establishment of the Basel Mission is the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) which also has churches in Canada, America and the UK. In Ghana, they’re involved in many sectors including health care, education and agriculture, much like the Basel Mission in the past.

In March 2022, the PCG went against LGBTQI+ folks in Ghana by advocating for harsher jail sentences against queer people as a part of the proposed 2021 Promotion of Appropriate Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill (an anti-LGBTQ bill) in Ghana.

My Final Thoughts

I think of how these missionaries oftentimes weren’t just building churches. From education to the economy to health care, missionaries were deeply entrenched in every facet of Ghanaian society.

I don't live in Ghana and maybe people that live there can speak more to this. When I went recently, you can’t turn a corner without seeing a church. Just speaking with relatives and keeping plugged on what's going on in Ghana, I’ve heard of how influential churches are in Ghanaian society, politics and economy.

I also think of how Western organizations are still making an impact in Ghana today. For example, the proposed anti-LGBTQI+ bill has been linked to anti-LGBTQ hate groups in America. Many authority figures in Ghana are colluding with these hate groups to punish their citizens so that they can get a coin and further their agendas. It’s capitalism, everything is tied together.

The missionaries' teachings were anti-Black, anti-African, anti-our traditions and customs and they've been passed down generationally.

I think about how the foundation of a lot of the schools in Ghana was created and established by missionaries. Will there actually be a decolonized curriculum, if the root of these institutions is anti-Black, anti-African, and colonized?

How can we decolonize our education when the very foundation of these institutions was created by these missionaries? I'd love to know your thoughts, especially those living in Ghana. Use the #AsaseBaPod on Twitter, Instagram, or wherever you're at.

Thank you so much for listening to the season four premiere of Asase Ba. I hope you enjoyed this episode or learned something new. Let me know your thoughts, your feedback. The research, sources, references, everything is in the Episode Notes so check those out. Don't forget to follow us @AsaseBaPod on Twitter, Instagram or TikTok and I will catch you in two weeks. Bye bye!

Want to learn more about decolonizing education and applying traditional African knowledge to daily life? Contact us for educational workshops tailored to your community organization, library or university/college.

Episode Notes

On the season 4 premiere of Asase Ba, we chat about the impact of Christian missionaries in Ghana. We focus on The Basel Mission, its creation, why they came to Gold Coast/Ghana, their major hubs in Akropong (Eastern Region) and Abokobi (Greater Accra Region), techniques they used to convert Ghanaians, how some Ghanaians converted for economic reasons, Ghanaian resistance, how the mission impacted our traditional religions, and more!

Join in on the conversation! Use the hashtag #AsaseBaPod.

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RELEVANT NOTES

References

Agbeti, J. K. (1986). West African Church history. Leiden : E.J. Brill.

Heuser, A. (2016, July 1). Perceptions of basel mission history in Ghana. UGSpace Home. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/32510

Konadu, K., & Campbell, C. (2016). One Hundred and Fifty Years of Christianity in a Ghanaian Town. In The ghana reader: History, culture, politics. essay, Duke University Press.

Koonar, C. (2014). “Christianity, Commerce and Civilization”: Child labor and the Basel Mission in Colonial Ghana, 1855–1914. International Labor and Working-Class History, 86, 72–88. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0147547914000106

Kwamena-Poh, M. A. (1975). The traditional informal system of education in pre-colonial Ghana. Présence Africaine, 95(3), 269. https://doi.org/10.3917/presa.095.0269

NKETIA, J. H. (1953). PROGRESS IN GOLD COAST EDUCATION. Transactions of the Gold Coast & Togoland Historical Society, 1(3), 1–9. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41406560

Serena Owusua Dankwa. (2005). “Shameless Maidens”: Women’s Agency and the Mission Project in Akuapem. Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity, 63, 104–116. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4066639

Sill, U. (2010). Encounters in Quest of Christian Womanhood: The Basel Mission in Pre- and Early Colonial Ghana. Studies in Christian Mission, 39. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004188884.i-422

White, P. (2015). Religion, mission and national development: A contextual interpretation of jeremiah 29:4-7 in the light of the activities of the Basel Mission Society in Ghana (1828-1918) and its missiological implications. Verbum Et Ecclesia, 36(1). https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v36i1.1419

Other Web Sources

Basel Mission

https://www.mission-21.org/en/country/africa/ghana/

https://baselmission.org/ueber-uns/geschichte/

https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/b9edba8e-e874-33f5-bc95-01f88a776cb9

Presbyterian Church of Ghana

https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Origins-Heritage-Birth-of-Presbyterian-Church-of-Ghana-383219

Public Hearing in Regards to Proposed Ghana ANTI-LGBTQI+ Bill - PCG Commentary

https://www.facebook.com/gbcghana/videos/live-public-hearing-in-respect-of-the-promotion-of-proper-human-sexual-rights-an/483674053362465/ From 1hr 32min mark

Listen to S3E3 of Asase Ba to learn more about the proposed anti-LGBTQI+ bill in Ghana

https://www.asaseba.com/podcast/season-3/episode-3-non-binary-ghanaian-traditional-religions

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