Dr. Reuben Njoba Nweze
Department of History Education
Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo.
Ebonyi state, Nigeria.
Abstract.
The study investigated the activities of the Christian missionary enterprise in old Ohaozara, 1880-1996. The study was carried out in the Old Ohaozara zone of Ebonyi state. This study is a survey research design that made use of 506 respondents to investigate the activities of Presbyterian missionaries in the old Ohaozara. The researcher developed five research questions and two hypotheses. The five research questions were used to develop thirty-four items used to answer the research questions and the hypotheses. The results of the analysis revealed that; the Presbyterian Christian Missionaries helped the poor and the needy, they build churches and schools, they constructed roads in the areas of their operation, they treated the people of their different sicknesses and diseases free of charge, they trained the children of their host communities and also offered job opportunities to some of the pupils they trained in their schools. The study also revealed some of the challenges faced by the missionaries which include; how the indigenes could not accept them because of language and other differences, difficulties in getting where to site their schools and churches, task they faced in erecting their schools and churches in the evil forest the indigenes offered them, the problem posed to them by the indigenous culture and traditions that differed from their own, the serious running battle faced by the Presbyterian missionaries with the other Christian denominations in the old Ohaozara at the inception of their enterprise, issue of not understanding their host language and dialects was a big challenge to them and no or poor road network was one of their most serious challenges. On the hypothesis there was no significant difference between the mean rating of Presbyterian and other churches on the impact of the Presbyterian Missionary enterprise in Old Ohaozara.
Keywords: Christian Missionary, Presbyterian Church, Enterprise.
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