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AFRICAN MISSIONS, EDUCATION AND THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE:
The SUM in Nigeria, The Cameroons, Chad, Sudan and Other African Territories

Part 2: The Lightbearer, 1905-1991

The Archive of the Sudan United Mission (SUM), held at the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World, New College, University of Edinburgh, is an important resource for the study of missionary work, educational work, medical work, evangelism, the emergence of indigenous churches and the growth of nationalist sentiment in Africa in the twentieth century.

The organisation covered a vast area of Africa stretching from the coasts of Nigeria and the Cameroons in the west, to Chad and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan further east.

Part 2 consists of a complete run of the SUM periodical, The Lightbearer, invaluable to researchers looking at all aspects of the mission from its beginnings at the start of the twentieth century up to 1991. It is particularly important for the early years of SUM activity as much manuscript material for this period did not survive the bombings of the Second World War. Four volumes of the periodical are not held at CSCNWW in Edinburgh and to complete the run these have been sourced from the British Library, London.


Early issues contain a supplement at the back entitled The S A Lightbearer which consists of news on South African missionaries working in the Sudan. Later issues incorporate a four page Newsletter of the SUM which gives additional SUM news from the mission stations.

Topics covered in this periodical are very varied and include:


• Extracts from monthly reports from the different mission stations.
• Descriptions of missionary work amongst the local people.
• News on new missionaries – lists given of names and dates of sailing to Africa.
• Reports on conferences.
• Articles on the History of SUM missionary work amongst different tribes, for instance among the Dzompere people in Kwambai, Northern Nigeria.
• Contributions received by the SUM.
• Reports of local disasters such as hurricanes and crop failures.
• Notes on Annual Meetings.

Some issues contain maps of the mission areas and interesting photographs of the missionaries and the local tribes.

The SUM archival material spans the period 1904-1991 and allows researchers to study:

• The correspondence of the founders of the mission, Karl and Lucy Kumm.
• The work of J Lowry Maxwell amongst the Hausa-speaking and Jukun tribes and his insights into African language, culture and customs.
• SUM activities in Northern Nigeria and the aspirations of the indigenes in the Middle Belt area.
• The crucial role of the hospitals and leprosy settlements in Nigeria, bringing medical advances to the region and providing worthwhile training and jobs for Africans in Nigeria.
• The importance of education, new schools and training colleges in both Nigeria and the Sudan.
• Reports from the range of different mission stations.
• The tremendous political and social changes in Africa which gathered momentum after 1920, culminating in independence movements and, externally, a vibrant Pan-Africanism.
• SUM’s commitment from 1904 to the establishment of indigenous African Churches and its changing role once this had been achieved.
• SUM’s activities in Nigeria, Chad, the Cameroons and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

In 1989 the SUM Fellowship in the UK changed its name to Action Partners. Bawtry Hall in Doncaster, South Yorkshire was purchased to be a headquarters and training centre for World Mission.

Over the last century, language usage has changed considerably. Certain terms were used at the beginning of the twentieth century, which, in the twenty-first century, are quite unacceptable. Therefore, readers of the earlier part of the archives should be aware of the need to interpret this language in modern terms. For example, by the twenty-first century the general practice would be to use ‘indigenous’ or ‘indigene’ instead of ‘native’. Other alternatives are ‘leprosy patient’ rather than ‘leper’, ‘African Traditional Religion’ rather than ‘pagan’ or ‘animist’, and ‘ethnic group’ rather than ‘tribe’. The spelling of some of the names of ethnic groups has changed and in some cases a very different, often older, name is used for such groups eg ‘Mwaghavul’ is used in the twenty-first century instead of ‘Sura’, which is sometimes found in the archival material.

Please see our Digital Guide for more information on the following:

  • Early Developments of the Sudan United Mission
  • Northern Nigeria
  • The different tribes, or ethnic groups, of Northern Nigeria
  • Nationalism in Nigeria
  • Post-Independence Politics and Civil War in Nigeria
  • Sudan
  • Other branches and related papers

Nature and Scope of the Microfilm Project


The microfilm publication of the SUM Archive has been divided into the following parts:

Part 1: Manuscript Papers, 1898-1960 from the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World, New College, University of Edinburgh
Part 2: The Lightbearer, 1905-1991
Part 3: Newsletters, 1940-1989, Publications and Annual Reports, 1908-1979
Part 4: Lantern Slides, Slides and Photographs
Part 5: Publications in Hausa

Bautchi Woman and Child

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