Joseph Harden (1824–1864) was an African American missionary whose proselytizing activity was in West Africa. Harden founded the First Baptist Church in Lagos and laid the foundation of the

Baptist Academy Lagos Baptist Academy is a secondary school located in Obanikoro, Lagos, Nigeria. The school was established in 1855 by the American Baptist Missionaries. The school is regarded as a sister school to Reagan Memorial Baptist Girls' Secondary Schoo ...

in Lagos.

Life

Harden was born free to parents who had known slavery, his father was of the Methodist Faith and Harden was baptized as a Methodist before switching to the Southern Baptist Church. Upon his switch, he became a member of the Saratoga Street African Baptist Church in Baltimore. When the

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wor ...

established a

Foreign Mission Board The International Mission Board (or IMB, formerly the Foreign Mission Board) is a Christian missionary society affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The headquarters is in Richmond, Virginia, United States. History Thousands ...

to sponsor missionary activities, a mission station was to be established in China and in West Africa, the presence of ex-slaves in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

was thought by the Baptist to be a suitable location to convert Africans to Christianity. Harden, a member of a Baptist church in Maryland was nominated by the mission board to relocate to Liberia for missionary duties. Harden's initial experience with mission life in West Africa was demoralizing, his first wife and child died within a year of reaching the shores of Liberia. He took a second wife, a Liberian lady who died at childbirth. But, he was ready to endure to succeed in his endeavour. In Liberia, he befriended John Day, who was in charge of the Baptist Mission, and also spent time with a young American preacher, William Clark who was on his way to Ijaye and

James Churchill Vaughan James Churchill Omosanya Vaughan Jr., M.D. (30 May 1893 – 1937) was a Nigerian doctor and a prominent political activist. Birth and education Vaughan was born in Lagos on 30 May 1893, the son of James Wilson Vaughan, who descended from the 19t ...

who later played a role in the development of the church in Lagos. Harden transferred services to Lagos in 1855, by then two Southern Baptist missionaries preceded his arrival, Thomas Bowen and William H. Clark were in Oyo, trying to make inroads with the people of Ijaye. But it was in Lagos that Harden established a mission station and house built from bamboo and made use of an interpreter to preach his message. The station was the first in Lagos, Harden later opened a tutoring class which became Baptist Academy. He married Sarah Marsh, a saro who later played an important role in the sustenance of the

Baptist church 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 ...

in Lagos.

References

{{reflist Baptist missionaries from the United States Baptist Christianity in Nigeria People from colonial Nigeria 1824 births 1864 deaths African-American missionaries Founders of Nigerian schools and colleges History of Lagos African-American Baptist ministers American expatriates in Nigeria 19th-century American clergy