THE PENTECOST Issue 108 April 2017

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Cover photo: Saturna Island, BC Above photo: Saturna Island, BC Who are the Yorubas and what is their story? The Yorubas are an African people group with a

fascinating story. The gospel came to them a long time ago and many have embraced it and are Christian believers. How did this unfold in history? Read on. God bless you.

Shawn Stevens

Its amazing to think what it would have been like to travel to Nigeria a couple hundred years ago, to enter an unknown tribal village, and trust the Lord to grant you wisdom and grace to know how to reach out to these people. Well here is one such story. God Bless you.

Ramona Stevens

THE PENTECOST

The Yorubas and Early MissionaryWork Amongst ThemFor thousands of years, West Africa hasbeen veiled in mystery. As far back as thefifth century B. C., Herodotus spoke of fiveyoung men who, beginning in Egypt,journeyed westward across the greatdesert and came to a land of fruit trees.After plodding through the lush tree land,they came across a mighty river thatflowed from west to east.1 It is likely thatthey found themselves on the bank of thegreat Niger River in what, today, isNigeria. In 1795 A. D., a Mr. Mungo Parkfrom Scotland trekked from Gambia intothe interior of WestAfrica and, with great difficulty, reachedthe Niger River on July 21, 1797. Hewrote; "I saw with infinite pleasure thegreat object of my mission, the longsought for majestic Niger, flowing slowlyto the eastward."2 On this journey, Parkdid not come to an empty land. He wasmet by tribal people, native to that land.Who were they? They were the Yorubas.Let us now consider the Yoruban peopleand early missionary work amongst them.It has been said that the Yoruba are likelythe most urban of all Africans.3 Today,they live in cities, towns and villages, withmanyof their farmers choosing to live in citiesand commuting to their farms.4 In fact,Lagos, the largest of Nigeria’s cities, is inthe Yoruban region of the country.However, if we were to visit the Yorubahundreds of years ago, we would find thatthey were not living incosmopolitan cities. They lived in highly-organized and tightly-unified villages.The history of the Yoruba is very obscure.In the nineteenth century, missionariesbegan writing about them but, before this,

the historyand legends of the Yoruba were passedfrom one generation to another by word ofmouth. However, one early written sourceis that of Sultan Belo of Sokoto who, inthe nineteenth century, wrote ageographical and historical work whichdiscusses the Yoruba. According to him,the Yoruba originated from a Canaanitetribe of Nimrod. They wereallegedly driven out of Arabia andjourneyed to an area between Egypt andAbyssinia and, from there, spread into theinterior of Africa. Some early Yorubansculpture resembles Egyptian sculpture,possibly confirming Belo’s account. 5Once settled, Yoruban tribes-peopleorganized themselves into smallergroupings, some being the Egba, theIjesha, the Awori, the Ondos, the Ijebusand the Egbados. In Yorubaland, theregion of Oyo became most dominant andits people became the leaders of theYoruba. However, in the 1820s, theinfluence of Oyo was greatly weakened asYorubaland was destabilized by tribalwarfare.6 After these years, the Yorubawould never gain back the previousdegree of native unity which they hadexperienced under Oyo rule. The onlycentral government that would come toexert control over the entire region wasthe colonial British government,established in Lagos in 1861, and laterthe independent Nigerian government, in1960. S. G. Pinnock, who first came toAfrica in 1888, tells us much aboutearly Yoruban culture. The tribes weregoverned by a hierarchy of chiefs,secondary chiefs and elders. Tribalfamilies held property for which they didnot pay rent or taxes. Pinnock says thatthe first thing that a stranger to the Yorubanotices is their many different forms of

salutations. Sitting, feasting, working,mourning, riding and walking all requireparticular ways of greeting.7 Although theYoruba did not have a written language,missionaries found that Yorubas didcommunicate with symbols. Tangibleobjects like shells, stones, coal, feathers,corn, sticks, pepper and powder wereused to convey ideas, wishes andfeelings. For example, a single shell displayed orgiven away may communicate failure anddefiance. If a Yoruban wished to affirmrelationships between himself and abrother or sister, he may deliver to themtwo shells strung together, face to face.Similarly, two shells strung, back to back,represented enmity and separation. If theYoruban wished to have an immediateand friendly meeting with someone, hewould tie a small feather between twofacing shells.8

Yoruban children would commonlyundergo face markings. This involved aseries of parallel cuts being made on theircheeks, followed by the removal of narrowstrips of skin between the incisions, andtheapplication of medicine. Once the scarshealed, there was a permanent markingon the face. As many as ten to forty markscould be made on one child. The Yorubaswere very religious and frequently couldbeheard calling out the name of their godand the names of their idols.9

Pinnock says that the Yaroobas wereobsessed with religion.10 He says,further, that it is easier to number theobjects of their worship rather than thetheology of their beliefs. He says that theyhad 401 idols, some of them constituting

deified human beings, some gods overthe natural elements, some beingdomestic, agricultural or craft gods, othersbeing animals, others being objects innature and, lastly, some being malignantspirits. Separate from this, they alsobelieved in one supreme god, who wasthe creator, the giver of life and the judgeof all men.11Within Yoruban society you could find notonly culture and religion, but also kind-hearted, faithful and self-sacrificingindividuals. Pinnock tells how, one day, hecame across a young man calling forhelp. The man was dressed in rags and itwas apparent that he had leprosy. He wasattended to by Pinnock and others withhim, cleaned up and given fresh clothes,some money and medicinal ointment. Hereturned to the missionaries once a weekfor on-going assistance. Then, for a weekor two, he did not show up and, uponinquiry, Pinnock discovered that the manwas too ill to leave his home. Pinnockvisited the home to find it part of a largecompound which had been vacated by theman’s relatives. Most of the compoundwas in ruins and the only pleasant sightwas a palm tree in the man’s room. All ofa sudden, Pinnock realized that there wassomeone else standing at the entrance tothe man’s room. Upon inquiry, he learnedthat it was the man’s mother. She wouldnot leave her son. She swept his roomand brought him food, water and firewood.She thanked Pinnock for whateverassistance he offered the man, andPinnock felt that she deserved thanks forbeing "the ministering angel in humanform."12Early Christian missionaries beganreaching out to the Yoruba, such as thiswoman and her son. In the earlynineteenth century, revival was sweeping

England and, as a result, large numbersof Christians becameawakened to the Great Commission andto the great needs of the African missionfield. They sold belongings, boardedships, landed on the shores of the Africancontinent and began trekking their wayinland.Why did they come? They held theconviction that God wished to bringsalvation to people from all nations. Theirprayer was much like that of King Davidwho prayed; "GOD BE merciful unto us,and bless us; andcause His face to shine upon us; Selah.That thy way may be known upon earth,thy saving health among all nations."(Psalm 67.1-2KJV). They read in theScriptures of how the LORD hadpromised to Abraham that "And in thyseed shall all the nations of the earth beblessed; because thou hast obeyed myvoice." (Genesis 22.18KJV).The phrase, "in thy seed" was a referenceto Jesus Christ and that, through Him,blessing would come to "all the nations ofthe earth". Did their decision to go meanpersonal sacrifices? Yes, it did. They leftthe comforts and familiarity of the lands oftheir birth. Although they left these things,they held onto what really mattered, theirfaith and their integrity and, specifically,their integrity in fulfilling Christ’sCommission; "Go ye therefore, and teachall nations, baptizing them in the name ofthe Father, and of the Son, and of theHoly Ghost: Teaching them to observe allthings whatsoever I have commandedyou: and, lo, I am with you always, evenunto the end of the world. Amen.'"(Matthew 28.19-20 ).These white-skinned, missionary, inlandvisitors looked peculiar to the Yoruba andthe Yoruba named them the "Oyinbo,"

which means a man who has peeled skin.13 They believed that all people wereonce black, but some had found a way ofpeeling the black off of their skin. 14These early Oyinbo missionaries, living onNigeria’s coast, translated the Bible intothe Yoruban language1 and began seeingspiritual fruit. In the early 1900s, twoyoung Yoruban slave boys escaped fromtheirtribe and made their way to Lagos. Here,they met a missionary who showed themmuch love and who taught them to readthe Bible. They both committed their livesto Christ and were baptized. In thefollowing years, the British governmentbanned slavery and one of the two boys,Peter, built up the courage to go back tothe tribe in which he formerly was a slave.He did so, and began to tell his peopleabout the Lord Jesus. He was ridiculed,persecuted, beaten and almostpoisoned. Some, however, wereimpressed with the joy and love that Peterdemonstrated and asked him more abouthis faith. Peter, together with some ofthem, began praying that God would senda missionary totheir tribe. 15In 1908, their prayer was answered withthe arrival of a young Canadianmissionary, Mr. Tommy Titcombe. WhenTitcombe first applied to a missionorganization, his application was rejected.His educationwas not complete, him having left schoolearly to support his single mother.However, in time he was accepted andafter a two-year training program, he leftfor the West African mission field. Hefollowed the Niger River inland and cameacross another missionary, Dr. AndrewPark Stirett. Together, the two journeyedthrough the broiling heat, by

day, and slept in the open among lions,leopards and snakes, by night. Theyjourneyed onward until they reachedPeter’s tribe. There they found Peter anda small group of others praying andreading a Yoruban Bible. 16This encounter with Peter and the othersmarked the beginning of Titcombe’s workamong the Yoruba. Stirett remained withhim for a time and then continuednorthward. Titcombe’s hut-home wasshared withdogs, goats, sheep and chickens, not tomention, lizards and snakes. He madethe best of his surroundings and began tolearn the Yoruban language. Initially, thetribe was slow to trust him. He enduredtimes of hunger, sickness, persecutionand loneliness. However, in time, hebonded with the people and shared intheir joys and also in their sorrows.17Titcombe had sorrows of his own, as itseemed that his progress was so slow. Hedid not reside only in Peter’s village, buttraveled to neighbouring villages as well.He was the first to visit the large village ofMopa. There, he was refused lodging andfrom the little that he had learned of theYoruban language, he thought he heardthe tribes-people planning to harm him.Lying under the stars that night,he suddenly heard the sound of bare feetapproaching. His first thought was thatvillagers had come to kill him. Instead, heheard the hushed voice of a man calling"Oyinbo! Oyinbo!" It was a young Mopavillager who had come to ask TitcombeaboutTitcombe’s faith. Before the night wasover, the young man had committed hislife to Christ. This man was the first of anumber from Mopa to accept the Lordand, after a year-and-a-half, they werebaptized and a small church was formed.

18The newly-formed Mopa churchexperienced terrible persecution. Somemembers were beaten, some wereimprisoned, and others were threatenedwith death. Some were mysteriouslyremoved. Some were held in stocks,positioned in the hot sun near an openmarket place. However, despitethese hardships, they endured and verysoon something wonderful was about tohappen. 19The faithfulness of the Mopa believers,while undergoing such hardships, was aninspiring testimony and witness to theothervillagers. Soon, others began committingtheir lives to Christ, as well. Thisculminated in an awakening which sawthousands of tribesmen come to Christ.20Having experienced much victory inMopa, Titcombe continued on to theYoruban town of Kponyan. He had threeboys journeying with him and, uponarriving at the entrance to the town, theboys would not go anyfarther. This was because continuing onmeant stepping under human skulls,which had been hung at that spot.Because they refused to come, Titcombetold them that it would be all right for themto wait for him until he returned.Proceeding into the town, he came acrossa woman carrying a pot of water. Thethirsty Titcombe requested, and receivedfrom her, a drink.21 He realizedafterwards he had done a foolish thing byspeaking to a woman before first greetingthe tribal king. When he did meet the kinglater, the king was furious at him. 22Caught in a tense situation, Titcombebegan to pray. Next, another womanstepped into the scene with a gift of food

for the king. Hebegan eating it and seemed to forgetabout Titcombe. Titcombe carefully beganasking the king some questions, whetheror not he was a chief?

He responded that he was for the wholeterritory. Titcombe then remarked, that theking was treating him in a way that hewouldn't treat his lowest subject. Now theking asked him what mean? Titcombeexplained, that he was a stranger and theking had not offered him anything to eat.The king then invited him to eat andTitcombe reached into the king’scalabash. Next, the king jumped up andcried out that the white man was now hisfriend for life because he had eaten fromhis own calabash!23Titcombe did prove to be a great friend tothe king and to the others at Kponyan.The boys were brought into the town and,together withTitcombe, they began singing loudly.Before long, the entire village wasgathered before them and Titcombepreached the gospel. Thefollowing day, he and the boys visitedevery hut in the town and held anotherservice. This was followed by anotherservice on their thirdnight there. Then Titcombe announced tothe king that he would be leaving the nextmorning. The king responded that hedidn't want Titcombe to leave and insteadhe wanted to hear more.24 Titcombecontinued ministering to them the nextevening andassured the king that he would be comingback. It would be two years before he didmake it back to Kponyan. 25

The Lord continued to use Titcombe

amongst the Yoruban tribes-people.Onevery disturbing practice which had beenan age-old tradition among the Yoruba,but not exclusive to them, was theirtreatment of twins and the mothers oftwins. It had been their long-standingbelief that when a woman gave birth totwins she was cursed, along with thechildren. The mother would be drivenaway and the twins would be killed.During his second term of missionaryservice, Titcombe married and, in time,Mrs. Titcombe, herself, gave birth to twins.After yearsof working among the Yoruba, Titcombehad gained the trust and respect ofthousands of tribes-people. He was openabout the fact that his wife had twins.26 Atfirst this shocked the Yoruba but, in time,they began to see that the Titcombefamily was blessed and notcursed.As the work among the Yoruba wasgrowing, a need arose for work amongYoruban women and girls. Miss LillianMcIntosh, the sister of Mrs. Titcombe,began a school for women in the Egbetribe. The work wasexpanded in 1928 with the arrival of MissPauline Guyer, who started aschool for girls. She was joined a yearlater by Josephine Bulifant.

The Yoruba were very slow in allowingtheir girls to attend the school.Some oldmen in the Oro district said that the girlswereincapable of book learning.27 The womenpersevered and, by the end of 1930, hadtwelve girls boarding with them.Girls would come to board with themissionary women under many differentcircumstances. One day, a group of

children could be heard shouting; "OyinboDe! Oyinbo De!"29 Which means thewhite people have come. One girlexpressed that she was not afraid and ranto a spot where she could get a closerlook.There she saw the curiouswhite people with stiff hats, funny shoes,stockings and glasses in front of theireyes. The girl was named Folorunso. Aftergazing on them for a time, Folorunso,along with other children, went to thehome of a teacher in the village. Ben, theteacher, told the children stories about thecurious white people who had journeyedacross the great ocean, leaving family andfriends tocome to live with the Yoruba. Folorunsoheard Ben say that the white people hadsome very good news for them which, ifbelieved, wouldbring them peace and joy. Later, one ofthe missionary women talked to Folorunsoin the Yoruban language. Her speech washard to follow, but Folorunso did pick upthat a school for girls was being started inOro.29 She began to dream of what theschool must be like. 30 When she askedto go, she was told that she was tooyoung. She secretly followed the whitepeople anyway, all the way to Oro. Whenshe was discovered missing, her kinsmencame and found her. She expressed thatthis was her new home. 31 Arrangementswere made, and she was allowed to stay.At her new home, she daily heard newstories about Jesus and wastaught to pray. One day she said to one ofthe missionaries how she loved Jesus.32When asked what her favourite Bibleverse was, she quoted John 3.16; "ForGod so loved the world, that he gave hisonly begotten Son, that whosoeverbelieveth in him should not perish, buthave everlasting life."KJV

One beautiful example of a Yorubanbelieving in Jesus and experiencing Hisdeliverance is that of Alege. Alege was asixteen-year oldYoruban. Her father had promised her inmarriage to one of his friends. Sheloathed the idea of being one of thisman’s many wives and she begged herfather to set her free. Alege had acceptedthe gospel, having heard it from herbrother who had spent time with themissionaries. From him, she also learnedof the mission school for girls. Before shecould make her decision to flee, she wasseized by men from the village and putinside a hut belonging to the man towhom she was engaged. Stones werepiled up against the entrance-way to thehut and some men stood watch over it aswell. Alege began praying tothe Lord for help. As the night wore on,the guards fell asleep and Alege was ableto get past the stones. She had escaped,but getting to The mission station meanttraveling for miles in the darkness throughtall grass inhabited by lions, leopards andsnakes. She determined to go and startedrunning. Arriving before dawn, she wasreceived by the missionaries. Her would-be in-laws were very upset and came tothe mission station to reclaim her. Beforeall of them, she bravely confessed JesusChrist as her Savior and declared herdesire to stay at the school. Themissionaries stood by her and beganpraying. A Mrs. Moulding began giving thewould-be in-laws peppermint candy, whichthey had never tasted before. Theycalmed down enough for negotiations tobegin between the missionaries andthemselves. In the end, Alege wasallowed to stay in exchange for somemoney.33 Josephine claims that shebecame an outstanding Christian.34

Josephine and the other womencontinued their work with theYorubanwoman and children. Theirexperiences continued to be full ofsorrowsand joys.

For Josephine, and the othermissionaries, work among the Yoruba wasalways a mixture of grief and joy, sorrowand happiness, gloom and cheer, loss andvictory. They persevered, and with theLord’s strength, faced many unexpectedturns. The history of the Yoruba stretches farback. Those ancient journeyers whocrossed the desert became ancientsettlers. They multiplied into tribes whichwere highly organized, ruled by chiefs andelders. All who saw their face-markingsknew that they were the Yoruba. Theycommunicated with each other in a varietyof ways and exchanged friendlysalutations. Within their tribes were those,like the leper, whose lives werebrightened by the faithfulness of devotedmothers and, also, those whose liveswere darkened by superstitious traditionssuch as the abandonment of twin children.To these people, the missionaries came.They made personal sacrifices; theyendured hardships; many times they weremisunderstood. They laboured anyway,translating the Bible, and sharing themessage and the love of JesusChrist with the Yoruba. With meltedhearts, they continued on, that all thenations of the earth would be blessed.The blessing of salvation through JesusChrist was embraced by many Yoruba.These new believers endured beingmisunderstood and, in some cases, fiercepersecution. The witness of theirtestimony shone brightly to all who would

observe it in their day, and to all who readof it now. The faith of Yoruban Christianshas not ended, but has been reproducedin the lives of those who make up theYoruban church today.Shawn StevensENDNOTES1As early as 1844, the Lord’s Prayer, theTen Commandments, and thefirst two chapters of Matthew’s Gospelhad been translated into theYoruban language. Gollmer, CharlesAndrew Gollmer, His Life AndMissionary Labours In West Africa, 2nded. (London: Hodder andStoughton), 13.2A calabash is a vessel made of a driedgourd shell or the shell of acalabash tree, used for holding foods,liquids or goods.1Josephine C. Bulifant, 40 Years In TheAfrican Bush (Grand Rapids:Zondervan Publishing House, ), 13. 2Ibid., 13.3John B. Grimley and Gordon E.Robinson, Church Growth In Central AndSouthern Nigeria (Grand Rapids:Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1966), 256.4Bobbie Kalman, Nigeria : The People(New York: Crabtree PublishingCo., 2001), 13.5Josephine C. Bulifant, 40 Years In TheAfrican Bush (Grand Rapids:Zondervan Publishing House, ), 17-18.6John Peel, Religious Encounter And TheMaking Of The Yoruba (Indiana:Indiana University Press, 2000), 27-28.7S. G. Pinnock, The Romance OfMissions In Nigeria (Richmond: SouthernBaptist Convention, 1918), 85-86.

8Gollmer, Charles Andrew Gollmer, HisLife And Missionary Labours InWest Africa, 2nd ed. (London: Hodder andStoughton), 199-200.9S. G. Pinnock, The Romance OfMissions In Nigeria (Richmond: SouthernBaptist Convention, 1918), 88.10Ibid., 88.11Ibid., 89.12Ibid., 56-57.13Josephine C. Bulifant, 40 Years In TheAfrican Bush (Grand Rapids:Zondervan Publishing House, ), 16.Takenfrom 40 Years In The African Bush byJosephine Bulifant. Copyright © 1980 byZondervan. Use by permission ofZondervan. www.zondervan.com14Ibid., 16.15Ibid., 22-23.16Ibid., 24-26.17Ibid., 26-27.18Ibid., 28-29.Taken from 40 Years InThe African Bush by Josephine Bulifant.Copyright © 1980 by Zondervan. Use bypermission of Zondervan.www.zondervan.com19Ibid., 29.20Ibid., 29.21Ibid., 30.22Ibid., 30-31.Taken from 40 Years InThe African Bush by Josephine Bulifant.Copyright © 1980 by Zondervan. Use bypermission of Zondervan.www.zondervan.com23Ibid., 32.Taken from 40 Years In TheAfrican Bush by Josephine Bulifant.Copyright © 1980 by Zondervan. Use bypermission of Zondervan.

www.zondervan.com24Ibid., 32.Taken from 40 Years In TheAfrican Bush by Josephine Bulifant.Copyright © 1980 by Zondervan. Use bypermission of Zondervan.www.zondervan.com25Ibid., 33.Taken from 40 Years In TheAfrican Bush by Josephine Bulifant.Copyright © 1980 by Zondervan. Use bypermission of Zondervan.www.zondervan.com26Ibid., 34-36.27Ibid., 45-48.Taken from 40 Years InThe African Bush by Josephine Bulifant.Copyright © 1980 by Zondervan. Use bypermission of Zondervan.www.zondervan.com28Ibid., 47.Taken from 40 Years In TheAfrican Bush by Josephine Bulifant.Copyright © 1980 by Zondervan. Use bypermission of Zondervan.www.zondervan.com29Ibid., 52-53.Taken from 40 Years InThe African Bush by Josephine Bulifant.Copyright © 1980 by Zondervan. Use bypermission of Zondervan.www.zondervan.com30Ibid., 53.Taken from 40 Years In TheAfrican Bush by Josephine Bulifant.Copyright © 1980 by Zondervan. Use bypermission of Zondervan.www.zondervan.com31Ibid., 54.Taken from 40 Years In TheAfrican Bush by Josephine Bulifant.Copyright © 1980 by Zondervan. Use bypermission of Zondervan.www.zondervan.com32Ibid., 55.Taken from 40 Years In TheAfrican Bush by Josephine Bulifant.Copyright © 1980 by Zondervan. Use bypermission of Zondervan.

www.zondervan.com33Ibid., 60-62.34Ibid., 62.Taken from 40 Years In TheAfrican Bush by Josephine Bulifant.Copyright © 1980 by Zondervan. Use bypermission of Zondervan.www.zondervan.com35Ibid., 168.Taken from 40 Years In TheAfrican Bush by Josephine Bulifant.Copyright © 1980 by Zondervan. Use bypermission of Zondervan.www.zondervan.com36Ibid., 167.REFERENCES Bulifant, Josephine C. 40 Years In TheAfrican Bush. Grand Rapids:Zondervan Publishing House. (note toShawn 401 words)Gollmer. Charles Andrew Gollmer, HisLife And Missionary Labours InWest Africa, 2nd ed. London: Hodder andStoughton.Grimley, John B. And Gordon E.Robinson. Church Growth In Central AndSouthern Nigeria. Grand Rapids:Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1966.Peel, John. Religious Encounter And TheMaking Of The Yoruba. Indiana:Indiana University Press, 2000.Pinnock, S. G. The Romance Of MissionsIn Nigeria. Richmond: SouthernBaptist Convention, 1918.Scripture taken from the King JamesBible.

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