Christianity in Chad
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Christianity arrived in Chad more recently than other religions, with the arrival of Europeans.[1] Its followers are divided into Roman Catholics and Protestants (including several denominations) and collectively represent 45% of population.[1][2]
Protestantism[]
The Protestants came to southern Chad in the 1920s.[1] The American organization Baptist Mid-Missions was the first Protestant mission to settle in the country in 1925 in Sarh.[3] Missionaries of other denominations and nationalities soon followed.[1] Many of the American missions were northern offshoots of missionary networks founded farther south in the Ubangi-Chari colony (now Central African Republic) of French Equatorial Africa (Afrique Equatoriale Franchise — AEF).[1] The organizational ties between the missions in southern Chad and Ubangi-Chari were strengthened by France's decision in 1925 to transfer Logone Occidental, Tandjilé, Logone Oriental, and Moyen-Chari prefectures to Ubangi-Chari, where they remained until another administrative shuffle restored them to Chad in 1932.[1]
In 1964, the Chadian Association of Baptist Churches was officially founded.[3]
These early Protestant establishments looked to their own churches for material resources and to their own countries for diplomatic support.[1] Such independence allowed them to maintain a distance from the French colonial administration.[1] In addition, the missionaries arrived with their wives and children, and they often spent their entire lives in the region.[1] Some of the missionaries who arrived at that time had grown up with missionary parents in missions founded earlier in the French colonies to the south.[1] Some missionary children from this era later founded missions of their own.[1] Many remained after independence, leaving only in the early and or mid-1970s when Tombalbaye's authenticité movement forced their departure.[1]
The puritanical message preached by many Protestant missionaries undermined the appeal of the faith.[1] Rather than allowing a local Christian tradition to develop, the missionaries preached a fundamentalist doctrine native to parts of the United States.[1] They inveighed against dancing, alcohol, and local customs, which they considered "superstitions".[1] New converts found it almost impossible to observe Protestant teachings and remain within their communities.[1] In the early years, Chadian Protestants often left their villages and settled around the missions.[1] But abandoning village and family was a sacrifice that most people were reluctant to make.[1]
Although language and doctrine probably discouraged conversion, the educational and medical projects of the Protestant missions probably attracted people.[1] The missionaries set up schools, clinics, and hospitals long before the colonial administration did.[1] In fact, the mission schools produced the first Western-educated Chadians in the 1940s and 1950s.[1] In general, the Protestant missionary effort in southern Chad has enjoyed some success.[1] In 1980, after a half-century of evangelization, Protestants in southern Chad numbered about 80,000.[1]
From bases in the south, Protestants founded missions in other parts of Chad.[1] For the most part, they avoided settling among Muslims, who were not responsive to their message.[1] In the colonial capital of Fort-Lamy (present-day's N'Djamena), the missions attracted followers among resident southerners.[1] The missionaries also proselytized among the non-Muslim populations of Guéra, Ouaddaï, and Biltine prefectures.[1] Although Christianity appealed to some in the capital (there were estimated to be 18,000 Christians in N'Djamena in 1980), efforts in other parts of the Sahel were relatively unsuccessful.[1]
In the late 1980s, the future of the Protestant missions in Chad remained unclear.[1] As noted, many Protestant missionaries were forced to leave the country during the cultural revolution in the early and mid-1970s.[1] Outside the south, other missions have been caught in the cross fire of warring factions.[1] Rebel forces have pillaged mission stations, and the government has accused the missionaries of complicity with the opposition.[1]
Roman Catholicism[]
The Roman Catholic missions came to Chad later than their Protestant counterparts.[1] Isolated efforts began as early as 1929 when The Holy Ghost Fathers from Bangui founded a mission at Kou, near Moundou in Logone Occidental Prefecture.[1] In 1934, in the midst of the sleeping sickness epidemic, they abandoned Kou for Doba in Logone Oriental Prefecture.[1] Other priests from Ubangi-Shari and Cameroon opened missions in Kélo and Sarh in 1935 and 1939, respectively.[1]
In 1946 these autonomous missions gave way to an institutionalized Roman Catholic presence.[1] This late date had more to do with European politics than with events in Chad.[1] Earlier in the century, the Vatican had designated the Chad region to be part of the Italian vicarate of Khartoum.[1] Rather than risk the implantation of Italian missionaries during the era of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the French administration discouraged all Roman Catholic missionary activity.[1] For its part, the Vatican adopted the same tactic, not wishing to upset the Italian regime by transferring jurisdiction of the Chad region to the French.[1] As a consequence of their defeat in World War II, however, the Italians lost their African colonies.[1] This loss cleared the way for a French Roman Catholic presence in Chad, which a decree from Rome formalized on March 22, 1946.[1]
This decree set up three religious jurisdictions that eventually became four bishoprics.[1] The first, administered by the Jesuits, had its seat in N'Djamena.[1] Although its jurisdiction included the eight prefectures in the northern and eastern parts of the country, almost all the Roman Catholics in sahelian and Saharan Chad lived in the capital.[1] The diocese of N'Djamena also served as the archdiocese of all Chad.[1] The second bishopric, at Sarh, also was delegated to the Jesuits.[1] Its region included Salamat and Moyen-Chari prefectures.[1] The third and fourth jurisdictions had their headquarters in Pala and Moundou and were delegated to the Oblats de Marie and Capuchin orders.[1] The Pala bishopric served Mayo-Kebbi Prefecture, while the bishopric of Moundou was responsible for missions in Logone Occidental and Logone Oriental prefectures.[1] By far the most important jurisdiction in 1970, Pala included 116,000 of Chad's 160,000 Catholics.[1]
The relatively slow progress of the Roman Catholic Church in Chad has several causes.[1] Although Roman Catholicism has been much more open to local cultures than Protestantism, the doctrine of celibacy probably has deterred candidates for the priesthood.[1] Insistence on monogamy also has undoubtedly made the faith less attractive to some potential converts, particularly wealthy older men able to afford more than one wife.[1]
The social works of the Roman Catholic Church have made it an important institution in Chad.[1] Like their Protestant counterparts, the Roman Catholic missions have a history of social service.[1] In the 1970s, along with priests, the staffs of most establishments included brothers and nuns who worked in the areas of health, education, and development.[1] Many of the nuns were trained medical professionals who served on the staffs of government hospitals and clinics.[1] It was estimated that 20,000 Chadians attended Roman Catholic schools in 1980.[1] Adult literacy classes also reached beyond the traditional school-aged population.[1] In the area of development, as early as the 1950s Roman Catholic missions in southern Chad set up rural development centers whose clientele included non-Christians as well as Christians.[1]
References[]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj Collelo, Thomas, ed. (1990). Chad: A Country Study (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. pp. 73–76. ISBN 0-16-024770-5.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR90/FR90.pdf
- ^ a b J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 534
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the External links[]
- Christianity in Chad