The Cameroon Baptist Church (french: Église baptiste camerounaise) is a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worsh ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. It is affiliated with the

Baptist World Alliance The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is the largest international Baptist organization with an estimated 51 million people in 2022 with 246 member bodies in 128 countries and territories. A voluntary association of Baptist churches, the BWA account ...

. The headquarters is in

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Ai ...

History

The organization has its origins in a mission of the

Baptist Missionary Society BMS World Mission is a Mission (Christian), Christian missionary society founded by Baptists from England in 1792. It was originally called the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Amongst the Heathen, but for most of its ...

in 1845 by English and Jamaican missionaries such as

Joseph Jackson Fuller The Rev. Joseph Jackson Fuller (1825–1908), Baptist missionary to the pre-colonial African Chiefdoms of the Cameroons, was one of the earliest slaves to be freed in Jamaica (initially under the partial freedoms of the "apprenticeship act") ...

and

Joseph Merrick Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then wen ...

. The missionary

, a Jamaican, son of freed slaves, on his first arrival in 1843 takes up to spread the Gospel while promoting a spirit of independence in his preaching. In 1886, two years after the signing of the treaty between the Germans and the Duala, when the German authorities expelled the Baptist Mission Society and transferred its work to the

Basel Mission The Basel Mission was a Christian missionary society based in Switzerland. It was active from 1815 to 2001, when it transferred the operative work to , the successor organization of ''Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione'' (KEM), found ...

, the Native Baptist Church congregation led by Reverend Joshua Dibundu Dibue protested vigorously and stood up for their self-governing. Eglise Baptiste Adolf Lottin Same

It was officially founded in

in 1888 as the Native Baptist Church. In 1917, under French rule the Native Baptist Church was again opposed to the authority of the Paris Mission (Société des Missions Evangéliques de Paris). Appointed as president of the Native Baptist Church in 1921, Reverend Adolf Lotin A Same continued the struggle for the local church independence. Criticized by French pastors, he was publicly deposed of his ministerial duties in 1922. Repression came hard. The Native Baptist Churches were closed down. The Reverend Lotin was forced to preach in secret. He was readmitted in 1932 but served several other jail terms, little appreciated as he was by French authorities. Generally considered as the first nationalist leader from French colonial times, this music composer left over 200 canticles written according to the ngosso rhythm. According to a denomination census released in 2020, it claimed 135 churches and 16,000 members.Baptist World Alliance
Members
baptistworld.org, USA, retrieved December 5, 2020

References

{{Authority control Baptist denominations in Africa Evangelicalism in Cameroon