Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau
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The West Africa nation of Guinea-Bissau is situated between Senegal to the north and Guinea (see Guinea profile) to the south. Covering an area of just over 36,000 sq km (nearly 14,000 sq miles) Guinea–Bissau boasts a population of approximately 1.4 million people, the majority of whom (99%) are native Africans. Mangrove swamps, estuaries and islands make up a large part country. It is both poor and underdeveloped. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the French and the British used the area as a slave-trading station. Afterwards Portugal staked claim and named it Portuguese Guinea, claiming it as a colony for nearly 100 years, from 1879 until independence in 1974. There is significant disparity between the indigenous population and the tiny Afro-Portuguese elite. Much of the late twentieth century was marked by political unrest. The burden of foreign debt and many institutional and cultural constraints (such as widespread mutilation of female genitalia) hamper stability, growth and reform. The republic is administered by as single legislative body known as the National People’s Assembly.
Ninety percent of the workforce of Guinea-Bissau is engaged in agriculture (rice, nuts and palm kernels) and fishing. Mineral resources include bauxite, phosphates and offshore oil. The latter is contested by Senegal and Guinea besides the threats from political instability and state controls. The Gross National Product for Guinea-Bissau is only $250 per capita.
Indigenous beliefs dominate the religious landscape of Guinea-Bissau (65%). Islam claims a large minority of the population (30%). Only a small percentage of the population is Christian (5%) with the majority of those being Roman Catholic.
The presence of the Stone-Campbell Movement in Guinea-Bissau is the result of efforts of the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. Jeff and Monica Fife of the River of Life Ministries, missionaries based in Sao Paulo, Brazil (see Brazil profile), and affiliated with the Hisportic Christian Mission in the United States, frequently report on the work of Luciano and Andriea Rodrigues and family, native Brazilians who are now serving as a missionaries from Brazil in Portuguese-speaking Guinea-Bissau. Another family, that of Joanitio and Cenegia Oliveria, were reported to have gone to Guinea-Bissau in 2001. Luciano conducts preaching meetings in and around the neighborhoods of Cacheu. It is not unusual for an average of 300 people to gather for these meetings. By 2004 a church building was completed for the Church of Christ in Cacheu.
Clinton J. Holloway
National Profiles Editor
February 2006
For further historical reference:
Churches of Christ Around the World, Lynn, Mac, 21st Century Christian Publications, Nashville, TN, 2003.
Disciples of Christ Historical Society, 1101 19th Avenue, South, Nashville, TN 37212-2112 (USA)
Telephone: (615) 327-1444
Email: mail@discipleshistory.org
Website: http://www.discipleshistory.org (provides links to other historical sites and databases).
Online catalog: http://voyager.discipleshistory.org
Contact Information
For online directories of a cappella Churches of Christ see:
Website: http://www.churchzip.com/otherdirectories.htm
River of Life Ministries/Ministerio Rio De Vida
Jeff and Monica Fife
In Brazil:
Luis G.M. Guimaraes
102 CEP 13209-770
Jundiai, Sao Paulo
Brazil
Telephone: 011-55-4586-0889
Email: RLM_Fifes@hotmail.com
In the US:
Elena Coelho
P.O. Box 8262
Gray, TN 37615
Telephone: 423-467-9806
Email: ebrasa@hotmail.com
Hisportic Christian Mission
Wayne Long
93 Crown Avenue
East Providence, RI 02915
Telephone: 401-438-9197
Fax: 401-438-9190
Email: wlong@hcm.org
Website: http://www.hcm.org