Journal of African Christian Biography: v. 8, no. 3

Abstract

[Throughout African Christian history, catechists and evangelists have carried out the lions’ share of the work of mission. Catechists were generally served in Roman Catholic and Anglican churches as lay (non ordained) ministers and indigenous teachers. Their role was to instruct inquirers or new believers in the Christian faith. In Protestant churches, evangelists played an important role in outreach, often preaching in public places to draw people to the church. Their goal was to inspire their listeners to convert to Christianity.1 Many churches had male and female evangelists although the women were often not recognized and remunerated for their service, as the men were. Both catechists and evangelists traveled frequently, moving from village to village as the needs arose. This issue showcases the biographies of three exceptional African missionaries. Fr. Cosmas Sarbah, PhD, writes the story of his grandfather, John E. Sarbah, a catechist in the Roman Catholic Church of Ghana, who performed almost all the work of a parish priest for countless parishes throughout his region filling in where there was a shortage of priests and of European missionaries. Kimeze Teketwe presents the exciting story of Sembera K. Mackay, the first Anglican convert and the first to request baptism in nineteenth century Uganda. Sembera had such an impact through his lifelong ministry as a catechist that the author theorizes that his name might have been chosen to express the Luganda concept of Christian eucharist (communion) – Oku-sembera. Professor Dickson Nkonge Kagema gives us the story of Jerusha Kanyua, an extraordinary woman who ministered as an evangelist, a teacher, a midwife, a prayer warrior, and a prophetess, leaving a lasting legacy in her home region in Kenya.]