The Niger River, Nigeria, 1950

"An hour later we are flying over the mighty Niger with a great river steamer just visible as a plumed speck." An aerial view of the Niger river. This photograph comes from an album that recounts Eldred Echols and Boyd Reese's visit to Nigeria in 1950. The Lawrence Avenue Church of Christ in Nashville, Texas asked the two missionaries to visit Nigeria and report on an emerging indigenous Christian movement whose leader participated in a Bible correspondence course run by the Tennessee congregation. Upon their arrival, the missionaries found several thousand Christians led by Coolidge Akpan Okon Essien, from the Efik tribe in Eastern Nigeria, whose doctrine and practice were similar to that of American Churches of Christ.一小时后，我们正飞越壮阔的尼日尔河，河面上仅能瞥见一艘形如羽状斑点的大型内河蒸汽轮船。本照片为尼日尔河的航拍画面，出自一本记录埃尔德里奇·埃科尔斯（Eldred Echols）与博伊德·里斯（Boyd Reese）1950年尼日利亚之行的影集。得克萨斯州纳什维尔市的劳伦斯大道基督教堂委托这两位传教士赴尼日利亚，调研当地兴起的本土基督教运动：该运动领袖曾参与田纳西教会主办的圣经函授课程。抵达后，两位传教士发现了由尼日利亚东部埃菲克族的库尔迪奇·阿克潘·奥孔·埃森（Coolidge Akpan Okon Essien）领导的数千名基督徒，其教义与实践与美国基督会（Churches of Christ）的理念高度相似。