Pioneering the Path: Thomas Birch Freeman's Mission in Yorubaland

Thomas Birch Freeman

Thomas Birch Freeman was born in England on December 6, 1809. His father was an African, and his mother, Amy, was an Englishwoman. His father, who died when he was six, was a gardener by profession, and the boy followed the same path, later taking pride in fostering improved methods of farming.
On October 10, 1837, Freeman was ordained into the ministry of the Methodist Church, and a few days later he married Elizabeth Boot. In the following years, they set their faces toward West Africa. First, they went to Gold Coast (today’s Ghana), and there Freeman labored abundantly and most fruitfully. Elizabeth died, and he married again, but his second wife also did not live long. These personal tragedies did not affect his work. But in the meantime, an increasing number of freed Yoruba slaves were returning to the prosperous kingdom of Abeokuta. Some of them were Christian converts. They wrote to plead for Christian ministry for themselves and to draw attention to the opportunity for preaching the gospel.
The voices were heard. The Methodist Mission appointed Freeman to open up the work as an outstation from Cape Coast. On September 24, 1842, the date that marked the effective beginning of missionary work in what is now Nigeria, Fereeman, with two Fanti assistant missionaries, William Graft and his wife, landed in Badagry. They bought a plot of land and began holding prayer meetings using first a tent and then a small chapel of bamboo, gathering the chiefs and people to explain the purpose of their coming.
Arriving Abeokuta
But Abeokuta, not Badagry, was the key and on December 11, Freeman arrived in the town. The day was a Sunday. The streets were lined with people shouting and drumming; from the Christians, he had an especially warm welcome. He thought Abeokuta was a place of great beauty. On the day of his arrival, he paid respects to the king, Oba Sodeke, and held a service in the afternoon, which the Oba attended. Oba Sodeke was impressed, and before Freeman left ten days later, he called a meeting of the Ifa priests and the representatives of Islam, telling them that Christianity was a true religion and they and he would have to follow it.
Planting the Gospel in Lagos
In 1852, Lagos became open to missionary work. Freeman could not miss the opportunity. He put there a Fanti named John Martin, whom years before he had trained with de Graft for the work of the church and who had exercised a notable ministry as a minister in Accra. Martin died shortly after, but Freeman saw the importance of Lagos, both in itself and as the gate to Abeokuta, and in 1854 he visited Lagos himself and went by canoe up the river Ogun to Abeokuta, another station that now has an African in charge.
Freeman went on to take an African wife, in whom he found a true helpmate who, in time, bore him two sons and two daughters. She was a woman of education and intelligence, a deeply committed Christian and a loyal church worker, self-effacing and unassuming. The marriage was a happy one and lasted till his death.
Freeman’s personality
Freeman was a remarkable man. He was in some ways immensely practical, and his advice on commercial and political affairs was valued in high quarters. Further, his personal integrity was beyond suspicion. Freeman was tireless and energetic. He was a sincere and forceful evangelist who called for personal commitment to Jesus Christ; at the same time, he was aware of the social impact of Christianity and the need for better roads, better housing, and better farming.
Freeman lived to see his son Tom received into the ministry. He went on working till the age of 77 and died of influenza in Accra, aged 81, after singing the hymn:
Now I have found the ground wherein
Sure my soul’s anchor may remain
Freeman, the half-African, half-English missionary to West Africa, will always be an inspiration to Christians all over the world who are enduring pain and tribulation in sharing the gospel.

***This post is an excerpt from the book Some Nigerian Church Founders, by John Ferguson, published in 1971 by Daystar Press Ibadan.