Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Enterprise in Africa (1914–1940): A Nigerian Narrative

Abstract

The Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) missionary enterprise in Africa achieved commendable success in Nigeria between 1914 and 1940. The SDA is a protestant Christian faith that grew out of the Protestant conviction of Sola Scriptura. Its original outreach to Nigeria comprised only of European missionaries. In this article, I explore the planting of the SDA Church in Nigeria, the challenge of converting Nigerians to Seventh-day Adventism, and particularly the missionary strategies. From all indicators, this has not been adequately researched in existing literature. This missiological study is qualitative in nature and it employed a historical research methodology, focusing on descriptive analysis. This study shows that the European SDA missionaries contributed immensely to the growth of the SDA Church in Africa, particularly in the Nigerian context.

Keywords: Missionary enterprise, Nigeria, converts, and indigenous people