Another method of building up young Christians in their faith came about almost by chance! An African pastor wrote to the editor in 1953 to say that he was using the magazine to provide study material for his young men’s Bible class. “We call ourselves an African Challenge Read ing Unit,” he added. His letter was published, and soon people were writing in from all over Africa to ask how to start their own branches. Today there are over 300 such reading units scattered across the continent — from Nigeria and Ghana in the West to Ethiopia and Kenya in the East. Meeting month ly in schools and training colleges, homes and churches, members first hold Bible study and prayer before going out to witness for Christ in villages and assist local churches. Each issue includes an “inquiry slip,” which readers are invited to fill in if they wish to receive Christ as Saviour or learn more about the Christian life. Each issue is bom in prayer as members of the editorial planning committee (all Nigerians, with a missionary for liaison) bow for guid ance, and commit every detail to the Lord. Presses 9top daily as the entire staff meets for prayer. A 20th century missionary endeavor to make sure of what the Africans will read.
African testimonies. As they listened to reports of first sales on West Afri can newsstands, the editors knew that the magazine had made a hit. Headmasters and teachers, too, were quick to realize the educational value of such a printed voice. They use it to teach English, General Knowledge, and Religious Knowledge often mak ing it compulsory reading material for students! “Write a precis on any article from African Challenge,” was a question that appeared in the en trance examination of one teacher training college. Coupled with the aim of winning men and women to Jesus Christ, the publication is also concerned with building up the churches. Realizing that a tragic lack of solid teaching is behind the weakness and ineffective witness of the Church in many parts of Africa, the editors provide simple Bible study in which doctrinal sub jects — normally too “heavy” read ing for new literates — are broken down into simple, basic thoughts easily grasped by schoolboys. Pastors, often without commen taries or other Bible aids, are helped to find sermon material. Recent issues give advice on how to hold a street meeting, run a Sunday school, use visual aids, and conduct family wor ship. In a strife-tom continent, it is the young people who suffer most. Even in the few countries of Africa which are quiet politically, there is a silent revolution taking place in the small est village. Old standards and ways of life are crumbling, and in their place is a spiritual vacuum in which young folk are confused. In their search for a new set of values, it is sadly true that they often turn to the worst that the West can produce — through movies and sordid literature. It is here that Challenge is able to provide vital instruction — often treating “ delicate” subjects with a straightforward approach that would be impossible or inadvisable in other countries, but which is the only lan guage understood in an uninhibited continent. Articles like “How to Live a Pure Life” and “ The Evils of Immoral ity” bring a big response from read ers. Young people write in for advice on choosing their life partner and other personal problems, genuinely seeking the Christian answer. “ The African Challenge has been a literal preacher to me,” wrote one student from Uganda. “ It frankly con demns immorality — the most com mon sin among young men in Africa today.”
A bookstore in Accura the capital o f Ghana shows the wide range o f literature available.
cussions, reached fever pitch. Coun tries which had shown little progress for centuries suddenly demanded free dom from colonial rulers, until in 1960 no less than 18 African states received their independence. With the rise in literacy came a flood of literature — from the subtle propaganda of Communism (four pieces for every African in the past few years) to the confusing claims of cults and “ isms,” and the lurid trash of the western world. Realizing the traditional “ churchy” magazine would have little appeal to Africa’s young literates, the Sudan Interior Mission decided on a bold new plan to produce a “popular-style” journal. The Mission already had a paper called the W est African Christian, ably edited by Miss Geraldine H. Hamlett (now Mrs. Noel Sandford), BIOLA graduate who had worked on the staff of The King’s Business. With the change in name, came a change in formula. The African Chal lenge was aimed at the man in the street, presenting the gospel message through topical news features and SEPTEMBER, 1961
Nigerian Christian operates cutter in the Niger-Challenge Press in Lagos. 41
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