ABSTRACT
In 1912 the missionaries asked S. G. Pinnock not to return to the Yoruba country but were overruled by the Foreign Mission Board in America. In 1922, after further complaints, the Board asked him to resign unless he was willing to conform to mission rules and take a definite stand on polygamy. Since the membership of the African Church was well-to-do and its resources ample, it paid its ministers equivalent to the missions. The membership—mostly 'old Anglicans'—expected and required its ministers to be professional and monogamous. Agege believed that the blindness of the mission society's policy on polygamy was a 'God given' opportunity for the African churches. Theological argument played a minor role in determining the missionaries' attitude. In the U.N.A. the clergy like the membership were mixed, half previously ordained in the missions or mission catechists, and half drawn from the membership.
