“Go And Proclaim The Gospel…!”

“Go And Proclaim The Gospel…!”(Rev.14:6-7).
Richard McElfick cautions us not to see the missionary enterprise as colonialism at prayer. The missionaries were people who after having received and believed in Jesus Christ as Saviour felt that all the world stood in need of that same salvation.
And this is truly so in the case of Cameroon. Children of freed slaves in Jamaica had just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Baptist in Jamaica. These Jamaicans of African descent felt the need to bring the good news to the land of their ancestors. That is how Joseph Merrick and a few others set ssil for FernandoPo and eventually crossed over to the mainland Bimbia from where they ventured to Douala, Deido, New Bell and Akwa. This is how the English Baptist Missionary Society began work in this land called the River of Prawns.
During the colonial enterprise the British were hesitant to annex Cameroon and the Germans hoisted their flag. From then on the Germans became hostile to the English and that is why the English Baptist Missionary Society requested the German government to send a missionary body to come and take over their work. The lot fell on the Evangelical Missionary Society (Basel Mission,;hereafter BM)for reasons of proximity, since they were already operating in Ghana.
After taking over, some Baptist congregations protested, hence the Cameroon Baptist Convention. Another breakaway was the Native Baptist Church. During the war years when the German missionaries were interned, the church functioned without missionaries but for the Rev Ekese who travelled the length and breadth of the country to serve Holy Communion.
After the war, the BM returned, but the Church in East Cameroon had become the Eglise Evangeligue du Cameroun(EEC).
The BM continued work in the then Southern Cameroons until the Synod of 1957 at Ntanfoang, Bali, when on November 13th, 1957 at exactly 11AM the Church Bell of the historic Ntanfoang Church sounded to declare the authonomy of the Church carrying the new name Presbyterian Church of Southern Cameroons.
The Church has always been tied to the politics of the nation. The name was soon changed to Presbyterian Church in West Cameroon and with the unitary state it is now Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC).
The missionaries like any of us had their flaws, but they were fearless. They sacrificed their lives to bring Christ to us. Upon arrival of the first batch of the Basel missionaries, one of them died. Their leader said it pleased God to welcome them that way. At Prescraft, Bali there is a cemetery for missionaries with more than ten graves, including a two-year old child. Some were buried in Dikoume Balue, etc.
These men and women sacrificed their lives so that we too may know Christ. They heeded the call to carry the eternal gospel “to procaim…to every nation, tribe, language and people…”
To all of us who carry the gospel to the ends of the earth there is this assurance, “Do not be afraid!” Fear God and give him glory…Worship him who made the heavens…”
Since her autonomy, the PCC is growing by geometric proportions, but she is faced with the challenges of breakaways like what came to be called The Bangle Church, Fomumnism of late Dr. Fomum, the Revivalist of the late Rev Dr Bame Bame. Of recent a spate of breakways have been experienced, like Rev Che Wara Solomon, Rev Mrs Abongta Mirabel, Bishop Dr Bah Pius and Rev Ndah Emmanuel. As we celebrate this PC day half of Akwaya sub division does not have the oppirtunity to celebrate with us. Pastors of that area are floating around without parishes. Can we act differently unlike the secular where we keep saying all is well even when we know all is not well?
As we celebrate the 65th anniversary of our autonomy we should focus on the question whether when we beat a child we should send him outside or push him under the bed?
Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness. May we strengthen our own beliefs too so that it can be reckoned to us as righteousness.
Sunday prayer: Holy Spirit give me the courage not to fear men but to fear only God. Amen!
Have a blessed Sunday! Happy PC Day celebrations! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.