Niels Høegh Brønnum (January 5, 1882 – 1966) was a Danish missionary and physician who served in Northern Nigeria from 1913 to 1950. His achievements include translating the Gospel of Mark into the traditional Bacama language.
Early life
Family life and friendships Niels Høegh Brønnum was born in Nørholm Sogn, Denmark, in 1882 as one of twelve children. His father, Ferdinand Brønnum, was a school teacher who with his wife, Kirsten Christensen, raised Niels Brønnum and his siblings in an "old ecclesiastical home not devoted to any particular Church tendency." Brønnum converted to Christianity at a very young age and was confirmed on April 12, 1896. Brønnum's main involvement with faith was his association with the inner mission and small prayer groups. Though he was Christian, it was only when he was serving his turn in the Danish Militia at 23 years old that he felt a call to missionary life.
Brønnum became interested in missionary work through his elder brother of six years, Holger Rheders Fangel Brønnum. Holger Brønnum suffered from tuberculosis, which caused him to forego his life as a farm foreman in Germany. Holger Brønnum was good friends with Pastor Anton Pedersen, the founder and first president of the Danish Branch of the Sudan United Mission.
Pastor Anton Pedersen and Holger Brønnum's influence Pastor Anton Pedersen was a Danish pastor who grew up in the country and was associated with the Holiness movement. At that time, it served as a background for the Danish Foreign Mission (also known as the Ydre Mission) and helped establish international and interconfessional contacts. In 1905, before the Danish mission was conceived, Pastor Pedersen was pastoring "Our Saviour's Church" in Aalborg. He was disturbed by the rise of Islam in Africa and preached about the need for mission work abroad. Brønnum befriended Pedersen when Holger was nearing his last days and despairing at the thought of being unable to join Pedersen on their vision of global missionary, reportedly saying, "Oh Lord, since I cannot go, send my brother, Niels."
After listening to his consumptive brother's pleas and reading letters by the Syrian Pastor Einar Prip of the New Testament, Brønnum decided he would pursue missionary work. One day when Holger asked Niels where he was going, Niels's response was "I am going to ask Pastor Pedersen whether he thinks I can be used a missionary." Pastor Pedersen sought to help Brønnum obtain the medical education he wanted. His small prayer along with a group of friends promised to help fund his education with the intention for him to eventually offer his services to the Danish Missionary Society (DMS) where he would supposedly work in China.
Medical training and affiliations Brønnum attended medical school from 1905 to 1911 at the University of Edinburgh, a medical school in Scotland where other Danish missionaries also trained at the time. It was at Edinburgh that Brønnum met his fiancée and future wife, Miss Margaret Chapel Young, a Scottish fellow student "who had for many years felt called to be a missionary in Africa."
In 1907, while still in training, Brønnum attended a talk at the Tolbooth Church where Dr. Kumm presented the need for Christian workers in Africa. Also present in the crowd that day was Brønnum's friend, Pastor Pedersen. Both men were convinced that work needed to be done in Africa, but no mission societies in Denmark sent missionaries to Africa at that time.
Pedersen held a series of negotiations with pre-existing organizations to open a Danish mission in the Sudan. He began with the Danish Mission Society, reasoning that the new mission in Africa should be granted autonomy to direct and lead the mission. When he was denied, he went as far as Arabia in 1909 to negotiate with the Danish Church Mission to send Brønnum to Africa as the first Danish missionary. When this plan was also rejected, he continued campaigning throughout 1910 until he and Brønnum decided to get in touch with the Dr. Kumm in Britain, whose mission society was already in South Africa. In 1911, when Brønnum finished his medical training, S.U.M agreed to give the Danish group a field of its own with the caveat that the group form a society and agreed to operate as a branch of the larger organization. This field was to be in Nigeria and Jens Dixen, an American Danish farmer and school-master, agreed to field half of the charges needed to upstart the mission,
In October 1912, a conference was held at Swanwick where the work to be carried out by the Danish mission was endorsed as a distinct branch with autonomy on internal affairs, with the S.U.M being the designated middleman between the Nigerian authorities and the Danish mission. Their entrusted mission field was the Yola Province of North Eastern Nigeria and the mission was named Dansk Forenet Sudan Mission (Sudan United Mission, Danish Branch). The mission was rooted in Lutheranism.
Personal life Brønnum met his first wife Margaret when he was in medical school, and she first sailed with him to Nigeria. She died after giving birth to their son, Holger Brønnum, whom Niels Brønnum sent back to Europe while he continued his journey.
During his home leave his first and second term missionary tour, around 1915, Brønnum got engaged to Albertha Tholle, a Christian woman born in Denmark. Brønnum's engagement with Tholle stirred a lot of controversies.
The Sudan United Mission Brønnum served as one of the first missionaries of the Danish Branch of the Sudan United Mission (S.U.M). The Sudan United Mission was formed in the early 1900s in order to combat the growing influence of Islam in Africa (commonly referred to as the Sudan) at the time. The secretary general of S.U.M and its founder, Dr. Karl Kumm, received his doctoral degree in philosophy from Freiburg University. In 1904, he set out for Tripoli to study Hausa, the common language of West Africa. He continued his journey to East Africa and South Africa and developed a plan to set up Christian missions across the continent. His plans were successful, and the Sudan United Mission eventually spread beyond Africa and into Australia and New Zealand.
Early missionary career
A year before sailing to Numan, Brønnum and his partners studied the Hausa language in London. In 1913, Brønnum set out to travel with Margaret and three other missionaries – a nurse named Dogner Rose and a Mr. and Mrs. Farrant. In September they were to sail to Ibi in the Taraba state where the easternmost station of S.U.M was located. From there, they were to be joined by another missionary named Dr. Maxwell and travel via the Benue River to the Yola province where they were to find a place to build the Danish mission's first station.
In a letter dated May 26, 1913, Brønnum mentioned that his wife suffered from malaria and dysentery while on their journey but that she had recovered. In June 1913 as they were traveling, Mrs. Brønnum prematurely gave birth to a son and caught malaria again; she died shortly after. DBrønnum named the child, Holger, and after having him baptized, had Nurse Rose take the child back to Scotland. Brønnum continued to Ibi, the capital of the Muri Province, to observe how the British branch of S.U.M had set up their station. He stayed in Ibi and busied himself with medical work while awaiting Dr. Maxwell, who was delayed treating British missionaries. As British colonialism consumed a major part of Nigerian culture, Brønnum had to adhere to travel restrictions and regulations. In September, he set sail for Numan, one of the only towns in the Yola Province open to Europeans, where he would begin the work of setting up the station.
Upon arriving in Numan, Brønnum was told to continue to Yola town to gain permission for entry. While their boat was anchored, they were caught in heavy rainfall and the travelers were forced to transfer their belongings and themselves onto small canoes. After negotiating with the Resident of Yola, Brønnum was granted permission to temporarily stay in Numan where residency issues would delay him from beginning his missionary work.
Missionary tours
First term (1913 – 1915) The majority of Brønnum's work was done in Numan, Nigeria. Upon arrival, he faced adversity with the British administrative power who "only regarded mission work in any positive way to the extent that is acted as a stabilizing factor in the society." He was frequently told to move locations, given restrictions on his interactions with the nearby Bachama town, and was denied permission to frequent other towns. Seeing as he paid respects to the chief of Numan as soon as he arrived, Brønnum had to rely on forming connections with village chiefs and connecting with the people through his medical skills.
While on board the Scarborough that was damaged in a flood on his way to Numan, one of Brønnum's assistants suffered a hip injury. The townsfolk were shocked at how well the young Nigerian was doing, as hip injuries of that degree often left the townsfolk crippled. The assistant's healing drew several of the sick towards Brønnum, and he worked with "different ailments, topical ulcers, infected eyes and broken bones".
Another example of his intermingling of evangelistic and medical work is in 1914 when the chief of a nearby village came to Brønnum seeking treatment. As Brønnum treated the chief he listened to recantations of the drought that had taken over Benue Valley. Brønnum urged them to pray and hosted a prayer session that night and the following day, and to everyone's surprise, it rained the following night. The news of this event spread throughout the neighboring villages, but also in Numan where the chief invited Brønnum to preach the gospel.
Preaching and introducing Lutheranism to the Adamawa people was facilitated by their pre-existing belief systems, which shared some similarities with Christian teachings, as the Bachama had a similar Lord figure whom they referred to as Homon Pwa. They believed Homon Pwa was the greatest of all demi-lords and his presence was to be everywhere and in everything.
After being ordained, Brønnum began more actively preaching to the Bachama people. Even though his travel ban was loosened, he still had to inform the colonial administrators every time he planned to leave Numan, and maintaining a diplomatic relationship with them was integral to him being able to do his work. He managed relationships with colonial authorities and maintained regular communication with the Board in Denmark, which at times faced internal disagreements.
During this time, Brønnum also began an initiative to teach young men Numan to read with the hopes that they would go on to spread the Gospel. As he built relationships with community members, he learned the Bachama language of the natives and completely translated the Gospel of Mark.
Working during the War (1914 – 1918) World War I began in 1914, around the same time Brønnum began his missionary career. Because the British had colonies in Nigeria, the threat of the Germans was heavily felt in Nigeria. In Numan, there was an instance where Brønnum and other missionaries were forced to evacuate their materials into the nearby colony. One of Brønnum's good friends and employees, Mallam Farato, chose to stay in Numan with his boss instead of going to Shellam to seek cover with the other missionaries. Though the Germans never actually came to Numan, Brønnum requested for his body to never be buried in the Islamic style if he were to die.
Second term (1915 – 1917)