The Problem of Missionaries among the Igbo People

The Igbo Community and the Arrival of the Missionaries

The Igbo community in Nigeria and their early response to the arrival of the white missionaries are depicted in the film Things Fall Apart. Chinua told his tale in the vernacular of the colonizers from the perspective of the colonized. Before the advent of the missionaries, the Igbo people had a culture, an informal education system, and even participated in religious activities. The way of life, customs, religious beliefs, cults, and social customs of the Mbanta and Umuofia villages—as he refers to them—before the advent of the white people are clearly described in more than half of this book. The story contains events that are entirely imaginative. However, they characterized the actual happenings of the Igbo land that time. Therefore, as the essay examines and provides an analysis of the role of missionaries on the culture and the way of life of the Igbo people in the 19th Century.

Colonization and Missionary Work

Although colonization and missionary work are different, in this novel they seem to be linked colonialism. From an African perspective, missionary work and colonialization are almost indistinguishable. Mission and colonialism are distinct in a sense; colonialist wants to dominate a region for economic gain. Missionaries, on the other hand, are following the command of Jesus to go to the whole world and preach the good news of salvation to all human beings. Missionaries also aimed to eliminate the beliefs and traditions that God cannot approve and that can cause harm to human life. The Missionaries devoted themselves to living among the community in simplicity and sought to bring a spiritual transformation in their lives. While the natives ultimately opposed the colonizer and his government, they showed some idea of accommodation of people in mission work. The missionaries chose to change their lifestyles, to be like the Igbo people to gain acceptance and fit in the society without facing unprecedented rejection.

The Impact of the Missionaries

Mr. Brown was the first to arrive in Mbanta with his interpreter who was an Igbo, Mr. Kiala. The importance of a translator was to help in penetrating the community as he tried to learn more about the Igbo community. Mr. Brown asserted that regardless of different skin colors, all were equal in Gods eyes as God considered all of them His sons and daughters. Mr. Brown and other missionaries brought quite some changes. The question that remained unanswered was whether things fell apart on the communities of Umuofia and Mbanta. Missionaries believed that it was their responsibility in a sense to improve the indigenous community of Igbo and they caused notable changes in the lives of the people. Evidently, missionaries challenged the Igbo belief system, made them condemn their gods and stop storytelling that was an essential part of that community. The community further rejected their values and customs to embrace the Christian beliefs. The significant impact of this the society split up as a result of their influence. In this regard, Okonkwo states

The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together, and we have fallen apart (Chapter 20 page 25).

Missionary Education and Colonial Access

The missionaries brought formal education embedded in Christianity, something that was lacking in the pre-colonial period. Education was embraced, and the schools provided a conducive environment for teaching the Christian faith. The attractiveness of the new religion drew people to it without much thought. Some Igbo people would consider this religion as authoritarian tendencies to influence the people and pave the way for colonizers. The colonial government came in through mission activities to help improve the lives of people. However, in the long run, the people found themselves enmeshed under the control of a foreigner. If the Igbo people did not embrace the missionaries in the first place, such colonial access to the community would have been minimized. Further, the exploitation of Africans as Chinua explained was as a result of accepting and accommodating the so-called missionary.

The Missionaries’ Perception of Igbo Culture

The Missionaries knew that the Igbo people had a religion, but they considered it inferior compared to the Western Christian doctrine. These foreigners were convinced that they needed to erase the culture of the Igbo people and built it afresh on a Christian model that they thought was most appropriate. Actually, from Achebe’s point of view, the missionaries concluded that the Igbo traditions were evil and needed abolition without seeking to understand that culture. From the progression of missionary work to colonization, it is doubtful that the missionaries had the pure motives and intentions they claimed to have. Things fall apart because foreigners and most missionaries wanted to eliminate every fabric, belief, and ceremony that held the ethnic group together. Their missionaries’ claim was that all that was African is inferior.

The Role of Missions and Colonial Government

Finally, from the progression of events, the part and role of the missions and colonial government in Things Fall Apart is a complex one. The alterations they bring on the beliefs and culture of the Igbo people was a premeditated one. The community considered the Christian teachings not proper and avoided them to preserve their traditional beliefs and values but gave in eventually. From Chinua’s perspective, the missionaries brought more harm than good to the Igbo people.

Works Cited

Chinua, Achebe. “Things fall apart.” Ch. Achebe (1958): 1-117.