Cameroon

The Church of the Nazarene in Cameroon

The beginning of the Church of the Nazarene in Cameroon

The Church of the Nazarene

entered Cameroon in 2004. Pastor Eustache Liwis who started the first Church of the Nazarene in Cameroon is a Cameroonian who knew and attended the Church of the Nazarene in Togo (2003). He returned to his native Cameroon in 2004 and started a group in Douala, the largest city in Cameroon. This link was followed up under the leadership of the actual Africa West Field Strategy Coordinator, Rev. Mark Louw, by sending Cyrille Ebam

(2007 and 2009), another Cameroonian serving as the Ministries Coordinator of the Work of the Church of the Nazarene in Benin/Togo, to Cameroon to supervise the beginning work. Rev. Dany Gomis, the Africa West Field Literature Coordinator, had also contributed greatly in providing the Nazarene literature to pastor Liwis.

The work of the Church of the Nazarene in Cameroon now counts one local church in Douala, and two preaching points in two neighboring villages. The Church of the Nazarene in Cameroon works under the umbrella of the Association Evangelical Churches.

Today the Church of the Nazarene in Cameroon gathers in groups and home cells.

The pioneering group of believers is in Nyall Douala-Bassa, which has 40 members including 35 active attenders and 5 members.

A home cell group -Douala Bonabéri gathers for prayer behind the railroad line after the cemetery with about 15 people at their meetings.

Another cell group is in the southwest in the family home of Brother Stanley which has about 40 people, relatives and friends.

A group called "Church of Faith in Jesus" which is under my direction and is about to belong to the Church of the Nazarene as a branch of the Church. The group is located Bonabéri with about 20 members. The group is led by Mrs. Wonji Teclaire.

So the Church of the Nazarene in Cameroon has a membership of about 100 members. We also have new contacts to develop by the end of 2011 for the establishment of prayer groups in other parts of the country.

Pray for the growing work of the Nazarene Church in Cameroon.

The history of Cameroon

Although the Portuguese arrived on Cameroon coast in the 1500s, the conquest of the interior of the country was not realized until 1870. Beginning in 1884, all of present-day Cameroon and parts of several of its neighbors became the German colony of Kamerun, with a capital first at Buea and later at Yaounde. After World War I, this colony was partitioned between Britain and France under a June 28, 1919 League of Nations mandate. France gained the larger geographical share, transferred outlying regions to neighboring French colonies, and ruled the rest from Yaounde. Britain's territory--a strip bordering Nigeria from the sea to Lake Chad, with an equal population--was ruled from Lagos.

French Cameroon achieved independence in 1960 as the Republic of Cameroon. The following year the largely Muslim northern two-thirds of British Cameroon voted to join Nigeria; the largely Christian southern third voted to join with the Republic of Cameroon to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The formerly French and British regions each maintained substantial autonomy. Ahmadou Ahidjo, a French-educated Fulani, was chosen President of the federation in 1961. Ahidjo, relying on a pervasive internal security apparatus, outlawed all political parties but his own in 1966. He successfully suppressed the UPC rebellion, capturing the last important rebel leader in 1970. In 1972, a new constitution replaced the federation with a unitary state.

The geography of Cameroon

Area: 475,000 sq. km. (184,000) sq. mi.).
Cities (2003 Census Bureau estimates): Capital--Yaoundé (pop. 1.1 million). Other major cities--Douala (1.3 million), Garoua (424,312), Maroua (409,546), Bafoussam (319,457), Bamenda (321,490), Nkongsamba (166,262), and Ngaoundere (216,300).
Terrain: Northern plains, central and western highlands, southern and coastal tropical forests. Mt. Cameroon (13,353 ft.) in the southwest is the highest peak in West Africa and the sixth in Africa.
Climate: Northern plains, the Sahel region--semiarid and hot (7-month dry season); central and western highlands where Yaoundé is located--cooler, shorter dry season; southern tropical forest--warm, 4-month dry season; coastal tropical forest, where Douala is located--warm, humid year-round.

The languages in Cameroon

Cameroon's estimated 250 ethnic groups form five large regional-cultural groups: western highlanders (or grassfielders), including the Bamileke, Bamoun, and many smaller entities in the northwest (est. 38% of population); coastal tropical forest peoples, including the Bassa, Douala, and many smaller entities in the Southwest (12%); southern tropical forest peoples, including the Ewondo, Bulu, and Fang (all Beti subgroups), Maka and Pygmies (officially called Bakas) (18%); predominantly Islamic peoples of the northern semi-arid regions (the Sahel) and central highlands, including the Fulani, also known as Peuhl in French (14%); and the "Kirdi", non-Islamic or recently Islamic peoples of the northern desert and central highlands (18%).

The people concentrated in the southwest and northwest provinces--around Buea and Bamenda--use standard English and "pidgin," as well as their local languages. In the three Northern provinces--Adamaoua, North, and Far North--French and Fulfulde, the language of the Fulani, are widely spoken. Elsewhere, French is the principal language, although pidgin and some local languages such as Ewondo, the dialect of a Beti clan from the Yaounde area, also are widely spoken. Although Cameroon’s capital is Yaounde, Douala is the largest city, the main sea port.

People and Religions in Cameroon

Nationality: English noun and adjective--Cameroonian(s); French noun and adjective--Camerounais (e).
Population: (July 2009 est.): 18,879,301.
Annual growth rate (2009 est.): 2.19%.
Education: Compulsory between ages 6 and 14. Attendance--65%. Literacy--75%.
Health: Infant mortality rate (2009)--63.34/1,000 live births. Life expectancy (2009)--53.69 yrs.
Work force: Agriculture--70%. Industry and commerce--13%.