"William Wadé Harris was without a doubt the most successful missionary in West Africa's history," wrote Dr. Elizabeth Isichei, professor of theology and religious studies at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, and author of A History of Christianity in Africa.
William Wadé (his Grebo name pronounced Woddy) Harris was born between 1860 and 1865 and was raised by his Methodist pastor uncle. He was of the Grebo ethnic group of southern Liberia and related to the Kru group, who were seamen.
Liberia's ruling class was the free black, American, Christian settlers. A small number-17,000-emigrated after our Civil War. The Grebo and Kru welcomed Christianity and western education from their returning people.
Harris became a sailor or a "Kru boy" and sailed on several coastal voyages as a young adult. He was converted to Christianity in 1881 or 82, then became an Episcopalian teacher and a government interpreter. He lost both jobs, and through his political activism, he was sent to jail.
While in prison, Harris had a visit from an angel, he said, who assured him God would anoint him to be a prophet. He would be like Daniel to the people. The angel told him to dress in a white robe and drink no alcohol. Upon hearing this story, his wife Rose was saddened, got sick, and died. Years after his angelic visit, Harris had made little influence with his preaching.
Then on July 27, 1913, he traveled along the Ivory Coast dressed the way God had told him. He also carried a Bible (English Authorized Version), a cross staff, a gourd rattle, and a bowl for baptism. His message told the people to burn their fetishes and take up the cross of Jesus. He converged the native ritualistic dance with music for Christian worship. The difference of Harris' ministry lay in Harris' immediately baptizing the repentant. During an 18-month span Harris baptized 120,000 new Christians in 1913-1914.
Many stories are told and written about Harris' power encounters with the country's traditional religious specialists. His healing miracles became legend. One time when people hid their religious statues to avoid their being burned, they burned anyway, wherever they were kept.
Unlike other African prophetic leaders, Harris did not found churches. Like a John the Baptist, he told the people to wait for "the Christians with Bibles." The people responded eagerly to the missionaries when they arrived. Some baptisms jumped from 80 one year to 6,700 the next. It wasn't only the baptisms. Because of Harris' work, the people welcomed and responded to any denominational Christian workers.
Harris continued to preach in Liberia and Sierra Leone but without the success of his Ivory Coast period. He continued to wear his characteristic dress and be amazed at God's work.
He died in 1929 in his daughter's house in extreme poverty. One of his favorite hymns was "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." A "shout" he gave during his public ministry reads:
"Let's try hard, so we will conquer
The devil and his kingdom,
That when Jesus comes
We will wear white robes."
"What a Friend We Have in Jesus"