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Senegal -
(Africa) Information about Senegal
The RCath Mission started in Senegal in 1659. In the 19th century several attempts were made by the Société des Missions évangéliques de Paris (SMEP) to establish mission work. A first group of missionaries arrived in 1862 in Sedhiou (Casamance), but it had to abandon the Casamance region as a result of the death of two members of the team as well as other incidents. Later attempts started from the then capital, St. Louis. Until the end of the century 25 missionaries followed one another, without much response from the people. François Villegier translated the Gospel into Wolof, and Walter Taylor from Sierra Leone, a descendant of freed slaves and ordained in Paris in 1878, did evangelistic work among freed slaves. In 1882 he founded a small community in Khor (near St. Louis). In 1894 the first chapel was built in Khor. After Dakar became the capital of Senegal in 1904, SMEP stationed a missionary there in 1906, and eventually a church was built in 1913. In 1952 the community was constituted as the Protestant Church of Dakar and the diaspora in French West Africa with two pastors — one to serve the community in Dakar and the other the Prot scattered in other parts of the country. Several institutions were created (dispensary, primary school, meeting center). In 1972 when the church became independent, it became the Protestant Church of Senegal (Eglise protestante du Sénégal). Since then leadership is entirely in African hands. Membership of the two communities consists largely of foreigners living in Senegal. Churches
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