[10][11] As Synod Clerk, he pushed vigorously for and was instrumental in turning the original idea of a church mission high school into reality.

[4] During his basic school years, Clerk took subjects in reading, writing, arithmetic, biblical studies, history, geography, science, music and general religion.

[17] This was followed by pedagogy and theology training[10] at the Basel Mission Seminary, now the Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong, in the state of Akuapem, 32 miles (51 km) north-north-east of Accra where he showed strong interest in Christian missionary work and stayed until the end of 1883.

[4][9][18] He was described by his biographer, the Swiss German church historian and theologian, Hans Werner Debrunner, as "a sturdy lad who had inherited his father's intelligence...and was by far the best student" at the Akropong seminary.

[9][18] The Basel missionaries founded the Akropong seminary in 1848 as the second oldest higher educational institution in early modern West Africa after Fourah Bay College, established in 1827.

[9] Nicholas, together with others assisted in the care of the baby while Mrs. Huppenbauer underwent emergency surgery to amputate a gangrene-afflicted leg, performed by Dr. Mahly, an ethnologist and a linguist, who used a hand saw, a bread knife and silk thread for the procedure.

[9][18] After a short period of recovery, the Huppenbauer family returned to Germany with Nicholas Clerk who was about to continue his seminary studies in Europe.

[9] Nicholas Clerk spent a year (1884 – 1885) in Schorndorf, about 42 miles (26 km) east of Stuttgart, Germany, learning Latin, Greek and Hebrew and mastering German while living with and studying under the award-winning German philologist, Johann Gottlieb Christaller who had earlier been influential in the translation of the Bible into the Twi language with the help of Akan linguists and missionaries, David Asante, Theophilus Opoku, Jonathan Palmer Bekoe and Paul Staudt Keteku.

[29][30] Clerk was the third African to be educated in Europe by the Basel Mission after the Americo-Liberian pastor, George Peter Thompson, an 1842 alumnus and the native Akan missionary, David Asante who had earlier completed his training in 1862.

[29] In this regard, in addition to his integrated classical education, N. T. Clerk received practical training in geography and cartography, botany, rudimentary civil engineering as well as basic natural science, medicine, anatomy and surgery.

[4] He passed his final examinations, was consecrated in the Basel Minster as a missionary on 5 July 1888[4][9] and shortly thereafter, ordained a minister at Korntal, situated at the northwestern border of Stuttgart of the German state of Baden-Württemberg.

[9] N. T. Clerk preached against human sacrifice, persecution of albinos, witch-hunt, oppression of widows and orphans, infanticide, specifically, superstitious killing of twins as well as ritual servitude and slavery, child labour and trafficking.

However, Clerk remained neutral, infuriating the youth who refused to cooperate with him[4] In spite of many challenges, the Worawora mission station was making modest progress by 1898.

[4] Clerk taught his converts to plant cocoa using more modern mechanised methods and his pioneering work in agriculture bore fruit years later.

[34][35] After nearly three lacklustre years and in the face of hostility, intimidation and poor health including a tapeworm infection, he was transferred to Larteh, just south of Akropong, where he found the work more pleasant, staying there as the resident district minister from 1907 to 1918.

[4][9] In an entrepreneurial drive and a practical approach to sustain their work, Clerk and several African Christian missionaries set up cocoa farms.

[4][36][30][37][38][39] With financial proceeds he received from his personal farm enterprise at Adawso, a few miles to the west, he was able to give his children high-quality education[4][40] and raise them to become responsible professionals in society: a Protestant minister, an architect, teachers, a nurse, a medical doctor and fashion designers.

[4][43] Clerk objected to the paternalism, and felt that the Basel Mission on the Gold Coast should become operationally decentralised and tailored more to the local context, a view which he communicated strongly to the European missionaries.

[4] When the Basel Mission was expelled from the Gold Coast in 1917 during World War I, the Free Church of Scotland led by the minister, A. W. Wilkie took over their work.

[21] At the Synod, the church retained its eleven districts: Christiansborg (Osu), Abokobi, Odumase-Krobo, Aburi, Akropong, Anum, Kyebi, Begoro, Nsaba, Abetifi and Kumasi.

[43] Mission stations were opened at Aburi, Larteh, Odumase, Abokobi, Kyebi, Gyadam, Kwahu, Asante, Anum as well as the Northern territories including Yendi and Salaga.

[46] Given the patronising attitudes African employees had experienced from the Basel Mission leadership, Clerk was naturally wary of the Scottish missionaries but he eventually collaborated with them in the formation of the national Presbyterian Church.

[4] The Government of the Gold Coast, on behalf of King George V and The Crown, awarded him a Certificate and a Badge of Honour, in June 1934 in recognition of his dedicated and distinguished service to his country and selfless contributions to education and nation building.

[4] Nicholas Timothy Clerk married Anna Alice Meyer (born on 13 March 1873),[4][9][53] a homemaker and teacher from Christiansborg (Osu) on 26 February 1891 at Aburi.

[10] The "N. T. Clerk Congregation" in the Volta Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana was named in his honour for the evangelical work he did in the Worawora area.