THE EXPANSION OF THE SUDAN INTERIOR MISSION’S RELIGIOUS EXERTIONS INBAYARAAREAOF BAUCHI EMIRATE, NORTHERN NIGERIA, 1952-1972

Abstract

Numerous studies have been conducted on the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) in northern Nigeria, but the spread of SIM’s religious undertakings in Bauchi town, the centre of the emirate, has been neglected. Hence, this paper examines the beginning and expansion of the Sudan Interior Mission’s (SIM) religious activities in the Bayara leprosarium and Bauchi town in the Bauchi emirate of northern Nigeria from 1952 to 1972.Despite the initial displeasure by the Native Authorities (NA) and the provincial authorities not having a mission centre in Bauchi town, the SIM partnered with the NA. It established a leprosarium in Bayara to control the surge in leprosy infection and other minor illnesses in the province. This was done based on SIM avoiding forceful proselytisation in the facility or area. This paper draws from primary data such as archival documents and oral interviews, as well as secondary data, to contend that aside from leprosy control, the SIM, through its evangelistic determinations, utilised the leprosarium as a medium to evangelise the patients and reach out to other places such as Bauchi town and proximate areas. Embedded in its evangelism approach, the SIM sent native converts to the Bible School in Bayara for training. They employed and deployed them in the mission fields after graduation. The natives were mentored for leadership, which served as a continuity machine to establish and sustain the local Church, the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA).