Ghana’s First Lady, Ernestina Mills, described Nigel Sylvester as ‘Ghana’s Wesley’. His influence was to spread across English-speaking Africa and then across the world.
Nigel Sylvester professed faith in Christ as a fresher in the Cambridge 1949 Barnhouse mission; shortly afterwards he lost both his parents in an aircrash. As a very young Christian, Nigel followed Mike Griffiths as CICCU President. With a First in Maths, he entered Ridley Hall with Mike Griffiths (later General Director of OMF) and Michael Allison (later PPS to Margaret Thatcher). Breaking with precedent, none was ordained.
Scripture Union in West Africa
At the invitation of Tony Wilmot, Nigel went instead to Ghana in 1955, shortly before its independence, and was to lay the foundation for national Scripture Union (SU) movements in several West African countries. His influence was profound, in the church and in public life.
Sylvester did not waver, nor spare himself. Clear planning enabled multiple meetings and school visits in a week, despite the state of some rural African roads. Nigel, an Old Wellingtonian, always courteous, was often invited to address a whole school. When establishing new SU movements, he would ensure that the board included men who had proved themselves in public roles. Ghana’s SU Council was chaired by Philemon Quaye, Commodore of the Ghana Navy (later Ghana’s Ambassador to Liberia and Egypt, where he himself would found SU movements). The Nigeria Council was chaired by the Vice-Chancellor of the leading Ahmadu Bello University, and later Foreign Minister. One boy whom the young ‘Uncle Nigel’ met at a camp in 1955, and in whom Nigel straightaway recognised leadership qualities, was Gottfried Osei-Mensah. As first General Secretary of the Lausanne Movement in 1975, Gottfried became the first African leader of any global network.
Sylvester’s quiet confidence as a leader enabled him to appoint a strong staff team. He invited John Dean, a Cambridge friend, to join him in West Africa; and would later work closely with David Blair, an Edinburgh graduate, to spearhead new movements in Eastern Europe. All three made SU their life’s work.
Return to the UK
Nigel and his wife, Mary, left Ghana in 1967 when Nigel succeeded John Laird as General Director of SU England. From here, in 1977, he was appointed General Secretary of SU International. Under his leadership some 50 further SU movements were established.
In retirement Nigel chaired John Stott’s Evangelical Literature Trust (now part of Langham Partnership) and served as Projects Officer for the Ulting Trust, working to identify promising scholars from the Majority World. His grasp of the global south was almost unrivalled.
Nigel leaves his wife, Mary, two sons, Mark and David, and daughter Rachel, who is a political correspondent for The Times.
