University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh UNIVERSITY OF GHANA COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES A HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH CHURCH INTERNATIONAL (CFCI), IN GHANA FRANCIS OTOO EDUAH (REV) (ID NO.10208883) THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MPHIL FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGIONS DEGREE. JULY, 2018 i University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh DECLARATION I Francis Otoo Eduah (Rev.), do hereby declare that except for reference to other people’s work, which has been duly acknowledge this thesis is the result of my own research work carried out in the department of the study of Religions under the supervision of Rev. Dr. Abamfo Atiemo and Dr. Ben-Willie Golo. Signature…………………………………………………….. Date………………………………………………………………. Francis Otoo Eduah (Rev) (Student) Signature………………………………………………………. Date………………………………………………………………. Rev Dr. Abamfo Atiemo (Principal Supervisor) Signature………………………………………………………. Date………………………………………………………………. Dr. Ben-Willie Golo (Supervisor) ii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis first to my God the Father Almighty, also to my friend and Brother Mr. Alex Ayoku Thomson and my dear late sister Mrs Gertrude Ewuraesi Quansah. Furthermore, to my late parents Mr. Anthony Eduah and Madam Harriet Ampiah and to my siblings Stephen and late Anthony Paa Kwesi Eduah. Not forgetting my son Papa Harry Biney Ampiah, and nephews Miguel Quansah, Edmond and John Eduah. iii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ABSTRACT Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) is a Pentecostal Church founded by an illiterate indigenous Ghanaian charismatic figure over three decades ago in Takoradi, in the Western Region of Ghana. The church since it broke away from a classical Pentecostal church, that is, Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), in the Western Region of Ghana in 1983 had experienced relatively some significant growth in membership and in expansion particularly in the Western Religion of Ghana. For some time now in the history of Ghanaian Pentecostalism, many scholars have written about classical and neo Pentecostal churches in Ghana yet not much is written about Pentecostal churches from that part of the country. This research work set out to study a history and doctrines; explore the reasons for the growth and governance of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) and investigate the churches contributions to Ghanaian and worldwide African Indigenous churches/ Pentecostal movements, since it was established. The problem of this study is that the activities and impacts of growth of the church that has been comparatively slow and lower than its contemporaries at the time of its establishment. This is the reason why the main objective of this work seek to interrogate the factors that might have contributed to its pace of growth. To achieve the set objectives, the research adopted the historical and the sociological approaches in data collection and analysis. Also, the researcher used both primary and secondary sources in the data collection. The data collected and analysis revealed that the growth of the church in the Western Region of Ghana where the church was first established, seems to be the largest in terms of membership and expansion, however, the growth is rather limited to just the South-Eastern part of the Region. iv University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The church is virtually not existing in the South-Western and the Northern part of the Region. Also, vernacular (Fanti language) as a policy to be used by all its branches, in its liturgy had been a factor of growth in that part of Ghana. The church seems to be doing everything possible to fulfil its vision and mission which is to bring the unsaved to the saving knowledge of Christ. The relevance of this study is to be able to add to academia the activities and impacts of the church from that Region of Ghana to Christian missions. It is also, to bring to the awareness of the leadership of the church the negative or positive factors that are contributing to the growth rate of the church. Finally, the researcher recommend that the policy of missions/evangelism had to be redefined by the church and be given much more priority or focus than it is currently receiving. Also, they should establish a well-trained missionary group or movement that is well resources, and tasked with the responsibility on missions than what exist currently. v University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The writings of this research would not have been possible without the help of and support of mentors, colleagues, and friends and family. This acknowledgement can only partially alleviate the debts I owe the following categories that have contributed to his work in diverse ways. I would like to acknowledge, in particular my indebtedness to Rev. Abamfo Atiemo and Dr. Ben- Willie Golo who supervised this research work. I wish to register my deep sense of gratitude and profound appreciation to Pastor Rexford Bonney who devoted his time to do the type setting of this research work. Thanks to all who responded or granted interviews and provided valuable information that has enriched this research. My appreciation also goes to Jobio Press, which provided the pictures for the work. I particularly wish to mention Mr. Alexander Ayoku Thompson of John’s Cargo Service, Tema, who founded the bulk of the entire programme. Finally, I wish to thank my parents, brothers and sisters, friends like Bishop Ben Sallah, Rev. Dr. Appiah Otopah and Rev. Daniel Eshun who have constantly given me moral support. vi University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh TABLE OF CONTENTS Content Page Title Page………………………………………………………………………………………...i Declaration………………………………………………………………………………………ii Dedication……………………………………………………………………………………….iii Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………….iv Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………………………v CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………1 1.1 Statement of Problem..……………………………………………………………………...8 1.2 Aims and Objectives……………………………………………………………….……….8 1.3 Research Question..……………………..………………………………………………….9 1.4 Scope of study… …………………….…………………...………………….…...………..9 1.5 Limitation of study……………………………………..…………………….…………….9 1.6 Methodology…………………………………………..…………………….…………….10 1.6.1 Primary Source.………………………… ………….……………………..…………….11 1.6.2 Secondary Source………………..……………….………………………….…………..11 1.7 Literature Review………………….……………………..……..………………..….…….11 1.8 Organization of Work……………………………………………………………….……..30 vii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER TWO: CHURCH GROWTH AND GOVERNANCE 2.0 Introduction……………………………………………….………….……………………31 2.1 Church Growth: Dimensions and Types ………...…………………………….………….31 2.1.1 Biological Growth……………………………………………...………………………..37 2.1.2 Transfer Growth……………...………………………………………………………….37 2.1.3 Conversion Growth…………………………….………………………………………..38 2.1.4 Restoration Growth………………………………………..…………………………….39 2.1.5 Conceptual Growth…………………………………….………………………………..40 2.1.6 Organic Growth……………………………..…………………………………………..40 2.1.7 External Growth……………………………………………...………………………….41 2.1.8 Incarnational Growth…………………………………………...……………………….41 2.1.9 Bridging Growth……………………..………………………………………………….42 2.2 Towards a Holistic Understanding of Church Growth………………...………………….42 2.3 Church Governance……………………………………………………………………….43 2.3.1 The Monarchical System………………………………………………….…………….44 2.3.2 Episcopalian System……………………………………….……………………………44 2.3.3 Presbyterian System……………………………………………………………………..45 2.3.4 Congregational System………………………………………………………………….45 2.3.5 Towards a Holistic Understanding of Church Governance……………………………..46 2.4 Summary………………………………………………………………………………….47 viii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER THREE: HISTORY, ORGANISATION AND GOVERNANCE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH CHURCH INTERNATIONAL (CFCI) 3.0 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..48 3.1 The birth of Christian Faith Church International (CFCI)………………………. …..…...49 3.2 The life of the founder…………………..…………………………………………….......51 3.3 The call and ministry of the founder……………………………………………….....…...55 3.4 The ‘miracles’ of the Prophet Botwe ……………………………………………………..60 3.5.0 Governance Structure of (CFCI)……………………………… ……………………….64 3.5.1 The General Council……………………………………………………..……………..66 3.5.2 The National Executive Council………………………………………………….…….66 3.5.3 The National Council of Ministers……………………………………………………...67 3.5.4 The Regional and District Council of Ministers………………………………………..68 3.5.5 The Ministerial Hierarchy of the Church……………………….………………………68 3.5.6 Successions……………………………………………………………………………..72 3.7.0 The Local Assembly……………………………………………………………………74 3.7.1 Elder…………………………………………………………………………………….75 3.7.2 Deacon………………………………………………………………………………….76 3.7.3 Local Assembly Council…………………………………………….…………………77 3.7.4 Local Presbytery………………………………..………………………………………77 3.8.0 Ministry within the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI)…………. ……….…78 3.8.1 Youth Ministry………………………………………………………………………….78 3.8.2 Men’s Ministry………………………………………………………………………….80 3.8.3 Women’s Ministry…………………………………………………………………..….81 ix University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.8.4 Children’s Ministry……………………………………………………………………..82 3.9 Summary……………………………………………………………….…………………84 CHAPTER FOUR: DISCUSSING THE GROWTH OF CHRISTIAN FAITH CHURCH INTERNATIONAL (CFCI): THE PLACE OF ACTIVITIES, ORGANISATION AND GOVERNANCE 4.0 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..…85 4.1 Statistics: Growth Figures from 1983 to 2017…………………………………………….86 4.2 Determinants of Growth…………………………………………….…………………….111 4.2.1 Activities / Practices of the Church.………………………….........................................111 4.2.1.1 Evangelism……………………………………………………………………………111 4.2.1.2 Follow-up………………………….…………………………..……………………...115 4.2.1.3 Home Cells……………………………………………………………………………118 4.2.1.4 Corporate Prayer…………………………..……………………..…….………..........119 4.2.2 Affiliations with Local and Foreign Bodies…………………………………….............121 4.2.3 Financial Governance of the Church…………………………………………………...126 4.2.4 Welfare and Provision of Social Services……………………..………………….…….133 4.2.5 Engagements and Training of Ministers………………………………………………..136 4.3 Summary……………………………………………………………..…………………...141 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………142 5.2 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………....142 x University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5.3 Major Findings..…………………………………… ………………………………………144 5.4 Recommendations………………….………………………………………………………146 5.5 Conclusion…………………...………………………………………………………….….147 xi University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.0 Background From the first part of the twentieth century onwards many Independent Churches and Prophetic Movements began to emerge as they broke away or seceded from the established mission churches in West Africa.1 They did so with different reasons including “doctrines, forms of worship, organization and the response they give to the problem of ‘evil’ in all as its manifestations are concerned.”2 These Independent Churches were, according to Thomas Oduro, “dissatisfied with some of the dominance of western culture and life style in African Christianity, some policies and liturgies of the western mission-founded denominations.”3 Consequently they desired to free African Christianity of western structures, ideologies and practices.4 This perception of dissatisfaction of the Independent Churches as indicated by Oduro, leads credence to Clarke’s view when he indicated that “while missionaries saw it as part of the functions of Christianity to bring about a fundamental change in the thinking, attitudes, customs and tradition of Africans, some of the latter responded by claiming that in doing this the missionaries were using religion to preserve and extend their own foreign culture and traditions at the expense of those of Africa.”5 1 Peter B. Clarke, West Africa and Christianity, (London: Edward Arnold Publishers Ltd, 1986), 160. 2 Clarke, West Africa and Christianity, 157. 3 Thomas Oduro, Church of The Lord (Brotherhood), (Ghana: SonLife Printing Press, 2016), 2. 4 Oduro, Church of The Lord (Brotherhood), 2. 5 Clarke, West Africa and Christianity, 158. 1 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Clearly there was a clash between colonialism and its related modernization and the meaning and purpose of religion. It is precisely one of the many reasons why some African Christian preachers and writers constantly were in contention against what they perceived as an attempt by the Europeans to control and dominate Africa.6 Thus, Africans Christians saw a supposed imposition of another nation’s version of Christianity or any other religion on them. In this regard, Africans with likeminded perception strongly advocated for a Christianity which was purely African and not a Western-cultural influenced Christianity. It is this desire for Africanizing Christianity that gave birth to the Ethiopian Church. According to Hildebrandt, a South African Pastor Mokone who “did not think the Methodist church was Africanizing fast enough, decided to break away from that church. He then established his own independent church, which he called the Ethiopian Church. This event is important for us to note because it marks the establishment of one of the first African Separatist or African Independent Churches in modern times.”7 Thus, it can be asserted that many African Independent Churches broke away from the established churches due to differences in doctrinal presuppositions. These groups according to Clarke came to be known as the ‘Ethiopian’ or African Churches. They were also sometimes called ‘Zionist’, ‘Prayer’, ‘Spiritual’, or ‘Prophet’ churches in Nigeria. In Nigeria, they are referred to as ‘Aladura’ (Praying) churches emphasizing revelation from the Holy Spirit, prayer and faith healing.8 Ogbu U Kalu affirmed that the “Ethiopians’ were ahead of their times and had started a process of reflection that perceived Christianity as a non- 6 Clarke, West Africa and Christianity, 157. 7 Jonathan Hildebrandt, History of the Church in Africa (Ghana: African Christian Press, 1996), 175. 8 Clarke, West Africa and Christianity, 159. 2 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Western religion, asserted Africans contribution in the Jesus movement and sought to fashion an authentic African response to the gospel’s good news.”9 Furthermore, according to Ogbu U Kalu, “Ethiopianism was a daring voice of new confidence that was manifested in the Native Pastorate experiment by the CMS in Sierra Leone; it breathed with the hope that Africans would bear the responsibility to evangelize Africa, build an autonomous church devoid of denominations and shirk European cultural domination and control of decision – making in the Church.”10 Indeed the following assertion of Clarke, in my view summaries the position of the ‘Ethiopian’ or African Churches agenda that is, “A religion was universal only in so far as it reflected and respected the character, perspectives, thinking and traditions of each and every society in which it was found.”11 The upsurge of the phenomenon of establishing African Independent Churches (AICs) emanated from the concept of “Ethiopianism” or Independent Churches. They are commonly called so because most of the leaders of these churches were excommunicated from the historical churches for the reason of non-compliance to the churches regulations or in my view a claim of a new direction from God. According to Oduro “the chief objective of their struggle for religious independence was to worship God and formulate theology in the context of their worldview, culture, environment and pre-Christian religious experience.”12 9 Ogbu U. Kalu, African Christianity: An African Story, (South Africa: Business Print Center, 2005), 259 10 Kalu, African Christianity, 269. 11 Clarke, West Africa and Christianity, 158. 12 Oduro, Church of the Lord Brotherhood, 3. 3 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The emergence of the African Independent Churches (AICs) have attracted various names from scholars, such as African Initiated Churches (AICs), African Independent Churches (AIC) African Indigenous Churches (AICs), African Instituted Churches (AICs), and according to Oduro in recent times has assumed another name the African Reformation Churches.13 Regardless of how scholars refer to them by name Oduro attempts to describe them as “… congregations and/or denominations [with or without any historical reference to the West] planted, led, administered, motivated, spread, funded and supported by Africans for the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and worshipping the Triune God in the context and worldview of Africa and Africans.”14 In Ghana the aforementioned churches fall into a category of churches referred to as the Spiritual Churches. According to Baeta in the past leaders of these movements appeared to dislike the designation ‘Separatist Churches’ as described by Parrinder, however he is of the opinion that ‘Spiritist’ correctly describe them even more than as ‘Spiritual’. Nonetheless, the ‘Spiritual’ has a special connotation that is, “it is intended to signify that, in their worship, the groups concerned engage in various activities which (by their own assertion) are either meant to invoke the Holy Spirit of God, or are to be interpreted as signs of his descent upon the worshippers.”15 It is believed that AICs hold the Bible as their source of authority. Central to their teachings is their belief in God as the Father, Jesus Christ as the Son, and the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity. They also believe in numerous angels which play very significant roles in their church life and worship. Afe Adogame and Lizo Jafta indicated that 13 Oduro, Church of the Lord Brotherhood, 3. 14 Oduro, Church of the Lord Brotherhood, 3. 15 C. G. Beata, Prophetism in Ghana (Charles Birchall and Son Ltd, 1962), 1. 4 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh “angels occupy a conspicuous place as mediators and intermediaries between the human and the supersensible world.”16 It is interesting to note that these angels are given various names and their significance, and their numbers are different from each movement. In Ghana these indigenous churches or movements are popularly referred to as sunsum sore (Akan) or Mumu Solemo (Ga), literally meaning ‘Holy Spirit Churches.’17 Adogame and Jafta further revealed that virtually all the AICs trace their emergence to a charismatic, prophetic figure usually with claims of a traumatic religious experience. Such ‘turning point’ visionary experiences are encounters from which special powers are vouchsafed. The centrality of the founding story is a feature that pervades the AICs’ spiritual orientation. The re-enactment of these ‘sacred narratives’ by members becomes a common feature during and after the demise of the charismatic figure.18 Also in Ghana for instance, the origins of AIC movement can be traced to the activities of Prophet William Wade Harris, John Swatson and Sampson Oppong. The impact and significance of their ministries were the conversion of souls in droves and beyond bounds especially in the areas the mainline churches relatively failed. Prophet William Wade Harris (1860 – 1929) was a charismatic figure from Liberia and of the Grebo (Kru) tribe. He claimed to have received an angelic visitation while in prison in Liberia for the offence of “allegedly taking part in a protest against repressive policy of the Americo – Liberian government towards the Grebo people.”19 Harris is reported to be the precursor of independent African Christianity 16 Afe Adogame and Lizo Jafta, “Zionist, Aladura, and Roho: African Initiated Churches” in Ogbu U. Kalu, (ed.) African Christianity: An African Story, (South Africa: Business Print Center, 2005), 321. 17 Cephas Omenyo, Pentecost Outside Pentecostalism: A study of the Development of Charismatic Renewal in the Mainline Churches in Ghana, (Netherlands: Boekencentrum Publishing House, 2006), 73. 18 Adogame and Jafna, “Zionist, Aladura, and Roho: African Initiated Churches”, 321. 19 Kingsley Larbi, Pentecostalism: The Eddies of Ghanaian Christianity, (Accra: Blessed Publications, 2001), 58. 5 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh in Ghana.20 Prophet Harris had little success in Liberian as well as in neighboring Sierra Leone, however during the period of 1913 and 1914 there was spontaneous response to his ministry among the people of South-Eastern part of the Ivory Coast and the South Western part of the Gold Coast now Ghana. Clarke confirms this view when he stated that “Harris was an instant success in the Southern Region of the Ivory Coast and in the South–Western part of Ghana.”21 In Ghana, at Appolonia in the Western Region, he converted about 36,000 adult from traditional religion and had about 15,000 converts by 1920 under catechumen instructions. Prophet Harris did not establish a church, he always encouraged his converts to join the mainline churches. However, some of his converts established their own churches, for instance, the Harris Church in the Ivory Coast and the Twelve Apostles Church in the Western Region of Ghana.22 Baeta confirms this assertion as he stated that “among the converts made and baptized by Harris on his visit was a woman by the name of Grace Tani, a native of Ankobra Mouth, and John Nackabah of Essuawua near Enchi. Nackabah in turn baptized John Hackman, an illiterate pagan. All three persons had the gift of ‘prophecy’ and spiritual healing, and together they founded the Church of the Twelve Apostles in Ghana.”23 This church also known as ‘Nackabah’ church is among the first AIC’s in Ghana and attracted large following in that region. As earlier mentioned other individuals like Prophets John Swatson and Sampson Oppong who were converts of Prophet Wade Harris and did their ministry in the Western Region had all contributed significantly to what later became known as Ghanaian Pentecostalism. In effect these indigenous African initiatives in Christianity can be referred to as the precursors to classical Ghanaian Pentecostalism. 20 Omenyo, Pentecost outside Pentecostalism, 69. 21 Clarke, West Africa and Christianity, 179. 22 Larbi, Pentecostalism: The Eddies of Ghanaian Christianity, 55. 23 Beata, Prophetism in Ghana, 9. 6 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Beyond these indigenous initiatives and/or indigenous African spiritual churches, which have received much acclaimed, recognition and research in the literature on early and/or classical Ghanaian Pentecostalism, there were other later indigenous initiatives and churches that remain comparably unsung. Some of these churches have been in existence for almost three decades but have not been researched and remain less visible on the Pentecostal front, irrespective of their growth and expansion. This is the case of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). The Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) with its headquarters located in Sekondi- Takoradi, a twin city in the Western Region of Ghana, was established at Tanokrom a suburb in Takoradi on November 11, 1983 as a breakaway church from Apostle Peter Anim’s movement – the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), a classical Pentecostal denomination which was previously known as the Faith Tabernacle Church. The Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) has branches spread across some parts of the country and also has foreign branches in parts of Africa, United States of America, and Europe and in Asia. Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) emphasizes salvation in Christ Jesus as an experience brought about by the power of the Holy Spirit in which the believer manifest the gift of the Spirit, for instance, speaking in tongues, prophecies, visions, healing and miracles in general. In my view, the teachings of Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) as investigated so far are akin to the idea expounded by Asamoah-Gyadu, about a Pentecostal Church or Pentecostalism. However, less is known of the activities, growth and impact of this Pentecostal church in Ghana. 7 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1.1 Statement of the Problem The Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), has seen a steady growth in membership and expansion since it was established but has been ignored in the discourse on the Pentecostal churches in Ghana. Also, the activities, impact and growth of the church has been comparatively slow and lower than its contemporaries at the time of its establishment such as the Christ Apostolic Church. It is against this background that, it has become necessary to study and document the history, growth and impact of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), and bring it into the discourse of Ghanaian Pentecostalism. 1.2 Aims and Objectives The main objective of this work is to interrogate the factors that have contributed to its pace of growth by examining the relationship between Church governance, leadership, activities and the growth of the church? The focus study is mainly in three areas and intended to; a. Examine the relationship between the concepts of church growth and governance. b. Explore the history, organization and governance of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). c. Discuss the determinants of growth of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) in the light of its history, organization and governance. 8 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1.3 Research Question This enquiry would seek to answer the questions below in line with the aims above: a. What is the relationship between CFCI’s church governance and church growth? b. What is the organization and governance structure of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI)? c. To what extent do the history, organization and governance of the CFCI determine its growth, either positively or negatively? 1.4 Scope of study The study is about the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), which has its headquarters at Sekondi/Takoradi in the Western Region of Ghana. The research covered the church in Ghana and specifically focused on the national headquarters. The reason why the study was limited to the Western Region of Ghana is because the growth of the church is more prominent in that region. Even though my research also examined the historical development of the church which involved the expansion of the church outside the Western Region, most of the pioneer members of the church and the leadership of the various national officers who could help the researcher with primary and secondary source data are located/reside in the region. 1.5 Limitation of the Study There are some limitations which hindered the progress of the study of the church. It was my wish to interview the founder of the church to get firsthand information, unfortunately the founder is not alive so I chose to interview people who were close to him and could provide me with information on him. The researcher was not able to interview all the nine founding leaders 9 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh of the church due to some condition like ill health and advanced age. The researcher could not have access to some documentation of the beginnings of the church, for example, chronological minutes of meetings held during the early periods of the church. However, the researcher was able to interact with many of the senior ministers in various national positions and old knowledgeable members, and some group discussions. 1.6 Methodology To ensure the success of this work the historical and sociological methods were employed. The historical method/approach is to scientifically examine a phenomenon in the past that requires an interpretation and give meaning or an understanding on the different periods of its occurrence. Both qualitative and quantitative variables can be used in the collection of historical information.24 In the historical method both primary and secondary sources were used as data for analysis. The sociological method/approach is to employ quantitative and qualitative method to collect primary data and secondary data including experiments, interviews, and participant observation among others for analysis and write a report.25 Thus, qualitative method employs different methods of data collection and analysis, including: participant observation, interviews, focus groups, content analysis, visual sociology and historical comparison. With quantitative methods the researcher approached social phenomena from the perspective that they can be measured or quantified. 24 https://www.slideshare.net/manukumarkm/historical-methods-in-research.[accessed18/5/2019]. 25 https://revisesociology.com//2016/01/03/research-methods-sociological.[accessed18/5/2019]. 10 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1.6.1 Primary Sources The researcher used primary sources such as unpublished materials on the church including letters, memos, and minutes of meetings, pamphlets, calendars, archival materials, and newspapers. Some academics in the area of Pentecostalism were also consulted. 1.6.2. Secondary Sources The secondary sources used by the researcher included the reading and analyzing of published documents. The published documents included books, journals, and published papers delivered at various fora. 1.7 LITERATURE REVIEW In Max Assimeng’s book, Saints and Social Structures, Pentecostalism is explained as a movement, which is emotionally oriented and lacks intellectual and doctrinal emphases.26 He described it as having a vigorous style of worship and its emphasis on ecstatic elements to a degree unusual in other branches of Christianity.27 It is expected to predispose illiterate and semi-literate people towards it, with some evidence that this has been the case. Assimeng, traces the history of twentieth-century Pentecostalism to Topeka, Kansas, in the United States where it began. He opine that in Africa Pentecostalism started in Liberia, where Pentecostal missionaries first arrived, since it was a country founded as a settlement for freed American 26 Max Assimeng, Saints and Social Structure (Tema: Ghana Publishing Corporation, 1974), 133. 27 Assimeng, Saints and Social Structure, 133. 11 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh slaves.28 He also mentions countries like South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria where Pentecostal groups like the Assemblies of God sent missionaries from the United State of America. Again, he considered Nigeria’s Pentecostalism to be a variety of indigenous characteristics and independent Pentecostal-style churches. He looked at the ministry of some early indigenous Africa Pentecostals like William Wade Harris and Garrick Sokan Braide. He argued that crisis situations had usually turned people’s attention to matters of the Spirit.29 Furthermore, Assimeng discussed a phenomenon which arose after 1954 where Pentecostalism had earlier been regarded as belonging to the working class or the poor layers of Ghana’s social and economic spectrum, had changed to attract ministers of the cabinet, prominent Ghanaian lawyers, leading politicians and so on.30 According to him this happened due to some political crisis that sent politicians and others to seek protection and salvation in ecstatic religious movements.31 Finally, he discussed Pentecostal involvement in social services like provision of hospitals facilities, education and others, which Pentecostals did not do much in this regard. Also, according to him the legacy of the Pentecostals missionaries to Africa is the Spirit of religious independency.32 Assimeng’s brilliant work had concentrated mostly on Nigerian Pentecostalism. This research focused on Ghanaian Pentecostalism especially as it manifests in the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), circumstances leading to its birth and development and how the church’s governance structures have influenced its growth over the 28 Assimeng, Saints and Social Structure, 135. 29 Assimeng, Saints and Social Structure, 140. 30 Assimeng, Saints and Social Structure, 156. 31 Assimeng, Saints and Social Structure, 156. 32 Assimeng, Saints and Social Structure, 157. 12 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh decades. Discussions on Pentecostalism, provision of health, and educational amenities which clearly shows religion in public life had been used as foundation to this research. . Kingsley Larbi in his book, Pentecostalism: The Eddies of Ghanaian Christianity, attempted to give a thorough historical account on classical Pentecostal churches in Ghana. Larbi, provided a complete history of Ghanaian Pentecostalism which had been virtually neglected by scholars. Larbi’s work traced the origins of Ghanaian Pentecostalism, its development and impact, and the movement’s concept of salvation. He analyzed the Akan primal cosmology which he basically considered its concept of salvation. He also, established that to the “Akan’s” salvation had to do with concrete realities, things that one can identify with in the day-to-day life and immediate dangers that militate against individual or communal survival and enjoyment of life in all its fullness. He continued that it is in this contextual understanding of salvation, which resonates with the Pentecostals doctrine of prosperity that has influenced the growth of the Pentecostal movement in Ghana.33 Larbi, further provided some information on the forerunners of the twentieth century renewal movements such as; William Wade Harris, John Swatson and Sampson Oppong. According to him their works marked the beginnings of the sunsum sore ‘Spiritist Churches’ and traced the origins and development of classical Ghanaian Pentecostal groups like the Christ’s Apostolic Church as well as the neo-Pentecostal groups like the International Central Gospel Church these forerunners . He argued further that these Pentecostal groups had really provided Ghanaian spirituality with the studying of scriptures, and prayer meetings among others. 33 Larbi, Pentecostalism: The Eddies of Ghanaian Christianity, 3. 13 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Moreover, Larbi gave a detailed Ghanaian Pentecostal way of salvation thus, receiving of healing and deliverance from evil and demonic oppressions. Larbi’s work is a well-researched one and has a direct relevance to this thesis. The background to Pentecostalism he provided from the forerunners through the classical Ghanaian Pentecostalism to the neo-Pentecostals were quite helpful for this work. However it is surprising that although CFCI is an off shoot of the Apostolic Church, Larbi completely ignore that history and the circumstances that led to the break-away as well the spread of CFCI across Ghana, Africa and other parts of the world. It is this gap among others that this research sought to fill. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu in his book African Charismatics: Current developments within independent indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana revealed that the growth of African Christianity has been conspicuous in the arena of Pentecostalism.34 Asamoah-Gyadu defined Pentecostalism as essentially an experience rather than a doctrinal concept. According to him, Pentecostalism at the moment represents the most cogent, powerful and visible evidence of religious renewal and influence in Ghana. He traced the roots of worldwide Pentecostalism to the Azusa street movement of 1901 and 1906 respectively. He also, considered how some African prophets through their magnetic personality and campaigns of revival and renewal drew masses into Christianity especially in Ghana. He considered Western mission-related Pentecostal denominations to have their roots in indigenous initiatives, but became linked quite early with foreign Pentecostal missions and brought growth to Ghanaian Christianity.35 34 Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics (Leiden: African Christian Press, 2005), 10. 35 Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics, 23. 14 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh According to him another wave of Pentecostal Christianity experiencing growth and influences in Ghana and Africa is the neo-Pentecostal or charismatic movement. Asamoah-Gyadu, also discussed current development within Ghanaian Christianity and attempted to identify some causes of the decline, and remedies in the sunsum sore as well as rise of prayer renewal groups in the mainline churches. He is of the view that, the diminishing of sunsum sore has not erased their unique contribution to African Christianity.36 Also, according to him a factor that has contributed to the decline of the sunsum sore is what he termed as “demystification of prophetism”, thus, as African prophets their style of ministry were based mostly on mystical postures they demonstrate, following the religious experience culminating in their calling. Asamoah-Gyadu, further revealed how the charismatic movement came to expose the sunsum sore and traditional mission churches with their radicalization of the biblical idea of universal priesthood so that, the leader in principle become only a first among equals. Moreover, he discussed the neo - Pentecostal concept of salvation which is, repentance from sin and accepting Christ as Lord and savior and also being empowered by the Holy Spirit to do exploit. In his view, God’s spirit is dynamic and so is culture therefore, Ghanaian Pentecostalism will therefore continue to change. Asamoah-Gyadu’s work had great importance for the present work, however, he ignored the incidence of “break-away” or schism, which has been constantly associated with Ghanaian Pentecostalism since its introduction in Ghana. The research considered some factors that contributed to break-away of CFCI from the Apostolic Church and its contribution to the growth of Pentecostalism in Ghana as well as growth in the 36 Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics, 36. 15 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh neo-Pentecostal churches, the decline in the “Spiritist Churches” and their contribution to African Christianity as a guide to this work Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, in an article titled Pentecostalism and the Missiological Significance of Religious Experience: The case of Ghana’s “Church of Pentecost”37 attempted to use the case of Ghana’s Church of Pentecost to illustrate the importance of religious experience to the mission of the Christian church. He indicated that current studies on Christianity and globalization generally acknowledge Pentecostalism as the fastest growing stream of Christianity in the world today. According to him Pentecostalism refers to Christian groups which emphasis salvation in Christ as a transformative experience wrought by the Holy Spirit and in which pneumatic phenomena, including speaking in tongues’, prophecies, visions, healing and miracles in general, perceived as standing in historic continuity with the experiences of the early church as found especially in the Acts of the Apostles, are sought, accepted, valued, and consciously encouraged among members as signifying the presence of God and experiences of his Spirit.38 He also claimed that the sheer force and massive presence of Pentecostal Christianity puts the movement at the cutting edge of the global missionary enterprise. 37 Trinity Journal of Ghana and Theology, vol. XII, 1&2 (2002), 32. 38 Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, ‘Pentecostalism and the Missiological Significance of Religious Experience: The Case of ‘Ghana’s Church of Pentecost’, Trinity Journal of Church and Theology, vol. XII, 1&2 (2002), 32. 16 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh According to him, Pentecostalism has become a Third World phenomenon, with its diversity and array of forms, representing the most concrete evidence of the shift in the Centre of gravity of Christianity from the Northern to the Southern continents. 39 Furthermore, he claimed that the essential core of Pentecost revival is the experience of the Holy Spirit in salvific transformation, radical discipleship and manifestations of acts of power that demonstrate the presence of the Kingdom of God among his people. And that the Pentecostal Movement will have to be credited for its reminder to the traditional churches that the non-rational dimension of Religion, in this case the experience of the spirit is important in Christian faith and life.40 Asamoah-Gyadu, referred to a foreword by Paul Gifford in Kingsley Larbi’s book titled: Pentecostalism; the Eddies of Ghanaian Christianity, as “thorough, almost encyclopaedic’ and it serves as a timely balance for African Christian historiography that had hitherto, been skewed in favor of the historic mission and independent indigenous Pentecostal churches.”41 He made the assertion that, in spite of Church of Pentecost’s massive presence in Ghana and beyond it has not attracted attention in academic studies mainly because its brand of Christianity, unlike that of the independent Charismatic churches, raises few controversies that will excite Western authorities on African Christianity.42 He asserted, that the reasons that accounted for the phenomenal success of the Church of Pentecost is about their emphasis on the experience of the Spirit. This according to him defines both the character and mission of the church. 39 Asamoah-Gyadu, ‘Pentecostalism and the Missiological Significance’, 30. 40 Asamoah-Gyadu, ‘Pentecostalism and the Missiological Significance’, 30. 41 Asamoah-Gyadu, ‘Pentecostalism and the Missiological Significance’, 30. 42 Asamoah-Gyadu, ‘Pentecostalism and the Missiological Significance’, 31. 17 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Asamoah–Gyadu further argued that the neglect of pneumatological experience has led to the rise of various independent churches across sub-Saharan Africa, that notwithstanding, it has not been adequately dealt with by studies in African Christian theology. He is of the view that African Christian theology has been preoccupied with what is termed ‘Africanisation’, that is, the reformation of liturgies and the incorporation of tradition or African religio-cultural symbols into indigenous Christian worship. According to him, Pentecostal Christianity has performed well in most of Africa partly because Pentecostalism provides ritual contexts within which people may experience God’s presence and power in forceful and demonstrable ways. Also, such demonstration of power was sought for from local deities and gods before many Africans concerned turned to the God of the Bible.43 Asamoah-Gyadu’s work served as a basis to guide this work. His argument concerning issues of Church of Pentecost’s massive presence in Ghana yet had not attracted scholarship; the church which seem not to attract western scholars because hardly would the church raise any controversies; the success to growth as a result of the characteristics and mission of the church; and above the church’s reformation of liturgy by incorporation of African-religio-cultural symbols into Christian worship had contributed significantly to this research. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu in his inaugural lecture 16th December, 2010 presented an article titled “Taking Territories and Raising Champions”: Contemporary Pentecostalism and the Challenging Face of Christianity in Africa 1980 – 2010. In the lecture he examined the very 43 Asamoah-Gyadu, ‘Pentecostalism and the Missiological Significance’, 31. 18 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh specific ways in which Charismatic Pentecostals have influenced Christianity in sub – Saharan Africa.44 In the first part of the lecture he addressed Pentecostalism and Christian Transformation in Africa. He described Pentecostalism as a pneumatic religious form, a global movement with many local varieties, which various studies have regarded as the fastest growing stream of Christianity in the world today.45 According to him, in sub –Saharan Africa, contemporary manifestations are in the form of ‘Taking Territories’ and ‘Raising Champions of Christian Missions.46 For instance, according to him currently the Kingsway International Christian Center (KICC) has taken over the territory of the Church of England as the Church with the single largest active congregation in Western Europe. Also, on the subject “raising champions”, he points to the manifestations of new champions of Christian missions challenging the old paradigm of enculturation associated with the leadership of the historic mission denominations. He argued that contemporary Pentecostals have within a generation, transformed the global Christian Landscape, helping to make Christianity a primarily non Western religion today.47 Asamoah-Gyadu referred to Charismatic Christianity as a Religious Revolution or a Religious Change, which is similar to the political revolution which occurred in Africa around the same period when the new movements were emerging. He noted that, in the late 1970 and 80’s there 44 Asamoah-Gyadu, “Taking Territories & Raising Champions”, 6. 45 Asamoah-Gyadu, “Taking Territories & Raising Champions”, 2. 46 Asamoah-Gyadu, “Taking Territories & Raising Champions”, 2. 47 Asamoah-Gyadu, “Taking Territories & Raising Champions”, 4. 19 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh were the formation of Charismatic churches out of the then conservative evangelical non – denominational Town Fellowships and other musical groups.48 Furthermore, he discussed the general characteristics of contemporary Pentecostalism as having a charismatic and often well-educated, gifted, articulate and professional leadership; mostly urban-centered mega-size congregations that appeal to an upwardly mobile youth; worship styles that are exuberant, affective, emotionally-laden, expressive and dynamic; the innovative uses of modern media technologies such as interactive internet websites and the use of power-point in preaching; extensive and evangelistic uses of media for advertising religious programs and mediating religious services and supernatural power; an internationalism that is evident in the names, choice of religious symbolism, the worldwide missionary peregrinations of the leadership; and the establishment of transnational networks including the formation of foreign branches; and the preaching of a Christian message that directly addresses contemporary concerns of upward mobility; seizing social, political and economic opportunities; and the application of certain social and biblical principles for the realization of success in life. 49 He defined Champions as those with the ability to dislodge demons from territories where they are unwanted, including from human affairs and endeavors and physical spaces. According to him champions also include charismatic leaders with their very impressive territorial controls, 48 Asamoah-Gyadu, “Taking Territories & Raising Champions”, 5. 49 Asamoah-Gyadu, “Taking Territories & Raising Champions”, 13. 20 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh whether in the size of Churches, personal acquisitions, political and economic clout, international travel and networking, and other such areas in which, again, both they and their members have become more prominent than in the past.50 Commenting on the synthesis with African Religious realities and world view, Asamoah- Gyadu agreed with Walter Hollenweger and Harvey Cox that, the ability to take indigenous worldviews seriously and articulate a religious response to them within a Christian context has been a major strength of religious innovation in Africa and is something that has continued with contemporary Pentecostalism.51 The practice by African Pentecostals in search for breakthroughs in life, simply inveigh against enemies and call upon the fire of God to destroy them, had always being the practice of indigenous religiosity showing how Pentecostal spirituality connects very strongly with indigenous beliefs systems in Africa. He attempted to highlight on the subject reinvention of Prophetism and compared the older independent church and the contemporary Pentecostal churches and showed from some illustrations that, there are continuities between the theological focus of the old and new forms of Christian innovation in Africa.52 According to him the constant search for advancement, protection, and prevention explains the proliferation of Pentecostal-Charismatics healing-camps, prayer vigil and the re-emergence of Prophets in charismatic Christianity who are like traditional diviners who specialize in dealing with the powers of evil in order that negative destinies may be brought back on course. He 50 Asamoah-Gyadu, “Taking Territories & Raising Champions”, 18. 51 Asamoah-Gyadu, “Taking Territories & Raising Champions”, 16. 52 Asamoah-Gyadu, “Taking Territories & Raising Champions”, 18. 21 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh further asserted that these new centers serves purposes that are not dissimilar to the ‘mercy ground’ and the ‘garden’, associated with older AICs. This in-depth work by Asamoah-Gyadu which revealed the following facts; that contemporary Christianity indigenous churches are making Christianity a non-Western religion; also the emergence of new movements as a revolution to develop sub-Saharan Africa into a major heartland of Christianity; taking indigenous worldviews and articulating religious response to them; and the explanation to proliferation and Pentecostal-Charismatic healing-camps and others served as a guide to my work.53 Cephas Omenyo in his book Pentecost outside Pentecostalism investigated and documented the origin, the process and the impact of the charismatic renewal on the mainline churches in Ghana.54 His view was that the Para Church evangelical activities championed by Ghana Evangelical Society could be credited for introducing the Pentecostal/Charismatic expression into the mainline churches. According to him the ‘Non-Denominational Revival Movements’ stressed the fact that members should not leave their churches, that is, the mainline churches but to stay and bring about revitalization into their churches, this according to him brought about significant growth in the Charismatic renewals that had been formed within the mainline churches. 53Asamoah-Gyadu, “Taking Territories & Raising Champions”, 18. 54 Omenyo, Pentecost outside Pentecostalism, 97. 22 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh He stated that members of the fellowship introduced some of their practices of the fellowship into the prayer groups within the churches and eventually into the entire churches.55 Omenyo, makes this point strongly in his book that the activities of the ‘Non-Denominational Movements’ and the personalities involved directly or indirectly affected the mainline churches. He discussed also, the historical origins of Christianity and denominations in Ghana, for instance, the historical beginnings of mainline churches such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church and the Anglican Church, and their gradual development over the years.56 He also touched on new groups at the time, like the African Independent Churches and the classical Pentecostal Churches, and also the activities of some Charismatic leaders for example Wisdom Defeamekpor the leader of Grace Chapel, and the late Evangelist Akwesi Amoako, the leader of The Resurrection Power and Living Bread Ministry. Omenyo, discussed the spirituality of the renewal groups in the mainline churches, their prayer, fasting, spiritual power, manifestation of the Holy Spirit, Holiness Ethics and their praises. He considered their doctrines for instance, their Christology, pneumatology, healing, ecclesiology, mission and evangelism, spiritual ware fare and their new birth. Above all he looked at their practices like speaking in tongues and prophesies of the Renewal groups within the mainline churches. He finally analyzed the relationship of the mainline churches and the renewal groups within these churches.57 Omenyo’s work is a well-researched work that has 55 Omenyo, Pentecost outside Pentecostalism, 96. 56 Omenyo, Pentecost outside Pentecostalism, 43. 57 Omenyo, Pentecost outside Pentecostalism, 76. 23 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh great influence on this research work because it did not leave out the emergence of classical Pentecostal churches in Ghana, however, it fell short of looking at the break away groups from the classical Pentecostal Churches. It also analyzed the relationship of the mainline churches and the renewal groups within these churches and it served as basis to analyze the research work. This research work is on a group that broke away from a classical Pentecostal group in the Western Region of the country. Cephas Omenyo and Abamfo Atiemo in an article on Claiming Religious Space: The case of Neo Prophetism in Ghana,58 discussed another type of Pentecostal Christianity that has emerged in Ghana since the 1990’s. This new type of Pentecostal Christianity according to them has witnessed the emergence and steady growth of what they described as neo-Prophetism. According to them, there is the need for a reconsideration of the explanations for the occurrence of new religious movements of the Pentecostal type. They cited Paul Gifford’s explanation that “Ghana’s new religious movements flourished mainly because they claim it possess answers to the most pressing existential problems, and economic survival.”59 Furthermore, they also disclosed that “new movements often emerge to serve the religious needs of people in specific generational brackets, socio-economic class and of a religio-cultural orientation.”60 In summary they are of the view that to a large extent, the question of finding space for oneself when the culture and worship styles of the dominant or older movement appear to be crowding out people of a 58 Cephas Omenyo and Abamfo Atiemo, ‘Claiming Religious Space: The Case of Neo-Prophetism in Ghana‘, Ghana Bulletin of Theology, vol. 1, No. 1 (2006), 55-68. 59 Omenyo and Atiemo, Claiming Religious Space, 55. 60 Omenyo and Atiemo, Claiming Religious Space, 55. 24 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh certain type of religio-cultural orientation and socio-economic status or failing to cater for the concerns of the younger generation has contributed to the rise of this new type of movement or this phenomenon.61 The authors further discussed the problem of typology, claiming the emergency of ‘neo- Prophetism’ has further complicated the issue of categorizing African founded Pentecostal/Charismatic - type of Churches founded by Ghanaians. They claim that attempt by scholars to categorize this new phenomenon has been extremely difficult. They cited John S. Pobee who collaborated with Hollenweger to support their assertion that “Typology is not always helpful because AIC’s are dynamic and under constant charge.62 They argued further that the kind of taxonomy used by some scholars, are not fairly comprehensive criteria to serve as a guide to the classification (taxonomy).63 They also agreed with Hollenweger and Pobee that the “neo-Prophetic” phenomenon has “the fast changing religious scene which makes typologizing of Christian renewal movements quite problematic” and indicated that scholars must not be ignorant about this dynamic phenomenon. According to them the phenomenon deserve to be discussed in its own right, that is, tracing its origins for example, will make it easy to delineate it from other categories of Pentecostal- type.64 61 Omenyo and Atiemo, Claiming Religious Space, 55. 62 Omenyo and Atiemo, Claiming Religious Space, 56. 63 Omenyo and Atiemo, Claiming Religious Space, 57. 64 Omenyo and Atiemo, Claiming Religious Space, 58. 25 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Furthermore, in an attempt to establish the fact that the neo- Prophetic phenomenon should be discussed in its proper historical settings, their work focused on Prophet Salifu Amoako and Emmanuel Kweku Apraku and their generally accepted pre-cursor, the Late Prophet Francis Amoako. They analyzed their particular teachings and practices, for instance, the concept of Otanfo (enemy), the practice of “akwankyere” (guidance), and the various forms of exorcism and healing and how they fit into the history and the phenomenon of Christian renewal in Ghana. They indicated that most of these neo-prophetic ministries are akin to that of their earliest Ghanaian “ancestors” such as Wade Harris and Sampson Oppong, which appeared to be mostly ignored by the mainstream Pentecostal-Charismatic churches that are becoming increasingly sophisticated and elitist, thus, making them incontrovertibly relevant. Also their ministry revolves mainly around the prophetic Charisma. They project themselves as people with great powers and capable of performing extraordinary feats. They are regarded by their client as people ‘who see.’65 They added that Ghanaians have developed the penchant for spiritual power as the source from which to find help to address all kinds of problems. “New movement” that stress spiritual power will always thrive and when they appear to be losing their initial charisma, new ones, more vigorous than the previous would emerge and provide space for people with appropriate gifts or skills to operate. “This development also creates room for a kind of spirituality that met the desire of ordinary African, who do not find fulfillment in existing Christian traditions.”66 65 Omenyo and Atiemo, Claiming Religious Space, 66. 66 Omenyo and Atiemo, Claiming Religious Space, 68. 26 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh In summary it is very revealing as Atiemo and Omenyo made the assertion that, the emergence of the classical Pentecostal churches provided the arena for those who longed for vigorous self-expression in worship and other religious and cultural routes to spirituality to operate freely. Some of such people whose spiritual orientation and lack of adequate educational background would have made it difficult for them to be accepted into the ministry of the mission instituted churches at the time, found spaces in classical Pentecostal churches as overseers and pastors.67 This piece of work provided a foundation to my research since Christian Faith Church International, broke away from a classical Pentecostal Church, whose leader had no formal educational background and who otherwise would not have fitted into the ministry of the mission instituted churches at the time. Atiemo and Omenyo’s work provided a background of three uneducated neo-Prophets who continuously looked for religious space. Thomas Oduro in his book Church of the Lord (Brotherhood): History, Challenges and Growth,68 discussed the beginnings of the Aladura Movement in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ghana. He first discusses four stages of planting Christianity in Africa beginning with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The western mission – founded churches, for instance, the mainline protestant churches like the Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican, and Assembly of God and Baptist denominations as the second stage. The African Independent churches (AICs) which desire to free African Christianity of western structures, ideologies and practices as the third stage. Then, the fourth and final stage, of which was carried out by mostly African Christians who emphasized the importance of using the gifts of the Holy Spirit, 67 Omenyo and Atiemo, Claiming Religious Space, 68. 68 Oduro, Church of the Lord Brotherhood 27 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh particularly, the gifts of speaking in tongues and prophetic utterances during worship and ministry. For example, those denominations popularly called Charismatic/Pentecostal Churches.69 Oduro, focused more on the third stage of the planting of Christianity in Africa, which is the African Independent Churches (AICs) era. He put the African Independent Churches in Ghana into two categories, the first category are those established by Ghanaians and the second category are those originally planted in other countries, but were later planted in Ghana by non – Ghanaians. He narrates the historical account of the Church of the Lord which was founded as a result of the epidemics that occurred after the First World War (1914 – 1918). The outbreak of the epidemics (influenza and bubonic plagues) killed many people all over the world resulting in many Africans consulting their gods to find the causes and the cures for the diseases after their resort to western medicine for healing had failed.70 Oduro, indicated that some members of the St. Savior’s church, an Anglican Church at Ijebu – Ode in Nigeria, resolved to pray to God till He revealed to them a cure for the diseases. This group according to him was formed and prayed relentlessly, and became popularly known as aladura, a word in the Yoruba language which means, “Praying people.”71 He pointed out the training of their ministers which initially was not similar to the formal seminary training but how their training was carved to be relevant to the Vision and Mission of 69 Oduro, Church of the Lord Brotherhood, 2. 70 Oduro, Church of the Lord Brotherhood, 10. 71 Oduro, Church of the Lord Brotherhood, 11. 28 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh the leaders and how successful they were in molding generations of powerful and committed leaders for this holy enterprise. He further discussed the sacrifices the early leaders and their disciples made towards the salvation of the unsaved at the expense of their own comfort. He also discussed the organization and the administration of the church, and the various challenges that confronted the church and its associated tensions leading to the pursuit of autonomy and the eventual break away by the Ghana group.72 Oduro’s work is comprehensive and served as a guide to my work especially the organization of the work as well as the subject of break-away in the Aladura movement. The various literatures reviewed above served as a foundation or a guided to the research work. It is upon the literature reviewed that the theoretical framework for the research was chosen. 1.7 Theoretical Framework / Conceptual Framework For the purposes of this study the researcher employed Donald McGavran’s three essential Church Growth principles as the conceptual framework for a holistic understanding of Church Growth. According to Gary L. McIntosh, the Church Growth principles as developed by Donald McGavran can be summarized in three statements.73 The first core principle of Church Growth is that Jesus Christ has given his disciples the Great Commission “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always; even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19 -20). In this regard, it is expected 72 Oduro, Church of the Lord Brotherhood, 8. 73 Paul E. Engle and Gary L. McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement (Michigan: Zondervan Grand Rapids, 2004), 15. 29 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh of Christians to win souls and disciple them to become responsible members of Christ’s church. The second core principle is that Christ has given the church the Great Commission and Christians must be accountable to the command. On this note the causes and barriers to the church on the Great Commission must be investigated. The third core principle is to develop specific plans based on the facts that are discovered. Thus, taking the initiative to set goals and develop bold strategies to win people to Christ and to plant new churches, as the practical results of meaningful conviction and research including church governance. The three essential principles are significant because they provided a conceptual framework for examining the activities, growth and impact of Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). 1.8 Organization of the Work The work has been organized into five chapters as follows; Chapter One constitutes the introduction, which provides background information, statement of the problem, aims and objectives of the study, research questions, scope, and limitations of the study as well as the methodology, literature review and the Conceptual framework. Chapter Two examines the concept of church growth and governance by various scholars. Chapter Three examines the history, organization and governance of (CFCI) in line with the conceptual framework of church growth and governance. Chapter Four discusses the growth of CFCI: the organization, activities and governance. Chapter Five is summary, findings, recommendations and conclusion. 30 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER TWO CHURCH GROWTH AND GOVERNANCE 2.0 Introduction This chapter seeks to analyze the various concepts of church growth and church governance as discussed by various scholars. The analysis was used as a Conceptual framework to discuss the various dimensions and factors that have contributed to growth in Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). The analysis of the discussions helped to establish the relationship between church growth and church governance and subsequently, it was used to measure the impression of growth in (CFCI), in the ensuing chapter. 2.1 Church Growth: Dimensions and Types According to the New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, church is derived from the Greek word ‘ekklesia’, which means “called out”, it is an etymology of ek which means “out”, and kaleo which means “to call”.74 The word church may be used to signify the entire body of those who are saved by their relation to Christ; a particular Christian denomination; and the aggregate of all the ecclesiastical communions professing faith in Christ. Also, a single organized Christian group; or a building designated for a Christian group.75 Richard Foli, is of the view that the word growth should be considered to have more than one meaning, both in relation to plant and people and also the growth of churches.76 Foli’s, assertion is that when we speak of church growth, we are not talking only of the numerical increase of church membership. He opined that, our understanding of what is involved in 74 Merrill F. Unger, The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 236. 75 Unger, The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, 236. 76 Richard Foli, Contemporary Wesleyan Methodist in Ghana: A study of Problems of Church Growth: (March, 1994), 10. 31 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh church growth would be heightened if the various meanings of the word growth are set down.77 In this regard he explained the meaning of growth as whether a type of growth is in decline, stable or on the increase. The term church growth has been accredited to Donald McGavran, as the one who coined it.78 According to an account attributed to him, he needed a new term to replace the word evangelism, because the word evangelism is often confused with catechism classes, baptism, and or church membership.79 Also, some scholars claimed that McGavran used the term church growth to describe what happens, when evangelism and the Great Commission were carried out that is when people are won to Christ, baptized, and taught the word of God, and as a result, churches grow.80 MaGavran who is referred to by Gary L. McIntosh as the father of modern church growth movement81 held the view that, when we talk of evangelism, it should be understood as an “input term” which is “gospelizing” the lost, but church growth should be seen as an “output term”, to mean that when the lost are properly evangelized, the churches grow.82 77 Foli, Contemporary Wesleyan Methodist in Ghana, 10. 78 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 15. 79 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 36. 80 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 36. 81 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 7. 82 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 36. 32 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Furthermore, in the past some scholars held the view that, the definition of church growth had three separate aspects.83 The first of the title was associated with numerical growth: the growth of the church by attendance, offerings, baptisms, membership, and so on. Consequently, these areas of growth were observable, measurable and repeatable.84 The second aspect was planting churches both within and across cultural and class barriers. McGavran is quoted, as often repeatedly using the phrase “make disciples of all nations” to suggest that when the Great Commission is properly implemented, people are won to Christ, baptized, and taught to obey Christ. This assertion therefore, means that the heart of church growth is to plant churches that will carry out both evangelism and edification.85 Furthermore, the Great Commission targets “all people groups” and invariably includes cross-cultural ministry that recognizes the barriers of culture, race, and language - cross-cultural church planting.86 The third and the final part or aspect of the church growth definition is that, it should be seen in its scientific research base; that is, church growth is a discipline or science.87 According to the explanation given to this third definition of church growth, scholars believe that church growth research does not take place exclusively in the realm of the science that are tied to the “physical world,” thus, the area of psychology, anthropology, and sociology. Rather, church growth begins with doctrine or systematic theology which is based on the truth of the 83 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 38. 84 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 38. 85 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 38. 86 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 39. 87 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 39. 33 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Bible, then applies research to culture.88 That is, “church growth is a Bible based ministry which is data driven in strategy.”89 Church growth movement, defines church growth as, a discipline which investigates the nature, expansion, planting, multiplication, function and health of Christian Churches as they relate to the effective implementation of Christ’s Commission to make disciples of all peoples’. Church growth advocates strive to integrate the expansion of the church with the best insights of contemporary social and behavioral science, employing as the initial frame of reference, the foundational work done by Donald McGavran.90 All of these views by proponents of church growth are not without their attendant criticisms from other scholars. For example, according to Elmer Towns, the critics indicates “the stress on numerical growth, proselytism, priority of the church over interdenominational agencies, priority of evangelism over ministry, undue emphasis on moving barriers that prohibit evangelism, pragmatism versus scriptural authority, and manipulation and or unbiblical motivation.”91 Furthermore, some other group of scholars also criticized “the homogenous unit principles as cultural exclusivism in the church viewing it as racial membership policy rather than understanding it as an evangelist outreach strategy when applied to cross-cultural evangelism.”92 88 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 39. 89 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 39. 90 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 40. 91 Elmer Towns, “Effective Evangelism Views” in Paul E. Engle and Gary L. McIntosh (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement (USA: Grand Rapids, 2004), 50. 92 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 50. 34 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Finally, on the issue of criticism, John MacArthur notes that “the modern idea of “contextualization” has infected the church with the spirit of the age. It has opened the church’s doors wide for worldliness, shallowness, and in some cases a crass, party atmosphere. The world now sets the agenda for the church.”93 Church growth according to Peter Wagner had been described by McGavran to “mean all that is involved in bringing men and women who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ into fellowship with Him and into responsible church membership.”94 According to Gbordzoe: Church growth can be defined as the bringing of people, into a personal relationship and fellowship with Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and into responsible Church membership, such that the membership of the local congregation will increase in faith, holiness and other spiritual and material qualities while at the same time increasing in number and also opening and multiplying other branches.95 Gbordzoe’s, definition above, however, suggests that a talk about the growth of a church should be considered in three ways that is, spiritual, numerical and geographical growth. The understanding is that the spiritual growth transform into numerical growth and the numerical growth possibly into geographical growth when the church decides to spread into other communities. Practically, there is the possibility for a church to grow in each of the specific growth areas mentioned above without the other. However, for growth to be holistic, it would 93 https//standardbearer.rfpa.org/node/49726 [Assessed: 20th July, 2018] 94 C. Peter Wagner, Church Growth & Whole Gospel (New York: Harper & Row, 1987), 14. 95 E. K. Gbordzoe, Prayer and Church Growth: A Practical Model (Accra: GEC Press, 2010), 61 35 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh be thought that growth ought to be experienced in all three dimensions – a discussion that I shall return to later, in this section. From the perspectives of scholars on church growth it becomes apparent that there exists several variables that measure the growth of a church. This is because scholars have conceptualized, diverse, and at times similar dimensions of church growth; three of which feature in the discussions below. According to McGavran, the growth of a church could be distinguished into three dimensions, which are biological growth, transfer growth and conversion growth.96 Scholars like Ralph Winter and Peter Wagner have identified dimensions such as internal growth, expansion growth, extension growth and bridging growth as concepts which are helpful in understanding Church growth.97 Roy Pointer, also a church growth scholar for instance, consider church growth in its numerical, conceptual, organic and incarnational dimensions as instruments to measure church growth.98 Furthermore, according to Foli, other missiologists have also categorized church growth into dimensions such as spiritual growth, numerical growth, and functional growth. The research discusses the various dimensions of growth by the aforementioned scholars. 96 Donald McGavran, Understanding Church Growth (USA: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979), 98. 97 Ralph Winter and Peter Wagner, Church Growth and the Whole Gospel: A Biblical Mandate (New York: Harper and Row: 1987), 14. 98 Roy Pointer, How Do Churches Grow? (Basingstoke, Hants: Marshall Morgan and Scott, 1984), 17. 36 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2.1.1 Biological Growth The first of the dimension of growth as indicated by McGavran is biological growth. This kind of growth is derived from those born into Christian families. Thus, most children of Christians eventually became Christians, for the simple reason that they grow to become or find themselves as members of the Christian faith. “As church members have babies, the attendance figures of the church swells.”99 In Genesis 1:28 the Bible teaches that, God commanded man to be fruitful and multiply, so also in Proverbs 22:6 teaches that “Parents should train up a child in the way he should go so that when he is old he will not depart away from it.” This means that it is expected of Christians to bring up their children in the Christian faith to automatically grow to become Christians. In my view, the biological growth is good to some extent, but it has a slow growth rate as a disadvantage. 2.1.2 Transfer Growth The second dimension of growth as McGavran points out is the Transfer growth.100 This is a kind of growth, where people who are transferred to or relocated to a new settlement had to join different churches because their former or old churches have no branch congregation in that community. Some scholars object to this kind of growth experienced by many churches and call it “sheep stealing.”101 There is certainly an increase in membership in the new church at this stage. There are other scholars who prefer to call it “finding lost sheep” because they are 99 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 45. 100 McGavran, Understanding Church Growth, 98. 101 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 45. 37 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh of the opinion that if a church is serious about reaching people, it should have a strategy for reaching Christians moving into its community.102 2.1.3 Conversion Growth The third dimension which McGavran teaches is conversion growth. This is sometimes called “making sheep.”103 This growth is the kind where those outside the church come to rest their faith intelligently on Jesus Christ and are baptized and “added to the Lord” in His church. This type of growth is similarly expressed by Ralph Winter and Peter Wagner as expansion growth.104 They opine that expansion growth is when a church receives new members into its fellowship, that is, new converts who had decided to join the church after their conversion. This occurrence judging from the arguments so far is an expansion growth in terms of adding members to the church. Furthermore, it is obvious so far considering the three distinguished dimensions of growth propagated by McGavran, is primarily on how a church increase in membership. Roy Pointer places all of the three dimensions of growth by McGavran under what he describes as the Numerical growth. It is precisely why I indicated previously that some of the different concept espoused by different scholars have been put together under one generalized conceptual framework by other scholars. According to Pointer, numerical growth is the increase in the number of membership of a church; his view is that growth should encompass 102 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 45. 103 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 45. 104 Winter and Wagner, Church Growth and The Whole Gospel, 14. 38 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh numerical and qualitative growth.105 Apart from Pointer bringing all the three distinguished dimensions of growth of McGavran under one umbrella of numerical growth he also, considers what he termed restoration as a form or dimension of growth. 2.1.4 Restoration Growth Roy Pointer asserts that Restoration growth is the type where Christians who have withdrawn from active participation of religious or Christian activities, (as they are also known as ‘the back slider’),106 rededicate their life and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and personal savior. According to Alfred Gibbs the ‘back slider’ was once a joyous Christians but now is the most miserable of people. Backsliders have lost the joy and, in some cases, the assurance of their salvation. Alfred Gibbs emphasizes that a person in this situation “is to seek to bring about a restoration of soul.”107 The restoration of soul happens through the confession and the forsaking of his sins and once again he is enabled to experience ‘joy in the God of his salvation.’ This type of growth in my view is in two forms, that is, both numerical growth and spiritual growth. Thus, numerical growth in the first instance is that, in some cases ‘the back slider’ virtually stops attending church, so his restoration adds to the number of membership. The second part of the growth is that, ‘the back slider’ may be in the Church but because of their sins they have lost their assurance of salvation. When such a person, is successfully brought to fellowship with God, it is also addition to the spiritual growth of the Church where 105 Qualitative growth is where the church desire for spiritual things, thus studying the word of God; very committed to praying always; living a Christ-like life; going on evangelism; and very committed to the things of God among others. 106 Alfred P. Gibbs, Personal Evangelism (Printed in United State of America, 1979), 63. 107 Alfred P. Gibbs, Personal Evangelism, 63. 39 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh his desire for the things of God increases and he makes every effort to work according to the dictates of God’s word. 2.1.5 Conceptual Growth Furthermore, a third dimension of growth that Roy Pointer promulgates is Conceptual growth. This type of growth according to him is the degree of consciousness that a community of faith has with regard to its nature and mission to the world. Also, Conceptual growth is growing up in maturity in the Christian faith. For instance, it is a stage where the Christian gains the ability to interact with the word of God in a meaningful manner so as to know the purpose of God for their lives. Moreover, this dimension of growth is in consonance with what Ralph Winter and Peter Wagner refers to as internal growth. According to them, this is a type of Church growth that occur within the fellowship and membership of the Church. It is a stage where members of the Church cultivate the desire to strengthen their faith in the Lord their God, thereby taking steps to live a Christ like life. This type of growth can be situated under spiritual growth of the church, with the reason being that there is no identifiable growth so to speak, but there is a kind of commitment to Christian doctrines or living. 2.1.6 Organic Growth According to Roy Pointer, Organic growth is also a fourth dimension or a kind of growth that can be described as the formation and functioning of a communal life of the local Church.108 It 108 Pointer, How Do Churches Grow? 28. 40 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh is more or less a system of relationship among members; it is also a form of government, financial structures, leadership and type of activities in which its time and resources are invested. This type of growth could also be considered as a spiritual growth in the sense that it cannot be seen as increase in membership but it promotes communal life of the local Church, which would be very difficult to quantify. 2.1.7 Extension Growth Ralph Winter and Peter Wagner indicated that extension growth is a dimension of growth where a local church as a policy decides to plant other satellite churches within the same town, district or region as a form of an outreach to the unsaved.109 For example, the church as a policy plants other branches in a similar setting where the community would be of the same tribe with the same cultural values. Incarnational Growth Incarnational growth according to Pointer, is the degree of involvement of a community of faith (church) in the life and the problems of her social environment. This is where the church as a policy supports the less privileged in her community. For example, the church may decide as their social responsibility to support an orphanage home with periodic supply of food stuffs, clothing and sometimes provide even shelter. Some Churches decide to adopt hospital wards, for example, children’s ward or maternity wards to support them with their needs. 109 Winter and Wagner, Church Growth and The Whole Gospel: A Biblical Mandate, 14. 41 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2.1.8 Bridging Growth Finally, the last of the dimension I would like to discuss is what Ralph Winter and Peter Wagner termed as bridging growth.110 This is where a local church cross culture and plant a church in a new cultural setting or environment. The local church ostensibly makes it a point to cross racial, social, and linguistic barriers to plant a church in a new cultural environment. The last two dimensions of Ralph Winter and Peter Wagner, namely external growth and bridging growth as had been discussed, could be subsumed under the broader umbrella of geographical growth.111 2.3 Towards a Holistic Understanding of Church Growth Critically analyzing the various dimension of church growth by the aforementioned scholars, one realizes that some of the different concepts espoused by different scholars can be put together under some generalized conceptual framework to measure church growth. Furthermore, the analysis of the various dimensions of growth so far, shows that it is most likely that there might be other concepts of growth which other scholars may propound. Nonetheless, what cuts through the various dimensions suggest that any holistic understanding of church growth should be viewed under the periscope of three types of growth that the researcher had alluded to several times in the previous pages that is spiritual growth, numerical growth and geographical growth. The researcher considers it so because clearly noticeable from the dimensions of growth by McGavran, the biological growth, transfer growth and conversional growth are all about increase in membership, which is numerical growth. 110 Winter and Wagner, Church Growth and The Whole Gospel, 14. 111 Winter and Wagner, Church Growth and The Whole Gospel, 15. 42 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh In effect real numerical growth occurs only when souls are added to the church through obedience to the gospel. Spiritual growth from all indications is the type of growth that is developed in the body of Christ. Thus, the character of the individual soul that is demonstrated towards the things of God, as defined in Roy Pointer’s conceptual growth, and Ralph Winter and Peter Wagner’s internal growth dimensions. Lastly, the extension growth and bridging growth as propounded by Winter and Wagner clearly indicate geographical growth. This normally occurs when a church as a policy decides to plant new churches in new or different localities. Whichever way church growth is conceptualized, it must be emphasized that a fundamental structure that works towards the growth of church and/or its determinant in the growth of a church is the governance structure that has been put in place. In other words, the current researcher considers a direct and positive correlation between church governance and church growth. Consequently, in the next section, the researcher explored the understanding of church governance in order to draw the correlations. 2. 4 Church Governance There are several basic forms of church government (polity) which had been formulated and practiced by various denominations but the researcher decided to restrict the study to the 43 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh following forms of church government: Monarchial, Episcopalian, Presbyterian and Congregational.112 2.4.1 The Monarchial System The Monarchial System, according to Robert Welch,113 is a strict hierarchy system which is practiced by the Roman Catholic Church, for example, with the Pope as the head. The decrees of the Pope are authoritative and must be followed by Roman Catholics worldwide. Through a group of appointed cardinals and bishops, the Pope exercises control of the church by delegating responsibilities to them. “The Roman Catholic Church has the most complete system of hierarchy, with authority being vested especially in the supreme pontiff, the bishop of Rome the Pope.”114 2.4.2 The Episcopalian System The Episcopalian System, is where authority resides in a particular office, that of the bishop.115 Moreover, there are varying degrees of episcopacy such that the number of levels of bishops varies. According to Wayne Grudem, an archbishop has authority over many bishops who in turn also have authority over a diocese.116 The bishop has authority over the rector who is in charge of a local parish and sometimes a vicar who is an assistant or substitutes to a rector. The Methodist Church has the simplest form of episcopal system which has only one level of bishops. The Anglican Church has a more developed government structure and often speaks of 112 Robert H. Welch, Church Administration (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 67 113 Welch, Church Administration, 67. 114 Erickson, Christian Theology, 1081 115 Erickson, Christian Theology, 1081 116 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2007), 904. 44 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh “the Bishop-in-synod” as the force of authority and extends to standard areas of doctrine, discipline and worship. The Episcopal are churches that are members of the Anglican Communion in polity, however not all churches that self-identify as Anglican belong to the Anglican Communion and not all episcopal-governed churches are Anglican. 2.4.3 Presbyterian System The Presbyterian System, places authority in a regional hierarchy with series of representative bodies that exercise that authority. The local Church elect presbyters or elders whom they assess to be particularly qualified to rule the Church taking into cognizance the fact that they are exercising authority on behalf of Christ’s authority. That is, “the authority is of Christ is to be understood as dispensed to individual believers and delegated by them to the elders who represent them. Once elected or appointed, the elders function on behalf of or in the place of the individual believers.”117 The pastor of the Church will be one of the elders of the session, equal in authority to the other elders. This session has governing authority over the local Church. However, the members of the session (the elders) are also members of the presbytery, which has authority over several branch Churches in the region.118 2.4.4 The Congregational System The congregational system, is where the local church practices, its own rules of conducts and appoint or elect its own leaders, who act for or on behalf of the Church, thus, they stress the role of the individual Christian and make the local congregation the seat of authority. 117 Erickson, Christian Theology, 1086. 118 Erickson, Christian Theology, 926. 45 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh According to Millard J. Erickson two concepts are basic to the Congregational system; autonomy and democracy. He explains that by autonomy the local congregation is independent and self-governing, that is, there is no external power that can dictate courses of action to the local church.119 Moreover, he further explained democracy to mean that every member of the local congregation has a voice in its affairs. In addition to that, authority is not the prerogative of a lone individual or select group but rather individual members of the congregation who possess and exercise authority. This system is practiced by the Baptist Church. 2.4.5 Towards a Holistic Understanding of Church Governance A critical look at the different church governance structures as discussed above by various scholars all indicates that the governance system as may be adopted by any church or organization is geared towards building a cohesive organization that would be established or strengthened through its leadership. The various systems reveal that authority of the organization and exercising of authority determines the survival of the organization. The “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:18-20) mandates the church to teach and establish souls in the faith. This serves as a conceptual framework to guide the church to adopt a system of governance that will help achieve that goal. It must be noted that a governance system adopted by any organization/church must result in church growth because as often referred to by Donald McGavran, “make disciples of all nations” is all about church growth. 119 Erickson, Christian Theology, 1089. 46 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2.5 Summary The church governance as a concept, in the actual sense, has been identified to be the operational and governance structure of the church. There is the need to apply the conceptual framework according to the guiding principles that are in place to lead into the mission or mandate of the church which is the “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:18-20). The church is required to send the gospel of Christ to the world, win souls and make them disciples of all the nations. If the church will carry out her core mandate then definitely the church will experience growth. Moreover, this commission to the church, if done right will affect all the three dimensions of growth as has been discussed. It is therefore established in this chapter that appropriate church governance will always lead to church growth. Thus, if the church will consider the Great Commission as its core mandate then all it takes to implement an appropriate governance structure should be employed to achieve that goal by reaching out to the unsaved and establishing them in the faith (church) which is growth. This therefore demonstrates a strong correlation between church governance and church growth. In the next chapter, the researcher used the conceptual framework of the church governance to explore the history, organization and governance of Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). 47 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER THREE HISTORY, ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNANCE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH CHURCH INTERNATIONAL (CFCI) 3.0 Introduction The Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) is a Pentecostal Church with its headquarters located in Sekondi/Takoradi, a twin city in the Western Region of Ghana. Western Region is located in the Southern Ghana, its spread from Ivory Coast border in the west to the Central Region in the east. It has a population of 2,376,021 at the last population census in 2010 and a land size of 23,921 km2.120 It has 22 districts and the people are predominantly of Akan culture. The Region has the highest rainfall pattern in Ghana with abundant natural resources, like gold, manganese, timber, oil and a fertile soil for the growing of cocoa.121 The (CFCI), although first established in the Western Region, has branches spread across some parts of the country and also has foreign branches in some part of Africa, United States of America, and Europe. The church was founded within a region where forerunners of the twentieth century renewal movements such as Prophet William Wade Harris, John Swatson and Sampson Oppong worked. This chapter seeks to consider the (CFCI), as a denomination founded by a charismatic figure that had no formal education. 120 https/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western Region_(Ghana)[Assessed:20th July, 2018] 121 https/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western Region_(Ghana)[Assessed:20th July, 2018] 48 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.1 The Birth of Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) On April 19, 1970, Prophet Joseph Botwe who later founded the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), arrived in Takoradi to take oversight responsibility of the Christ Apostolic Church branch in that town until December 31, 1975. During this period the Church ostensibly started experiencing numerical growth, due to the healing ministry of the prophet.122 The growth became possible because non-members of the church continuously joined the organization after their “practical salvation.”123 The idea behind this new doctrinal development is that, the people thought they needed a kind of security after their healing and deliverance from demonic possession and oppression. The prophet claimed to have been directed by God, to form an intercessory group which he did while he was still the overseer of the Christ Apostolic Church. They met to pray at a prayer healing camp called “Power House” at Lagos Town, Kwesimitsim a suburb of Takoradi. The early members of that intercessory prayer group were Joseph Bio, Samuel Adjei, David Opoku, Isaac Botwe, Kojo Krampah, J.B Amoani, S.K Yorke, Susanna Gyamson, Mary Ossei and the prophet Joseph Botwe.124 After the formation of the intercessory group, the prophet requested for autonomy from the Christ Apostolic Church. The Prophet’s expectation was to have the free hand to manage his prayer band and be an ordinary member of the church, that is, not to be on any payroll whilst he faithfully pays his tithe in the church. The then regional apostle of the church, Apostle Asare did not agree to the terms of the prophet and sacked him from the organization. This brought 122 Elder Joseph Bio: interview at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018. 123 “Practical Salvation”, thus, healing and deliverance from sickness and satanic oppression. 124 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe: interview at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018. 49 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh about tension in the relationship that existed between Apostle Asare and Prophet Botwe, since the prophet was not willing to respect the decision of the Apostle. A delegation was sent from the Christ Apostolic Church’s headquarters in Accra to assess the situation on the ground at the time. Upon their return to Accra, Prophet Botwe and the Regional Apostle were invited to the headquarters in an attempt to resolve the issue. The Prophet at the meeting maintained his position to remain autonomous. With that position taken by the prophet, the Christ Apostolic Church had no choice than to expel him from the church. Also another factor, which caused the prophet’s expulsion, was his over reliance on the many prophetic claims, which was becoming a nuisance to the church.125 Thus, it was nuisance because the church leadership felt his claims were bringing about consistent feuding among leadership of the church. The headquarters of the Christ Apostolic Church at this juncture, froze the bank account of the church in Takoradi and all properties belonging to the church that were in Prophet Botwe’s possession were collected from him. According to Rev Isaac Botwe the eldest son of Prophet Botwe, Apostle Peter Anim personally decided to intervene to settle the dispute but ill health did not allow him until his sudden death on February 7, 1984. In the year 1983, the prophet’s prayer group embarked on a three months prayer summit, during which a prophecy from God directed that the fellowship should be moved from Lagos Town in Kwesimintsim to Takoradi where a new church was formed and the name Christian Faith Church (CFC) was adopted.126 125 Rev Isaac Botwe: interview at Takoradi, on January 13, 2018. 126 Botwe: interview at Takoradi, on January 13, 2018. 50 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Most members of the fellowship remained part of the Church when it was incorporated on November 11, 1983. The group as a Church started meeting in the classroom of Harward School at Essikafo Ambantam in Takoradi. The Church has transitioned from holding on to a local focus to having an international agenda of taking the gospel back to the former heartlands of the faith in the West.127 The church is now known as Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) with branches in other parts of Africa, America, Europe, and Asia. This is precisely how most African Independent Churches (AICs) had begun in the past. According to the organization, as Constitution, their vision is to raise Christian leaders who will have the fear of God. 3.2 The Life of the Founder Prophet Joseph Botwe also known as Papa Osuapem was born in the year 1906. He was the fourth of eleven children, and of the eleven children he lived the longest. He celebrated his 100th birthday anniversary in June 2006 before his death later in the year.128 He was a native of Ajumako Besease in the Central Region of Ghana. His father a member of the Nsona clan and a cocoa farmer called Opanyin Kwesi Botwe, while his mother who is from the Anona clan was also a farmer, called Maame Aba Appiah, and popularly called Yaa Dubin, both parents 127 Kwabena. Asamoah-Gyedu, ‘’Taking Territories & Raising Champions’’ (Accra: Asempa Publishers, 2010), 32. 128 Joseph Krampah: interview at Tanokrom, on January, 13, 2018 51 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh were non-Christians and did not belong to any religious group, however, they were liberal towards traditional religious activities.129 The Prophet had no formal education but due to his early association with the Methodist Church and his role as an usher for a long period, he was later able to read the vernacular – Fanti Bible fluently. His followers regarded this achievement as a gift from God to help him in his call to leadership over his flock. At a very tender age the prophet accompanied his parents to Oppong Valley, a farming community in the Western Region of Ghana to seek greener pastures. There he joined his parents to work on their cocoa farm. His elder brother called Yaw Eduful introduced Joseph Botwe to the Methodist church at Oppong Valley. In 1918, the young Joseph and his mother Yaa Dubin resettled at Ajumaku Besease due to the mother’s ill health at the time. Later on in 1922, he returned to Oppong Valley and moved from there to Bogosu also in the Northern part of the Western Region where he secured a job at Bogosu Mining Company as an underground plumber. He worked in that capacity for a period of twelve years. During this period many catastrophic events took place in the life of the Prophet at the mines, such as, escaping from tragedies, impersonation act against him, among others but God who had predestined him for His work delivered him from all of them.130 The Prophet later resigned from the company and returned to his native town Ajumako Besease. He married Madam Sarah Botwe and had three children with her. They are Isaac Botwe, Emmanuel Botwe and Beatrice Botwe in that order. Prophet Joseph Botwe from his childhood had lived a life worthy of emulation until his death in 2006. Thus, he lived a selfless and 129 Botwe: at Takoradi, on January 13, 2018. 130 Isaac Botwe, The Biography and Ministry of Prophet Joseph Botwe (Takoradi: Jobio Press, 2017), 7. 52 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh humble life and this was evident from the testimony of Elder Bio, who maintained always sought for the interest of others and also that of the church rather than himself.131 On one occasion the church he founded realized the need for him to have a personal car in good condition, but when it got to his notice he declined the offer. In the minutes of the General Council it is stated thus: “the Chairman of the Church, Prophet Joseph Botwe before delivering his closing address, thanked the meeting for what they had thought of doing for him by way of buying him a car. He, however, said it would be more proper to have a car bought for the church other than buying another one for his personal life.”132 By this act he demonstrated, expressed his humility of character as confirmed also by most members of the church who interacted with the researcher. This behavior is in sharp contrast to what some Charismatic ministers teach, for example, according to Asamoah-Gyadu, the belief of Ghanaian neo-Pentecostals is that when a believer’s life is devoid of sin and demonic presence it is expected to be fruitful and prosperous.133 He quoted Pastor Mensa Otabil who once outlined his thought on “biblical prosperity” and stated that “biblical prosperity encapsulated good health and success but especially embodying material sufficiency if not excess, is meant by God to follow the believer through this life.”134 He advanced his point, by considering a situation where Pastor Mensa Otabil was given a Mercedes-Benz car by his congregation as a birthday gift and warmly 131 Elder Bio: at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018 132 Minutes of General Council Meeting, July, 1990, 9. 133 Kwabena. Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics (Leiden: African Christian Press, 2005), 201 134 Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics, 201 53 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh received it for his use. Pastor Mensa Otabil has an answer to the question, why a more modest car was not chosen for him? He explained that: The Benz serves as the amplification of the personality of the pastor because the pastor does not just occupy a spiritual position. He is a source of inspiration to the people he meets who do not relate to him as a pastor but relate to him at a certain level. So if the Church grows to a certain social standard and want the pastor to be able to meet people that he comes across with that kind of dignity then I think buying a Mercedes-Benz car is nothing of a big deal.135 Again Asamoah-Gyadu, referred to Duncan-Williams who also had this to say as a Charismatic pioneer “society is fully aware that the man of God would be stronger and better composed riding in a good car rather than waiting endless hours at a bus stop. Society takes care of its chief executives to ensure that they are up to date and healthy to take crucial decisions with accuracy. Society provides the best for its leaders to show them forth as example.”136 A son in-law of Prophet Joseph Botwe, Rev. Joseph K. Krampah in a tribute to the late Prophet had this to say: “Papa devoted his entire life to the work of God and denied himself of many positions he could have held as a royal son of his hometown Ajumako Besease. Papa’s patience, faithfulness, humility and kindness can never be forgotten.”137 In the same manner, the Western Regional branch of the Ghana Pentecostal Council also had this to say about the Prophet: “Papa would be greatly missed for his simplicity, modesty, integrity, godly counsel and untainted life and ministry.”138 135 Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics, 229. 136 Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics, 229. 137 The Biography and Ministry of Prophet Joseph Botwe, January 2007, 20. 138 The Biography and Ministry of Prophet Joseph Botwe, January 2007, 21. 54 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Peter Sarpong opined, that it is a norm in Akan traditional culture that bad statements are not made against the dead in his or her tribute, as when a person dies and is laid in state sympathizers from the village and relatives living far and near pour in to have a last look at him. According to Sarpong, it is at this time of the funeral that “women wailing him constantly keep coming before him and going back, singing out his praises and telling everybody in dirges how sad it is to realize that such a good person is no longer going to be with us (even when they think his death is more a blessing than a curse).”139 The aforementioned qualities were what characterized his tributes to portray his exceptional character. The many tributes written about the Prophet Joseph Botwe all indicated his good leadership qualities; he always exhibited fairness to all people and never countenanced wrong doing. 3.3 The Call and Ministry of the Founder Joseph Botwe as a child was seeing apparitions of angels as claimed by his parents, often leaning over a staff of authority and out of fear would scream when sleeping. These were interpreted as signs that God would use him tremendously for his work provided he would avail himself for that purpose.140 Whenever he claimed to have seen the strange godly looking beings, he would scream and the father would shout back at him, angrily asking him to go back to bed and sleep. This experience went on and on for quite a time according to Bishop Emmanuel Botwe. Because his parents were non-Christians and never attended school, Joseph Botwe had no experience about the fellowship of God. During the time Joseph was born, 139 Peter Sarpong, Ghana in Retrospect (Ghana Publishing Corporation, 1974), 29. 140 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe: at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018. 55 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh almost all the schools were mission schools, and their primary aim was to convert the pupils to Christianity. It is a fact that “Missionaries concentrated on the ‘school approach’ to conversion with the intention of building up an elites of educated Christians who would go forth to ‘civilize’ and ‘evangelize’ the rest of the country.’’141 Since the ‘school approach’ was to convert pupils to Christianity and he never attended school. It stands to reason that at that tender age he had no experience about the fellowship of the Christian God. As already indicated, his elder brother Yaw Eduful converted infant Joseph to the Methodist communion at Oppong Valley in the Western Region. Although he was very young he served as an usher faithfully and diligently in the Methodist Church at both Oppong Valley and when he returned to Ajumaku Besease after his resignation from the mining company.142 In 1953, at Ajumaku Besease he defected from the Methodist Church to the Christ Apostolic Church and this occurred when the Christ Apostolic Church organized a ‘Church Planting Open – Air Crusade’ in the town, which he attended. Prophet Joseph Botwe, was moved by the inspired message preached at the crusade and took a decision to join the church. Apparently, he had always been troubled in his heart by the behavior of some ladies in the Methodist church. He wondered why these ladies would choose to do make-ups in the church whenever the minister was preaching a sermon.143 141 Clarke, West Africa and Christianity, 50. 142 Botwe: interview at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018 143 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe: interview at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018 56 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The Christ Apostolic Church eventually established a branch in the town and appointed Mr. Armah a member of the church as the overseer of the branch, who incidentally happened to be a relative of the young man Joseph Botwe.144 Before Joseph Botwe acted on his desire to join the Christ Apostolic Church, his eldest son Isaac Botwe presently a Reverend Minister in Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), had been suffering from acute rheumatism for several years. The treatment offered by orthodox medicine had all proved futile, so he took the child to the overseer for help, and in search of divine healing as the teaching of the church emphasized “divine healing.” The church’s emphasis on ‘divine healing’ was exactly the case, according to Kingsley Larbi that triggered James Mckeown and Peter Anim to go their separate ways from the Apostolic Church. It was purely on theological grounds on the use of curative and preventive medicine instead of believers trusting in God only for their healing. Larbi further explained that Mckeown’s resort to orthodox medicine when he fell sick “proved a severe blow to the faith of the Church members, who had been taught that in the case of sickness, believers should trust God only for their healing.”145 Hence Anim’s group adopted the name “Christ Apostolic Church” as its new name. It so happened that miraculously, just after a month of intensive prayer for the child, the excruciating pains of rheumatism were never experienced again.146 This divine healing witnessed by Joseph Botwe compelled him to officially inform the Methodist minister in-change about his decision to join the Christ Apostolic Church.147 144 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe: interview at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018 145 A quarterly Magazine of CPCS: Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies, No. 1, vol. 1, 7. 146 Botwe, The Biography and Ministry of Prophet Joseph Botwe, 7. 147 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe: at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018. 57 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Notwithstanding Joseph Botwe’s resolve to switch from the Methodist church to the Christ Apostolic Church, he continued to worship with the Methodist church; he will occasionally visit the Church to fellowship with them. This trend continued until on one occasion the Methodist Minister in-charge ‘‘broke the news to the congregation of Joseph’s intent to leave the church and further asked the congregation to hoot at him.”148 Joseph Botwe responded when he ‘humbly told the congregation that he had taken a step forward in his Christian life.149 Joseph left the Methodist church with some friends and family members to his new church, the Christ Apostolic Church. Among the friends and relatives were James Enchill, Yaw Eduful, Sarah Botwe, Mary Botwe and Hannah Enchill. This move also attracted some people of the town to the Church, (Christ Apostolic Church) with the view to satisfying their curiosity, because of Joseph’s previous involvement in the Methodist church. In 1953, after the demise of Mr. Armah, the overseer, Prophet Joseph Botwe was made the Overseer/Prophet in-charge of the church by the leadership in Accra. This was in fulfillment of various prophecies and revelations received from some members of the church and Joseph’s own commitment and dedication. He served for a period of seventeen years as overseer of the Church until his transfer to Takoradi in 1970. Prophet Botwe’s transfer was without mystery surrounding it. The Prophet sought for the transfer from the headquarters when he received a letter from an unknown Prophet J.F.E. Dymonds a citizen of Upper Volta now Burkina Faso asking him, to leave but no specific location was given. I find this view a bit intriguing, in the 148 Botwe, The Biography and Ministry of Prophet Joseph Botwe, 10. 149 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe: at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018 58 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh sense that, how can one claim to have received a letter from an anonymous person to seek for transfer from your location of work and you just comply. Among other things, the “Prophetic letter” also indicated that the Prophet’s second son Emmanuel Botwe should be given ministerial training to care for God’s flock because the calling of God was upon his life. Fortunately, according to Emmanuel Botwe he was privileged to meet this “unknown” Prophet in Nigeria, when he visited him from Holland. He was then attending Archbishop Benson Idahosah’s Bible School in Benin City, Nigeria, known as the “Christ for All Nation Bible School” where most Ghanaian pastors then had their ministerial training. He said the Prophet after meeting him, gave him Twenty Nigerian Naira.150 According to Emmanuel Botwe when Prophet Joseph Botwe received the “Prophetic letter” he showed it to the Christ Apostolic Church leadership at the headquarters in Accra, the leadership granted his request and was transferred to Takoradi to oversee the branch church. On April 19, 1970 he arrived in Takoradi from Besease “like the request from God to Abraham to leave Ur, his city where he was bred, to an known place to which he obeyed, the Prophet also obeyed God’s instruction and left his hometown for Takoradi upon the directives of the headquarters of his Church, the Christ Apostolic Church after he had shown the Dagarti Prophet’s letter to them.”151 At Takoradi, God used the Prophet mightily to confirm His prophecy to him. His ministry in Takoradi attracted many people from different Christian denominations as well as non- 150 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe: interview at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018 151 Botwe, The Biography and Ministry of Prophet Joseph Botwe, 39. 59 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Christians. About ninety-six (96)152 miracles happened throughout his ministry. In obedience to God’s word to him he organized an intercessory group based in Takoradi and later in November 11, 1983 upon divine guidance established an entirely new church, named Christian Faith Church in which he served as a Prophet, Founder and Chairman up to the end of his life.153 3.4 The ‘Miracles’ of the Prophet Botwe The Prophet Joseph Botwe had a unique healing ministry through which miracles occurred on many occasions. It had been earlier indicated that about ninety six (96) astonishing miracles happened throughout his ministry. Some of the reported miracles of the prophet were, raising the dead to life, curing the insane, curing tumors, ulcer, blindness, barrenness, alcoholism and healing fractured bones just to mention a few. All of these happened through the prayer of faith, signifying his roots from Peter Anim’s Christ Apostolic Church. Prophet Botwe had a strong belief in the efficacy of “prevailing prayer” for the healing of diseases as was the teaching of Faith Tabernacle Church which Peter Anim was associated with at the beginning of his ministry. Asamoah – Gyadu, cited J. D. Y. Peel to support this point thus, “Faith Tabernacle taught that ‘God would answer the prayers of those who had perfect faith in Him’ by healing their sicknesses without recourse to any medicine.”154 152 Joseph Krampah: interview Tanokrom, on January, 13, 2018 153 Tribute, January 2007, 6. 154Johnson Asamoah-Gyedu, ‘Pentecostalism and Missiological’, Trinity Journal of Church and Theology, 1&2, vol X11 (December 2002), 36. 60 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Evidently, “the teaching of Faith Tabernacle worked for Anim, where through the application of the principles of “prevailing prayer”, he was healed of a chronic stomach ulcer and guinea worm disease.”155 Following this personal experience on “faith healing” which Peter Anim adopted, it also became a principle of “faith healing” strongly believed by his group or members. Prophet Botwe, from the time he joined the Christ Apostle Church never took any form of orthodox or non-orthodox medicine until his death in 2006.156 This adoption of faith healing was without its speculations for instance, according to a member an elder of the Church lost the wife through Jaundice simply because of belief in “faith healing” advanced by the church. 157 This created the opportunity for critics of the church to speculate that if the victim had been taken to the hospital she would have survived. The Prophet at some stage in his ministry was concerned with his church’s lack of zeal with regard to “faith healing” and reiterated the church’s position on ‘faith healing’ at a conference; “The chairman of the church drew the attention of the delegates to divine healing which, according to his observation seems to be dying in the church.”158 The observation by the Prophet was right in the sense that the world has evolved and as such, in as much as Christian’s belief in ‘faith healing’, there is also a strong health education on the need for people to take their health life seriously thereby making a lot of people including Christians of faith healing background reconsidering their theological stands. 155Asamoah-Gyedu, ‘Pentecostalism and Missiological’, 36. 156 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe: interview at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018. 157 Kate Jackson: interview at Sekondi, on February 25, 2018. 158 Minutes of General Council Meeting, July 1990, 11. 61 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The first supposed miracle to happen in his ministry was when soon after his appointment to oversee the Church at Ajumako Besease, there broke out an epidemic of measles with a high mortality rate. The prophet organized a three-month ‘all night’ prayer meeting during which over forty children were brought to him for healing, and all were healed.159 Also, Kojo Krampah was one of the many people he raised from the dead. He was suffering from the chest, this ailment deteriorated to the extent that, at one point in time he vomited a chamber pot full of very stinking sputum. The parents of Krampah took him to the prophet to pray for him but upon arrival at the church the child had already died. He was covered with a cloth and the Prophet prayed fervently for him until he instantly came back to life.160 Some by-standers and family members started running helter-skelter, taking him to be a ghost; he however, eventually became the Prophet’s son in-law. Another supposed miracle worth discussing is that, which happened in the life of A.S. Cann. This needs to be discussed because this man had remained a member of the Church till now and has contributed to the growth of the Church immensely. Cann had a terrible motor bicycle accident and injured the left arm; it was very serious that the best option was amputation of that arm. According to Cann he refused amputation and wrote a letter for his release from Effia Nkwanta Government Hospital in Sekondi, which was granted. The prophet when contacted organized continuous prayers for him until he was completely healed.161 159 Botwe, The Biography and Ministry of Prophet Joseph Botwe, 12. 160 Joseph Krampah: interview at Tanokrom, on January, 13, 2018. 161 Elder A.S. Cann: interview at Sekondi, on January 2, 2018. 62 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Mr. Offei-Addo received healing through the Prophet’s healing ministry. He developed a swollen leg which within a matter of days had swollen to such an extent that doctors’ advised amputation to avoid serious complications. Through Cecilia Amoah a member of the Christ Apostolic Church who knew the Prophet when he was the overseer of the Christ Apostolic Church branch, introduced him to the prophet. The Prophet organized continuous prayers for him until he was healed.162 Another supposed major miracle that the Lord Jesus Christ used the Prophet to perform was bringing back to life James Maanu, who was the overseer of the Christ Apostolic Church branch in Takoradi at the time. James Manu fell sick and was hospitalized at the Effia Nkwanta Government Hospital in Sekondi. His health condition worsened such that, doctors taking care of his health declared his state of health, as hopeless. Relatives of the overseer took him to the prayer camp of Prophet for “divine healing.” During the period of prayer the overseer gave up the ghost but the Prophet Botwe, and his prayer team relentlessly prayed ‘a prayer of faith’ and he came back to life. According to James’ own account, during the prayers “he saw in a vision that he had died and had been placed in a coffin, and the prophet appeared at the scene to open the cover of the coffin and ordered him to follow him to his Healing Camp. Maanu woke up after that vision completely healed to the astonishment of the family.”163 According to the members several of the supposed miracles occurred instantly after the Prophet had fervently prayed. There was some of the miracle that took place, after continuous prayers 162 Elder Offei-Addo: interview at Takoradi, January 13, 2018 163 Botwe, The Biography and Ministry of Prophet Joseph Botwe, 12. 63 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh over a period of time. There were miracles that happened during the ministry of the Prophet at various places under different conditions. Some of these miracles happened during crusades for church planting; at the healing camp of the founder known as the “Power House” at the homes or hospitals of the sick and also at the church.164 In all these occasions, the Church benefited in numbers because most of the members interviewed claimed they took the decision to stay in the organization for the simple reason of receiving a kind of protection. 3.5 Governance Structure of the CFCI The church has experienced some form of changes and restructuring in its system of governance since it was incorporated in 1983. According to Bishop Emmanuel Botwe, principles governing a Church are set out in the Bible, but the skills of implementation may be different.165 He supported his claim with Psalm 103:7 “He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel,”166 and explained that Moses was leading the Israelites according to God’s principles, and so Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) must apply the same principles. He further stated that the reason for the calling of the Emergency Council Meeting was that there had been a lot of restructuring exercise resulting in many events in its wake; therefore the Executive Council has the responsibility to account to the General Council which is the highest authority of the Church.167 164 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe: interview at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018 165 Minutes of Emergency Council Meeting, February 2000, 11. 166 The Holy Bible (USA: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1980) 860. 167 Minutes of Emergency Council Meeting, February 2000, 11. 64 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Any institution or movement without proper organization and governance would soon be in chaos. A church without proper organization will in no time perish. In order to fulfil God’s ordained purposes for the church there should be an organizational structure that will ensure proper and equal emphasis given to all five-fold ministry, thus, apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral and teaching ministries. The growth of the church over the years in terms of numerical strength and geographical expansion has necessitated the restructuring and institution of certain structure within the church. The researcher observed that, the era of what is termed the “One Man Church”168 has come to an end in the church with the following policy. On July 19, 1990, Rev. Joseph Val- Addo presented a new organizational chart to the “General Council.”169 The organizational chart had been drawn up in a Ministerial Meeting, which preceded the General Council Meeting and was introduced and explained in detail. The general authority and command structure of the church therefore begins with Christ as the ultimate head and then the General Overseer, the Ministers, Lay Leaders and then the Members. There are about five councils within the organization at the moment. They are the General Council, the National Executive Council, National Council of Ministers, Regional Councils and District Councils. 168 The ‘One Man Church’ is a system of Church Governance where the church is seen to be a personal property of the founder, who directs the affairs of the church as he so wishes without the involvement and contributions of any other leader. 169 Rev. Francis Appoh: interview at Kweikuma, on January 6, 2018. 65 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.5.1 The General Council The General Council according to the church’s constitution is the highest policy-making body of the church. The memberships of the Council are all Ministers of the church, National Lay Leaders of all departments and committees, the National Advisory Board, two Lay Leaders from each local assembly, and the Legal Advisor of the church and the Trustees of the church. The General Council is tasked with the responsibilities of creating new regional, district and local assemblies. They also have the responsibility to establish educational and other institutions for the furtherance of the aims and objectives of the organization. Also, it receives and approves reports from various boards and committees set up under the council. They also appoint trustees for the purpose of holding in trust the properties and funds of the church among others. The General Overseer presides over all matters and the General Secretary acts in his absence. Currently the General Secretary position has been reviewed after the demise of the founder. The church now has the General Overseer as the head of the Church and a Deputy General Overseer who is the next in command.170 The Council meets annually as well as in cases of emergency and extra ordinary meetings, as summoned. 3.5.2 The National Executive Council The Executive Council being the highest executive body of the church, deals with matters requiring attention between meetings of the general council, and in general, administers the spiritual and temporal affairs of the church. The Council is constituted by the General Overseer 170 Rev Andoh Ashun: interview at Takoradi, on January 6, 2018. 66 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh who chairs the Council, the Deputy General Overseer acts in the absence of the Overseer, the National Director of Missions, Human Resources Director, Prayer Director, Education Director, Projects Director, and one ordained Minister. The church has added an Administrative Director’s position which has been added to the membership of the Executive Council.171 The Council meet as and when necessary, but not less than once in every three months. Formerly the various positions of the Council were by appointment by the Overseer. This method with time has undergone changes; such that the ministerial council members are elected for five-year term of office. The Executive Council’s responsibilities are interpretation and implementation of the policies and decision of the General Council and Ministerial Council, the appointment and discipline of all employees of the church; they also act on behalf of the General Council in case of emergency and so on. 3.5.3 The National Council of Ministers The National Council of Ministers is a forum of all ministers of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) with the exception of ministerial assistants who observe without the rights to vote. They are charged with the responsibility of making suggestions and recommendations to the Executive Council for the smooth running of the church except those assigned to other bodies as prescribed by the constitution. The General Overseer chairs the meetings of the Council and the Deputy General Overseer acts in his absence. The council meets twice a year to deliberate on matters on the agenda. 171 Rev Andoh Ashun: interview at Takoradi, on January 6, 2018. 67 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.5.4 The Regional and District Council of Ministers The Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), at the moment, has four Regional Council of ministers namely; Western, Central, Ashanti and Greater Accra regions. The regional council has authority as the supreme body of the region with the responsibility to see to the smooth running of the Churches in the region. The Regional Councils are supposed to refer to the Executive Council any issue which cannot be resolved by the Regional Council. The District Council exercises authority over local assemblies in its area. Any issue the Council is unable to resolve is referred to the Regional Council of ministers through the District Overseer. 3.5.5 The Ministerial Hierarchy of the Church The ministerial hierarchy of the Christian Faith Church International has over the period, since the Church was established been developed into the following hierarchical order: The first is the office of the General Overseer. Formerly, this office was known as the General Superintendent172 until the constitution was reviewed. The holder of this office becomes the Leader and Chief Executive Officer of the church. The position is solely reserved for ordained ministers who have served more than ten years, and should not be below the age of thirty-five years. The officer serves a term of five years and is eligible for re-election for a second term of five years. 172 Rev Andoh Ashun: interview at Takoradi, on January 6, 2018. 68 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The second is the General Secretary; now the Deputy General Overseer as is the case in other organization, had always occupied very powerful position of the church. The officer is the administrator of the church until the review of the Church’s constitution when a Director of administration position was created.173 The Deputy General Overseer deputizes for the General Overseer in his absence. The qualifications, appointment and term of office are the same as provided for the General Overseer. The third, the National Directors of Ministries are the next in the hierarchy. They are heads of Six (6) National Ministerial Executive positions namely; Missions, Prayer, Human Resource, Projects, Education and Administrative directors. The officers are ordained ministers with five years ordination experience, and are nominated by election at the national ministerial council. The fourth in the hierarchy after the National Ministries Directors is the Regional Overseers. The General Overseer in consultation with the executive council appoints the Regional Overseer. Among his duties the Regional Overseer supervises all business of the Church at the regional level and exercises all duties assigned to him as the Chief Executive Officer of the region and there after inform the General Overseer accordingly. The fifth is the District Overseer position. The officer directly supervises the branch assemblies under his area of jurisdiction. The District Overseer is responsible to the Regional Overseer. The sixth in the order of hierarchy are the Senior Pastors. They are normally given the responsibility of being in charge over an assembly. The seventh in the order of hierarchy are the Pastors. They are also sometimes given assemblies to oversee. The eighth on the table of 173 Rev Andoh Ashun: interview at Takoradi, on January 6, 2018. 69 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ministerial hierarchy of the church is the Assistant Pastor, who assists pastors of branch assemblies in the day-to-day administration of the church. The pastor may be put in charge of a branch church where necessary. The ninth on the ladder of hierarchy is the Ministerial Assistant. This officer is posted to a branch church to be under the supervision of a local pastor for at least two years. The officer shall be promoted to an assistant pastor upon recommendation by a supervising pastor. The church has a succession policy, which addresses who to leads the church at any given time as shown on the ladder of hierarchy. 70 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The organogram of Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) Ministers General Overseer Deputy General Overseer Missions Prayer Human Resource Project Education Administrative Director Director Director Director Director Director Regional Overseers District Overseers Senior Pastors Assistant Pastors Pastors Ministerial Assistants 71 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.5.6 Succession As already stated, the General Overseer is the Leader and the Chief Executive Officer of the church. At the moment Bishop Emmanuel Kweku Botwe is the General Overseer of Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). He is the second son of the founder of the organization Prophet Joseph Botwe who until his demise was the founder and the honorary Chairman of the organization.174 According to Rev Isaac Botwe,175 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe became the Administrative Pastor of the organization when he finished his pastoral education in 1982. He was in-charge of administration with the title as the Administrative Pastor, under the leadership of his father the founder of the church. Later in 1990, the title Administrative Pastor was converted to the title the General Superintendent, “as according to the organizational chart, the Administrative Pastor’s title had been changed to that of the General Superintendent.”176 This invariably made Bishop Emmanuel Botwe assume total reins of power as both the leader and the Chief Executive Officer of the organization. It will be discussed later in chapter four about a letter that was written to the Founder Prophet Kweku Botwe from a supposed “unknown Man.” The letter instructed that Emmanuel Botwe the second son of the Prophet Kweku Botwe should be sent to a Bible School for ministry training. After Emmanuel Botwe’s sixth form education at West African Secondary School, then at Accra Newtown, the Church sponsored him to Arch-Bishop Benson Idahosah’s Bible College, called “All Nation for Christ Bible College”, in Benin City, 174 Rev Andoh Ashun: interview at Takoradi, on January 6, 2018. 175 The first son of the founder of the Church, and an ordained minister of the Church. 176 Minutes of Council Meeting, July 1990, 9. 72 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Nigeria. Interestingly, Prophet Joseph Botwe obediently carried on with what the “prophetic letter” directed. Among the members of the church, the researcher interviewed, almost all the respondents claimed that, it was obvious that Emmanuel Botwe after his training in Nigeria had proved beyond all reasonable doubts, that he had the character, temperament and wherewithal to lead the organization, even before the death of the founder. Common among the claims of the respondents were that, he is a down to earth person, he is a man of his words, who accommodates everybody and above all, has his father’s character. These are precisely what are required of a General Overseer as per the criteria for a General Overseer, as it is stated in the Church’s constitution. The Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), on March 8, 2004, adopted a new church constitution. The new constitution has the designation of General Overseer instead of a General Superintendent. The position and role of the General Overseer is similar to the General Superintendent. The new constitution stipulates that the General Overseer shall satisfy the following criteria; 1. Be a full time ordained minister of the church. 2. Be a minister not less than ten years post-ordained experience and not below the grade of a senior minister. 3. Be not less than forty years of age at the time of his election. 4. Must have shown high level of honesty integrity in his/her personal life. 73 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5. Must possess proven qualities of leadership and committed to the work of God. 6. Must be literate. The term of office of the General Overseer is five years and is eligible for re-election for a second term of five years. The elected General Overseer shall not hold office for more than two terms. Notwithstanding what the constitution of the Church states under the term of office of the General Overseer, there is a transitional provision that states that the present General Overseer, Bishop Emmanuel Kweku Botwe before the coming into force of the new constitution shall maintain his current position as the Chief Executive Officer and General Overseer until his death, resignation, retirement or proven incapability to perform the functions of the General Overseer of the organization.177 3.7 The Local Assembly The Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), refers to their branch churches as local assemblies. The local assembly is an assembly of called out ones or individual believers of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). The local assembly is an organized body with its own leadership. There are six categories of supportive lay leaders in every local assembly. There are also a clerk or secretary, treasurer and sometimes a church pastor. The local pastor of the assembly in consultation with the local presbytery proposes someone for the position of an Elder or a Deacon and submits their names to the head office of the church for consecration. This is subject to a probation term of one year before they are consecrated into various offices to support their Pastor. Before this is done they had to be successful in an interview. There 177 The Church’s Constitution, 1984, 12. 74 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh shall be inter and intra assembly postings which may be carried out. For instance, with the Elders, in order to utilize personnel to the best possible advantage at any time as may be deemed fit by the General Overseer, Regional Overseer, District Overseer in consultation with the local pastors of the assemblies concerned. 3.7.1 Elder An elder as derived from the Greek word ‘presbuteros’ should satisfy the biblical qualification as set in (1Timothy 3:1-7). The office of an elder is variously described in the New Testament as bishop, pastor, teacher, preacher, minister, steward, and angel (messenger).178 An elder is expected to be a matured Christian. The local congregation is informed of the choice to ascertain any objection from the congregation before they are ordained. According to the church’s constitution the elders among other things support the pastor to carry on the vision that God has called him to accomplish. They serve as a bridge between the pastors and the congregation. Also they supervise the deacons and the deaconess in the performance of their duties on behalf of the pastors. The elders also mentor the youth and mobilize human resources for works of service. A presiding elder is appointed head of the elders of a particular assembly if there are more than two elders in an assembly. The Presiding elders are appointed to oversee local assemblies as and when necessary. The presiding elders also act on behalf of the local pastor in his absence. 178 A. M. Renwick, A. M. Harman, (eds.), The History of the Church (England: Inter – Varsity Press, 1997), 20. 75 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.7.2 Deacon The term deacon is derived ‘’from the Greek word ‘diakonos’ meaning a servant, minister,’’179 attendant or waiter. “In the English New Testament whenever the reference is to those who are administering the funds and property given for the poor, the word is rendered deacon.”180 The deacons and deaconesses of Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) according the churches constitution stipulate the following as required of them to take care of the daily ministration of the assembly, that is “to serve tables” as described in (Acts 6:1-6). They are to serve as care takers of local assembly’s properties. Also, they are in charge of collection, counting and submission of offerings, tithes, donations and other funds to the local treasurer or any office or body appointed to administer funds. As “cooperation and obedience” is their watchword, they are to be ready and willing to serve in any capacity the pastor may direct them. Presiding deacons are appointed where there are no elders to overseer local assemblies as and when necessary and also act on behalf of the local pastor when absent. Deacon of the church are appointed by the local pastor in consultation with the local presbytery and go through an interview conducted by the head office serving probation for one year before ordination. Their appointments are terminated and ordination revoked if they act in a way that will bring about reproach to the name of God and the church. 179 Renwick and Harman, (eds.), The Story of the Church, 21. 180 Renwick and Harman, (eds.), The Story of the Church, 21. 76 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.7.3 Local Assembly Council The organization has a place for Local Assembly Council or local Church Council, which has the responsibility of receiving the local quarterly and annual report. The Council is constituted by; the local pastor, the associate pastor or assistant pastor and all lay supportive leaders. This council works in full cooperation with the local pastor and the local presbytery. The local pastor presides over all meetings. 3.7.4 The Local Presbytery The constitution of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), prescribe the creation of a local presbytery which is charged with the management of the day-to-day administration of the church. The local presbytery serves as an advisory body to the pastor and do not intrude into the realm which is exclusively his. Rather, the local presbytery assists the local pastor in the discharge of his pastoral administrative duties, as well as the implementation of the church’s policies. The presbytery forwards its recommendation on matters affecting the local church to the District Council of Ministers. The Council shall manage and administer the finances of the local assembly. They also act on behalf of the General Council in the local assembly. The membership of the local presbytery is composed of the local pastor, who shall be the chairman, associate/assistant pastor, presiding elder, elder and local secretary/financial secretary and local treasurer. The above clearly reveals the system of governance and administration in all the local assemblies and the players involved. Movements within the church had in diverse ways helped to maintain a unified church over a period of time since the inception of the organization and also help propel the growth of the church numerically and geographically. 77 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.8 Ministries within Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) As the church grew in numbers and geographical expansion other ministries were created within the organization. The essential purposes of these ministries are for evangelism, welfare and education among others. For the purpose of this study, four of the ministries will be discussed, that is, the youth ministry, men’s ministry, women’s ministry and children’s ministry. 3.8.1 Youth Ministry The youth ministry of this organization is the youth wing of the church is called the Faith Youth Movement (FAYOMO).181 The ministry comprises of the faith student associates, all teenagers between thirteen (13) and nineteen (19) years and adult single youth between twenty (20) and twenty nine (29) years. The church from the beginning formed this ministry although there was no formal inauguration performed at that time.182 The youth ministry of the church is tasked with the function of carrying out evangelism, which is, preaching, witnessing and winning of souls into the church. In this regard, the youth ministry is given the full responsibility to plan and organize programs that will promote fellowship and enhance their spiritual, social, intellectual and moral lives that befit the believers of Jesus Christ and citizens of God’s kingdom. Also, the youth ministry is encouraged by its leadership to fully participate 181 The Constitution of the Church, (2010), 28. 182 Rev Charles Hammah: interview at Nungua, on March 6, 2018 78 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh in the programs and activities of the church in order to expose them to the various ministries within the church. Above all since the foundation of this organization was built on prayer, the youth of the church are motivated to pray for the growth of the church. Every local assembly of the church has a youth ministry that is vibrant. The youth ministry organizes programs at the district, regional and national levels. In a bid to inculcate some of the above functions as a culture among them, there are program of activities such as symposia, quiz competition, musical shows, film shows, retreat, outreach, Bible studies, voluntary and social services that are organized. The ministry also organizes national camp meetings every two years at different locations to have fellowship and to also engage in winning souls for the church. At the local assembly level the youth leadership, is made up of the leader, assistant leader, a secretary, treasurer, organizer, prayer leader, evangelism leader and in most cases a porter. The national officers are the youth coordinator, national youth organizer and his deputy, national youth secretary, treasurer, financial secretary and two co-opted executive members. The church and sometimes patrons of the youth ministry as well as some individual members who understand issues surrounding youth development normally do fund their activities. The youth ministry is introduced to paying of dues, offering, tithes and thanksgiving offering at their level. The youth are graduated to the men or women’s ministry when they are above the stipulated age of twenty nine (29) years. 79 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.8.2 Men’s Ministry The men’s ministry of Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), is known and called Faith Men’s Movement (FAMEMO). Although the movement is supposed to be established in all the local assemblies, not all the local assemblies have been able to form this group in the local churches. This is because, in some assemblies, the larger group of the church’s membership are mostly women. This has made some of the local assemblies unable to form this group since most of the grown up men in the church practically see themselves to be youth rather than men. Also, organizing the men to form an association or ministry is one daunting task some of the assemblies face.183 The reason is that some men of the church claim to have other engagements which do not allow or permit them to participate fully in church activities. This is not justifiable in the sense that men of some branches have been committed to this course of forming the Men’s Ministry. There are some of the assemblies of the church which have formed their Men’s Ministry and are functioning. According to Rev Isaac Botwe, at the national level, national executives like Elders A.S. Cann, Apollos Cann, Joseph Bio, Samuel Adjei, Offei-Addo and David Opoku were all very instrumental in the formation and functioning of the Men’s Ministry during the formative period of the church. Their effort in helping other local assemblies to establish their Men’s Ministry cannot be swept under the carpet. The men’s ministry is tasked with caring for the interest of all the men in the church from age twenty one and above. The men’s movement have as its function, organizing seminars, conferences, workshops, lectures, symposia and 183 Rev Benjamin Dofah: interview at Asakie, on January 26, 2018 80 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh conventions of all aspects of life including; marriage, health issues, business management, and techniques of leadership responsibilities in the church and the state, current affairs at both national and international levels. Furthermore, the movement has as one of its function to teach the basic principle of domestic law, promoting the welfare of widowers, pensioners, orphans and needy members among others. The members of the Men’s movement serve as mentors to the youth of the church and motivate the members to carry on with the vision of the church. The leadership at the local assemblies’ levels are the men’s leader, his deputy, secretary, financial secretary, treasurer, organizer, prayer leader and a porter. At the national level the leadership are the national coordinator, national organizer and his deputy, national secretary, treasurer, financial secretary and two co-opted members. This national group promotes and superintends the evangelistic activities of the men’s wing in cooperation with the National Council of Ministers. 3.8.3 Women’s Ministry All the local assemblies of this organization have Women’s Ministry, which is called the Faith Women’s Movement (FAWOMO). The women’s ministry has a responsibility to cater for the interest of the adult women from twenty-one years and above. The women’s group just as their men counterparts, organize seminar, conferences, workshops, lectures, symposia and conventions in all aspects of life including; a. Marriage enrichment, child welfare, care and education. b. Business management and techniques 81 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh c. Health issues d. Leadership responsibilities in the church and state e. Current affairs at both national and international levels Also, the ministry teaches basic principles of law relating to marriage and family. The women’s group trains members to be responsible in the church and society. Women members of the group get the opportunity to develop their talent to enhance their social, physical spiritual and intellectual status. The women’s ministry is by far the most proactive ministry within the organization in the areas of evangelism, welfare and education. The following pioneering national leaders, Mrs Christiana Quayson, Mrs Agnes Appoh, Mrs Mary Botwe, Mrs Sarah Agyapong, Mrs Offei Addo, Mrs. Opoku and Mrs. Anaman, Jointly promoted the establishment of the movement in almost all the local assemblies. At the local assembly levels the women’s leader, her deputy, organizer, secretary, treasurer, financial secretary, prayer leader and a porter constitute the movement leadership. Also at the national level the movement has a national coordinator, national organizer and her deputy, national secretary, treasurer, financial secretary and two co-opted members. These national executives promote and superintend all the activities of the women’s wing. 3.8.4 Children’s Ministry The Children Ministry of Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) is made up of children from year one (1) to thirteen (13) years. Every local assembly is supposed to establish this ministry with teachers to teach them whenever there is a church service or church program. 82 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The current researcher observed during a visit to the local assemblies that not much attention had been given to this Ministry. Most local assemblies do not have meeting places to accommodate the children so they are often left to loiter without proper supervision. For instance, the local assemblies that meet in rented classrooms are sometimes not able to rent additional rooms due to resource constraints and will have to keep them (children) on the corridors for their lessons. Also, some of the assemblies however, have a well-structured program for the children at every occasion. According to a member184 the rational in forming the Children’s Ministry is to engage the children during programs whilst their parents are also engaged in the church’s program. The Children Ministry’s function, is for the teachers (who are normally referred too, as “Sunday School Teachers” by the children) to hold Sunday services to pray, fellowship and study God’s word with them. They are also to conduct programs and other activities which will ensure the children’s spiritual growth and sustain their interest in the fellowship.185 I think, with these functions of the ministry there is the need for the various assemblies to engage very committed, spiritually matured members who have much knowledge in children’s upbringing to play those roles. The organization has a national coordinator, national organizer, deputy national organizer, national treasurer, financial secretary and in consultation with the General Overseer, and two co-opted members who steer the affairs of the ministry. The organization regularly organizes training and refresher programs for newly interested talented members and also the old teachers drawn from the various local assemblies. 184 Deaconess Kate Jackson: interview at Sekondi on March 16, 2018 185 The Constitution of the Church, (2010), 28. 83 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.9 Summary A careful analysis of the founder’s life, call and ministry, and miracles that God used him to perform, the church he planted and his philosophy, revealed the contribution of an illiterate charismatic figure, an indigenous Ghanaian for that matter to the Christian mission. The chapter also, revealed a well-organized governance structure that had guided the affairs of the church throughout its history till date. The Prophet Joseph Botwe established a church, and demonstrated a leadership quality that knitted the church together, such that even after his death the church is still moving on with the cardinal teachings of Christianity. 84 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER FOUR DISCUSSING THE GROWTH OF CHRISTIAN FAITH CHURCH INTERNATIONAL (CFCI): THE PLACE OF ACTIVITIES, ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNANCE 4.0 Introduction This chapter seeks to investigate the factors of growth and also considers how the system of church governance, worked towards growth within the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). Available statistics of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCT) shows a significant growth in both membership and number of branches since its establishment in 1983. Before looking into the discussions the researcher acknowledges how, it would be a difficult task to quantify the spiritual growth rate of the church. Also, church government may be considered as the case where the authority of the church resides within the church and whose it is to exercise that authority. As the researcher had already indicated another significance of this chapter is to indicate the various components of the church, the responsibilities, and the purpose of creating such components to ensure the spread of the gospel and how church members could be nurtured. Roy Pointer discusses various factors that can contribute to the growth of a church. Such as constant prayer; respect for biblical authority, effective leadership, mobilized membership, continuous evangelism, community life, compassionate services, openness to change and released resources.186 The researcher therefore used these factors for growth as tools to 186 Pointer, How Do Churches Grow? 55. 85 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh investigate the trend and dimensions of growth in Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). Basically it considered what influenced growth in Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). 4.1 Statistics: Growth Figures from 1983 to 2017 By the first quarter of 1987 the church had five local assemblies/branches, one (1) prophet, nine (9) pastors, three (3) student pastors, twelve (12) elders and sixteen (16) deacons and deaconess. The Table provides the names and number of assemblies/branches, membership, names and number of pastors, student pastors, elders, deacons and deaconess and their regional distribution as at February 1987. Table 1 Regions Assemblies Membership Pastors/Prophet Elders Deacons/ Deaconess Western Takoradi 600 Prophet Joseph Botwe Joseph Bioh Cecilia Amoo Ps Emmanuel Botwe Samuel Adjei Sarah Duncan Ps Joseph krampah Offei Addo Enoch K. Kusi Ps Joseph Quayson David Opoku P.M. Buah Ps Joseph Mark-Robertson J.F. Addo (Ps Ben Mensah) Fredrick Anguah (Ps Douglas Ofori) Nicholas B-Yiadom Margaret K.Mensah Dorah Ainoo Sussana Gyampson 86 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh “ Tarkwa 46 Ps Joseph Ben Bentil F.N. Meah Elizabeth Andah John Nsaboh Joseph Osei Danso “ Sekondi 155 Ps Francis Appoh Apollos Elizabeth Eshun Cann “ “ Ps Ransford I. Osei A.S Cann (Ps Emmanuel Conduah) “ Nsuaem * Ps J.E.K Achampong Dan Baiden John Mensah Central Besease 195 Ps S.K Yorke Tony Essiam Hannah Adjei A.M. Acquah Hannah Bremansu Grand 5 996 13 12 16 Totals (Source: Minutes, Church General Council Meeting February 28, 1987. Membership figures given include children. * Figures on number of membership for these assemblies were not immediately available from the official source. The names in bracket are student pastors.) The Table above indicates that the church had five (5) assemblies as at the first quarter of the year 1987, they are Takoradi, Tarkwa, Sekondi, Nsuaem and Besease assemblies. The church 87 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh also had nine hundred and ninety six (996) member including children, thirteen (13) pastors, twelve (12) elders and sixteen (16) deacons and deaconess. In addition to this, by the second quarter of 1989 the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) had a total of nine (9) assemblies, this shows that four (4) new branches/assembles had been planted. In an annual General Council report, it was noted that “the Administrative Pastor stressed that God had helped the church to grow both spiritually and materially. He went on to inform the delegates that the church had during the year under review, given birth to four branches, namely Essiam, kyikyiwire, Ayipey (Otoba), and Abura.”187 It is instructive to note that from the year 1983 to the second quarter of 1989, the spread of the Church had been in two (2) regions, the Western and Central Regions of Ghana but by October 31, 2005 the church could count about forty one (41) local and international assemblies comprising, thirty eight (38) local assemblies/branches and three (3) international assemblies/branches with thirty eight (38) local ministers, and three (3) international ministers indicating a ratio of 1:1 thus, each branch church has one minister. (Table 2 and Table 3) below indicate that the Church by the year 2006 had a total membership of three thousand eight hundred and ninety two (3,892) this figure excludes the number of membership of the international assemblies/branches. Analysis of table (Table 2 and Table 3) also shows that the Church at this point in time had spread beyond the borders of the two regions to four regions of Ghana; they are Western, Central, Ashanti and Greater Accra Regions. 187 Minutes of General Council Meeting, July 1987, 3. 88 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh This analysis clearly shows a steady growth of the church in terms of spreading or church planting, and also in numbers. Again this kind of growth can be situated into the geographical growth as well as numerical growth dimensions as had been discussed above. Interestingly the church now has international assemblies in the United States of America and the United Kingdom respectively188. The following are two Tables (Table 2 and Table 3) that provide statistics of the Church, for instance, the names and total number of assemblies, total membership, ministerial personnel and designations, districts and their distribution in the Western, Central, Greater Accra and the Ashanti Regions of Ghana as at December 2006. Table 2 provides statistics of only Western Region since my scope of study is in that part of the Country. Although Table 3 also provides important statistics about CFCI, the details go beyond my scope of study, but it has been provided as a guide for the purposes of analysis. 188 Christian Faith Church International, almanac. 2005. 89 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Table 2 Regions Assemblies Membership Districts Pastors Designations Western Takoradi 560 Bishop E. Botwe General Overseer Rev. Mrs. F. Offei Director of Human Addo Resources Rev. Mary Crentil (FAWOMO) National Coordinator Rev. Albert Koomson Associate Pastor Rev. Albert Asante Associate Pastor Ps. Abednego Adjei Assistant Pastor Tanokrom 80 Rev. Joseph Krampah National Prayer Director/Pastor in Charge Rev. Pious Ampem Youth Coordinator/ Associate Pastor 90 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Effiakuma 250 Rev. Douglas I. Ofori Acting Director. Of Missions / Pastor in Charge Ps. Ekow Aggrey Associate Pastor Sekondi 242 Rev.Oppong General Secretary/ Ankomah District Pastor/Pastor in Charge. Rev. Charles Isaac Hammah Associate Pastor Kweikuma 250 Rev. Ben Allen Nat. Director of Mensah Education/Pastor in Charge Associate Pastor Rev. Emmanuel Solomon Pastor Ampah Assistant Pastor Turkson European 100 Rev. Isaac Botwe National Town Administrative Secretary/Pastor in Charge Rev. R. Osae – Associate Pastor Donkor 91 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Essikado 60 Rev. Kofi Boateng Pastor in Charge Rev. Kofi Yeboah Associate Pastor Butumagyebu 55 Ps Elisha Van Baffoe Pastor in Charge Kwesimintsim 250 Rev. Francis Appoh Chairman of Council of Elders/ Pastor in Charge Rev. Opoku – National Children’s Agyemang Co-ordinator Assakae 150 Rev. John B. Amoani Project Director/ Acting National Treasurer/ Pastor in Charge Ps. John Nyamekye Assistant Pastor 92 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Apowa 130 Ps. (Mrs.) Felicia (FAWOMO) National Opoku Organizer/ Pastor in Charge Kojokrom 100 Rev. Joseph K. Adjei Pastor in Charge Elder David Arkoh Lay minister Inchaban 75 Rev. Stephen K. Pastor in Charge Yorke Tarkwa 80 Rev. Joseph Mark- District Overseer/ Robertson Pastor in Charge Aboso 90 Ps. Nathaniel Yorke Pastor in Charge Bogoso 60 Rev. John Mensah Pastor in Charge Nsuaem 75 Ps. Samuel Baidoo Pastor in Charge 93 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Agona 60 Ps Adjei - Sarpong Pastor in Charge Nkwanta Kansawrodo 150 Ps. A. Andoh Azuah Pastor in Charge Wassa- 250 Rev. Joseph Adjei Pastor in Charge Manso Total 20 3067 (Source: Christian Faith Church International, almanac 2005. Christian Faith Annual reports 2006, membership figures given include children). Table 3 Regions Assemblies Members District Pastors Designations Ashanti Obuasi 45 Rev. R. I Ossei Pastor in Charge Kyikyiwere 25 Lay Minister Accra Nungua 130 1 Rev. R. Aidoo Pastor in Charge Mataheko * Rev. R. Aidoo Pastor in Charge 94 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Odorkor 70 Rev. P.Mensah Pastor in Charge Tema 60 Rev. S. Afotey Pastor in Charge Central Ajumako: Beseasi 200 Rev. O. District Asamoah Badu Overseer/ Pastor in Charge Elder Arthur Osenase 130 Lay Minister Brother Moses Benn Kumasi 55 Lay Minister Breman: Essiam 80 Ps. R. Arko – Pastor in Attah Charge Elder Peter Lay Minister Asikuma 40 Eshun Rev. Mrs Pastor In- Brakwa 30 Juliana Yorko Charge 95 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Ajumako 70 Deaconess Lay minister Rose Adjei Enyan: Denkyira 50 Lay Minister Elder Anthony Aidoo Abaasa 70 Lay Minister Elder Philip Appiah Pastor In Charge Mankessim 40 Rev. Festus O. Lamptey Lay Minister Assin Fosu 40 Elder Moses Benn Assin: Pastor in Akropong 20 Rev. Alex O. Charge Kwakye 18* 825* 38 3892 (Source: Christian Faith Church International, almanac 2005. Christian Faith Annual report 2006, membership figures given include children) *Figures of number of members for the assembly was not immediately available from the official source. 96 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The table and charts below provides statistics of the Church in Ghana as at December, 2017 Table 4 Regions Assemblies Members District Pastors Designations Ashanti Obuasi 90 Kumasi 60 Accra Nungua 100 Rev. Charles Pastor in Hammah Charge Odorkor 120 1 Rev. Mark Pastor in Robertson Charge Kasoa 30 Rev. Wisdom Pastor in Adjabeng Charge Tema 80 Rev. S. Afotey Pastor in Charge Western Tarkwa 140 1 Rev. John Pastor In Charge Mensah Pastor Robert 97 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Aboso 80 Baidoo Bogoso 100 Rev. Samuel Baidoo Rev. Obed Asamoah- Nsuaem 120 Badu Essaman 50 Nkwanta 35 Axim 55 Agona- Ahanta 150 Rev. Ramsyer Osae- Donkor Aboadze 40 98 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Kwesimintsim 180 1 Rev. Bright Pastor In Dofah Charge Assakae 160 Rev. Albert Asante Apollo 60 Apowa 140 Kajabir 40 Kansaworodo 240 1 Rev. Anthony Kofi Saim Ntankorful 80 Pastor Isaac Johnson Anaji 80 99 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Bishop Emmanuel Takoradi Central 400 Botwe, Rev Isaac Ofori, Rev Mary Crentsil Rev Charles Cudjoe Takoradi No 2 40 Rev John Andoh Ashun Effiakuma 350 Rev Joseph Krampah Tanokrom 280 Apostle Francis Sekondi 170 Oppong Ankomah, Rev Nathaniel Yorke Kweikuma 160 1 Apostle Pastor in Francis charge Appoh, P/A Philip Nyame Krampah 100 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Rev Thomas Abban- Adiembra 120 Mensah Rev George Ekow Aggrey European Town 80 Rev Kofi Boateng Essikadu 60 Ngyiresia 50 Pastor Francis Valdo-Woode BU 80 Kojokrom 140 Rev Albert Koomson, Mpintsin 30 Rev Joseph Adjei Rev John Nyamekye Sofokrom 120 101 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Manso 100 Rev Kofi Yeboah Inchaban 100 Rev Emmanuel Solomon Aboadze 40 Shama Junction 30 Daboase 35 Central A Bisease No. 1 250 1 Rev. Robert Pastor in Aidoo Charge Deaconess Lay Minister Rose Adjei Bisease No. 2 80 Ajumako 60 Deacon Adu Bisease No 3 Gyan 102 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Amoanda 25 Asikuma 30 Brakwa 55 Boso 15 Deacon Michael Eduah Kokoben 25 Central B Essiam 220 1 Pastor De- Pastor In Graft Charge Enyan Denkyira 55 Enyan Abaase 30 103 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Ajumako 50 Brother Eric Arko Mando 35 Asaasan 25 Central Mankessim 20 Rev Mrs Juliana Yorke Assin Fosu 40 P/A Emmanuel Ohene Offei Elmina 60 Brong Techiman 30 Ahafo Sunyani 15 Brother Paul Lay Minister 104 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Ackah Total 61 5,735 10 55 (Christian Faith Church International Almanac, 2014, 2016 and General Council reports of the church) CFCI PERFORMANCE 9.80% 56.52% 38.31% 1987 2005 2017 The statistics provided above on the local assemblies or branches of the church as at December, 2017, shows that the church experienced numerical growth: An explanation of the analysis of the available statistics shows the following: From 1983 to 1987 1. In terms of branches the church grew by 2% representing 5 new branches out of an expected target of 250 branches. 105 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2. In terms of districts the church grew by 10% represent 2 new districts out of an expected target of 20 districts. 3. In terms of ministers the church grew by 13% represent additional 13 new Pastors out of an expected target of 100 ministers 4. In terms of membership the church grew by 9.96% represent about 1,000 new members out of an expected target of 10,000 members From 1988 to 2005 1. In terms of branches the church grew by 15.20% representing 38 branches out of an expected target of 250 branches. 2. In terms of districts the church grew by 25% representing 5 districts out of an expected target of 20 districts. 3. In terms of ministers the church grew by 38% representing an additional 38 new Pastors out of an expected target of 100 ministers. 4. In terms of Membership the Church grew by 38.92% representing about 3,892 new branches of an expected target of 10,000 members From 2006 to 2017 1. In terms of branches the church grew by 57.35% representing about 143 new members out of an expected target of 250 branches. 2. In terms of districts the church grew by 24.40% represented about 5 new districts out of an expected target of 20 districts. 106 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3. In terms of ministers the church grew by 38% about 38 additional ministers out of an expected target of 100 ministers 4. In terms of membership the church grew by 57.35% representing about 5,735 new members out of an expected target of 10,000 members The Following Chart provides statistics of three (3) International branches of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) – USA, United Kingdom and South Africa – as at December, 2017 INTERNATIONAL GROWTH CHART 100.00% 90.00% 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 2017 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% Branches Ministers Membership Explanatory Growth Table: International EXPECTED ACTUAL PERCENTAGE TARGET ACHIEVEMENT OF TARGET ACHIEVED 2017 2017 2017(%) 107 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Branches 20 3 15% Ministers 10 9 90% Membership 500 140 28% TOTAL 530 150 The statistics provided above on the International assemblies or branches of the church as at December, 2017. An explanation of the analysis of the available statistics shows the following: From 2017 the Church opened International Assemblies/Branches 1. In terms of branches the Church recorded 15% growth representing 3 new branches out of the expected target of 20 branches. 2. In terms of ministers the Church recorded 90% growth representing 9 new ministers out of the expected target of 10 ministers. 3. In terms of membership the Church recorded 28% growth representing 140 new members out of the expected target of 500 members. The following chart provides global/worldwide statistics of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), as at December, 2017. 108 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CFCI GROWTH CHART 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 1987 2005 30.00% 2017 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% Branches Districts Ministers Membership Explanatory Growth Table Performance/Year Expected Target 1987 2005 2017 1987(%) 2005(%) 2017(%) (2017) Branches 250 5 41 70 2% 16.40% 28% Districts 20 2 5 10 10% 25% 50% Ministers 100 13 38 64 13% 38% 64% Membership 10,000 996 3892 5945 10% 38.92% 59.45% TOTAL 10,370 1016 3976 6089 109 PERCENTAGE University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Chart Title 9.80% 58.72% 38.34% 1987 2005 2017 The statistics provided above on the global or worldwide statistics of the Church as at December, 2017, shows that the church had experienced a steady growth: An explanation of the analysis of available statistics shows the following: From 1983 to 2017 1. In terms of branches the church grew by 28% representing 70 new branches out of an expected target of 250 branches. 2. In terms of districts the church grew by 10% representing 2 districts out of an expected target of 20 districts. 3. In terms of ministers the church grew by 64% representing 64 new ministers out of an expected target of 100 ministers 4. In terms of membership the church grew by 59.45% representing 5,945 new members out of an expected target of 10,000 members. 110 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4.2 Determinants of Growth Through interviews, group discussions with leadership and members of the Church, the researcher discovered a number of factors that had positively influenced the growth of the church since it was established in 1983. They are evangelism, follow-up, home cells, and affiliations with foreign and local bodies, welfare and provision of social services and corporate prayer. 4.2.1 Activities / Practices of the Church There are certain activities or practices of the CFCI that were identified from interviews and interactions with respondents that had worked positively towards the growth of the church. These activities included evangelism, follow-ups, home cells and corporate prayer, affiliations with foreign and local bodies, proper financial governance of the church, welfare and provision of social services, and engagement and training of ministers. 4.2.1.1 Evangelism Evangelism as employed by the church has given a significant boost to the numerically growth of the church. A critical study of the church revealed that the organization is so much pre- occupied with evangelistic activities leading to growth in numbers. Various ministries within the church, such as, the Youth Ministry, the Men’s Movement and Women’s Movement, all have evangelism as a major function. Analysing this factor of growth shows that evangelism is the life blood of the church. Just as real blood sustains human life, real evangelism sustains the life of the church. Thus, without evangelism, life in the church will gradually slump to a halt. 111 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Rev. Emmanuel Botwe an Administrative Pastor at a General Council Meeting in 1988 stated that ‘‘evangelism is the supreme task of the church and should, therefore, be noted as such’’189. At that General Council meeting a policy was made that all local assemblies were to form outreach departments that would engage in evangelistic activities. These Local Outreach Departments are under the umbrella of a National Outreach Department with the responsibility of organizing outreach programs for local assemblies and also planting of new assemblies. Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), has a Mission’s directorate with the responsibility of promoting missionary activities such as evangelizing of souls and planting of churches. It is in this regard, that, Rev. Francis Appoh, Missions Director at an emergency General Council Meeting stated that Missions means reaching the unreached with the gospel. He said that there is a great responsibility attached to missions, and for that reason a Missions Director should not be a pastor in charge of a church, he referred to the practice prevailing in the Church of Pentecost where a Missions Director is not a pastor in charge of any particular church, but a full time Missionary Director who is committed solely to missions.190 He expressed the hope that it would help the organization to give more attention to evangelism. The mission directorate of the church as part of its missionary activities has instituted an annual mission’s week known as “Mission of Hope Conference” which is organized in all the districts of the church. During the week long “Mission of Hope Conference”, every district of the church organizes a separate conference. The objective of the conference is to plant new churches in the districts. According to Rev. Francis Oppong Ankomah several soul-winning 189 Minutes of General Council Meeting, July 1988, p 5. 190 Minutes of an Emergency General Council Meeting, February 2000, p 10. 112 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh strategies are used to achieve the objective, for instance, open-air crusade, person to person witnessing, dawn broadcasting among others191. The researcher discovered that the church utilizes several media houses to channel or send the gospel to the people and to advertise itself and its activities. The church has encouraged all local assemblies to have very attractive sign boards with the church’s logo that will give direction to where the branches are located. The church has also taken advantage of the advent of Radio Frequency Modulation (FM) in its evangelization efforts. For example, the researcher discovered that the headquarters church runs a religious program on a radio station called ‘The Sky FM” in Takoradi. The program is called “Nyansa mu Nyansa”, literally meaning “in-depth wisdom”. This, according to a respondent, is also a form of evangelism and also a way of bringing the church into public life, thus, advertising the church in its locality. This method of evangelism has also added new members to the church; a development confirmed by the statistics of new comers to the church who identified the radio programs as the means by which they became members of the church. Furthermore, the researcher also found out that the church in its attempt to sustain its evangelistic activities adopted a mission’s fund policy proposed by the Missions Director. The fund is used solely for evangelism purposes thus, “in September of every year, all local assemblies should organize revival services and the offertories remitted to the headquarters to serve as a nucleus fund for the work of the outreach ministry’’192. The church in its effort to 191 Rev Francis Oppong Ankomah: interview at Sekondi, on November 3, 2017 192 Minutes of General Council Meeting, July 1988, p 6. 113 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh continue with effective evangelization to grow had appealed to all pastors of local assemblies to encourage all church members to contribute towards the sustenance of the radio outreach program “Nyansa mu Nyansa”. Furthermore, the church had enacted a policy for all members to contribute towards strengthening its outreach programs. The contribution is referred to as the “one cedi one soul missionary offering”.193 This offering is collected on every Sunday during church service. The evangelism activities of the church are aimed at offering an opportunity to the unsaved to be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ as well as helping them to walk along with Him Christ the King (God) as stated as a core principle of Church Growth by Donald McGavran and adopted by the researcher as a theoretical framework. Brother Hammah, contributing to the subject of witnessing at a General Council meeting advocated for house to house witnessing alongside the normal crusades, “Sekondi assembly, he said, is presently increasing in its membership as a result of house to house evangelism which is catching on well with the youth of that assembly”.194 The researcher agrees with this submission, in the sense that, apart from the fact that house to house witnessing is very effective it is also cost effective or carries no cost at all compared with crusades which come with its own huge budgets. The researcher discovered that as a means of establishing the souls in the Lord and in the church, the church over the years had put in place a well-organized follow-up system. This is exactly the case as the third core Church Growth principle of Donald McGavran stipulates. 193 Deaconess Lydia Azure: interview at Sekondi, on November 3, 2017. 194 Minutes of General Council Meeting, July 1988, 7. 114 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4.2.1.2 Follow-Up The follow-up system is an activity of the church in terms of evangelism. This helps establish converts won for Christ and by extension the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). The church has this unit with the purpose of consolidating and confirming the work done during initial contacts with a person and as a matter of policy all of its assemblies are required to have follow-up units within their evangelism department.195 The operations of the follow-up team are to follow-up on two categories of people. The first category is members who have accepted Christ as their Lord and personal saviour. In this case a mature follow-up member or team, contact the new convert immediately after an altar call and the confession of faith in Christ. The follow-up team then establishes a solid foundation through effective counselling to enable further engagement through the Church’s follow-up program. The second category of people the follow-up team contact are visitors that worship with the church for the first time. The church recognizes the importance of visitors, and consequently accords them the warmest and friendliest welcome they deserve. This has the potential of urging them to make a decision to join the church196. Each of these categories of persons completes either a decision forms or visitors form. The information on the completed form is put on a data base of the church for statistical records purposes and also for immediate follow-up after the program (church service or crusade). The researcher agrees that an efficient follow-up team can make the visitors stay in the church as discussed under Transfer growth where most especially people who are transferred to or 195 Rev Albert Asante: interview at Takoradi, on November 4, 2017 196 Deaconess Lydia Azure: interview at Sekondi, on November 3, 2017. 115 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh relocate to a new settlement had to join different churches because their former or old Churches have no branch congregation in that community. Follow-up on such new visitors create a sense of belonging or welcome by the church to the visitors and eventually become members of the church. The Table below shows statistics of the number of converts won by the various branches of the church and the number of converts that remained after follow-up during the year 1986. Table 5 Regions Assemblies New Converts Remaining Convert Western Takoradi 65 20 Sekondi 102 63 Abontiako * * Nsuaem * * 116 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Central Bisease 55 33 (Source: Minutes, church general council meeting February 28, 1987.)*Figures of the new converts for these assemblies were not immediately available from the official source* The above table shows statistics of the numbers of new converts won and new coverts that remained in the branches after six months during a review by the church on follow-up strategies. It shows how the church had benefited from follow-ups from the very beginning. The researcher observed that the church attaches great importance to the Great Commission “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) by engaging in evangelism but as the church increases in numbers, the church administration do not pay much attention/focus on records keeping which is a key indicator to show increase or decline in growth. The church’s follow- up team, follows-up on new converts within forty-eight (48) hours after their ‘new birth’, as well as visitors that visit the church. They are introduced to the home cells or covenant family groups within their locality according to a respondent. The researcher identified that follow-ups has positively contribute to the growth in the church, also research had proven that effective follow-up truncate losing souls from the church to other new churches as is the case in Transfer growth discussed earlier. 117 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4.2.1.3 Home Cells The home cell system also known as covenant family system is another determinate factor of growth according to a respondent, and also the researcher’s own analysis of various documents available had shown that the church over the years had seen improved growth since the home cell system was established. Notable assemblies like Sekondi, Essikado, European town, Tanokrom, Effiakuma, Kwesimintsim, Butumagyebu (BU) and Kojokrom all of the Western Region and Besease Osenase and Besease Kumasi also in the Central Region are all assemblies that available records indicates that they were previously home cell groups.197 A home cell group is a basic unit within the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) congregation. It is an informal gathering of committed Christians in a particular community or neighbourhood. It numbers between five and twenty and meets in a home or any convenient place for prayer, worship, bible study discussions and socializing, they often engage in eating a meal together and getting the believers to fellowship with one another on a more personal or heart-to-heart basis. According to Rev. Mark Robertson, the biblical foundation for the home cell is taken from the book of Acts 2:46 “so continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart”198. All local assemblies are as a matter of policy, required to have home cell groups. The local pastor appoints a mature Christian to be the leader of the cell group.199 The cell leader and members work unceasingly towards drawing people into the home cell groups and eventually they become members of the church. The above-mentioned assemblies were all created when the 197 Rev. Mark Robertson interview at Odorkor, on November 18, 2017. 198 The Holy Bible, New King James Version: (USA: Thomas Nelsons Publishers, 1980), 1629. 199 Rev. Mark Robertson interview at Odorkor, on November 18, 2017. 118 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh cell groups grew spiritually and numerically as had been indicated by Donald McGavran in his concept of Church Growth. The idea behind the cell groups is that, as the cell grows, spiritually and numerically new and other local assemblies are created due to the increase. As the members meet in smaller units two key things occur; firstly, they grow spiritually by becoming much more committed to the study of the word of God, and prayer, and became burdened with evangelism activities. Secondly, they exceeded the maximum number for a cell group of twenty members as the churches policy stipulate and split into two more groups. The researcher discovered from the investigations that local assemblies like Essikado, European town, Butumagyebu (BU) and Kojokrom were all created from home cell groups of Sekondi assembly/branch church. The Sekondi assembly was also born out of Takoradi assembly/branch the headquarters church which was first to be established by an intercessory prayer group including Prophet Joseph Botwe founder of the church. 4.2.1.4 Corporate Prayer Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), started as an intercessory prayer group and metamorphosed into a church. Due to this history, prayer has always been of cardinal importance in the activities of the church. The church over the years has attracted many souls, because of the founder’s strong belief in “Faith-Healing’’ through prayer. “Faith Healing” is an anti-medicine doctrine that regards the use of medicine and prophylactic substances for the 119 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh healing of sickness and disease as sin’’.200 The church from the onset had a prayer center at Tanokrom in Takoradi with the founder as the “Prophet-healer”. The prayer center is known as the “Power house” because the church believes that there is always the manifestations of the power of God to set loose the captives, to restore the broken hearted and heal the sick. Through fervent prayer and the exercising of strong faith, the Prophet performed over eighty miracles during his lifetime and many of the people became members who later became leaders. These leaders played different roles in the church. Asamoah-Gyadu, confirms this development that the unique gift of the prophet-healer certainly adds to the church when he noted that, “in the older independent church movements, in particular, the ability of the prophet to pray for healing, prophecy or provide some ritual means for solving problem of bareness, sterility, failing business and the like, tended to be what attracted people to those churches.”201 The Prophet Joseph Botwe’s strong faith in divine healing through incessant prayers is one heritage of the church. The researcher discovered that there are some members of the church who do not take any form of orthodox or unorthodox medicine when they are sick but will only resort to continuous and fervent prayer until they are healed. The prayer healing center concept had been born out of the Prophet’s religious background with Anim’s Christ Apostolic Church, which had a strong teaching against the use of both orthodox and unorthodox medicine for healing. According to Asamoah-Gyadu, adherents of Anim’s movement had always believed that, “in keeping with its faith-healing philosophy, Apostle Anim’s prayer and evangelistic movement believed that Christians should look only to Jesus for healing; or they risked 200 Asamoah-Gyadu, ‘Pentecostalism and the Missiological’, Trinity Journal of Church and Theology, 1 and 2, vol. X11 (July/Dec 2002), 37. 201 Asamoah-Gyadu, ‘Pentecostalism and the Missiological’, 42. 120 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh perishing in hell fire.”202 These views give credence to why the Prophet Joseph Botwe never took any kind of medicine when he was sick until his death203. The healing prayer center according to Larbi “has early origins within the Pentecostal movement."204 . The church has maintained prayer camp concept even after the death of the founder. Alfred Andoh Azuah founded a prayer camp at Kansaworodo in Sekondi and at a point decided to affiliate his camp with Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), this affiliation has helped the church see a tremendous growth in that, many of the people who visit the prayer camp and receive their breakthrough remain as members of the church. The affiliation of this particular prayer camp with the organization is not the first to happen. 4.2.2 Affiliations with Local and Foreign Bodies Other organizations have over the years affiliated with the church. They are both local and international organizations. The first local affiliation occurred in 1989, according to the minutes of an emergency Council Meeting held on February 26, 1990. At the said meeting the administrator of the church introduced eleven new ministers and branches who had sought for and had been granted affiliation with the church. The Table below has the names of pastors and their churches that affiliated with the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). 202 Asamoah-Gyadu, ‘Pentecostalism and the Missiological’, 43. 203 Rev Isaac Botwe: interview at Takoradi, on January 13, 2018. 204 Larbi, Pentecostalism: The Eddies of Ghanaian Christianity, 89. 121 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Table 6 Pastors Church Station Pastor Daniel Bright Karikari Christ Redemption Church Kwesimintsim Rev. Francis Oppong-Ankomah True Light Church Kweikuma Rev. Kweku Boateng True Light Church Kweikuma Pastor Joseph Val-Addo Abundant Life Concern, Inc Kumasi Pastor (Mrs) Val – Addo Abundant Life Concern, Inc Kumasi Pastor Manu Abundant Life Concern, Inc Kumasi Pastor Alex O. Kwekye Christian Faith Church* Assin Akropong (Source: General Council meeting minutes, 1990). *The Church bore the same name as the affiliate Church. 122 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The merger obviously, brought about a significant kind of growth or addition to the church. Thus, the affiliate bodies completely transferred every property of their churches to the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). The membership increased and new territories or stations were added. Clearly, two dimensions of growth occurred to the church, that is, Numerical growth and Geographical growth which Donald McGavran describes in his three core principles of Church Growth. A look at the church’s constitution allows for this kind of merger provided the affiliate body will comply with the laid down rules and regulations. The constitution states, “that the church shall accept applications for affiliation from corporate bodies, organizations, evangelists, and missionaries who recognize and subscribe to its statements of beliefs demonstrated in truth by confession and practice.” 205It also states that “The church shall, likewise, by application and subscription, affiliate with anybody or organization, which upholds and practices the same or similar doctrinal beliefs and or adjudged by its executive council as a true representation of the body of Christ,”206 and that “The church shall not lose its autonomy by any form of affiliation. However, it shall absorb any group or body or organization, which shall apply for the complete takeover of its control in affiliation.207 Rev. Francis Oppong Ankomah, who also affiliated his Church with the organization, said that they took that decision as a response to the Religious Bodies Registration Law 1989 issued by 205 Christian Faith Church International’s Constitution, 2014, 4. 206 Christian Faith Church International’s Constitution, 2014, 6. 207 Christian Faith Church International’s Constitution, 2014, 4. 123 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh the government at the time, the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).208 The law, according to Dovlo was clearly “geared towards controlling the proliferation of religious bodies, which had seen an upsurge of many new religious movements’ especially charismatic churches, from the late 1970s.”209 Dovlo corroborates with E.K Quarshigah, that the law: Required all religious bodies operating in Ghana to procure a certificate to operate and gave the government the right to inspect their facilities, function and audit their accounts. Religious bodies who wished to register had to submit a copy of their constitution and government rules: A list of Trustees and principal officers with their address and emolument as well as other benefits; their statistics on membership and spread, indicating places of worship; give a declaration that their place and mode of worship did not constitute health and environment hazard; details of their social commitment to community work and their financial statement and source of funding.210 Dovlo appears to further stress Quarshigah’s view that the law “was proposed as a means of curbing the sprouting of Churches and protecting genuine religious organization such as older church denomination.”211 Dovlo however noted that on the contrary, “new Church groups were anxious to register seeing the registration as a process of legitimization.”212 Rev. Oppong Ankomah affirmed the above view that smaller churches led by Pastors Emil Eminsang of Accra and Rev. (Mrs) Arkah of New Takoradi affiliated with the organization to secure their existence. Considering the urgency these smaller or “mushroom” churches 208 Rev Oppong Ankomah: interview at Sekondi, on November 3, 2017. 209 Elom Dovlo, ‘Religion in The Public Sphere’, Paper Presented at BYU (2004), 10. 210 Elom Dovlo, ‘Religion in The Public Sphere’, 10. 211 Dovlo, ‘Religion in The Public Sphere’, 12. 212 Dovlo, ‘Religion in The Public Sphere’, 12. 124 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh employed to conform to the Religious Bodies Registration Law to secure their survival, it was not so with the older churches who would benefit from the law. These older churches rather, under the umbrella organizations as the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) and the Ghana Catholic Bishop’s Conference (GCBC) openly questioned and resisted the law.213 Rev Oppong Ankomah also indicated that after a period of time when the government of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) was on longer in power and when the law seemed to have been relaxed some of the affiliate churches seceded from the organization.214 Rev. Daniel Bright Karikari and his Christ Redemption Church at Kwesimintsim, Rev. (Mrs) Arkah and her Sheep Gate Chapel at New Takoradi can be mentioned in this regard. Apostle John B. Amoani also stated that as the pressure from the government on the Churches waned, the organization released Pastor T.K Toku and his church at Abura in the Western Region from the affiliation due to failure to comply with some doctrinal position of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI).215 The church had also affiliated with a foreign organization as well, led by Rev. Luis Jackson from the United State of America. The affiliation led to the institution of a yearly conference which is christened the “Bridge of Faith Conference”, it is to basically sensitize and encourage church members in the area of evangelization. Moreover this collaboration shows how the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) is passionate about its evangelism drive to add to the Church as Donald McGavran often repeated phrase “Matheteusate panta ta ethne,” “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28 :19).216 According to Rev John Andoh Ashun, Christian 213 Dovlo, ‘Religion in The Public Sphere’, 12. 214 Rev Oppong Ankomah: interview at Sekondi, on November 3, 2017 215 Apostle John B. Amoani: interview at Takoradi, on January 18, 2018 216 Engle and McIntosh, (eds.) Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, 38. 125 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Faith Church International (CFCI) has benefited hugely from this affiliation in the sense that the foreign body each year contributes cash to support the planting of new local assemblies. The affiliation with this international body has introduced the church into contributing its quota into social services within its catchment areas.217 This is corroborated by a respondent who claimed that the weeklong conference “Bridge of Faith Conference” is always climaxed with a free health screening exercise, and this clearly indicates the churches contribution to the society/community. Lastly, according to Rev John Andoh Ashun, Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), is affiliated with Bible Society of Ghana and the Ghana Evangelism Committee. These two bodies have immensely contributed to the church by providing support to its evangelization. 4.2.3 Financial Governance of the Church At the inception of the church in 1983 a committee was put in place with the responsibility of running the accounts of the organization. The committee was known as, the Finance Committee, charged with the responsibility of collection and managing of funds.218 The researcher discovered that the sources of funding at the early stages of the church were through offerings, tithes and thanksgiving offerings. All the local assemblies were to pay their tithes into a central fund. The offerings and the thanksgiving offerings are kept and used by the local assemblies for the running of the church. The ministers of the church are paid salaries exclusively from the tithes collections from members. The tithes constitute the one tenth of the 217 Rev John Andoh Ashun: interview at Takoradi, on January 18, 2018 218 Rev Isaac Botwe: interview at Takoradi, on January 13, 2018. 126 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh member’s income given as an offering to the Church as stated in the Bible’s according to Nehemiah chapter 10:37 “to bring the first fruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruits from all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priest, to the storerooms of the house of our God; and to bring the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levities should receive the tithes in all our farming communities.”219 Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), in the beginning had no formulated policies and constitution, to regulate the church especially the area of finance. It was such that occasionally decisions were taken by the leadership as and when some issues come up. At General Council meetings various suggestions were made and if the Council accepts those suggestions, they become policies. This point is affirmed by a policy that was enacted at a General Council meeting on February 28, 1987 on finance. Deacon Nicholas Boakye – Yiadom suggested at a Council meeting that “all offertories should be kept and used for administrative purposes by each local assembly to enable them meet their internal financial expenditure whilst all tithes should be sent intact without any prior disbursement to the headquarters. The pastors of the various assemblies were to be paid from the tithes collections.”220 This suggestion was unanimously approved by the Council, and had ever since become a policy on finance of the church. This policy in my view would bring about some form of uniformed salary payment structure where the pastors can be put on a salary scale. 219 The Holy Bible, New King James Version, 687. 220 Minutes of General Council Meeting, February 1987, 3. 127 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh However, on the contrary, the researcher discovered that the policy rather brought about some financial burden on the headquarters church since most of the assemblies financial transmittals of their tithes to the headquarters were low whilst others did not remit at all. Clearly, one can notice that either the pastors were not encouraging the church members to pay their tithes as Christians or they (pastors and branch leadership) had decided to use the tithe for the developmental needs of the local churches contrary to the financial policy. The implication of this is that the pastors could not be guaranteed consistent monthly salaries. A respondent indicated that there are times that the branch churches would have to use their financial transmittals of their tithes to the headquarters because support from the headquarters for developmental project often delayed or never come. This situation forced the leadership of the branches to sometimes not send their financial transmittals. The researcher discovered that in a bid to streamline the lackadaisical attitude of some pastors towards this initiative, some suggestions were made at a General Council meeting to correct the situation. For instance, Deacon J.F. Addo of Takoradi assembly suggested that all assemblies should be directed to pay their pastors from the tithes they collect and that policy in his view would force the assemblies to be serious to faithfully collect tithes. He further stated that, “if the various assemblies fail to pay tithes to meet the salaries of their pastors, the pastor involved should experience delayed payment of salary or what he described as ‘carry forward’ system of salary payment.”221 This suggestion would seem to make the pastors proactive in the collection of tithes in their respective assemblies. However, it might be unfair to other assemblies whose membership might be few or very low income earners which may result in very small amounts of tithes that are collected; and this may impede growth of any type in the church. Rev. Francis 221 Minutes of General Council Meeting, February 1987, 2. 128 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Appoh contributing to the deliberations stated that a policy to let various assemblies pay the salaries from the tithes they collect would make the various assemblies “tithes-conscious” if they would be tasked to shoulder the liability of paying the salaries of their pastors. According to him, that arrangement had proved to be successful with Rev. Benson Idahosah’s ministry at Benin City in Nigeria, where he was a pastor before joining Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). He was also supported by Pastor Mark-Robertson.222 This idea also supports what Deacon J.F. Addo had earlier recommended. But the above suggestions were not accepted since pastors needed to concentrate on their ministerial duties rather than be occupied with where and when their salaries would come. The Administrative Pastor (as was the title of the leader of the church at the time), he indicated that because of the precarious financial position of the church then, pastors engaged were not equal to the rate of the growth of the church.223 The researcher’s analysis of minutes of General Council meetings revealed that the General Overseer at every General Council meeting advised the Council to encourage the payment of tithes at their various assemblies. The researcher discovered that as the church went through developmental stages other sources of income were exploited. For instance, raising loans from their bankers for developmental projects when the need arises investments into businesses such as stocks, Treasury bills, and Government Bonds and so on.224 According to Bishop Emmanuel Botwe, the church in its effort to raise funds to support its growing budgets formed an investment committee on July 22, 1988, with the task of deliberating on the subject of investment that would be profitable to the church. They were also 222 Minutes of General Council Meeting, February 1987, 2. 223 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe: interviea at Anaji, on January 2, 2018. 224 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe: interview at Anaji, on January 2, 2018. 129 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh to consider short term, medium term and long-term investments. The under mentioned were areas of investment mentioned for consideration; purchase of vehicle for commercial use, poultry and livestock keeping, farming and piggery.225 The investments committee acquired some investments and assigned them under various assemblies’ supervision. The following assemblies as at July 1989 were in control of the following investments. a. Nsawam Assembly - piggery b. Besease Assembly – corn mill, palm plantation c. Abura Assembly – mushroom farming, piggery d. Kweikuma Assembly – bus for commercial transport e. Takoradi Assembly – acquired land for poultry. Although, the church is exploiting other avenues of generating income, it had also engaged in indirect social activity to support the economic development of the country. The investment into commercial transport for instance, could be seen as the church into subsidiarity, which is, getting directly into economic activities. According to Dovlo, “in recent times, many charismatic churches and renewal movements in the mainline churches are not content with conveying people to heaven. They wish to convey them here on earth to various destinations and have therefore entered the transport industry of the country with prayerful determination.”226 225 Minutes of General Council Meeting, July 1988, 5. 226 Elom Dovlo, ‘Religious Bodies, Subsidiarity and Development’, Africa Publications, vol 111 (2000), 69. 130 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh According to the General Overseer of the church, beyond the economic reasons that propelled a kind of innovation into the income earnings of the church, a political factor also introduced a system of efficiency into the church’s finances. The researcher’s analyses of a statement made by the General Overseer at a General Council meeting prove the above argument right. The General Overseer’s statement was in relation to the Religious Bodies Registration Law, 1989 issued by the government at the time, the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). He stated that “the government of the country was particular about financial matters of the church; hence he would advise all branches of the church to be particular with their finances and keep proper and honest record thereof.”227 This directive confirms Quarshigah’s assertion as revealed by Dovlo that “the law was clearly meant to control the operation of the religious bodies.”228 Also the declaration conforms to religious body registration law clause six sub- sections two (i) which requires religious bodies to declare their sources of funding “the financial statement and intended source of funding of the body.”229 The researcher discovered that the church adopted a proper basic accounting principle as a policy to streamline its finances, “every church should endeavour to get accounting books, and there should be a separate person to play the role of a financial secretary and a treasurer.”230 Furthermore, according to the General Overseer of the church, in 1989 the Church engaged the services of an Internal Auditor with the responsibility of auditing the accounting books of the various local assemblies periodically. He went on to say that, at the moment, the organization 227 Minutes of General Council Meeting, July 1989, 8. 228 Elom Dovlo, ‘Religious in Public Sphere’, 11. 229 The Religious Body Registration Law, 1989: Act of the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana (Africa: Assembly Press, 2001), 3. 230 Minutes of General Council Meeting, July 1989, 8. 131 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh has a National Finance Advisory Board in place, charged with the responsibility of ensuring that all local assemblies strictly adhere to an accounting manual, which stipulates how the accounts of the assemblies should be utilized.231 The organization currently has an accounts division headed by an accountant and an ordained minister as a general treasurer. The accountant is responsible to the general treasurer in the day to day running of his duties. The accountant as part of his duties collects and records all tithes from the various assemblies. As already discussed in the early part of this work, the church in the beginning had no formulated policy to regulate finances. It is worthy of note that church currently has a National Finance Advisory Board in place, which from time to time reviews the salaries of the pastors. Section II of the bye laws of the church on finance indicates policy on remuneration and allowance of pastors as follows; 1. The National Financial Advisory Board in collaboration with the Finance Management Team and with the approval of the Executive Council shall determine from time to time salaries and allowance that shall be paid to Minsters of the Church. In addition 10% of a branch/assemble Annual Fund –Raising / Thanksgiving Service proceeds shall be given to the Pastor(s) of the branch/assembly. 2. An Annual Appreciation Service shall be held in every Local church to give members the opportunity of giving love offerings in cash or kind to the pastor(s) of the branch. 3. Pastors are required to pay 10% of their portion of the Annual Thanksgiving proceeds and also Annual Pastors Appreciation proceeds to the General Overseer. 231 The Church’s Constitution, 2010, 34. 132 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4. Non – pastoral church workers shall be on fixed monthly salary and allowances according to the determination of the Financial Management Team in collaboration with National Financial Advisory Board.232 The researcher discovered that the prudent financial governance introduced by the church had helped in maintaining growth in the church. 4.2.4 Welfare and Provision of Social Service The welfare and the provision of social services rendered by the church in the researcher’s view is an important factor that has accounted for the growth of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). The Church sees the importance of not only providing for the spiritual needs of the people but also their material needs as well. The social services provided by the church to the people have in one way or the other become a tool for evangelization, to which the foreign affiliate body has contributed largely. The organization in the area of health is contributing its quota to the health needs of the people. Through the “Bridge of Faith” affiliation, the overseas affiliate body established an eye Clinic at Anaji in Takoradi to offer a highly subsidized eye care service to the community. This initiative, according to Rev. John Andoh Ashun was laudable but the church could not sustain it. The reason was that an eye specialist who was voluntarily offering his services resigned and the church could not engage the services of an eye specialist any more. 232 The Church’s Constitution, 2010, 35. 133 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Also, information gathered from respondents indicated that the foreign affiliate body had on yearly basis presented quantities of assorted drugs to the government hospital in Takoradi. They also have a medical team that comes to Ghana yearly during the “Bridge of Faith Conference” to give free medical care to the rural communities where the church has local assemblies. Due to the free medical services people within the communities have identified themselves with the church, by fellowshipping with the church. The relief services rendered by the church have also increased the growth of the church. For example, the church occasionally appeal to its members to support the poor by way of contributing in cash or in kind for that venture and the contributions sometimes are in the form of used clothing, foodstuffs and so on. A respondent from the Sekondi assembly claimed that valuable items like television sets, radio sets, tea kettles, heating coils among others are all sometimes collected from the “haves” in the church and after a short ceremony they redistributed to the needy in the church. The respondent indicated that inmates of the Sekondi prisons occasionally receive relief items from the organization. In the area of education, the church has also made some significant contributions. It established a primary school at Tanokrom a suburb in Takoradi in 2001 which has grown to become a Junior High School (JHS).233 Donald McGavran refers to this social service by the church as a ‘school approach to church growth.234 According to him missionaries carried on schools approach as an essential part of their evangelistic work. Although, the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) has established the school to provide social services, it has also promoted 233 Rev. Joseph Krampah: interview at Takoradi, on January 18, 2018 234 McGavran, Understanding Church Growth, 21. 134 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh growth in the church, that is, some of the pupils of the school who were not children of church members have now become members of the church. Donald McGavran’s reference to an opinion of a chief to a missionary supports the above fact “we adults are committed to our fetishes and to our tribal gods. We are polygamists. We cannot become Christians; but take our youth. Put them in school. They will become Christians.”235 The social services of the church to its communities support Clarke’s observation that, “in more recent times the independent churches have tended to become much more like older churches in organizational form and in other ways, and have also much more involved in education, socio-economic development and other fields.”236 Support rendered by the church members among themselves in terms of their help to the needy, the provision of some relief items and other amenities has immensely affected the organization’s growth because the members become committed to the church and has also attracted others to the church. The researcher discovered that the church has a National level Funeral Committee which is responsible for planning befitting funeral activities during the demise of any member. The church organizes a wake keeping service for the deceased if the family so wishes. The wake- keeping service is also used as an opportunity to evangelize. Also, all assemblies are mandated to participate in the funeral activities. Among other things, the church is responsible for the cost of shroud and ring and donates some amount of money to the bereaved family in accordance with their efforts in the work of the Lord.237 The researcher sees this act of the 235 McGavran, Understanding Church Growth, 21. 236 Clarke, West Africa and Christianity (London: Edward Arnold Publishers, 1997), 237 Minutes of General Council Meeting, July 1990, 7. 135 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh church as a demonstration of a sense of care amongst members and also it encourages others to be part of the church. 4.2.5 Engagements and Training of Ministers As the church continued to experience growth in numbers and expansion in geographical areas, the need to engage the service of additional pastors and in some cases auxiliary staff to support the pastors, began to stare at the church.238 The church in this regard, began to take concrete steps to rectify the situation. Just as it happens in most organization during their formative periods, some members of the church voluntarily offered themselves for the services of the ministry. For example, one Deacon J.P. Anaman voluntarily offered his service to the church as an administrator. He later on became a minister of the church on a part time basis for about six (6) years without salary.239 At a General Council meeting on July 22, 1989, Rev. Francis Appoh realized the increase in pastoral duties suggested that, “the church needs more pastoral hands.”240 This suggestion was taken into consideration and subsequently the organization began to recruit some workers. The organization began to engage the services of some workers as and when there was an available financial resource to sustain the payment of salaries. According to Bishop Emmanuel Botwe it had always been the policy of the church to pay good remuneration than to engage the services of pastors the church could not cater for.241 This decision sounds laudable; however, the research is of the view that it has the tendency to slow down the development of the church. The church initially engaged some auxiliary workers by virtue of their being members and 238 Rev. Francis Appoh, interview at Kweikuma, on January 6, 2018. 239 Rev. Francis Appoh, interview at Kweikuma, on January 6, 2018. 240 Minutes of General Council Meeting, July 1990, 5. 241 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe: interview at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018. 136 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh matured Christians but they go through a form of apprenticeship before they are confirmed. During the early days of the church, pastors were employed after they had served about two (2) years period of probation during which time they are observed by a senior pastor of a local assembly with respect to their character, their attitude and their understanding of ministry. Whilst they are being observed they go through thorough apprenticeship training in relation to the pastoral duties of the church.242 In 1980, Emmanuel Botwe became the first member to be sponsored for ministerial training by the church. He was sponsored to Arch-bishop Benson Idahosah’s Bible school in Benin City, Nigeria called the All Nations for Christ Bible Institute. Among the first pastors to be engaged by the Church is Rev. Francis Appoh in the year 1982. Bishop Emmanuel Botwe and Rev. Francis Appoh were school mates at the Bible College in Nigeria and so Bishop Botwe recommended him to the church to be engaged. By February 1987, the church had engaged the services of about seven pastors namely, Emmanuel Botwe, Ransford Ossei, Joseph Mark Robertson, Francis Appoh, Joseph Quayson, Joseph Ben Bentil and Joseph K. Krampah.243 According to Bishop Emmanuel Botwe, the progressive growth the Church experienced, also brought to the fore the need to engage more pastoral hands to match up with the increasing responsibilities. In order to address that need, Benjamin Allen Mensah, Douglas Ofori and Emmanuel Conduah were sponsored by the church to the Bible school to acquire ministerial training. They attended the Fountain Gate Bible School at Kaneshie, in Accra and just after 242 Rev. Benjamin Allen Mensah: interview at Takoradi, on January 6, 2018 243 Rev. Mark Robertson: interview at Sekondi, on January13, 2018 137 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh their training they were engaged as pastors together with Pastor J.B Amoani in 1988.244 The church gradually took concrete steps to train her workers. The church trained not only the pastors; they also sponsored lay leaders to workshops and seminars as well. The need to train lay leaders was drummed home to the church leadership at a General Council meeting. Rev. E.K Bonney of Fountain Gate Ministry, who was an invited guest to the meeting, advised the Council that there should be the institution of monthly leadership training at the Local, District and Regional levels. Cecilia Amoah contributing at the General Council meeting remarked that steps should be taken with regard to training, to consider gender equality since all training are focused on men.245 The researcher discovered that the church networked with other churches within the Sekondi / Takoradi metropolis to establish a Bible School. The leaders of the network of churches were mostly graduates of Arch-bishop Benson Idahosah’s Bible school, the All Nations for Christ Bible Institute in Benin City, Nigeria.246 The network of churches formed an association called the All Nation for Christ Association (ANAFCASS). The association founded a Bible school called the Living Word Bible School now defunct, on the premises of Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). The association’s main aim for the establishment of the Bible school was to train pastors and lay-ministers for the various member churches. Also, not only did Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), provide accommodation for the school but also majority of the lecturers were Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) pastors.247 Pastors who were trained elsewhere were made to go through the association’s Bible school before they were 244 Rev. Benjamin Allen Mensah: interview at Takoradi, on January 6, 2018. 245 Minutes of General Council Meeting, July 1990, 6. 246 Bishop Emmanuel Botwe: interview at Takoradi, on January 2, 2018. 247 Rev Charles Hammah: interview at Nungua, on March 6, 2018 138 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh engaged as pastors in any of the (ANAFCASS) churches. The idea behind this policy is for the churches to be fully convinced of the kind of doctrinal stance of the new pastors.248 The General Overseer of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) affirmed this policy and the motive behind it disclosed at a General Council meeting on July 22, 1989 that Pastor James Dadzie of Brakwa assembly in the Central Region who had seceded from his former church and joined the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) “had readily agreed to undertake pastoral studies at the Living Word Bible School, a school jointly established by this church and the other ANAFCASS churches in order for him to be well acquainted with the doctrines and practices of the church.”249 The policy of the church as discussed above has been reviewed, the researcher discovered that currently the church engages pastors trained elsewhere provided you are Pentecostal and qualify according to the church’s laid down regulation. “Ministers possessing valid ordination certificates from any organization with identical faith, belief teaching and scripture doctrines may be considered but not until he/she has served in the church as a minister for a period of three years and above.”250 The church workers who were trained in the Bible school did not automatically become pastors of the organization. This assertion is similar to what according to Larbi, prevailed some years ago in the Christ Apostolic Church. According to him “enrolling in this kind of school did not guarantee an automatic appointment into the ministry of the church. One could only be appointed after he had proven himself in prayer, discipline, integrity, moral probity, accountability and evidence of the charismata.”251 248 Rev Charles Hammah: interview at Nungua, on March 6, 2018. 249 Minutes of General Council Meeting, July 1989, 3. 250 The Church’s Constitution, 2004, 48. 251 Larbi, Pentecostalism: The Eddies of Ghanaian Christianity, 116. 139 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The researcher discovered that the church over a period of time had systematically trained its workers and engaged them, as a response to its rapid growth. The organization has not hesitated in sponsoring some of its pastors to acquire specific training for specific assignment or positions offered to them, thus making the beneficiaries, effective and efficient to their duties. According to Rev. Francis Appoh in 1995 the church sponsored him to an evangelistic training program organized by an organization known as the Youth with a Mision, in Tema. He was sponsored to this program when the church appointed him as the Director of Missions in order to operate effectively at the mission’s directorate of the church. Another minister, Rev. Mrs. Offei-Addo, also benefited from a kind of sponsorship offered by the church at the early period of the church. She was also appointed to head the Women’s Ministry fellowship secretariat of the church after her training at the Youth with a Mision training center, in Tema.252 She testified that the three (3) months of training she had was really intensive and helped a lot in her leadership role. Furthermore, according to Pastor Ampah-Turkson he was also sponsored by the church to Winneba College of Music to study music in other to be in-charge of the music department of the church. Rev. John Andoh Ashun, the Administrative Director of the church disclosed that the church in (2017) started a Leadership Enhancement School (LES) which is meant for Church Leadership Training and Capacity Building. 252 Rev, Mrs Offei-Addo: interview at Takoradi, January 13, 2018. 140 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The church’s commitment to training of its workers is demonstrated by periodic refresher courses, seminars and conferences which are organized. This clearly gives a picture of how the organization needs adequate financial resources to run its administration. 4.3 Summary The researcher discovered an appreciable level of growth in membership and in geographical expansion. The activities of the church as the researcher focused on in the study have contributed to both growths in the church as well as its impact on the social life of the people. The growth rate identified is a steady growth or increase in membership, and the adherent’s penchant for activities like corporate prayer, evangelism and their contribution to social services demonstrates their spiritual growth as well, although it cannot be quantified. The church’s engagements in evangelistic activities have also help contributed to Christian missions with respect to growth. Finally, the policy with the affiliate body to support the planting of a branch church in every year has also helped the growth of the church. 141 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY, MAJOR FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 5.1 Introduction In the previous chapters the researcher had indicated over three decades of history of the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI), how it has progressed in growth in line with its system of governance and practices. The work discussed to a large extent how a church which was founded by an illiterate charismatic indigenous Christian had contributed to the spread of Christianity in Ghana, Africa and the world at large. However in spite of the impact of the church in Ghana not much of the church is known in academia, the work had sought to achieve this objective by documenting the activities of the church in terms of leadership, practices, growth, and governance. This section is a summary of the study, major findings, recommendations and conclusion. 5.2. Summary Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) as an organization has steadily developed in numerical and geographical expansion. It is a church founded by a charismatic figure, who had no formal education but had demonstrated exceptional qualities of leadership which had contributed immensely to the progress of the church. The leadership of the church have put in place a well-organized leadership structure and good governance policies that had helped to propel the church through its formative period from 1983 when it was established to the present time. 142 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Chapter one provided the background to this research, it indicated a church founded by a Ghanaian who broke away from a classical Pentecostal church, the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC). It also showed a church which is steadily growing in numbers and in geographical expansion and yet not much is known about it. This chapter indicated the need to research on such an indigenous African Pentecostal church that was founded in the Region where precursors of Ghanaian Pentecostalism began. In this chapter, relevant literatures were used and interviews were conducted as primary source for the collection of data and analysis of the work. Chapter two had considered various arguments by scholars on church growth and church governance to form a conceptual framework to the work. The chapter identified the relationship between growth and governance within the church. This chapter helped to identify the various dimensions of church growth and forms of church governance, which were used by the researcher as a guide to identify the factors of growth in the Christian Faith Church International (CFCI). Chapter three of the work gives the account of the life of the founder of the church, his call into ministry, and the “miracles” he performed. Apart from the history of the church, the chapter also examined the organizational structure and the governance procedure which has contributed to the church’s growth. Chapter four of the work is the discussions on the work as well as the statistics of the church’s growth and analysis whilst various factors that contributed to the growth of the church were also discussed. A summary has been provided to highlight all the discussions which have contributed to the growth of the church. 143 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5.3 Major Findings The researcher found out that during the life and ministry of the founder he established a prayer center known as “The Power House” which operated in a fashion similar to the “Prophet Healer’s” prayer camps. Moreover, as a Pentecostal the founder placed much emphasis on prayer and relied solely on “faith healing”. He also believed strongly in the ministry of the angels of God which most prophet healing churches espouse. However, he did not have special angelic names for the angels as is known about the prophet healers and their churches. Furthermore, the prayer center “The Power House” has not been sustained and the emphasis on “faith healing” has declined considerably after the founder’s demise. The researcher further established that the church as its policy required the use of vernacular (Fanti/Twi) as a medium of worship and communication. This policy although good and makes worship service relevant to the adherents, it has contributed significantly to why growth and spread of the church is massive in Western and Central Regions of Ghana and relatively low outside the two Regions. The researcher identified that although the church understand the need to have well educated, and well trained leaders as pastors of the church, however it do not have a school to train its pastors. Also, the Leadership Enhancement School (LHS) meant for capacity building by the church is merely a policy which is not being implemented at the time of the research. Furthermore, remuneration of the pastors are low to attract well educated personnel into its pastorate and consequently affect the spread outside the Western and Central Regions. 144 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The researcher discovered from the analysis on the church’s activities, that the church has transmute from one mode of typology (indigenous movement) into another referred as classical Pentecostalism. The researcher established from the analysis on organizational structure that the church has adopted the Presbyterian form of church governance. This was also confirmed by the Administrative Director of the church that the church practices an Executive Presbytery Polity. Also, the church has broken away from the era of “one man church” to a church with a governance system which engages all its pastors and other stakeholders in the running of the organization The researcher found out that the church which started as a group of nine (9) members in 1983 and has a total membership of five thousand seven hundred and thirty five (5,735) including women and children as at December, 2017. This figure excludes membership of the foreign branches. The researcher found out a laudable policy “one soul one cedis” offering meant to support evangelistic activities. 145 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5.4 Recommendations The researcher recommends that the church should review its policy of using only the vernacular (Fanti or Twi) as the medium of worship or communication. That is, a policy on mode of worship or communication to include people of other ethnic groups or background. The researcher recommends that, the church engage well educated personnel who can lead well educated congregation. Thus, the church should engage mature Christians as pastors with average educational background. Also, the ministers engaged should be given an enhanced remuneration and this will attract well educated personnel into its pastorate. The researcher recommends a review of some of the church’s policy, for instance the transfer of minister’s policy, where a pastor may be at one branch for a long time for the simple reason that he or she may be a senior pastor. This sometimes has an adverse effect in the sense that the pastor may not be performing well and there will be the need for some transfer of a sort. The researcher also recommends that the church should take advantage of the media and make very good use of it. Thus, the church should set up a unit that will interact with members through the social media, like the face book, what’s app, Twitter, send out SMS messages to members and also get a good website with relevant information on the church. 146 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Conclusion The goal of the church basically is to witness to the non-believers (lost souls) and win them to the Lord through the saving knowledge of Christ, develop them with the word of the Lord (scriptures) and maintain them to be mature Christians (qualitative / spiritual growth). This should be sustained by the church by sending its members to the un-churched (world) to witness to them as a response to the Great Commission in order to attract those souls to the church. The Christian Faith Church International (CFCI) took up the challenge to respond to the Great Commission by adopting an appropriate governance system that had helped maintain the growth given by the grace of God to the church and sustained the mandate through the evangelism drives of the church. Clearly, the contribution of an indigenous charismatic figure that had no formal education, to Christian mission cannot be neglected by academia. The adoption of the Executive Presbytery Polity has contributed significantly to growth in the church, numerically, spiritually and geographically, however, these different dimensions of growth should be seriously improved upon. 147 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh BIBLOGRAPHY Agbeti J.K, West African Church History: Christian Missions and Church Foundations: 1482-1919(Leiden: E.J Brill, 1986) Amoani, JB., National Project Director of Christian Faith Church, interviewed on April 6, 2007 at Takoradi. 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F, The Cross- Cultural Process in Christian History (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2002). Webster, Merriam, (ed.), Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (U.S.A: Merriam Webster Inc. Publishers, 1984). Welch, Robert H, Church Administration (USA: B&H Publishing Group, 2011). 152 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh APPENDICES A Simple Interview Questions 1. How has the philosophy of the founder influenced the church (CFCI)? 2. What influenced you to become a member of the church (CFCI)? 3. How has (CFCI) contributed to the society and Christianity? 4. What are the reasons that have contributed to the slow growth rate of the church? 5. How would you describe the effects of the church’s governance system on the growth of the church? 6. What accounts for the church’s growth concentrated in Western and Central Regions of Ghana? 7. Why have scholars/academia neglected this church (CFCI). 153