The story o f "The African C h a l l e n g e t h e pioneer mass-circulation evangelistic magazine.
by Rae Gourlay
WHAT
WILL
W h e n a h a n d f u l of people car ried a bathtub through steam ing streets to the local post office in Lagos, Nigeria, in July 1951, no one paid much attention. Perspiring in the heat of West Africa’s humid coast, they emptied their precious cargo on the counter —• first copies of a new Christian magazine. “ I’ll eat my hat if you reach five thousand circulation,” one veteran missionary said, expecting the maga zine to fold up within a month or two. With a completely new and un tried formula, the venture was def initely a gamble for God. Today, ten years after that un heralded beginning, the African Chal lenge is read by half a million peo ple. As the pioneer mass-circulation evangelistic magazine of its kind, it has been the inspiration behind the starting of similar publications in South Africa, East Africa, Congo, Hong Kong, Japan, India, and the West Indies. No one in 1951 could have forecast the turbulent events in the African continent in the ten years to follow. Nationalism, with many ugly reper-
African Challenge representative sells copies to members of traveling 'Rock & Roll’ band.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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