Journal: Journal of Ministry and Theology
Volume: JMAT 06:2 (Fall 2002)
Article: African Americans In Missions: Setting The Historical Record Straight (Part II)
Author: Ken L. Davis

JMAT 6:2 (Fall 02) p. 101

African Americans In Missions:
Setting The Historical Record Straight (Part II)

Ken L. Davis

Director of Church Planting
Baptist Bible Seminary, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania

This is the second installment of a two-part historical study of African Americans in missions. The first installment described the amazing story of eighteenth and early nineteenth century blacks, many fresh out of slavery, in taking the gospel to foreign lands. Incredibly, independent black missionaries such as George Leile and David George set out years before William Carey and other white European and American missionaries left for Africa and Asia. Eventually scores of black American missionaries such as Lott Carey, William Colley, and William Sheppard were sent out, mainly to Africa, sponsored by newly organized black mission societies and later by white denominations. God greatly used these early missionaries to stir up missions interest on both sides of the Atlantic among both blacks and whites.

We now turn to the continuing saga of how the Lord of the harvest providentially used black denominational missions to spread the word. It should not surprise us that black denominations—both Methodist and Baptist—were born as missionary-sending movements.

Black Denominational Mission Efforts

Initial Obstacles To Be Overcome

The early independent black missionary work of men like Daniel Coker, Lott Carey, and Colin Teague, despite promising beginnings, did not advance for half a century. It was not until the late 1870s that the glowing embers of mission involvement began to steadily increase with organized black groups. A number of factors, as we have seen, contributed to this slow begin-

JMAT 6:2 (Fall 02) p. 102

ning. One was the association of missionary endeavor with the unpopular American Colonization Society. Another factor was the relative lack of African Americans willing to forgo the material comforts of this country to be overseas missionaries. Some blacks saw themselves as totally assimilated American citizens and were thus unconcerned about Africa. Many black leaders argued that a dual involvement with Africa would ultimately weaken their struggle for rights and citizenship in American society. A few even believed the white lie that Africans were inferior and degraded beings. Some objected on the grounds that black missionary involvement might even harm Africans through “imperialistic” policies.1

The most important obstacle to mission work among independent black churches, however, was insufficient funds. The poverty of the people, many fresh out of slavery, left congregations ill-p...