By Nancy Lyons Thomas
When I started my third year of teaching history at Poynor Junior High in Florence, S.C., following graduation from Furman University in 1962, I could not have imagined that I would start the 1965 school year at Newton Memorial School in Osogbo, Nigeria. Newton existed as a boarding school for Southern Baptist missionary kids in grades 5 to 10.
I had been considering options for teaching outside the United States, including the Peace Corps. Remarkably, I came across an appealing notice in the Young Women’s Auxiliary periodical we used at First Baptist Florence, the church I attended at the time, about how to apply for a new two-year mission assignment with the Foreign Mission Board (now the International Mission Board). Designed for single people in my age range, it captivated my attention and nudged at my sense of calling.
The first International Mission Board Journeyman class, who served from 1965 to 1967, poses for a photo. The initial class received training at the South Hampton campus of the University of Richmond. Ten of the Journeymen served in Nigeria. (IMB photo)
In June 1965, I joined that initial group of Journeymen for training on the beautiful South Hampton campus of the University of Richmond. We spent the summer immersed in “everything-you-need-to-know-to-serve-effectively-on-the-mission-field-for-two-years.”
During those intense weeks together, the first Journeymen bonded in a way that continues to connect us 60 years later. There have been a number of reunions across the decades, and our aging selves provide continual support for one another through various media.
Throughout that training summer, we were aware that the long-term success of the program depended on us. We were exposed to the keenest minds from throughout the Southern Baptist Convention who shaped us emotionally, spiritually and intellectually to ensure we were ready.
From the day I arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, and bumped cross-country in a Volkswagen van to my assignment, my worldview began to change seismically. I was immersed in a third-world country that had recently gained independence from England. Along our route, women with headloads of laundry were washing their clothes in the river.
I observed a country struggling with its post-colonial status. There was ongoing political unrest, which developed into military check points and a military coup as we left the country two years later. I developed a lifelong affinity for countries in upheaval.
After the military took over Newton School, not too long after I left, it ceased to exist.
The FMB work in Nigeria was rich and historic. It was one of the earliest countries where Southern Baptists carried the message of the gospel. The “inasmuch” imperatives of Jesus in Matthew 25 were key components of the Nigerian mission field at that time, and many of the appointees were teachers and medical personnel. It was a privilege to be part of this legacy and team.
I had grown up in Girls in Action with stories of Hattie Gardener and Eva Sanders, FMB missionaries who served in Nigeria. I was able to meet both “Aunt Hattie” and “Aunt Eva” and witness how they ministered.
Newton Memorial School provided tangible evidence of ways missionaries sacrifice on behalf of missions. Days after I arrived, I observed tearful goodbyes between parents and children as young as fifth graders. These missionary parents trusted their precious children to the care of Newton’s staff, who were all fulfilling this critical role as FMB appointees. MKs made sacrifices too. Not only were they separated from their families, but they knew that in the 11th grade, they would return to the U.S. to complete high school.
Members of the first Journeyman class pose for a photo at the 50th reunion in 2015. Many of the Journeymen continue to keep in touch, 60 years later, and have arranged periodic reunions in the past. (IMB photo)
Ellie Harper, my Journeyman partner, and I were more than teachers. We were involved in all aspects of our MK students’ lives. I taught fifth graders as “Aunt Nancy,” not Miss Lyons. There was a generous dose of mothering delivered with the curriculum.
Missionary Mary Jane Wharton, teacher of the high school students at Newton, welcomed Ellie and me into her home. She taught us how to live in another culture, including how to bargain in the Osogbo market for indigenous ingredients that expanded our food repertoire. I still pine for Nigerian ground nut stew. Mary Jane also had sources for items familiar to the American palate — like cola. She even found the ingredients for pizza.
Mary Jane was brave (or foolish) enough to invite the 10 Journeymen in Nigeria (most of them teachers in Nigerian Baptist schools) to Newton for Christmas in 1965. None of us had spent Christmas away from our families before.
I often revisit images of us gathered around her little pump organ singing Christmas carols. The male Journeymen got to experience and be displaced by what we called “the march of the army ants” through Mary Jane’s guest house. These ants would move in a column about a foot wide and would clear out anything in their path.
That Christmas, my Nigeria Journeyman family helped me appreciate that family is more than just your beloved kinfolk back home. The Newton staff spent many family-type game nights playing 42, a Texas domino game.
Every Sunday, the Newton MKs piled into the school’s VW vans and were transported to worship at a Nigerian Yoruba church in Osogbo. We read the Scriptures in the Yoruba language of Western Nigeria. We sang hymns from a Yoruba songbook. Every Sunday, we were reminded that we serve a God whose son, Jesus, broke down all barriers of language and culture among people. That diverse congregation was attired in both Nigerian and Western clothing.
When I returned to the U.S. after two years, I came back with an expanded sense of the universality of a Holy Spirit who speaks to and through Nigerians as powerfully as He does those who worship in Pine Grove Baptist Church, Walterboro, S.C.
We are truly “one in the spirit.” My fervent prayer is that “all unity may one day be restored,” and that regardless, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”
After returning to the U.S., I attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., where I received a Master of Religious Education and met my husband, Frank. In 1972, we were appointed to inner-city work by the Home Mission Board (now the North American Mission Board). For the next decade, we served at the Baptist Neighborhood Center in Albuquerque, N.M. We raised our sons, Ryan and Andrew, in New Mexico. My life’s work was as an early childhood educator, directing A Child’s Garden Preschool of First Presbyterian Church, Albuquerque. In 2021, we returned to my childhood community near Walterboro, S.C.
— Nancy Lyons Thomas served in the first Journeyman class from 1965-1967. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Journeyman program.