The Contributions of Two Indigenous Evangelical Leaders towards the Development of the Charismatic Movement in Ghana

Abstract

The charismatic movement that has become part of the religious scene in Ghana has attracted scholarly attention including the works of Rev. Prof. Elom Dovlo, Dr. Samuel Adubofuor and Rev. Dr. Abamfo Atiemo. This notwithstanding, their works have not given the necessary attention to the indigenous evangelical leaders, some of whom laid the foundation for the current Pentecostal and Charismatic movements in Ghana. In every renewal movement in the history of the church, there have been personalities behind such phenomenon. Within the history of Christianity in Ghana names such as William Wade Harris, Samson Oppong and Peter Anim are worth noting in relation to the renewal movement which led to the formation of churches such as the Twelve Apostles and Christ Apostolic Church. Similarly, the indigenous persons in this research have initiated religious activities which have resulted in the emergence of the charismatic movement. This research seeks to study two of these indigenous personalities, Rev. Enoch Agbozo and Rev. Owusu Afriyie, and their contributions to the development of the charismatic movement in Ghana. This work is in response to the scarcity of systematic data on the indigenous evangelical Christians who prepared the grounds for the formation of the current charismatic movement in Ghana. The aim of the study is to see how the activities of these evangelical leaders influenced the development of charismatic churches in contemporary Ghana. The study employed the biographical approach which involves the collection and analysis of data on the lives and works of people, usually by interviews and the analysis of their literary works. The conclusion of the study is that the leaders of some of the charismatic churches were greatly influenced by these indigenous leaders in terms of their preaching style, organization of music, and perspectives on ministry.