Christianity Was In Africa Before Europe
Christianity spread to North Africa less than 150 years after the death of Christ. Christian beliefs were introduced by missionaries from Jerusalem and spread among the Jews of Alexandria, on the Egyptian Coast, some time in first century AD or second century. There, the new faith was adopted by the Greek community from the Jews. Christianity spread west, and was taken up across North Africa. It reached as far as modern-day Morocco, where it was enthusiastically embraced by the Berber people. Christianity came to Africa before it came to Britain and other regions in Northern Europe.
Once in North Africa, Christianity spread slowly West from Alexandria and East to Ethiopia. Through North Africa, Christianity was embraced as the religion of dissent against the expanding Roman Empire. In the 4th century AD the Ethiopian King Ezana made Christianity the kingdom's official religion. In 312 Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.
In the 7th century Christianity retreated under the advance of Islam. But it remained the chosen religion of the Ethiopian Empire and persisted in pockets in North Africa.
In the 15th century Christianity came to Sub-Saharan Africa with the arrival of the Portuguese. In the South of the continent the Dutch founded the beginnings of the Dutch Reform Church in 1652.
In the interior of the continent most people continued to practice their own religions undisturbed until the 19th century. At that time, Christian missions to Africa increased, driven by an antislavery crusade and the interest of Europeans in colonising Africa. However, where people had already converted to Islam, Christianity had little success.
Who was the Apostle Mark?
His name was John, as the Holy Bible says: "He came to the house of Mary, the
mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together
praying" (Acts 12:12). He was the one whom the Lord Christ, to Whom is the glory, meant when He said: "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, The Teacher says, 'My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples'" (Matthew 26:18).
This apostle was born in Cyrene (one of the five Western cities, Pentapolis, in North Africa). After the ascension of the Lord Christ, Mark accompanied Paul and Barnabas to preach the gospel in Antioch, Seleucia, Cyprus, Salamis, and Perga Pamphylia, where he left them and returned to Jerusalem. After the apostolic council in Jerusalem, he went with Barnabas to Cyprus. After the departure of Barnabas, St. Mark went to Afrikia, Berka, and the five Western cities. He preached the gospel in these parts, and on his account many believed. From there, he went to Alexandria in 61 A.D.
QUEEN OF SHEBA
The most popular story connected to the region is the ancient account of the Queen of Sheba. As told in the Old Testament, she travelled from Aksum to Jerusalem to meet the famed King Solomon (King of the Israelites) in Jerusalem.
"And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart."
1 Kings, 10, v.1-2, Old Testament.
SPREAD OF ISLAM
In the 5th and 6th centuries the scriptures were translated into Ge'ez. The ancient forerunner of the Ethiopian language Amharic. With the spread of Islam in the 7th century the Ethiopian Church fell into something of a decline, although there was a revival in the 13th century. In 1621 the Ethiopian Emperor Susenyos became Catholic. With his abdication however, links with Rome were abandoned and Jesuit priests were banned.
Although autonomous in its rulings, the Ethiopian church remained connected to the Coptic Church until the mid-20th century.
THE NUBIA
Christianity spread South from the North of Egypt to Nubia (modern day Southern Egypt and Northern Sudan) some two hundred years after the collapse of the powerful Nile Valley kingdom of Meroe in the 4th century AD. It was brought by traders from Egypt and by travelers from Aksum.
Archaeological remains suggest that Christianity was a religion of the poor people to begin with and only later became popular with the elite. A missionary who came to Nubia from Constantinople found everybody well versed in Christian doctrine in 580. Initially the Nubian Church developed under the control of the Egyptian Coptic church. When Islam swept through the North of the continent in the 7th century, the Nubian rulers sought help from the Christian Emperor in Constantinople.
The Arab forces did their best to conquer Nubia but were forced back by the skills of the Nubian archers.
"One day they arrayed themselves against us and were desirous to carry on the conflict with the sword. But they were too quick for us and shot their arrows, putting out our eyes. The eyes they put out numbered 150. We at last thought the best thing to do with such a people was to make peace."
-The Arabic writer al-Baladhuri-
The Arabs agreed a peace treaty with the Nubians, which allowed the Nubian kingdoms to flourish as a Christian state for 700 years. The two northern kingdoms, Nobadia and Makuria merged into one - Dongola. Dongola entered something of a golden age; the bible was translated from Greek into Nubian and beautiful churches were built throughout the Nile Valley.
The Church in Nubia finally yielded to Islamic conversion in the 14th century and the massive Cathedral in Dongola was converted into a mosque in 1317.
While the Nubian church dissolved, with only a few architectural remnants to recall its former glory, the Ethiopian Church not only persisted but acquired great significance outside the Horn of Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The ancient nature of the church, combined with the Ethiopian defeat of the Italians in 1896, gave hope and inspiration to the anti-colonial movement in South Africa, and the Gold Coast, as well as to African-Americans suffering from prejudice and segregation.
Christianity Timeline
29, 30 or 33 - Crucifixion of Jesus
100 - 2nd Century - Christianity comes to Alexandria from Jerusalem
180 - 12 Christians executed for beliefs in Carthage
181 - In Carthage Perpetua refuses renounce Christianity and is sent to the lions
182 - Emperor Diocletian launches great persecution against Christianity
4th Century - Collapse of Meroe kingdom
5th-7th Century - Scriptures translated into Ge'ez in Ethiopia
311 - Donatist split
312 - Constantine makes Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire
333 - Ethiopian King Ezana makes Christianity official religion
451 - Schism (divide) with Rome on nature of God, marks the beginning of separate Coptic Church I in North Africa (taking Monophysite line, i.e. Jesus is not human as well as the son of God)
6th Century - Christianity comes to Nubia
639 - Islam comes to North Africa, displacing Christianity on a large scale
1317 - Nubia turns Muslim; Dongola cathedral converted to Mosque
1490 - First missionaries come to Kongo from Portugal
1621 - With the abdication of Emperor Susenyos, the Ethiopian Church is restored as the official church, after a period of Catholicism
1652 - Dutch settle in the Cape; beginning of Dutch Reformed Church
1706 - Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia becomes Catholic; Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, of Kongo, is burnt at stake having claimed to be possessed by spirit of St. Anthony
1737 - Moravian Brethren set up in South Africa
1799 - London Missionary Society (LMS) set up in South Africa
1804 - Protestant mission in Sierra Leone
1807 - British declare abolition of slave trade
1839 - Pope Gregory XVI issues Papal Bull condemning slavery
1840 - David Livingstone arrives in Africa
1865 - Samuel Ajayi Crowther became first black Anglican Bishop in Nigeria
1868 - White Fathers Mission Society established by Lavigerie, Archbishop of Algiers. Dedicated to mission work in Africa
1882 - Nehemiah Tile's Ethiopian church founded in South Africa
1892 - Mangena M. Mokone's Tembu National Church founded in South Africa
1886 - Execution of Christian pages in court of Buganda by Kabaka Mwanga
1921 - Simon Kimbangu founds EJCSK (Eglise de Jesus sur la Terre par le Prophete Simon Kimangu) or Church of Jesus on Earth through the Prophet Simon Kimangu
1927 - Dimi Ya Roho (Holy Ghost Church) founded in Kenya
1939 - 1st African Catholic Bishops: Joseph Kiwanuka of Buganda, and Joseph Faye of Senegal
1960 - Dutch Reformed Church expelled from the World Council of Churches
Source
The Story of Africa| BBC World Service