While rounding up classes over the weekend, I came across a piece expressing concern over the possible alteration of significant historical structures associated with revered Thomas Archibald, the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) missionary who opened the Kagoro SIM Mission Field and the founder of Boys Brigade in Kagoro. Sudan Interior Mission is now Serving in Missions.
According to information gathered from Mr. Kibai Kwallah, a church built by Archibald, situated within a school in the Kpak area of Kagoro, is earmarked for expansion. This has raised concerns that the original structure, believed to be of historical significance, may be compromised.
Kibai explained in our conversation that the institution needs a larger edifice due to the increased number of worshippers, and construction of the new building is in progress. He noted that the plan is to possibly demolish the existing one built by Archibald once the new one is completed. Kibai suggested using technology to stream services, and introducing two services to accommodate the increased number of worshippers, rather than demolishing the historical church.
He further mentioned that the management plans to capture the edifice with high-resolution images before demolishing it, although I have not confirmed this and even the story as a journalist.
My appeal is that, whatever action is taken, preserving the rich history should be prioritized. There are many advantages to protecting historical sites, including preserving cultural heritage, identity, education, research, tourism, as well as economic benefits, as highlighted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). These benefits largely form the argument for preserving materials and items related to history.
But who exactly was Archibald? First, we must note that the Sudan Interior Mission, now known as Serving in Missions, was founded in 1893 by Walter Gowans, Thomas Kent, and Roland Bingham. They were young men with a passion to preach and reached the unreached in the Sudan. Walter was 25, Kent was 23, and Bingham was 21. Braving various perils, they persevered, and sowed the seeds for our forebears and ourselves to be Christians today. There is a touching story about how the trio met a Superintendent of the Wesleyan Mission upon their arrival in Lagos on December 4, 1893, who said, “You will never see the Sudan, your children will never see the Sudan, your grandchildren may.” The rest, as they say, is history.
Within a year of their arrival, the duo of Gowans and Kent paid the supreme price as they died of malaria while navigating their way into Sudan. Gowans passed away on November 7, 1894, and was interred around Girku in present-day Kaduna State, while Kent died on December 8, 1894, in Bida, Niger State. Bingham, who survived, returned to Canada, formed a council, and later made a comeback in 1900. Although his second attempt was unsuccessful, his team made a breakthrough between 1901 and 1902, opening the Pategi Mission Field in present-day Niger State.
There’s a poignant story from Bingham’s account when he visited Gowans’s mother, Mrs. Margaret Gowans, to deliver her son’s personal belongings. According to Bingham, she met him with an extended hand, and after a moment of silence, she said, “Well, Mr. Bingham, I would rather have had Walter go out to the Sudan and die there, all alone, than have him home today, disobeying his Lord.”
Back to Archibald’s Kagoro. The SIM branch that is the precursor to today’s Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) got its maiden name in Kagoro. The name ‘Evangelical Church of West Africa,’ with the same acronym ECWA, was chosen and adopted in Kagoro between January 7-10, 1954, during the All-SIM Conference where all the delegates stood up to signify their acceptance.
Archibald was the missionary who arrived in Kagoro on April 7, 1927, and opened up the SIM Mission Field in the area and beyond. He arrived from Kwoi, where he had been since 1921 working building upon the foundation laid by Reverend F.E. Hein in July 1910, now 115 years ago. Hein had set the ball rolling and left in December 1913. Before Hein’s departure, Reverend William Watson and Dr. Andrew Stirrett, also known as ‘Bature Mai Magani,’ had joined the Kwoi Mission Field in November 1912.
Watson is another notable character whose emotional story I will recount in greater detail someday. His first wife died in December 1918, during the Flu pandemic which killed around 50 million people globally just after World War I. Watson, named ‘Amara’ by the early Ham Christians, was remarried in June 1927 to Miss Haldane in the SIM Church in Kwoi. I have visited Mrs. Watson’s grave, whose first name is not stated in the archives, or is possibly missing from the historical records. I am also looking forward to visiting the grave of Stirrett, who died in Jos, Plateau State, in July 1948.
Archibald nicknamed ‘Dachep’ arrived Kagoro with his wife, Sarah also also known as ‘Dariya’ and their daughter, Grace, accompanied by many Ham Christians who had embraced the faith in Kwoi. These included Malam Toro and his wife Hara, Gama Monde, Malam Nyam, and the duo of Gyet and Barnabas. Malam Toro, who later became a pastor, preached on his bicycle in many villages surrounding Kagoro until his retirement in 1959.
According to Mr. Yanet Afuwai in his book “The Place of Kagoro in the History of Nigeria,” the arrival of Archibald, and of Christianity, in Kagoro followed the efforts of one Afi Nkwom of Kukum Gida, an adventurer and explorer. Nkwom, Afuwai said, was tall, strongly built, and had an unceasing desire to visit new places and discover what life was like in those areas. He had visited Zaria, Jos, Bauchi, and Kaduna. During his visit to Kwoi, he was impressed by the way the Ham people mingled with the white Christian missionaries, which influenced their further influx with the arrival of the Archibalds.
Archibald embarked enthusiastically on his mission work in Kagoro, preaching from hamlet to hamlet and village to village. On May 6, 1928, he won his first converts, Bagaiya Nwaya and Kuliyak Kabombuok. He taught the new Christians reading and writing, and the first converts began to win more converts before completing their Bible School. Churches were built during his era, and he spread the faith beyond Kagoro to Sholio, Atyap, and Bajju lands as the knowledge of Christianity grew. I have attached Thomas Archibald’s family picture featuring him, his wife Sarah, and daughter Grace.
In addition, he built the first mission house, later occupied by Mr. Tanis, who superintended over the Kagoro Bible Training School now ECWA Theological Seminary established in 1929. Building on the foundation and legacies laid by the famous Archibald and his team, a Hausa Mission Magazine named LABARIN EKKLISIYA was established in Kagoro in 1947 for the Southern Kaduna Christian audience. The magazine was published by SIM in collaboration with the Council of Christian Missions in Northern Nigeria and was later renamed KAKAKI.
In summary, Archibald is a name that is central to the history of Christianity in Southern Kaduna. History is life itself. History is everything. Let us do well to cherish it, for history is the remembrance of the past—a path tracing where a people have come from, and a baseline to chart the course of the future. To strive for its preservation is a wise and worthy endeavour, a precious service to generations unborn.
Aruwan is a postgraduate student at the Ahmadu Bello Univer
sity, Zaria.
aruwansamuel@aol.com
