Ghana: The Desire for an Independent Christianity

Lumped by ignorant minds into one continent embodied by one stereotype, the nations of Africa are largely ignored by the developed world. Lost to the world is the diversity, the history, the riches, and the struggles of these countries. Though they have a 3.7% Christian growth rate per year between 1900 and 2000, second only to Antarctica (Barrett and Johnson 911), Africa is generally thought of as a vast desert with little development and nothing to offer the rest of the world, populated by indigenous tribal beings incapable of comprehending modern ideas and development. One of the forgotten countries of Africa, Ghana has experienced dynamic growth and development over the past two centuries. In fact, in 1900, Western Africa, the region in which Ghana lies, was considered unevangelized, meaning that the percentage of the population to whom the Gospel was presented was under 50%; in 2000, its status had rise to “evangelized non-Christian world” with an evangelization rate of more than 50% but a church-affiliation percentage of less than 60% (Barrett and Johnson 912). One of the earliest African nations to receive Christian missionaries, Ghana’s history of evangelization and unique African tradition has developed into a rich Independent Church and society reflecting the culture of the people.

Though Ghana has never been a focus of missions, it has for six centuries felt the influence of a Christian presence, mostly in the form of alien Christian settlements established under colonial rule. In 1471, Ghana, then known as the Gold Coast, received its first Christians in the form of Portuguese soldiers (Barrett and Johnson 127). Shortly thereafter, the arrival of chaplains who began preaching at Elmina sparked a brief spell of missions to Ghana that lasted the rest of that century and on into the next (Neill et al. 226). According to The Concise Dictionary of the Christian World Mission, these chaplains resided in Dutch, Danish, and English fort settlements but seldom went beyond the walls of the village to reach those outside. When the missionary surge to Ghana began to die down, the African Christians took upon themselves the responsibility to evangelize their own nation. Jacobes Capitein became the first African Protestant to be ordained to the ministry in 1742. In the 1750s, Thomas Thompson followed Capitein’s example and began traveling to the outlying town to preach the Gospel (Neill et al. 226).

An organized mission movement to Ghana returned in the 19th century with the establishment of the Basel mission at Christiansborg in 1828 and Akropong in 1835, followed by the Wesleyans at Cape Coast and a Bremen mission at Peki and Keta, constituting the first effective missions outside of fort settlements (Neill et al. 226). Unfortunately, severe loss of missionary life lessened the force of the evangelization effort. However, another renewed focus on Ghana began in 1880, though the progress of Christianity in the country was due for the most part to the individual witness of African traders and government workers, who, while traveling, would spread the Gospel, records The Concise Dictionary of the Christian World Mission (226).

At this time, the African Christians began to break away from the mission churches, asserting their independence and desire for a uniquely African theology (Keeley 144). In 1913, a Glebo prophet named William Wade Harris spurred a mass movement that created the Harrist Church. The beginning of the African Independent Churches, the Harrist Church and the Church of the Twelve Apostles formed the foundation for several hundred “spiritual” churches in Ghana (Keeley 144). In the same years, the Basel and Bremen missionaries withdrew (Neill, et al. 226), further increasing the autonomy of the Ghanan Church and the responsibility of the African people to spread the Gospel to their nation. This African initiative birthed the African Independent Church as a reaction to their subjection to European colonization. Because Ghana remained a colony until gaining its independence in 1957, the natives of the land had virtually no influence on the Western mission churches. Instead, the European governments controlled all matters of church administration and leadership, and the Western churches remained unaware and untouched by African tradition and culture; Ghana needed an emphasis on the “spiritual” that could reflect its cultural tradition (Keeley 144). Thus, the African Independent Churches could combine their traditional regard for the supernatural with Christian doctrine to produce a charismatic experience of the faith. In 1929, the Independent Churches formed the Christian Council of Ghana, making Christianity a part of Ghana’s culture instead of a borrowing of Western religion. This council provides a focus for consultation between churches, uniting them in action and objectives (Neill, et al. 227). Among these objectives Family Planning programs, religious education, agricultural training, and relief work (Neill, et al. 227). Through the Christian Council of Ghana, the African churches are established as institutions unique to their nation, a concept in keeping with the Africans’ desire for a culturally sensitive theology.

While the greatest Christian influence in Ghana came from within rather than without, the missions’ greatest influence on the country is formal education (Neill, et al. 226). However, even this has been molded to reflect the Ghana Christians’ desires and worldview. Schools are independent institutions that base education on Christianity (Neill, et al. 226). Placing large emphasis on integration of faith and daily life, the people of Ghana view learning as well as the performance of their jobs as an opportunity to exercise and share faith. Ghana established its first school of Theology in Kumasi at Trinity College in 1943 (Neill, et al. 227). Through education, Ghanans are enabled to cross cultural boundaries with scholarship or the career field for which they prepared, thus reaching all regions of the nation. While still sensitive to the differences in culture, Christian education unites Africans across all cultures with a common doctrine of beliefs and common goals.

However, this desire for a distinctly African theology found a turning point in 1956, when Ghana received its independence from colonial rule. According to the Dictionary of Mission, African theology is an African expression of Christianity that reflects the Gospel, Christian tradition, and the total African reality in an African manner and with African worldviews (9). With Ghana’s independence, the nation became free to express its Christianity as its own without the cohabitation of Western Christianity. Instead, it felt free to combine the positive elements in both. In doing this, African theology focuses more on the Old Testament because it bears similarity to African tradition; in fact, the people will interpret New Testament theology through the lens of the Old Testament (Okoye 11-12). Finally, Ghana is developing its own lens of theology through which to understand and express Christianity.

Today, Christianity has a larger percentage of believers (43%) than any other religion in Ghana, but it is still not a majority (Neill, et al. 226). This percentage encompasses a great diversity of belief and practice. While African theology gives freedom to creative expression in worship, the oral theology of African tradition still needs more attention (Neill, et al. 11). The task at hand is preserving this facet of theology for posterity. The most developed aspect of this theology is the Christological aspect of this theology, reflected in the Christ-centeredness of all tenets of the doctrinal beliefs and practice. This Christology is expressed in Ghana’s Christianity through the oral culture, symbolism, and ritualism that focuses on the character of Christ and His redemptive work (Keeley 144).

A nation of 7.5 million people, Ghana can no longer go unnoticed. The desire of the believers for a Christian Ghana and determination over history to express their faith within the bounds of their culture has produced drastic growth in churches and believers. Because the culture is definitive of the people of Ghana’s identity and influences every facet of life, Christianity must find its expression through cultural channels. Through their great desire to integrate faith and culture, the Christians of Ghana retain the teachings of traditional Christianity but have seasoned this with their own cultural values and practices, producing a uniquely Ghanan Christianity. Why does this nation continue to live in the shadows of a continent wrought with poverty and disease? Why should we continue to ignore the vast resources and potential of a people as diverse, creative, and determined as the people of Ghana? It is time the attention of Christians worldwide turn to this people and offer support for their internal mission effort.