THE PRESENCE AND IMPACT OF CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN NGWO CLAN, ENUGU IN EASTERN NIGERIA 1917-1930

Abstract

The penetration of Christian Missionary activities into the hinterland Igbo societies where
Ngwo belong started after the colonial conquest of the societies and full establishment of
colonial administration. In Ngwo for instance, missionary activities was triggered by
economic and political activities that followed the discovery and exploitation of coal in
their farmlands. Their mission was not only to preach the message of Jesus Christ and
enforce repentance and conversion of the people from African Traditional Religion to
Christianity; but also to transmit the white mans' knowledge of reading, writing and
numeracy to the people. It is the opinion of this paper that the people that masterminded
the establishment of Church Missionary Society (CMS) in Ngwo Clan are not in
themselves Christians; and they did not covert to Christianity when it has taken root in the
clan. That the interest of majority of the people was not in the acceptance of the message of
Jesus Christ and repentance from traditional practices but in learning the white man's
knowledge through the schools which will give them and their children opportunity in
taking advantage of economic and political realities of colonial activities in Enugu
Township. In the period under review, most adherents to Christianity had the liberty to
indulge in a syncretic mix of Christianity and traditional customs of the land, this
invariably strengthened African Traditional Religion in Ngwo Clan. This work drew
heavily from primary sources which are comprised of oral tradition collated through
random sampling mode, granted by reliable informants, intelligence report and other
materials collated from National Archives, Enugu. Secondary sources include books,
Journal articles and other materials which provided useful information on the subject matter. Available facts were analysed historically using qualitative research
methodology.