David Emmett has written a thought-provoking biography of William Burton, the Pentecostal missionary who was instrumental in creating the Congo Evangelistic Mission (CEM). No academic biography of Burton existed, and this book fills that gap admirably, not least because of its extensive use of primary sources, both written and oral, Western and African.

William Burton came from a well-to-do middle-class family. Through bible study, he developed a spiritual interest, but quickly got disillusioned with the formality of the Anglican Church. Strong-willed and principled, he found what he was looking for in the clarity, steadfastness and mobilising power of Evangelicalism, and more in particular Pentecostalism. He experienced his baptism in the Spirit, characteristic for Pentecostals, in 1910 and applied to become a member of the Pentecostal Missionary Union (PMU). It was not until four years later that Burton finally achieved his life's dream: to leave for Africa. Emmett describes the rejections and frustrations Burton suffered in those four years, which he partly brought upon himself through his sometimes impetuous and self-righteous behaviour. Eventually, in 1914, Burton left for Africa, not as a PMU missionary, but at his own initiative. After a year in South Africa, it was James Salter, Burton's fellow missionary, who directed him towards the Belgian Congo, and more specifically to the village of Mwanza in the north-east of the vast Katanga province – at that time still a very remote region that had hardly been touched by missionary activities. The mission station they created was the nucleus of the CEM, which Burton and Salter directed or guided for the best part of their lives, and that was at the root of Pentecostalism in the Congo which claims more than two million worshippers today.

William Burton certainly was a larger-than-life figure: strong-willed, energetic and charismatic, and, yes, one who did not suffer fools gladly. David Emmett writes about Burton with sympathy, even admiration. Emmett himself worked with the Pentecostal Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1980s. But this does not cloud his historical judgement. He does not sidestep the less pleasant character traits of Burton, such as his apparent misogyny, or his self-righteousness, as exemplified by his falling out with James Salter.

Emmett's book transcends the topic of Burton's life and career. It provides an essential contribution to the history of the Pentecostal Church in the Congo. Separate chapters are devoted to the Congolese agents that were instrumental in Pentecostalism taking root in this region. Making judicious use of a variety of written and oral sources, the author details the itinerary of two of them, Ngoloma Ndela Bantu and Shalumbo. They played a decisive part in evangelising far beyond Mwanza. Their names hardly appear in traditional missionary histories, and yet, without these and many other indigenous evangelists the spread of Christianity in Africa would have been unthinkable. It is a merit of Emmett's book to put these Congolese actors centre stage.

Emmett deals with important issues such as the ideology and justifications underpinning the missionary movement, and the missions’ role in and attitude vis-à-vis colonialism. These are key themes that help to better understand the history of colonialism and its repercussions to this day. The claim to bring the unique truth of the Bible to Africa naturally shaped interactions and (all too often) clashes with the indigenous cultures and religions. Burton, like many missionaries, had little patience with, let alone understanding for, so-called pagan rites and beliefs. Success of the missionary movement was measured not only by the number of converts, but also by the number of charms and idols burned by the converted. Emmett only deals in passing with Burton's shifting views in this respect. Burton's ethnographic interests and publications are well known, and indicate a growing understanding of and respect for the complexity and cultural and spiritual richness of the environment he was working in.Footnote ¹

One of the book's main themes is that Burton set great store by African agency and was a pioneer in promoting an indigenous Church that would be truly ‘self-governing, self-propagating and self-supporting’. This was certainly forward-looking, particularly in the context of the Belgian Congo, which has been described as a ‘nervous’ colonial state – so anxious to avoid a repetition of the atrocities of the Congo Free State that it maintained strictly centralised controls on everything to the point of denying its Congolese subjects any participation in their own government.Footnote ² It is interesting to note that, towards the end of his missionary career, Burton considered the CEM's ideal of indigenisation a failure. In spite of all good intentions, the CEM was not much better prepared to deal with the seismic political and ideological shifts brought on by Congolese independence in 1960 than, say, the Catholic Church was. However, thanks to African agency, the foundations laid over the preceding half century proved solid enough for the Congolese Pentecostal Church to flourish to this day. The white missionary, on the other hand, had ‘no more place in these parts’.

Emmett's book leaves a few gaps. Very little is said about Burton's activities or thinking in the decade after the Second World War, a period of rapid development in the Belgian Congo that also affected the rural areas in North Katanga. Perhaps a dearth of source material explains this omission? It would have been interesting to learn more about Burton's activities as an ethnographer, and how this shaped his views on the communities he was working with. Finally, the book would have benefitted from adding context on the broader political and economic development of the Belgian Congo at the time of Burton's missionary activities there, and on the relations between the CEM and the dominant Catholic missions. How far did colonial labour recruitment practices and agricultural policies contribute to the success of missionary stations as a refuge for the indigenous population?

David Emmett's biography of William Burton provides an essential and highly readable contribution to the history of Pentecostalism and of the missionary movement in general in Central Africa.