Christianity in Ghana

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The arrival of the Europeans in 15th century into the then Gold Coast brought Christianity to the land.[1] There were many different cultural groups across the West African region who were practicing different forms of spirituality.[2][3][4] As the Europeans explored and took control of parts of the country during the colonial days, so did their religion.[5] Christianity is the religion with the largest following in Ghana.[6] Christian denominations include Catholics, Methodists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Seventh-Day Adventists, Pentecostals, Baptists, Evangelical Charismatics, Latter-day Saints, etc.[7]

According to the census figures of the year 2000, out of Ghana's 18.8 million people, Christians made up 69 percent of the population of Ghana.[8] The 2010 Population and Housing Census puts the figure at slightly over 71 percent of the total population of over 24 million people. A 2015 study estimated some 50,000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background.[9]

Denominations[]

Methodism in Ghana[]

Main article: Methodism
Wesley Methodist Cathedral in Kumasi

The Methodist Church Ghana came into existence as a result of the missionary activities of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, inaugurated with the arrival of Joseph Rhodes Dunwell to the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1835. Like the mother church, the Methodist Church in Ghana was established by people of Anglican background.[10] Roman Catholic and Anglican missionaries came to the Gold Coast from the 15th century. A school was established in Cape Coast by the Anglicans during the time of Philip Quaque, a Ghanaian priest. Those who came out of this school had scriptural knowledge and scriptural materials supplied by the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge. A member a resulting Bible study groups, William De-Graft, requested Bibles through captain Potter of the ship Congo. Not only were Bibles sent, but also a Methodist missionary. In the first eight years of the Church’s life, 11 out of 21 missionaries who worked in the Gold Coast died. Thomas Birch Freeman, who arrived at the Gold Coast in 1838 was a pioneer of missionary expansion. Between 1838 and 1857, he carried Methodism from the coastal areas to Kumasi in the Asante hinterland of the Gold Coast. He also established Methodist Societies in Badagry and AbeoKuta in Nigeria with the assistance of William De-Graft. By 1854, the church was organized into circuits constituting a district with T.B. Freeman as chairman. Freeman was replaced in 1856 by William West. The district was divided and extended to include areas in the then Gold Coast and Nigeria by the synod in 1878, a move confirmed at the British Conference. The district were Gold Coast (Ghana) District, with T.R. Picot as chairman and Yoruba and Popo District, with John Milum as chairman.

Methodist evangelization of northern Ghana began in 1910. After a long period of conflict with the colonial government, missionary work was established in 1955. Paul Adu was the first indigenous missionary to northern Ghana. In July 1961, the Methodist Church in Ghana became autonomous, and was called the Methodist Church Ghana, based on a deed of foundation, part of the church's Constitution and Standing Orders. The Methodist Church Ghana has a total membership of close to 600,000. The church has 15 dioceses, 3,814 societies, 1,066 pastors, 15,920 local preachers, 24,100 lay leaders, many schools, an orphanage, hospitals and clinics.

Latter-day Saints[]

Accra Ghana Temple (LDS)
Main article: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ghana

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has 62,000 members in 207 congregations in Ghana. They also have 28 family history centers, 3 missions, and 1 temple in Ghana.[11]

Christian Council of Ghana[]

Presbyterian Church of Ghana in Ada Foah

The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) was founded on 30 October 1929 by five churches namely African Methodist Episcopal (AME), Zion Church, English Church Mission (Anglican), Ewe Presbyterian Church (now Evangelical Presbyterian Church); Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and Wesleyan Methodist Church (now the Methodist Church Ghana). The purpose was the search for unity and to work with members on issues of social concern and be the voice of the voiceless in society. Currently the CCG comprises fifteen member churches and two Christian Organizations (see annex three). The CCG has over the years gone through a series of restructuring and renewal processes in a bid to develop a relevant, efficient and effective organisation that is pro-active and responsive to challenges facing the member churches. In the search for relevance and common witness, the determining factors have been global and national macro socio-economic and political trends such as political governance ranging from military rule to multi-party democracy.[12]

Impact of Christianity[]

Various aspects of Ghanaian development and nation-building have all been impacted upon due to the role Christianity plays.

Education[]

The Chapel of St. Peter's Boys Senior Secondary School in Nkwatia Kwahu, Eastern Region of Ghana

At every level of education in the country, there are mission schools that exist with the purposes of:

  • Teaching Government of Ghana approved curricula
  • Imparting moral discipline into students

However, the main aim of establishing these schools is to impact the values of the various faiths or missions into the younger generation to ensure continuity. Almost all mainline churches have schools at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education in the country. Consistently, over 95 percent of the country's top-performing second cycle institutions are all mission schools. The most well-known church-affiliated schools amongst them are:

Health care delivery[]

Currently, 42% of all the nation's health care needs are catered for by health establishments belonging to various Christian bodies in the country. The umbrella organization of which the various mission hospitals, clinics and facilities are members of is known as the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG). Some of these facilities are in deprived areas of the country. CHAG serves as a link between Government and its Development Partners and CHAG Member Institutions and provides support to its members through capacity strengthening, coordination of activities, lobbying and advocacy, public relations and translation of government policies. The goal of CHAG is to improve the health status of people living in Ghana, especially the marginalized and the impoverished, in fulfillment of Christ's healing ministry. CHAG’s 183 Member Institutions are therefore predominantly located in the rural (underserved) areas. CHAG plays a complementary role to the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and is the second largest provider of health services in the country.[13]

Gallery[]

Selected individuals in Ghanaian Christianity[]

See also[]

  • Basel Mission
  • Bremen Mission

References[]

  1. ^ "Cyberjournal for Pentecostal-Charismatic Research". www.pctii.org. Archived from the original on 23 December 2010. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  2. ^ Okeke, Chukwuma O.; Ibenwa, Christopher N.; Okeke, Gloria Tochukwu (April 2017). "Conflicts Between African Traditional Religion and Christianity in Eastern Nigeria: The Igbo Example". SAGE Open. 7 (2): 215824401770932. doi:10.1177/2158244017709322. ISSN 2158-2440.
  3. ^ Current Perspectives in the Archaeology of Ghana. Sub-Saharan Publishers. 2014. ISBN 978-9988-8602-3-3. JSTOR j.ctvk3gn0j.
  4. ^ Parrinder, E. G. (1959). "Islam and West African Indigenous Religion". Numen. 6 (2): 130–141. doi:10.2307/3269310. ISSN 0029-5973. JSTOR 3269310.
  5. ^ Magesa, Laurenti, 1946- (1997). African religion : the moral traditions of abundant life. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books. ISBN 1-57075-105-6. OCLC 36892789.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "Ghana - Religion". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  7. ^ "Christianity In Ghana: Everything You Need To Know". BuzzGhana - Famous People, Celebrity Bios, Updates and Trendy News. 2015-02-04. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  8. ^ "Muslims cry foul over population figures". newsfromafrica.org. 12 February 2000. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  9. ^ Johnstone, Patrick; Miller, Duane Alexander (2015). "Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census". IJRR. 11: 14. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  10. ^ "Beginning of Methodism in Ghana". The Methodist Church Ghana. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  11. ^ "Ghana", Facts and Statistics, Newsroom, LDS Church, January 1, 2012, retrieved 2013-03-11
  12. ^ "Welcome to the Christian Council of Ghana". christiancouncilofghana.org. Archived from the original on 27 June 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  13. ^ "A New Paradigm for Increased Access to Healthcare in Ghana" (PDF). chagghana.org/. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
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