Deji Abodunde

I never cease to be fascinated by this personal note from Ajayi Crowther, included in his biography by Jesse Page, published in 1888:

Introductory note by Bishop Crowther

By desire of the author of this work I have perused the proof sheets with him and can testify to their being a true and faithful record of my life and work as circumstances caused their brief statements in report.

Looking back upon my many and eventful years, I see abundant reason for thankfulness to the Giver of every good and perfect gift, and to say from my heart, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped me.” He has graciously kept me from the hour when as a little slave boy, I was providentially saved from a life of misery and ignorance of Himself, and brought into contact with the Christian faith, through the instrumentality of the British government, and the Christian and persevering labour of the Church Missionary Society in faithful obedience to the command of our ascended Lord, “Go and teach all nations.”

If through my imperfect labour the work of God has been advanced on the Niger, the praise be all ascribed to Him and not to me. I cannot expect to labour many years more in the cause of Christ which lies so near my heart, but it is my earnest prayer that these pages may be the means of leading others to enter the harvest field of Africa, or at any rate to support prayerfully and generously, the workers already labouring for the great Head of the Church in my native land.

Oct 1888, Samuel Adjai Crowther

10 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 27

Deji Abodunde

President Theodore Roosevelt’s diary showing his appointments for 30 November 1903. The appointment underlined reads: “Dr Mojola Agbebi, of South Africa, to pay respects.”

During Mojola Agbebi’s tour of America in 1903, his knowledge, confidence and carriage made a profound impression on his audience everywhere he visited, so much so that an arrangement was made for him by his African American hosts to meet the President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt.

Before the Brownsville Affair of 1906 (which made him unpopular with African Americans), Roosevelt’s policies and actions on race relations had been considered progressive, and many Blacks viewed his presidency favourably.

During his meeting with Roosevelt at the White House in November 1903, Agbebi complimented him on “his policy as a friend of justice and humanity,” and said that, “this characteristic of his regime has attracted attention far away in Africa.” In response, Roosevelt told Agbebi that
“his effort had been to assist the government of his country in its observance of the principles of the Golden Rule and to see that every man dealt equally with his neighbour.”

Photo of President Roosevelt’s diary page courtesy of the Theodore Roosevelt Centre at Dickinson State University.

11 months ago | [YT] | 16

Deji Abodunde

In view of yesterday's solar eclipse, I am posting this poem, “To the Comet of 1882”, which was published in the “Lagos Observer” of 12 October 1882. It was a commentary on what is historically called the “Great Comet of 1882,” which first appeared around a month earlier. It was by an anonymous author; but considering its style and content, it was almost certainly written by Mojola Agbebi, who frequently wrote anonymously for the paper. Agbebi’s trademark style of teasing out a spiritual meaning from conversations on major physical and social topics of his day particularly shines through in this poem.

"TO THE COMET OF 1882"

Resplendent Star! whence comest thou?
Remotest years have told thy name,
And spoke thy deeds aloud;
Thou mov’st we know by Nature’s law,
That law which everything upholds—
Upholds without a flaw.

The Lord of Hosts, the great I AM,
Hath made the sun and lesser lights,
All for the good of man:
The Sun to rule the glorious day,
The Moon to watch the silent night,
The stars as signs for aye.

We hail thee, not as once of old,
The Monk of Eric hailed thy light,
With fear and sorrow cold;
We do believe not thou dost come,
For woe and tribulation more,
To Afric swarthy sons.

We hail thee e’en as once before,
The noble Magi hailed thy kind,
And marked its “saving” form;
The Prince of Peace it did bespeak,
As he was in a manger laid,
Amid the stalls of beasts.

Our sires and kinsmen by the flesh,
Along the fair interior dwell,
In dread and great unrest;
Be thou to us a sign of peace,
Be thou to us a sign of good,
A sign that wars will cease.

To order Mojola Agbebi's biography in Nigeria, contact 08029125794. On Amazon: amzn.to/3FzCXaF

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Deji Abodunde

Hannah Elton died on 25 March 1983 at the age of eighty-nine. For fifty-three years, her all-round solidity played a major role in Pa Elton’s success. He remarked about their relationship once while speaking on marriage: “There’s a woman in my life that I cannot do without and that woman has been there for a long, long, long time. And I am happy and quite content when I’m in her company. We don’t need to talk; we don’t need to touch; just there together.”

It is notable that she was the one who led him to the Lord, and she witnessed the first stages of his spiritual growth. Elton would joke about this in later years: “For your encouragement let me say this, I’ve been a Christian for many years, yet that young lady there was a Christian before I was. She saw me converted, she saw me baptized in water and I won’t go any further. Oh yes, she saw me married.”

Hannah always made it clear that her first assignment was to look after her husband and to ensure that he succeeded in the ministry God committed to him, and she gave herself completely to this till the end. She was Pa Elton’s greatest human strength until her passing. Many of his protégés recall that she usually sat in a particular way whenever he was preaching, and if she shook her head lightly, it meant there was no anointing on the sermon. Elton jokingly referred to this as NGII—”No God in it”. But if she nodded a little bit, it meant he was on track, and he would then go on full blast.

Visitors to Ilesa were usually struck by two things about her—her warmth and hospitality, and her godly disposition and devotion to prayer. She made everybody feel welcome and those who came to see Pa Elton never failed to notice the grace that her presence engendered. Many would also remember several years later, the reassurance they felt about their calling as she prayed for them.

1 year ago | [YT] | 85

Deji Abodunde

Benson Idahosa was a trailblazer in his generation. He had a bouncy spirit and was always looking for new ways to reach people with the gospel. That pioneering spirit is captured in this excerpt from a November 1976 letter to Pentecostal leader David du Plessis after their meeting at the Pentecostal World Conference in London that year.

“As we join hands together in the Lord’s vineyard in our relentless efforts toward total crippling of the enemy’s activities around the globe, we are surely confident of His corresponding backing
(1 Cor. 3:9) For we are well aware that we are not contending against flesh and blood. (Eph. 6:10–13). However, we are comforted with the assurance that our weapons are not fashioned according to the flesh. What we should concern ourselves with most at the moment therefore, should be ‘always abounding in the work of the Lord’ (1 Cor. 15: 58) while it is yet day. The need for such excellence in our labours for the Master cannot be exaggerated, for God Himself wants our very best. We have had the experience of John Wesley. For 54 years we are told of how Wesley preached an average of three sermons a day besides travelling 15 or 20 miles on horseback. These and many other things he did because he was motivated by a fervent love for Jesus and the perishing souls of men. Today, instead or Wesley’s system of “horseback evangelism”, technological advancement has provided a far better means of mobility to speed the gospel message of redemption. Since our task therefore is urgent, we dare not relax; and since life is brief, we dare not delay in reaching the lost for the Saviour.”

You can get more on the history of Christianity in Nigeria in “A Heritage of Faith: A History of Christianity in Nigeria.” Amazon: amzn.to/2COpmxU and Okada Books: bit.ly/3S2c6ui. Or call, 08029125794

1 year ago | [YT] | 105

Deji Abodunde

Part 1 of our ten-part documentary, "The Planting of Christianity in Northern Nigeria," is coming out in a few days. Help us choose between these two cover design options. Thank you.

1 year ago | [YT] | 17

Deji Abodunde

Illustration of a daughter being maltreated by her father in Ibadan in 1855 for refusing to renounce Christianity. Many of those who accepted Christianity in Yorubaland in its early days were fiercely opposed and ostracized by their families. Women were disproportionately affected.

David Hinderer, the first European missionary in Ibadan, recorded what some of them went through for their faith in this excerpt from his 1855 diary. The majority remained steadfast despite public humiliation.

Oct. 15 — A young woman (a bride) is afresh flogged and dragged about by a rope, and is tied up so that she cannot eat. Another was cast out last night by her parents, in a fearful tornado, that Shango, the god of thunder and lightning, might kill her outside the house. Another young woman, a priest’s daughter, is flogged and lacerated by her father because she went to salute the imprisoned bride. The girl suffered fearfully; but says, now she has begun to taste the whip, she will continue steadfast to God.

Oct. 24— Another persecuted young woman was, after all her bad treatment by her parents, to be carried to Ofa, to a savage brother, but she escaped yesterday to Abbeokuta.

Oct. 26—Fresh troubles from persecutors. It has been a heavy time, and one feels inclined to cry, “Why does not God make bare his arm among the heathen?” But we are silenced by the thought that He that sitteth in the sanctuary will do all things well.

Oct. 27—In my class of candidates today, on the question, “What is the greatest evil in the world?” expecting to hear for an answer, “Sin,” one of them betrayed the thoughts of the heart by answering “Persecution.”

Nov. 4—One of the persecuted girls is held in the stocks till Sunday is over. Another, about eighteen years old, is nearly killed by her father. Our people feed her and tend her in the night. Two of the persecuted have made their way to Abbeokuta, and are safely hid there. The escape of one of them is nothing short of a miracle.

1 year ago | [YT] | 72

Deji Abodunde

The committee of pastors who sponsored T. L. Osborn’s crusade in Ibadan in 1957. Men and women such as these gave their all to see Pentecostal Christianity established in Nigeria in the days when Pentecostals were still generally shunned and mocked for their beliefs.

1 year ago | [YT] | 137

Deji Abodunde

Pa Elton in Ise Ekiti in the late 1930s; the photo was taken probably a few months after his arrival in Nigeria. He is standing with J. A. Babatope, the leader of the Faith Tabernacle movement in Ilesa in the 1920s.

It was during a meeting of the Faith Tabernacle hosted by Babatope in Ilesa in July 1930 that Babalola’s healing ministry burst into the limelight. While speaking in Bradford in 1937, Babatope recalled his own pioneering work and Babalola’s early ministry in Ilesa: “Well, we started praying to the Lord in July 1924, and by that time we were seven in number. And until 1930, we continued growing in number to be about 120. By that time the Lord raised up a certain young man called Joseph Babalola. This man is a very mighty man of God in praying and preaching. He came to us in July [1930], praying and preaching, and within two months our church members, from 120, had grown to more than 2,000.”

Pa Elton wrote at the back of this photograph: “Taken by Pastor Perfect on our arrival at Ise. There had been a rainstorm and we were wet through, hence our dishevelled appearance. Pastor Babatope is standing with me. Taken just outside the house where we stayed. I am wearing a grey tunic shirt and I am holding the clasp of my belt in my hand.”

You can get more on the story of Pa Elton and the history of the Pentecostal movement in Nigeria in the book, “Messenger: Sydney Elton and the Making of Pentecostalism in Nigeria"
Amazon: amzn.to/2WeFjo4
Okada Books: bit.ly/3T6q3nU
Or call 08029125794 to order in Nigeria.

1 year ago | [YT] | 152

Deji Abodunde

This photo of the “Bankole Family” having family devotion aptly captured a key emphasis of Christianity in Nigeria during the 1950s and 1960s. The photo was published in the January 1956 issue of “African Challenge” magazine and was circulated widely. This was part of a wider campaign by Evangelical leaders to inspire families to adopt the habit of family prayer and Bible study.

The caption reads: “The Bankole family (whose name means ‘with me build a household’) have built a happy home around the Holy Scriptures.”

It couldn’t have been a coincidence that they found a family with the surname “Bankole” to be the face of the campaign!

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