My Lords spiritual and temporal, Compatriots, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I am both honoured and humbled at the same time to be invited by The Christ Apostolic Church International to be part of the Second Public Anim Memorial Lectures. I know that there are more qualified Pastors and Theologians in this room and in the country for this exercise. In fact, it feels like a schoolboy being asked to deliver a lecture before his professors. However, to have the privilege to speak in Honour and memory of Apostle Peter Newman Anim, whose faith and commitment has been the single most important means of transforming the Christian churches in Ghana in the last century; it is a privilege I could not let pass. Apostle Anim is undoubtedly the “Father of Ghanaian Evangelical Pentecostalism”. God has used the fire he lit not only in the founding of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches in Ghana, which are experiencing phenomenal growth but also the revival of all the mainline churches including the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Fellowships in the country.
For those of us who are privileged to be Evangelical Pentecostals within the orthodox churches, the liberty of Christ in the Spirit to enjoy fellowship with Christians across denominational lines and to experience warm fellowship everywhere is invaluable. The great revival that God brought to this country through the life of this great son of the land, has brought new lease of life through the power of the Holy Spirit.
In the interest of time, however, this is all that I can say in honour of Apostle Anim. Those interested in learning more about the Father of Pentecostalism in Ghana may read his profile in the Daily Graphic of Wednesday May 20, 2015, or the more scholarly piece given by Prof Stephen Owiredu at the first public Anim Memorial Lectures two years ago. My brief is to address the wider issue of the impact of Christianity in Ghana’s development. I will do so with special reference to the role of Pentecostalism which the Holy Spirit chose Apostle Anim to initiate in the country.
CHRISTIANITY, CHRISTIANS, AND THE CHURCH
Let me upfront clarify some definitional and semantic issues so that we will all be on the same wave-length: By Christianity I am talking about the religion founded on Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord by the work of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles believed that Yahweh, the God of Israel revealed Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and that God the Son, Jesus Christ, came to die on Calvary, shed his blood for the remission of sins and that through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ one is saved and becomes a child of God. The Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son to effect the salvation work of Jesus Christ, to establish the body of Christ, the Church, and to empower believers for righteous living, propagation of the gospel and disciple making. God the Holy Spirit uniquely baptised the believers on the day of Pentecost.
The core of Christianity is captured in the Apostle’s Creed (and its expanded version the Nicene Creed). That is why many Christian denominations regularly recite the Nicene Creed at worship preceding:
“I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into Hell, the third day He rose again from the dead
He ascended into Heaven and sitteh at the right hand of God, the Father almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting”.
Amen
In a nutshell, belief in the Trinity, the Incarnation, Death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit anchored on the Bible as the inerrant, inspired word of God in all matters of faith and practice are the hallmarks of Christianity.
To be a true Christian one not only has to have had knowledge of this important doctrinal basis of our faith, but has to have personally repented of one’s sins, and trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour for forgiveness, cleansing and reconciliation with God on the basis of the redemption of Jesus through his blood. Those who thus receive Christ become part of the body of Christ, the Church (with big ‘C’) irrespective of their denominational affiliation. Those who believe or receive Jesus Christ, are made new creatures or born again into God’s family and have eternal life (John 1:12; 3:3-8,16; Rom 3:23-26; 10:9-13; 2Cor 5:17). The Bible is explicit that those who do not have Christ have no life and the wrath of God is upon them (John 3: 17-21). Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6). This is the good news: that God saves sinners on the basis of the redemption of Christ and in no other way. And it is incumbent on every believer to pass it on if that believer has heard and experienced “the joyful sound; Jesus saves”. The power to do is a major reason Christ was sent (Acts 1:8) and our motivation is the “love of God shared abroad in our heart” (Romans 5:5).
It is the community of born-again believers who have received Jesus Christ into their hearts who constitute what the Bible calls the body of Christ, the Church. These are believers in all denominations, countries and assemblies linked by their common faith in Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Thus, part of the Church is believing Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, Pentecostals, Baptists and Charismatics to mention a few. When believers lose sight of this fundamental unity of the Church, they not only miss out on the privilege of belonging to the worldwide fellowship of the body of Christ, but they are likely to be myopic, schismatic and limit their influence as servants of the living God.
The past few years in particular I had the most wonderful privilege and blessing in my life as a believer spending days in a retreat of all the Fathers of the Catholic Church in the Eastern Region, speaking to all the Ministers of the Methodist Church of Ghana, attending the Synod/General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, being with Heads’ Meeting of the Church of Pentecost, Ministering to the Ministers of Christ Apostolic Church International, The Baptist Convention and the Global Evangelical Church. It is a joy to take in heaven through fellowship with the kaleidoscopic body of Christ on earth.
I have gone to great lengths to explain what I mean by Christianity and the Church because my brief is The Impact of Christianity on Ghana’s Development and that starts with the work of the pioneer missionaries who brought Christianity to our shores, to the work of all the denominations of Christian churches over the centuries, to the phenomenal impact of Pentecostalism in the last 100 years.
Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) has an interesting advertisement which says “Take ‘Unique’ (FM Radio) out and all the rest is the same”. I will say, “Take the impact of Christianity out and what is left of Ghana is not worth talking about”. We owe the foundations of socio-economic development of Ghana to Christianity.
CHRISTIANITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Chairman, Fellow Christians, Compatriots, let me however step back a bit to look at the impact of Christianity on development generally before I zero in on Ghana’s development specifically. The Judeo-Christian worldview of religion and economic development is very explicit in the Bible. Scripture links the material and military position of Israel to the spiritual state of the Jews at any time. There are more than 2000 verses in the Bible which address issues of employer-employee relationship; poverty and wealth; unacceptable exploitation of others; land distribution and debt management under the Jubilee system, etc. St Augustine in his book “City of God” fused the Greek idea of growth and development with the Judaic ideas of sacred history.
We must however, be careful not to fall into the trap of some preachers of the prosperity gospel which almost reduce the link between tithe and divine blessing. In Malachi 3:6-12 it is clear that giving to honour God and for the expansion of His Kingdom opens avenues of divine blessing. However, verses 11 and 12 show that the blessings come through the work of our hands. God said “I will rebuke the devourer for you so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear fruit says the Lord. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight says the Lord of Hosts”(ESV). The tithe was not the seed. The Jews were to tithe, then plant their fields with additional seed and that is what God promised to bless. Many faithful tithing Christians are poor because after tithing, they eat the seed for planting (savings and investment) and they miss out on divine blessing. Tithe but don’t eat the seed. In fact, under grace give more than a tenth.
When it comes to mainline scholarship on Christianity and economic development it was Max Weber who in his “The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism (1904) who explicitly linked the beliefs, norms and actions of the evangelical Christians of medieval Europe to the rise of capitalist development. In a nutshell Weber stated that “the disciplines of protestant Christians which encouraged hard work, good work ethic, frugality, savings and investments and entrepreneurship thus opening the doors of unparalleled growth in incomes, wealth and prosperity of mind of Western Europe. More recently, David Landers in his “Wealth and Poverty of Nations” (1998), has also argued that within a historical perspective, the type of religion a people practice has had direct bearing on their economic behaviour and resulting national development and that generally countries under libertarian Protestantism grew faster.
Several studies (including Guiso, Sapeinza and Zingales, 2002 and Elis and ter Haar 2004) using cross country studies have established that religion correlates with economic development with Christianity in particular being highly and positively related to development. It is no wonder therefore that up to the end of the 19th century all economically advanced countries were nations with strong Judeo-Christian foundations i.e., Western Europe and their allied countries in North America and Australasia.
Meiji-Japan was the first non-Christian country to break through the development glass ceiling according to Adei (2009). That was achieved, however, through massive adoption of the production system of the Judeo-Christian countries and infusing it into their cultural milieu. It stands to say that today it is clear that all the newly industrialised countries as well as the communist powerhouse of today China have succeeded because they adopted the fruits of the production system that Christianity birthed in Western Europe. The lesson is that economically a country can benefit from the fruits of Christianity by adopting its production methods even while not adopting the faith.
MODES BY WHICH THE CHURCH INFLUENCE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The historic experience shows that religion matters to development and that the Judeo-Christian faith provided the breakthrough for modern development. The main channels by which Christianity influences development are three (3) namely through:
- It’s impact on culture (beliefs, values, and norms).
- Mental models.
- Work ethics and savings and investment behaviours.
“Religion and culture impact major Economic determinants such as people’s attitude to work and productivity, consumption, savings and investments, entrepreneurship and governance including accountability and transparency” (Adei 2006).
ii. The Church as an institution is itself a major economic agent as we will illustrate with the Ghanaian case. Besides, its demand and supply of goods and services it has everywhere been an agent of development providing education, health services etc.
iii. Lastly the Church as a prophet’s voice in society rightly oriented, guides, warns, confront, and encourages political leaders not to abuse power, but put people first and prosecute worthy development agenda.
The Politicians like bad kings of Israel would like to limit the Church to the first two channels. That is what they mean when they call for separation of state and religion or do not use the pulpit for politics. The pulpit must be used for politics, but not partisan politics.
The leadership of the Christian Church in Ghana has always been concerned about governance in this country. The church leaders especially the Anglican Church stood firmly against the despotism of Nkrumah in the 1960s. In 1968 the Catholic hierarchy issued a message to all Christians on their civic responsibilities as the country prepared for civilian administration after the first coup d’état. Again, the Ghana Catholic Bishops conference and the Christian Council were outspoken in General Acheampong’s effort to impose his brand of Union Government on the nation. The leaders of the Christian Council of Ghana and National Catholic Secretariat on 24th June 1979 urged J.J. Rawlings not to pursue justice using unjustifiable vengeance as he himself declared. Neither were they silent during the events leading to the 4th Republic. Church leaders have been instrumental in urging peaceful elections and resolving election disputes directly and indirectly through the National Peace Council (Rev. Fathers Adei-Mensah and Opoku, The Christian National Development and Peace; A Ghanaian Perspective, Date…)
The second is the institutional or organisational level. The Church as denominations, congregation’s local assemblies constitute between 60%-70% of the population. Their welfare depends on how the country is governed. The Church must use their numbers to influence national politics, education, and business positively without kotowing to the blackmail that the church must not mix faith and politics. I think it is wrong for a Minister of the gospel to stand in the pulpit to advocate votes for NDC, NPP, PNC, CPP, PPP, NDPC or any other party. But it is the business of the church to speak against corruption in government, to tell their congregants not to demand money from politicians to vote for them or to vote for naked thieves whose only business is to “create loot and share”. We must preach against “bentua” or “fifty Ghana cedis in a match box” politicians. It is also our bounding duty to interrogate in our churches and discuss the manifestos of the various parties come 2016 to indicate whether they have a long-term vision for the nation, strategic agenda and programmes that will bring transformation to our people. We must ask whether the record of promises of politicians in the past have been fulfilled.
Moses, Joseph, Nehemiah, Obadiah, Isaiah Jeremiah were most outspoken against social injustices, corruption and oppression of their days. It is ironic that those who want to put the negative things they perpetrate in the country at the doorsteps of Christians by virtue of their numbers at the same time turn around to say that Christians should go to church, read the Bible and pray for them and not criticise what they do in public life. That is satanic unacceptable and anti-Christian. True Christians must not contribute to the rot of the land. They must stand up and be counted on and not allow others to do the same. They must do even at the peril of their very lives as the saints of old suffered.
The African lives in a religious milieu and there is an ongoing battle for the minds, hearts, and practices of the African from among traditional religions, Islam, Christianity etc. in a globalised world. Ellis and Ter Haar (2004) said “African development in the 21st century will be shaped by religion”. No one today doubts the negative impact of some religious fundamentalism and corrupt and inefficient political leadership on Africa’s development. Christians must therefore work hard to impact national development to be consistent, positive and in accord with Jesus who came that we may have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). This is not to deny some black spots in the Church’s history including the Counter Reformation and the crusades of yester years and still some pockets of fundamentalism within the Christian churches of today. Yet I am proud to state that wherever Jesus Christ is Lord today and Christianity holds full sway there is liberty of religion, respect for personal freedom and fundamental human rights and economic progress. Sad to say many so-called Christians are only nominal ones and are yet to experience the transformation that faith in Jesus and are not being salt and light in the development process. The Church has many members who by biblical definition are not Christians and live like unbelievers. However, I have no doubt that this Scripture is true “As for the saints in the land they are the excellent ones” (Ps 16:3).
TRUE CHRISTIANS ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ROT
Let me digress to warn those who attack the Churches, with some church members and leaders inadvertently falling prey to that. They say that Christians are responsible for the bribery and corruption and the rot in Ghana. My question is what about the Muslims, the Idol Worshippers and Pagans? If by that they mean by virtue of the fact that the population census identified 70% of Ghanaians with one Christian denomination or the other and therefore by extension there are many church members who contribute to the rot, then I will agree. This is because many people who have been baptised and confirmed into one denomination or the other have not experienced the transformation of Jesus Christ which comes by being born again and being Holy Spirit filled and led. Therefore, they behave exactly like any pagan, idol worshipper or nominal members of other religions. Therefore, they contribute to the challenges facing our social cultural and economic life as a nation.
But make no mistake the righteous people in this country, as elsewhere, who do not receive bribes, stash monies meant for national development in Dubai (and I hear now in Argentina), and who don’t turn National Service Scheme as a den of thieves or use poverty alleviation programmes like SADA AND GYEEDA as avenues for naked robbery include Muslims, Pagans, Idol Worshippers and Nominal Christians. It is a national canker the Christian Churches must help eradicate. But that is not to single out Christians as responsible for Ghana’s woes. The saints who the Bible says are only found in the Church of Jesus Christ, however small their numbers, everywhere are among the small group who work hard and get rich by the sweat of their brow through savings and investment, pray for their leaders like Women Aglow does, and seek every opportunity to lift up the poor and the vulnerable.
It is incumbent on church leaders and those of us who are privileged to lead the church in one way or the other to challenge our members to repent of personal and national vices and to make positive contributions to nation building. It is time for charity and judgement to begin at home –within the Church. Jesus calls us to be salt and light of the earth. But we should resist the temptation ourselves and not allow others to say that Christians are responsible for the rots in this country, No. true Christians are the righteous and excellent ones in this country, and we should not be ashamed to proclaim that Jesus is the one who gives power to live righteously. What is needed is more and not less of Christ.
THE IMPACT OF CHRISTINITY ON GHANA’S DEVELOPMENT
The history of Christianity in Ghana can be traced to the 15th century exploration of the Portuguese who arrived in Shama in 1471. The explorers included Catholic Priests commissioned by a Papal Bull to create “Holy Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and live in this faith all souls desirous of being saved”. The attraction of gold meant that the work of evangelisation did not progress much until the arrival of Portuguese Augustinians and French Capuchin Monks in Elmina during the latter part of the 16th century. Even then this fresh attempt of evangelising the territory was frustrated by intensification of the slave trade. It was the arrival of the Dutch –Moravians in 1742 and the Church of England’s Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1751, the Basel Mission (now Presbyterian Church of Ghana) around 1828 and the Wesleyan Methodist around 1834, that the evangelisation process through intensive education received a fresh boost (Sackey 1992).
The Bremen Mission started the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in the then Trans Volta Togoland in 1847. Christian presence in the Gold Coast was boosted by the return of the Roman Catholics to the coast in 1880 and Northern Ghana in 1906 (ibid). Thus, by the time the 1st World War broke out in 1914, all the main non-Pentecostal churches in Ghana had been well established in the country.
When it comes to pre-independence socio-economic development of the Gold Coast, apart from the phenomenal infrastructural works undertaken by Governor Sir Gordon Guggisberg such as the development of railways and Takoradi Harbour as well as the establishment of Achimota School and Korle Bu Hospital, the foundations of all the social development of Ghana today were undertaken by the Christian Churches. This is a fact which is scarcely acknowledged by present day Johnny just come Politicians.
As articulated by Darkwa Amanor (……), the missionaries brought great improvement in the general lives of the natives. They promoted the Christian faith as well as: education, agriculture, trade, Linguistics Studies of local languages, technical education, improved building architecture, better transportation, and health.
In the interest of time, I will comment briefly on some of the contributions of Christian Missionaries and Churches to the socio-economic development of the then Gold Coast and modern-day Ghana giving special attention to education as it is the linchpin of modern development.
Education
Every Ghanaian knows that with very few exceptions, the best secondary schools in Ghana are those set up by the missionaries, with Achimota School, Ghana National College etc. being the exceptions. The Methodists pioneered secondary education with Mfantsipim School and later Wesley Girls High School; the Anglicans set up Adisadel College; the Roman Catholics, St. Augustine. Today Opoku Ware Secondary School, Prempeh College, Mawuli School, Aburi Girls, St Louis Secondary School and the likes, almost all the best secondary schools in Ghana stand as a testimony to the contribution of Christianity to national development.
The debate as to whether the schools established by the Churches and taken over by the state, without compensation, should allow worship of other faiths is not because Pagans, Idol Worshippers, Moslems, Buddhist etc. do not have opportunities for secondary education among the 700 plus secondary schools in Ghana. A major reason is that those schools founded on the sweat and prayers of the missionaries are considered the best. Instead of Christians being asked to compromise on providing only facilities and practice of Christianity in the Christian schools, the effort should be directed at upgrading and managing other schools to the same level as the Christian led ones. Though sensitive, it stands to be said that the government and the Ghana Education Service should not be allowed by the Christians in this country after having their schools confiscated to be told that since they are government schools, they cannot be exclusively Christian in worship and practice and dress code.
It may be argued that since the state took over the schools, governments have invested in them in terms of infrastructure and payment of teachers’ salary. The counter argument is that the state has not spent proportionately more on Christian schools than non-Christian schools especially state ones, not to mention that pro rata even spending more on Christian schools will not be out of tune as they represent the majority of Ghanaians.
The most important factor however is that the quality of the Wey Gey Heys, Mfantsipims and their equivalents like T.I Ahmadya is the result of the commitment, integrity and discipline that the management of these schools by virtue of their faith have brought to bear on education in those institutions. That should not be undermined.
In Ghana today, every child who qualifies to go to Mfantsipim, Wey Gey Hey, Presec, Adisadel, St Augustine, Opoku Ware, will have no difficulty in getting admission into non-Christian schools. So there are options for those who cannot abide by the norms of the Christian schools.
Politicians who think courting the votes of minorities will boost their political fortunes do so because they think that they can take the Christian majority’s votes for granted. They should be told unequivocally that while true democracy should never lead to the trampling of the rights of minorities, it should neither lead to a situation whereby the protest of the minorities is allowed to cow the majority. We should aim at educational opportunities for every Ghanaian child but also freedom to exclusively practise the tenets of the faith of one’s religion. Christian schools were established to promote Christianity and unless it can be shown that Christian schools receive the lion’s share of state resources no one should interfere with their running along Christian lines.
Even more important were the involvement of Christian missions in primary (1st-6th grade) and Middle (7th -10th grade) schools. Virtually all pre-secondary schools in the country before independence were mission schools with a few exceptions. Unlike today one was sure one’s ward would come out of these schools’ literate. Besides intellectual development there was equal emphasis on moral and social development of the child. Civic education was a must. The legendary Presbyterian discipline was the hallmark of all mission schools be it Methodist, Anglican or Catholic. Thus, after independence, “Civics for Self-government”, reciting the national pledge, singing the national anthem were taken for granted in schools.
Teacher training was also undertaken by the missions with Wesley College in Kumasi by the Methodists and Akropong Presbyterian Training College by the Presbyterian Church being among the best and famous. Unlike today vocational training was emphasised. The Basel mission in particular set up industrial training institutes and workshops to train carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, shoemakers, locksmiths (Darkwa Amanor….) etc. Up to time of the establishment of the nucleus of the University of Ghana as part of Achimota College, tertiary education besides teacher training colleges were not in vogue. Even after independence higher education became the preserve of the state until the mid-1990s. Today Christian Churches are the vanguards of private universities in the country. The likes of Central University College by the International Central Gospel Church, Valley View by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Methodist University, Presbyterian University College, Pentecost University College, Catholic University College, Christian Service University College to mention a few are among the leading names in private universities in the country. With policy encouragement and state support these Church University Colleges could become as big as the public ones.
It stands to be said that contribution of Christianity through Christian denominations to education especially pre-university education will be much higher today if the state had not discouraged the Christian missions by taking over their schools. I personally think that the time has come for the churches and especially the Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches to invest massively in pre-university education. If we want to provide our children with an education that is highly intellectual, godly, and socially balanced our investment should be pre-university education even more than at the tertiary level. That is why my family spent almost everything we have to set up Ghana Christian International High Schools “For God, Family and Country”.
I look forward to the day when church buildings will not stand vacant all the time at daytime during the week except on Sundays but will be used as day care centres, and community primary and secondary schools. It will make the local church the pivot of the development process. We may not have the best of church environment as a result but the Kingdom of God for which we exist and the welfare for people will be highly promoted.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you will agree with me that I cannot afford to spend as much time on the remaining aspects of contribution of Christianity on national development as I have done on education. I will therefore do so only in the outline.
Agriculture
The contribution of Christian missions to agriculture in Ghana is less known but nevertheless very substantive. The missionaries introduced and promoted food and cash crops. A botanical garden established by the Presbyterians at Akropong is known to have cultivated vegetables, bananas, cotton, sugar cane and bread fruits. Even cocoa was introduced by the Basel Missionaries in 1857 but did not survive the weather, insects, and Ashanti invasions. It is therefore no coincidence that Tetteh Quarshie, himself a Basel Mission trained Blacksmith, after practicing his trade in Fernando Po in 1876 returned home with 5 pods of cocoa for which he is rightly recognised as a national hero.
Trade
Along the encouragement of agriculture was the promotion of external trade in commodities by the Christian missions. It will interest you to know that the United Trading Company (UTC) was originally Basel Mission Trading Company and was set up to promote export and import trade. UTC’s ethical norms were such that they would not sell guns, gun powder and liquor. Initially they put emphasis on the export of palm kernel and palm oil.
Linguistics Studies of local languages
We teachers have a slogan that” if you can read this thank a teacher”. In the same way it can be said that if you have a written vernacular thank a missionary and the efforts of Christians. Even today Ghana Institute of Linguistics Literacy and Bible Translation are at the forefront of putting unscripted local languages into writing and translating the Bible into local languages. Almost all the major Ghanaian languages- Fante, Twi, Ga, and Ewe were all put into writing by Missionaries. The work of Johannes Christaller of the Bremen Mission Society on the Akwapim Twi is legendary. These men and women of faith learned our languages, compiled dictionaries, deciphered our grammar and wrote textbooks in addition to translating the Bible into local languages. The likes Akrofi and Carl Reindorf were inspired by them.
Improved Building and Architecture
It is known that the missionaries brought improvement in the buildings of the natives. Though taken for granted having windows or raising platforms of buildings were not the practice of the natives. The contribution of the Presbyterian Missionary Andreas Riss was such that the Akwapims gave him the accolade “Osiadan” or Riss the Builder.
Better Transportation
It is recorded by Darkwa Amanor (….) that the first roads in the country were first built by the Basel Mission to facilitate faster movement of people. The same Mission introduced bicycles.
Health
Last but not least, let me touch on the contribution of Christian Missionaries to the health care of our people. Today up to 40% of all medical care and health facilities in the country are provided through Christian organizations. That sums up the contribution of Christianity to the well- being of our people.
The missionary was not only the preacher of the gospel but one who provided support for the well- being of the natives of Gold Coast and Ghanaians today.
My people the Ewes have a name called “Amevor” which literarily means the good people are finished. Today educationists, parents, the government itself, employers, almost everybody complains about the moral standards of Ghanaians: poor work ethic, unabashed thievery in the form of bribery, corruption, and abuse of public office for private gain. The root cause of that, I want to suggest, is the secularisation of basic education making at best armoral Ghana Education Service the arbiters of basic education and the government refusing to decentralise pre-university education and to return the management of pre-university education to the churches. In our time there were church schools and local authority schools which allowed healthy competition in academics, sports as well as moral education.
Centralisation of the governance of pre-university is the bane of human resources development in Ghana. “Let’s drop that yam now”. I think the Churches have been too quiet and not made their voices heard enough. It is time to use their numbers and political muscles to ensure that the right thing is done.
THE CONTRIBUTION OF PENTECOSTALISM TO GHANA’S DEVELOPMENT
Quoting Peter Wagner of Fuller Seminary, Koester (…….) says “In all human history no other non-political, non-militaristic, voluntary human movement has grown as rapidly as the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement in the last 25 years.”
What is true about Pentecostalism globally is even more so in Ghana. Today I estimate that 1 in 6 Ghanaians will identify themselves with a Pentecostal or Charismatic Church. The Church of Pentecost alone has a membership around 2 million people with another million as members of Christ Apostolic Church International. Estimates range between 5 and 10% of the growth rate of the Pentecostal-Charismatic fraternity and that excludes the main Protestant and Roman Catholic Charismatics.
The impact of the divine fire which God used his servant Apostle Peter Newman Anim for is now the most important feature of Christianity in Ghana today touching every aspect of our national life.
The Pentecostals are solidly evangelical Christians and therefore share the common belief of all evangelicals with regard to the Trinity, Deity of Jesus Christ, Belief in the Bible as the inerrant word of God, the Holy Spirit as co-equal with the Father and the Son, and Salvation through repentance and Faith in Jesus Christ. However, “Pentecostals are united by the belief that after the Holy Spirit applies Christ’s salvation to the sinner there is another experience available to the believer where the Holy Spirit fills them, and many believe is evident by speaking in tongues” (Questionon pentecostal belief. docx)
With over 4 million (authors own estimate) Ghanaians classifying themselves as Pentecostal- Charismatics, Pentecostalism is a key determinant of economic forces including taxes, aggregate demand, and rightly oriented political fortunes of politicians. That is why the politicians would like to cow the Churches to stay away from politics and are quick to brand preachers as belonging to this party or that party with the view of silencing them.
The few minutes I have to conclude my address however I have to focus on four contributions of Pentecostalism to National Development:
- First as noted above the Pentecostal-charismatic church members together will soon constitute the biggest identifiable consumer group in the country and directly or indirectly contribute to government revenue, individually savings and as noted below formation of companies.
- The second major impact of Pentecostalism is the reformation of Christianity in Ghana. Now the Pentecostal fire is reviving the main traditional Churches including the Methodist, Presbyterian and Catholic traditions bringing a new lease of life to all parts of the body of Christ in Ghana.
- Third, the movement has rekindled the interest of the youth in the church as their form of worship is more appealing to them and Africans as a whole.
- Fourth the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement has had a definitive impact on the attitude of Christians towards savings, investment, and businesses. Interestingly the initial Pentecostal traditions did not emphasise these. Today the average Pentecostal and Charismatic Christian believes that God want them to prosper materially, and that doing business is right. I think this is a positive contribution despite a few excesses of magic type prosperity gospel preachers.
Though not absent in these areas the Pentecostal-charismatic churches have not been strong in the areas of pre-university education and healthcare. But in the same way as they have moved into tertiary education with a bang, I expect a positive change in the near future with regard to pre-university education. I was particularly excited when Pastor Mensah Otabil announced a vision to establish a secondary school in every district in Ghana. I immediately went to offer myself as a servant to that cause. I am yet to see the translation of that vision to reality though.
While Pentecostalism has made tremendous impact on national development on its own and through the revival it has brought to the mainline churches, its greater contribution lies in the future. In order to realise that I entreat the main Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches to focus on discipleship so that the marks of true Pentecostalism should be not only baptism of the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues but also transformation of character as evident by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, righteous living and boldness to stand up and be counted for the good cause of Mother Ghana. My prayer and desire are that Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches generate strategic plans and agenda to bring the good news of Salvation through the redemption of Christ so that everyone hears the gospel in our lifetime. I believe that is why the Lord is channeling so much in terms of money, human resources, and the power of the Holy Spirit through Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches today. If they are used for personal aggrandisement, leaders with retinue of bodyguards and opulent displays of wealth the Lord may find another means to do his work.
My Lords Spiritual and Temporary, it gives me pleasure to interact with you on the impact of Christianity on National Development with special reference to the role of Pentecostalism. I have argued that as the Christian faith has been the major force of economic transformation of the world so too has the church in Ghana played a pivotal role in national development. It has done so by producing the men and women who have built Ghana from the founders of this nation to most of the political and institutional and business leaders of today. The contribution of Christianity to education, health care and economic development has been significant.
The Pentecostal-charismatic movement has come to revive Christianity. Its current contribution to national development I believe is small compared with its potential contribution to the future of Ghana’s development which will be shaped by the dos and don’ts of the Pentecostals and Charismatics in the country.
By virtue of our numbers, Christians may be said to be partly responsible for the challenges facing our country today including corruption and mismanagement. But that should not be misconstrued that the Christians are worse than the Pagans, idol worshipper and peoples of other faiths. It is rather a question of to whom much is given much is required. It is therefore time for Christian churches to take a stand against nominalism and people carrying the label of Christ but are never converted or living in obedience of Jesus Christ.
However, “as for the saints they are the excellent or holy ones”. (Psalm 16:3). In other words, the church of Jesus Christ contains the most righteous and holy people in all ages and times.