From the earliest days as the Mission to the Kabyles, to today being part of the Pioneers global family, we remember the faithfulness of God and the many men and women that He has used powerfully to bring the gospel to the nations. As we press forward in ministry, we want to celebrate their lives. In this series we will tell their stories.
Historian and Pioneer in Nigeria
When Karl and Lucy Kumm visited Belfast to recruit volunteers to go to the Sudan, John Lowry Maxwell was one of the first to step forward.
John was one of the first four missionaries with the SUM to set sail for what is now Nigeria – along with Karl Kumm, Dr Ambrose Bateman and John Burt.
The four intrepid young men set sail from Liverpool on 23 July 1904, and by the time they reached Nigeria 8 of their fellow passengers had given their lives to Christ. A sign of things to come.
After a long and arduous trek inland on foot and by boat, the missionaries found themselves at Wase Rock in central Nigeria, and there they established their first mission station. Later, Maxwell trekked south to open a new mission station at Wukari and another one at Donga.
Maxwell became known in the Mission as a great lover of African culture and language. He was fluent in Hausa and eventually became the Mission’s language teacher.
Over his thirty years in Nigeria, Maxwell made a tremendous impact on the local people and was instrumental in the establishment and discipleship of the early churches.
He returned to the United Kingdom in 1934 due to ill health, but continued to be active in the life of the mission. Maxwell’s daughter, Kay, returned to Nigeria as an adult and was a much-loved colleague to many of our SUM missionaries in the 1960s-70s.
In 1954, Maxwell wrote and published SUM’s official history, Half a Century of Grace. Both highly entertaining and academically rigorous, it stands today as a must-read for anyone interested in the history of the Mission.
