The Unyielding Spirit of African American Missions: A Reflection for MLK Day
A Unique Role in Global Missions
By Linda P. Saunders, PhD
African American missionaries play a unique role in global missions – past and present. Black missionary legends include Rebekka Protten, George Liele, David George, Scipio Beanes, and Amanda Berry Smith, whose contributions invigorated a missionary movement to reach the nations for Christ. Historically, Black missionaries were pioneers and visionaries in the international missionary enterprise, uniquely positioning them to win souls for the kingdom of God.
African American missionaries have historically cared about reaching all people groups, including their Jerusalem (Acts 1:8). David George and Amanda Berry Smith were early missionary pioneers who transformed the backyard missions endeavor and proved that both are essential to the mandate given by Jesus (Matthew 28:18–20). Smith demonstrated this by fulfilling her call to missions in India, England, and Liberia while not neglecting her own people where she established an orphanage for girls (The Amanda Smith Orphanage) in Harvey, Illinois, in 1899. David George’s concern for souls compelled him to start a ministry (cofounder with George Liele) in Georgia – a ministry that continues even today. George desired to live as a free man, causing him to flee his home country. However, his calling to reach the nations compelled him to establish missions work in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone, taking hundreds of Blacks with him.[1]
In the early eighteenth century, Rebekka Protten demonstrated the capacity to transcend daunting odds by taking the gospel message to the enslaved people groups on the Island of St. Thomas. She contextualized the gospel and its delivery while teaching the enslaved how to read, write, and do simple mathematics. Her resilience in the face of unspeakable odds is a testament to the strength and fortitude of the Black missionary pioneer. Scipio Beane’s desire to reach the nations caused him to transcend hate and apathy as he developed missionary work in Haiti during the early nineteenth century.
Today, African American missionaries are still uniquely positioned in the missions endeavor, evinced by the same passion as their ancestors, a passion to thrive in urban/backyard missions, a capacity to adapt to formidable contexts, and an unquenchable desire to transcend hate and apathy. The Black missionary today still kindles the flames of love for their brothers and sisters near and far as they navigate their contemporary context of global missions.
[1] Linda P. Saunders, “Laying an Historical Foundation to Examine the African American Church’s Relationship to 21st Century Global Missions to Create a Contextualized Missions Training Model for Future Generations of African-American Missionaries,” PhD diss. (Columbia International University, 2020), 73, ProQuest.
I am hoping to retire soon, and one of my projects is to write the story of Roy and Dora Whitman. Roy’s mother was black. His father was the brother of the famous Walt Witman, and I believe Roy’s parents were missionaries to the Congo. Roy traveled to the Middle East around 1920, and eventually became the father to many churches in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. A book about his life has been written in Arabic but it contains many many names and places, but many of the stories have been missed. I knew Roy and Dora well, and we were their neighbours (same building) back in the 1980s. I have done a lot of the research, just haven’t had time to write it all up. Hopefully next year. I am sure there are others.