The Historical Record

The Church and the Making of Africa

A documented look at the Church as a primary driver of African civilization, establishing the continent's first universities, early healthcare systems, newspapers, and written languages.

The History of the Church in Africa: From the First Century to the Present Day

The history of Christianity in Africa is older than the history of Christianity in most of Europe. That statement is not rhetorical provocation; it is a historical fact that the documentary record supports at every turn.

The Ancient Christian World and the Islamic Invasions

A rigorous historical analysis of the 1,400-year encounter between Christianity and Islam, from early Arab conquests and the dhimmi system to modern sectarian terrorism.

The History of the Church in Nigeria: A Complete Historical Record

The history of Christianity in Nigeria does not begin where most people assume it does. It does not begin with the Church Missionary Society steamers arriving at Badagry in 1842.

The Church and the Making of Nigeria

An objective historical account of how the Church—not colonial rule—was the primary institutional force behind Nigeria’s early education, healthcare, language standardization, and media.

1842 — Methodists Build Nigeria’s First School in Badagry

On 1 January 1842, Methodist missionary Thomas Birch Freeman established a nursery school in Badagry — the first formal school in what would later become Nigeria, founded 58 years before the Nigerian state itself existed.

→ Founded the first formal school in what would become Nigeria.

The History of the Methodist Church in Nigeria

Explore the comprehensive history of the Methodist Church in Nigeria since 1842. Discover how freed African captives (Saro) and Thomas Birch Freeman shaped West African Christianity.

1853 — Baptist Medical Centre Founded in Ogbomoso

American Baptist missionaries opened what would become Baptist Medical Centre, Ogbomoso — one of the oldest continuously operating hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa, predating the Nigerian state by more than 60 years.

→ Founded one of sub-Saharan Africa's oldest continuously running hospitals.

1859 — CMS Grammar School Opens as Nigeria’s First Secondary School

The Church Missionary Society opened CMS Grammar School in Lagos in 1859 — the first secondary school in Nigeria, and the institution that produced many of the country's pre-independence professional class.

→ Founded Nigeria's first secondary school.

1885 — Catholic Mission Establishes Onitsha as an Eastern Education Hub

The Holy Ghost Fathers settled at Onitsha and built the school and seminary network that would shape education across the Eastern Region for the next century.

→ Built the eastern Catholic school and seminary network.

1948 — Uzuakoli Methodist Settlement Trials the Drug That Would Cure Leprosy Globally

At the Methodist Leprosy Settlement in Uzuakoli, medical researchers ran the trials that confirmed Dapsone (DDS) as a working leprosy treatment — a drug the WHO would later adopt as the global standard.

→ Trial site for the drug that became the global leprosy standard.

1952 — Reverend Josiah Akindayomi Founds the Redeemed Christian Church of God

In a small Lagos prayer fellowship, Reverend Josiah Akindayomi formally established the church that would, over the following seven decades, become Nigeria's most internationally recognisable Pentecostal movement.

→ Founding of the Redeemed Christian Church of God.