Sectarian Strife In The

Mission Field

“ \ POINT that is often made against Christian missions,” Mr. W. R.

Croker, ex-administrative official, in a book on Nigeria, writes in a chapter dealing with missions and missionaries, “is that they give rise to competition between various Christian sects.

“The point has been overdone. Com petition is in the African’s blood, and strife between religious sects may be come a sublimated outlet for the compe tition that formerly led to head-hunting.

Also, it involves some kind of energy of mind and spirit, and it sets up a rallying point around which the sense of loyalty to a community can be fostered.

“Nor, again, is it a defect that the Christian religion is propagated by men who often are of small intellectual stature, preaching crudities and dispro portions. The African is now in a state where a message delivered with faith and conviction, and where the example of disinterested living, make an appeal that no intellectual gifts can equal.”