i UNIVERSITY OF GHANA DEPARTMENT FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGIONS THE YOUTH AND THE NUMERICAL GROWTH OF THE GA PRESBYTERY IN THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF GHANA BY JOSEPH CHARLES QUARTEY (10301826) THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MPHIL STUDY OF RELIGIONS DEGREE JULY 2016 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ii DECLARATION I hereby declare that, with the exception of specific quotations or paraphrases used in this study, which have been duly acknowledged, the work is my handiwork carried out at the Department for the Study of Religions, under the supervision of the under listed lecturers of the Department. Signature:………………………………. Date: ……………………………….. Joseph Charles Quartey (Candidate) Signature:………………………………. Date: ……………………………….. Rev. Dr. Abraham Nana Opare Kwakye (Supervisor) Signature:………………………………. Date: ……………………………….. Rev. Fr. Dr. Cosmas Ebo Sarbah (Supervisor) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iii DEDICATION This research work is dedicated to my uncle Mr. Maxwell Nii Bortey Bortey who sponsored my MPhil program and to my parents Mr. and Mrs Quartey and my siblings Mrs Augustina Duodu, Miss Susuana Quartey and Mr Daniel Quartey for their prayers, support and encouragement. I also dedicate it to the entire Youth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iv ABSTRACT This study examines the role of the youth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana towards its numerical growth. It focuses on the role the youth have played throughout the development and continue to play towards the growth of the church and also examines the challenges faced by the youth in the discharge of these roles. Methodologically, the study adopted the method of research where data on the subject matter were collected and analysed through the use of personal interviews, questionnaire administration, participant observation and consulting of relevant reports and brochures. The respondent included both the clergy, lay and the youth. It also reviewed relevant literature. The study foundout that, the youth played various roles in the numerical growth of the church. These roles includes evangelism, seeing to the holistic development of members, providing ecclesiastical leadership, serving as teachers of the JY and Children Service, providing financial assistance and moderning worship. This notwithstanding, the research revealed that there are some challenges faced by the youths in the role they played which if solved, would enhance the contribution of the youth towards the numerical growth of the church. The study concludes that, the youth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana play a prominent role in the numerical growth of the church. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh v ACKNOWLEDGMENT My utmost thanks go to the Lord God Almighty whose grace, protection and love has seen me through this research work. Indeed he has been my guide and granted me strength to finish this research work. He deserves all praise and glory. Secondly, I wish to express my profound gratitude to my supervisors Rev. Dr. Abraham Nana Opare Kwakye and Rev. Fr. Dr. Cosmas Ebo Sarbah for their guidance, encouragement and patience throughout the research work. I am really grateful and I pray the Good Lord bless you in all your endeovours. Also, I am also grateful to Rev. Fr. Dr. Ossom –Batsa, Dr Ernestina Novieto and other lecturers of the department for their encouragement. Also, it’s my pleasure to appreciate all who granted me interviews: Rev Dr. Godwin Nii Noi Odonkor, Rev. Stephen Lankwei Lawson, Rev. Samuel Nortey Adjei, Rev. Godwin Odonkor, Rev Daniel Lawson, Rev Emmanuel Adjei-Mantey and Mr. Joseph Ntow. I say God bless you for making time outside your busy schedules to grant me audience. I am also grateful to all the Directors of Church Life and Nurture and the Directors of Mission and Evangelism in the various districts, who filled my questionnaire for me. Finally, I am grateful to my uncle Mr Maxwell Bortey for sponsoring my MPhil program, to my parents and siblings for the love and care you showed me and to my grandmother for your advice and support. I wish to say thanks to Miss Stella Atakora and Miss Abigail Ekua Safoa for typing my work and to Miss Bernice Kyreaa Asante for giving me her laptop to use for this project. I say God bless you all and replenish every thing you lost in helping me finish this research work. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................ ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT................................................................................................................. v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... xii LIST OF PLATES ....................................................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background to the study ....................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Objectives of the study.......................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Literature Review.................................................................................................................. 4 1.4.1 History of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana ................................................................ 5 1.4.2 Church Growth............................................................................................................... 7 1.4.3 Youth Ministry ............................................................................................................. 11 1.5 Research Question .............................................................................................................. 15 1.6 Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................................... 15 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh vii 1.7 Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 16 1.8 Scope of the Study .............................................................................................................. 17 1.9 Organisation of the study .................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................................... 20 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF GHANA AND ITS YOUTH MINISTRY .................................................................................................................... 20 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 20 2.2 Brief History of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana............................................................ 20 2.3 History of the Ga Presbytery ............................................................................................... 28 2. 4 History of the Young People’s Guild................................................................................. 31 2.4.1 Ga Presbytery YPG ...................................................................................................... 38 2.4.2 Presbyterian Youth In-Church Evangelism (P-YICE) ................................................. 40 2.5 History of the National Union of Presbyterian Students -Ghana (NUPS-G)...................... 43 2. 5.1 Structure and Activities of NUPS-G ........................................................................... 48 2.5.2 Activities of the NUPS-G ............................................................................................ 51 2.5.3 Presbyterian Students In Church Evangelism (P – SICE) ........................................... 51 2.6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 54 CHAPTER THREE ...................................................................................................................... 55 ROLES OF THE YOUTH IN CHURCH ..................................................................................... 55 3.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 55 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh viii 3.2 Evangelism .......................................................................................................................... 57 Table 6.0 Statistics of P-SICE from 2003 to 2009................................................................ 59 3.3 Holistic Development of Members ..................................................................................... 62 3.4 Ecclesiastical Leadership .................................................................................................... 64 3.5 Serving as leaders (teachers) in the children and youth ministry ....................................... 66 3.6 Financial Assistance............................................................................................................ 68 3.7 Modernizing the worship and introducing innovative ways of worshiping ....................... 68 3.8 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER FOUR ......................................................................................................................... 70 THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE YOUTH TO THE PCG: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS ....................................................................................................................................................... 70 4. 0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 70 4.1 EVANGELISM................................................................................................................... 71 4.1.1 Funding as a challenge to Youth Evangelism .............................................................. 71 4.1. 2 Language Barrier ........................................................................................................ 74 4.1.3 Lack of Logistics.......................................................................................................... 75 4.1.4 Parental Influence ........................................................................................................ 77 4.2 HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF MEMBERS ................................................................. 78 4.2.1 Lack of commitment .................................................................................................... 79 4.2.2 Lack of co-operation from church leaders ................................................................... 81 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ix 4.2.3 Educational system ...................................................................................................... 83 4.3 FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE .............................................................................................. 85 4.3.1 Unemployment ............................................................................................................. 85 4.4 Serving as Leaders (Teachers) of the Junior Youth and Children Service ......................... 88 4.4.1 Lack of motivation ....................................................................................................... 88 4.4.2 Lack of Training .......................................................................................................... 90 4.6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 91 CHAPTER FIVE .......................................................................................................................... 92 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ..................................................... 92 5.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 92 5.1 Summaries........................................................................................................................... 92 5.2 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 94 5.2.1 Challenges .................................................................................................................. 100 5.2.1.1 Evangelism .............................................................................................................. 100 5.2.1.2 Holistic Development of Members ......................................................................... 101 5.2.1.3 Financial Assistance................................................................................................ 101 5.2.1.4 Serve as Teachers of the J.Y and Children Service ................................................ 102 5.3 Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 103 BIBLOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................ 103 Interviews Conducted by the Researcher ................................................................................ 103 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh x REFERENCE .......................................................................................................................... 103 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................. 109 INTERVIEW GUIDE ................................................................................................................. 109 APPENDIX B ............................................................................................................................. 110 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR YOUTH............................................................................................. 110 APPENDIX C ............................................................................................................................. 114 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR MINISTERS /DIRECTOR OF MISSION AND EVANGELISM & CHURCH LIFEAND NURTURE .............................................................................................. 114 APPENDIX D ............................................................................................................................. 118 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xi LIST OF TABLES Table 1.0 2013 Statistics of the Ga Presbytery ………………………………………….. 29 Table 2.0 2014 Statistics of the Ga Presbytery ………………………………………….. 30 Table 3.0 List of National YPG Presidents……………………………………………….36 Table4.0 List of National NUPS-G Presidents…………………………………………...45 Table 5.0 Analysis of respondents choice of the roles of the youth……………………... 55 Table 6.0 Statistics of P-SICE 2003 to 2009…………………………………………….. 58 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.0 Structure of NUPS-G …………………………………………………………. 49 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xiii LIST OF PLATES Plate 1.Summer Hut built by youth during work camp at Abokobi, Accra. Plate 2.A P-SICE participant during market ministration at Djankrom, Eastern Region. Plate 3. P-SICE participants during School Ministration at Domerabra, Accra. Plate 4. A Crusade at Kojo Oku, Central Region during 2016 P-SICE. Plate 5. A P-SICE participant during House to House Evangelism at Saforo, Eastern Region, Ghana. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study The Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) is one of the oldest Protestant churches in Ghana. The church was started by the Basel Mission in 18281. Its vision is to be a Christ centred, self – sustaining and growing church.2 This vision has compelled the Church to strategically design a blueprint called “The Mission Blueprint of PCG” to help fulfil the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ to “Go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded” (Matthew 28: 19 – 20) and also, ensure consistent growth of the church in order to achieve its vision of being a growing church. This Mission Blueprint provides a cycle of four parts which are, Evangelism & Outreach, Disciple Making, Church Planting and Church Growth.3 The Blueprint shows that the church has a passion to fulfil the Great Commission by growing not only with facilities but also in its membership strength. The youth ministry of the church is the main target group in fulfilling of this vision because the Presbyterian Church of Ghana has a number of youth in it, considering the fact that over fifty percent of its membership is under thirty-five years4 and the 2014 statistics of the PCG indicates that the children and youth form the majority of its membership.5 The PCG has four youth groups in the church namely, the Junior Youth, the Young People’s Guild, the National Union of 1 Agbeti, J. Kofi. West African Church History: Christian Missions and Church Foundations: 1482 – 1919 (Leiden: E. J. Bill, 1986), 62. 2Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Constitution (Accra: Waterville Publishing House, 2000), 2. 3 Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Mission Blueprint. (No Publication details) 4Richard Foli, Christianity in Ghana: A Comparative Study of Church Growth (Accra: Trust Publications, 2006), 172. 5 Presbyterian Church of Ghana. 2014 statistics, presented to the 15th General Assembly at Ramseyer Training Center, Abetifi – Kwahu. 14th – 20th August, 2015, 7. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2 Presbyterian Students and the Boys and Girls Brigade. However, two of them, the Young People’s Guild (YPG) and the National Union of Presbyterian Students – Ghana (NUPS-G) are the focus of the study. The YPG consists of members between the ages of eighteen (18) to thirty (30) years. The YPG, as part of its objectives, seeks to promote the spiritual, moral and social wellbeing of the Young People of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. It is also serves as a platform for its members to realize their potentials, opportunities and responsibilities within the church and the community. And finally, the YPG encourages the young people of the church to take full responsibility in the Guild, the Church and the Nation as a whole and to engage in and promote evangelism among members with the view of winning more souls for Christ and into the Church.6 These objectives of the Guild, if fulfilled, would not only make guilders grow to become good Presbyterians but also contribute immensely towards the numerical growth of the church as a whole. The NUPS-G on the other hand is another group which contributes immensely towards the numerical growth of the church. It is made up of all PCG students in all post -basic educational institutions in the country. NUPS-G also runs a lot of evangelistic and other activities that contribute to the numerical growth of the church.7 At the fifth General Assembly of the PCG held in 2005 at Kumasi, the Moderator of General Assembly of the PCG Very Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong- Manso lamented on the growth of the church, indicating that; After 177 years of existence as a national church, our population as PCG is not commensurate with our age, we have a lot of work to do through ‘in reach’ and ‘outreach’. Where some of the newer denominations are talking about a population of about 1,200,000, we are talking about a total 6 Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Young People’s GuildConstitution(Osu: Presbyterian Youth Resource Center, 2010): 2. 7 Presbyterian Church of Ghana. National Union of Presbyterian Students –Ghana. Constitution, 2010: 2. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3 membership on record of about 600,000. We have to increase both in number, infrastructure and in quality. Our church must grow functionally and qualitatively.8 This led the church to take a decision that all Presbyteries should work towards increasing their membership by at least ten percent (10%) every year.9 If this growth would occur then there is the need to involve the youth. Rt. Rev A. A. Beeko, a former Moderator of the Synod of the PCG, at a three day seminar on Youth Ministry as part of the processes to review the Church’s Youth Policy, said that: Young people are important part of the church which is a community. Community implies participation. If we must do the best we can to improve the quality of the life of our society, then young people should not be excluded. They have the strength, energy and vitality to fight, strive forward and achieve great things. The power of the youth must be harnessed and directed for productive use in the community. No society can ignore its youth.10 According to Beeko, the youth are the ones that possess the strength, energy and vitality to fight, as compared to the elderly in the church, and therefore cannot be ignored if Presbyteries are to grow by the 10% annually since young people are important in the church community. It is against this background that the study investigates the role of the youth of the church towards this goal of numerical growth. 1.2 Statement of the Problem Over the years there have been a number of research studies on the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.These include;Noel Smith’s “The Presbyterian Church of Ghana: 1835 – 1960”, Agbeti’s “West African Church History: Christian Missions and Church Foundations; 1982 – 1919” and 8 Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Minutes of the 5th General Assembly held at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi from 29th July – 4th August, 2005. 9 Ibid. 10Rt. Rev. A. A. Beeko, “The Place of the Youth Ministry Within the General Ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana” In Youth and Student’s Ministry in Ghana Today. ed. Rev Kwabena Opuni – Frimpong (Osu: Presbyterian Youth Resource Center, 1998), 46. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4 Poh’s “Vision and Achievements: A Hundred and Fifty Years of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana 1828 – 1978, but there has not been any direct work on the youth and their role towards the numerical growth of the church. Since the youth forms the workforce of the church, there is the need to investigate their role and the challenges they face so as to harness their full capabilities to ensure growth. The PCG also, has been seen as a church for old people, and as a church in which the adults play almost every role in the church, this study examines this challenge to find out whether the youth in the church play any significant role towards the growth of the church. 1.3 Objectives of the study The research seeks to fulfil the following objectives: First, examine the youth ministry as a vital part of the church. This would be done by examining the history and development of two youth groups of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana namely the YPG and NUPS-G. Secondly, highlight the role of the youth in the numerical growth of the church. Thirdly,assess the challenges or weaknesses in the delivery of these roles. Finally, discuss how these challenges may be addressed to enhance the quality and effectiveness of the contributions for the numerical growth of the church. 1.4 Literature Review The literature Review for this study has been divided into three thematic areas that have bearing on the topic under study. These themes form the core of the study and includes firstly, the history University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5 of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, secondly, Church Growth and lastly, Youth Ministry. They are discussed below: 1.4.1 History of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana The history of the church has received a number of scholarly attention but most of them do not emphasise the work of the youth of the church. The work of Agbeti and Kwamena - Poh will be discussed in this review. Agbeti in “West African Church History; Christian Missions and Church Foundations; 1982- 1919”, devotes chapter six (6) to the history of the Basel Missionary Society which founded the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. In his book, he examines events that led to the invitation of the Basel missionaries to the Gold Coast and gives an account of the work of the Basel missionaries on the Gold Coast. He evaluates the achievements of the mission society and also the great challenge. He mentions that since the Basel mission arrived, they worked hard but were not able to make a headway.He noted that “Twelve years had passed since work was began. Out of nine missionaries sent out, only one survived and only one convert was baptized at Christiansborg in 1839”11,which happens to be a very great challenge any mission could face and which even caused the mission to consider ending the missionary work on the Gold Coast. This challenge led to the invitation of the West Indians who were blacks because they could relate well with the Africans because of their common complexion.12 This was based upon a recommendation made by Nana Addo Dankwa, the Okuapehene in one of his interactions with Andreas Riis (one of the Basel missionaries) whowas asked to abandon the mission and return home because they deemed the mission was not going to be successful. He noted that although 11 Agbeti, West African Church History, 64. 12 ibid. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 6 the West Indians did not understand the vernacular which posed a challenge, they helped the mission society realise some successes which led to the establishment of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. The presence of the West Indians made the Africans see others just like themselves believing in the bible and also practicing what it says, which led them to also convert to Christianity. For instance they had monogamous families, which was not the case in a typical African family by then. He concludes the chapter by indicating that after the period where they faced a lot of challenges, the next period which is the period from 1851-1914 marked great success for the society because there was progress and expansion in establishing Christian communities, developing the vernacular among other successes.13Although Agbeti’s work provides some basis for the current study, his work only covers the history of the growth of the PCG up to 1919. His work thus did not cover the years beyond 1919 which this study seeks to focus on. Secondly, Agbeti did not also focus on the youths and their role in the development of the PCG. A more recent work in the history of the church is Kwamena-Poh’s “Vision and Achievements”. He examines the history of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana from 1828 to 1978 which marks the first fifty years of the existence of the church. He explored the interconnections between the events, conditions, movements and personality of both Africans and Europeans that came into beingsince 1828 which helps gain a full appreciation of the growth of the African church14. He notes that, the Presbyterian Church of Ghana was able to establish herself after the European missionaries had gone under African leadership.15 He does this by first examining the background of Ghana prior to the arrival of the Europeans - mainly their culture, and then moves on to discuss the arrival of 13 Ibid, 66. 14 Michael Albert Kwabena Poh, Vision and Achievements: A Hundred and Fifty Years of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana 1828 – 1978 (Accra: Waterville Publishing House, 2011), xix. 15 Ibid. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 7 the Basel missionaries. He talks about the struggles the Basel missionaries’ encountered in the Gold Coast and also emphasises the hope generated by Riis.Finally, he discusses how they built a strong community of believers. Kwabena - Poh examines how the indigenous church was established by the leadership of Africans taking over from the Europeans and then presents the full history of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana as an independent church from the hands of the Europeans. Although this book gives a good account of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, it does not look at the period beyond 1978 which this study seeks to examine. This study extends the developments of the PCG beyond 1978 to 2015 which his book does not cover. Although he also devotes some parts of his book to examine the works of the youth in the church, he does this by looking at ministers that were put in charge of the youth ministry and not the work of the youths themselves. The book also fails to give an account of the history of the youth ministry of the church, which this study explores, and of how the youths contribute to the growth of the church (and how the leaders of the church contributes towards the growth of the youth ministry of the church). In conclusion although there have been some literary works on the PCG, such as the works of Kwabena - Poh and Agbeti,there have not been much studies into the growth pattern of the church and how the youths of the church have contributed and continue to contribute towards the numerical growth of the church, which this work seeks to study. 1.4.2 Church Growth Just as there have been studies into the history of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, there has also been enormous study on the subject of Church growth. For this study, a review is done on the work of Donald McGavran and Richard Foli; the former because he is noted to be the father of the Church Growth Movement and the latter because he situates the Church Growth debate in the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 8 Ghanaian context. Works of other scholars would however be reviewed in addition to the works of Donald McGavran and Richard Foli. Indeed, one cannot talk of church growth without giving credit to the father of the Church Growth Movement, Donald A. McGavran, also regarded as the twentieth century’s premier missiologist.16 In his famous book ‘Understanding Church Growth’, he evaluates what church growth means. He starts by looking at the rapid growth of Christianity in the 20th century and uses the figures of the growth rate of churches all over the world to show how fast churches were growing and indicates how church growth happens. According to him, most churches were growing because some churches were divided and each side grew in numbers, he cited biological factors and also the converting of unbelievers. He stated that; To these additions from within must be added others from without, though the conversion of unbelievers living on the edge of innumerable existing congregation, intermarrying with their members and counting themselves as already in some vague way “Christian”, hundreds of thousands of such conversions are constantly going on unnoticed. To this new total should be added the dramatic conversions of great number of non-Christians.17 He explained that church growth is faithfulness to God and it’s only where Christians are moved by love and obediently press on by telling others about the good news of the Saviour that the church would spread and increase. To him, faithfulness is not only looking for the lost sheep and finding them but also feeding the flock. He indicated that church growth is not a mere sociological process but rather, understanding church growth is about taking into account what comes from reason and revelation.18 He added that in understanding church growth we have to consider three important factors which include contextual factors (i.e. political, sociological, cultural and environmental), institutional factors and spiritual factors. He also writes about three types of 16McGavran, Understanding Church Growth, Vii – Viii. 17 Ibid, 5. 18 Ibid, 6. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 9 church growth namely biological growth, transfer growth and conversion growth. This idea of looking out for contextual factors of church growth from McGavran would serve as basis for this study as it investigates the growth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and the contributions of the youth towards the numerical growth of the church. This is because this study did not only focus on numbers but also examined the contextual factors surrounding the growth. Richard Foli’s books “Christianity in Ghana; A Comparative Church Growth Study” and “Towards Church Growth” bring the argument of church growth into the Ghanaian context. His book “Toward Church Growth” examines the operation and impact of churches throughout the country. He examines the fact that church growth should not be limited to only numbers, which McDonald called numericalgrowth, but also spiritual and functional growth.19 To him, church growth should not be limited to quantitative growth only but also qualitative growth which would help researchers know the factors that informs the increase in numbers. This study examines the numerical growth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana through the activities of the youth. It is limited to that numerical growth as stated by Foli. This notwithstanding, the researcher believes that spiritual growth as noted by Foli cannot be measured and secondly, spiritual growth as he puts it invariably leads to the numerical growth of the church which can be measured as this study does. In his second book, “Christianity in Ghana; A Comparative Church Growth Study”, he examines the growth of churches throughout the country. His study looks at the membership trends of the various churches in the country by looking at the attendance of members to church service against the number of enrolled members and also examines those that are communicants against non- 19Richard Foli, Towards Church Growth in Ghana (Accra: Trust Publishers, 1996), 48. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 10 communicants. Again this book also looks at the growth in various churches throughout the country and provides a basis for a further study into the individual churches, which this study seeks to do by looking at the numerical growth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. The study does this by examining how the youth of the church contributes to the growth which none of Foli’s books addressed. Again, Young Gi Hong the president of the Institute for Church Growth in Korea in his article “Models of the Church Growth Movement” looks at why the church is declining in the western world and growing in the non-western world. To him church growth is “ that discipline which investigates the nature, expansion, planting, multiplication, function and health of Christian Churches as they relate to the effective implementation of God’s commission to “make disciples of all peoples( Matt 28:18-20).”20 To him, the main concern of church growth advocates, is to analyse the causes of the growth and decline of the church. He indicates that, evangelism is central in the development of the church growth strategy. His work is related to this study as this research investigates how the youth of the PCG respond to God’s commission of making disciples of all nations. This study does that by examining how the youths contribute to the numerical growth through their major evangelism programs which Gi Hong sees as central to church growth. Bakialoge in his thesis “The Contribution of Pentecost Students and Associates (PENSA) to the Church of Pentecost” noted that despite the contribution of the PENSA to the Church of Pentecost there has been very little study of this group. In his work he does a brief history of PENSA and their historical development. He indicates some of the great contribution towards the Church of 20 Young –Gi Hong, “Models of the Church Growth Movement.” Mission as Transformtion in the Twenty-First Century 21, no. 2 (2004): 102, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43053123. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 11 Pentecost and highlights some of the challenges PENSA faces in its efforts to contribute towards the growth of the Church of Pentecost. His work covers the years 1980-2010. His work examines the contribution of the youth ministry to church growth but his focus was on the Church of Pentecost and also on the educated youth of the Church while this study investigates the youth ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and not only the contribution of the students but all those that fall in the youth bracket of the church; both students and non-students. His work provides a basis upon which this study is built. 1.4.3 Youth Ministry The youth ministry, unlike the above themes, has not received much scholarly attention as the others have. For purpose of this study, a review is done on McNamara’s book ‘Youth to Youth Mission’, Knispel’s “Youth In Mission: History of Youth Ministry In the Presbyterian of Ghana from Basel Mission to Modern Time” and Chang-Ho C. Ji and Tevita Tameifuna, in their article “Youth Pastor, Youth Ministry and Youth Attitude Towards the Church.” McNamara, in his book ‘Youth to Youth Mission’ examines a different approach to the youth involvement in mission activities. He indicates that, the youth are listed as the group that needs evangelism most and that the youth are the most capable in evangelizing to themselves.21 He prescribes a new approach on how the youth can go on missions to get their fellow youth to the church. He states that, if youth groups are formed and are taken through practical steps on how they can share their faith, they would be compelled and well equipped to witness to their fellow youths thereby making the church grow. He adds that his personal experience in ministry to the 21Robert McNamara, “Youth to Youth Mission.” The Furrow Stable 47, no. 2 (1996): 558 – 562, doi: 27663273, 558. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 12 youth has helped him find out that, most people especially the youth who call themselves Christians know about God but don’t know God.22 He also believes that it is only when a practical approach is used to train the youth to know God that, they would know God themselves and would be in a good position to bring their fellow brethren to faith in God. In his conclusion, he indicates that although the youth to youth mission is not a perfect approach to mission because it seems to lack a strong social-justice dimension, it would not pose any great challenge if practised because it would help the church to grow. This book also helps the research since it provides an approach by which young people can be used as missionaries. It also provides a basis for this research to be carried out since itexamines how the youth perform their various roles to see to the growth of the church especially through their evangelistic programmes. Chang-Ho C. Ji and Tevita Tameifuna, in their article “Youth Pastor, Youth Ministry and Youth Attitude Towards the Church”, examines the role of hiring youth pastors and workers to help in the development of the youth ministry. The youth Pastor and worker according to the study provides thought-provoking programs23 which impacts the youth and helps in the development of the youth ministry. Secondly, these youth pastors and workers as indicated in the study, provide a caring pastorship which makes the youth feel loved and cared for by the church thereby making them more committed to the denomination they found themselves in. This according to them although aids in the growth of the youth ministry and the commitment of the youth to their denomination, personal religiosity of the youth makes them more committed as compared to that of the youth pastor and worker. The study therefore provides this research work with some variables that contribute to the commitment level of the youth to their denomination, this is 22 bid 23 Chang-Ho C. Ji and Tevita Tameifuna, “Youth Pastor, Youth Ministry and Youth Attitude Towards the Church.” Review of Religion Research 52, no. 2 (2011): 321, http:// www.jstor.org/stable/2305554. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 13 significant to this research work as it seeks to look at the role the youth play in the growth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Restless Development, a youth-led development agency in its article “Nurturing Youth Leadership in the Global South: A Mapping of strategies, Approaches, Challenges and Opportunities” makes the assertion that, the youth were in the time past seen as people that needs to be developed and in the future become leaders of communities and societies. The study indicated that, youth leadership is very significant now and thus investing in youth leadership has the potential to benefit not only the exceptional young people will go on to become the political, business and civil society leaders of the future, but also and more significantly the much larger population of those who are disadvantage in society. It stated that, youth leadership is not only benefits young people themselves, but has a positive impact on the community and larger society. The study looked into what youth leadership is, some perceptions and policies put in place around development of youth leadership in some key global South Countries. This study provides a framework for this research work as it emphasises on the how youth leadership is helping in the development of some countries.This is in line with the current study as it sought to look at the role of the youth towards the growth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Martin Knispel in his book “Youth In Mission: History of Youth Ministry in the Presbyterian of Ghana from Basel Mission to Modern Time”24 looks at how the Basel Mission, who were having an interest in developing the youth ministry, established schools to help build the youth ministry of the mission. It examines how the Basel mission used education as a backbone to build the youth capacity of the mission and how, when the church became independent they incorporated 24 Martin Knispel, Youth In Mission: History of Youth Ministry in the Presbyterian of Ghana from Basel Mission to Modern Time (Osu: Presbyterian Youth Resource Center, 2005), 1. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 14 education into the church structure and the establishment of the YPG. It also examines the development of the youth policy to help regulate the activities of the youth and make youth ministry a part of the church. It explores four fields of work established by the church to see to the development of the youth presently. These includes the ‘Youth Resource Centre’ the ‘Youth Education Committee’ the ‘Youth Self Help Program’ and the ‘Youth HIV/AIDS Program’. The focus of his study was to examine the structures that had been put in place by the church, together with the youth, to see to the growth of the youth ministry of the church. His book provides the research with a background into the development of youth ministry in the PCG but leaves a gap on how the youth ministry has also helped in the development of the church. Although in the growth of the youth ministry the church also grows, his study does not provide a direct link on how the youth ministry aids in the growth of the church. This study focuses on how the youth ministry directly helps in the development of the church through the roles theyouth play in the church. 1.4.4 Summary The literature review has been done on three thematic areas namely the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Church growth and Youth Ministry. The literature reviewed on the Presbyterian Church of Ghana gives a background into the how the youth ministry of the PCG has developed over the years and how young people had helped in the development of the church in the past, it shows that there has been little scholarly attention has been given to the study on the role the youth plays in the growth of the PCG. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 15 Also, the review on Church growth also gives this study an idea of how studies into church growth has developed over the years and also how youth can contribute to the growth of churches and provides this study the background as it sought to investigate the role of the youth towards the growth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Lastly, review on the youth ministry also helps bring the attention of the researcher on how various studies about youth in various denominations have contributed to the growth of their denominations over the years. This sets the tone for this study as it investigates the role of the youth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana towards its numerical growth. 1.5 Research Question The question that this study has sought to answer is: What is the role of the Youth in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana towards its numerical growth? 1.6 Theoretical Framework The study employed the numerical approach as the framework for the study as espoused by McGavran in his book ‘Understanding Church Growth’. Hepoints out that, some people are against counting church members because God was displeased with David when he took a census of the people (2 Samuel 27:1-10).He however argues that numbers is very crucial in determining the growth of every social organization, even in all worthwhile human endeavour. In checking numbers as a measure for growth, all other factors have to be checked in order not to misinterpret the number but rather, to study the growth of the organization. He uses the numerical approach to University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 16 describe the growth of some churches and argues that, when growth is checked by numbers, we are able to know when the church is growing or not especially when all factors like new decision on reporting among others are checked.25 This approach would provide a very good framework for the study since the study examines how the youth contribute to the numerical growth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. The study does not only limit itself to the numbers that the youths directly bring to increase the population of the church but also examines other factors that contribute towards the growth of the church. 1.7 Methodology The study employed both the qualitative and quantitative method of data analysis. This was done basically through questionnaire administration, interviews, participant observation and the use of existing literature on the subject matter. The researcher interviewed the former Presbytery Chairperson, the director of Mission and Evangelism, the director of church life and nurture and the various district ministers and youth leaders in the PCG. Participant observation was also used as the researcher engaged in some of the activities of the youth which include: Presbyterian Students in Church Evangelism, Presbyterian Youth in Church Evangelism and weekly meetings organised by the youth. The historical approach is used in giving account of the history and activities of the youth in the PCG over the years and this helped establish facts and draw some conclusions concerning how young people have contributed towards the growth of the church in the past. The past is always 25McGavran, Understanding Church Growth, 67. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 17 important as it contains the key to the present and helps understand current happenings. It would employ both primary and secondary sources. The primary source would include annual reports of the two youth groups for the period under study and that of the Departments for Mission and Evangelism and Church Life and Nurture of the Ga Presbytery, the Constitution of the PCG and that of the two youth groups, brochures of conferences and anniversaries of the youth groups among others. The secondary sources include published books, journal articles and also other thesis on the topic. The historical method is mainly employed in Chapter Two as it traces the history of the church, the Young People’s Guild and the NUPS-G and some elements in their development. 1.8 Scope of the Study The Presbyterian Church of Ghana has twenty (20) Presbyteries. Eighteen (18) of these are located in Ghana whilst the other two are in Europe and North America. This study, focuses on the Ga Presbytery (commonly known as the Rainbow Presbytery because it has members from all walks of life and all over the country). The Ga Presbytery has the largest number of members in the PCG26. It has thirty- four (34) districts which makes it a very vast Presbytery. Because of the vastness of the Presbytery, this research is limited to six (6) districts of the Presbytery which have been chosen purposively. The purpose of the selection is to reflect the vastness of the Presbytery. These districts are Tema Community 2, Kaneshie, Sakumono, Osu, Frafraha and Abeka. The researcher also interviewed Rev Dr. Godwin N. Odonkor (the Former Presbytery Chairperson), Rev Daniel Lawson (Ga Presbytery Director of Church life and Nurture and former Presbytery 26 Presbyterian Church of Ghana,2014 Statistics presented to the 15thGeneral Assembly, held at Abetifi – Kwahu, 2015, 18. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 18 Youth Coordinator), Rev Emmanuel Adiei Nortey (Ga Presbytery Director of Mission and Evangelism) and Mr. Joseph Ntow (Former Superintendent, Ga Presbytery YPG). The study also focuses on the NUPS-G on the University of Ghana campus since it is the Coordinating Branch head for all the other unions that fall under the Ga Presbytery. The study focuses on the period from 2000 to 2015. 1.9 Organisation of the study The research is be organised under five broad chapters which are as follows; Chapter One is the general introduction of the study. It gives background to the study, indicates the problem statement, objectives, methods of data collection that were employed in the research as well as the scope of the study. This chapter also reviews some literature relevant to the research and also gives the significance of the study. Chapter Two gives an account of the history of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana highlighting the role of young people in the development of the church. It gives a brief history of the Young People’s Guild and the National Union of Presbyterian Students, Ghana, which are the youth groups of the church under study. It also highlights some growth features and examines the development of the main evangelism programs of these two groups, that is, Presbyterian Youth in Church Evangelism (PYICE) and Presbyterian Students in Church Evangelism (P-SICE) respectively. Chapter Three concentrates on the role of the youth to the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and the strategies and activities of the youth groups that have led to the numerical growth of the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 19 church.This role was solicited from both members of the youth groups and the older population of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Chapter Four analyses the challenges that the youths face that affects the role they play towards the numerical growth of the Ga Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. These challenges was also solicited from some members of both the youth and the older population of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. The Fifth chapter, which is the concluding chapter, would be a summary of the findings. It also gives some recommendations and suggestions. 1.10 Significance of the study The research is conducted for the following reasons: Firstly, the research would provide a brief history of the development of two youth groups of the PCG namely the YPG and the NUPS-G and also gives an account of the development of their major evangelical programmes that is PYICE and P-SICE respectively, which are organised annually by these youth groups of the PCG. Secondly, the research examines the roles and challenges of the youth towards the numerical growth of the church. This would help youth church workers to be able to gain more insight into the youth ministry so as to help harness the potentials of the youth to enhance the growth of the youth ministry and the church as a whole. Lastly, the research work would serve as a basis for future researchers to research on the youth of various organisations and their role towards the growth of such organisations. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 20 CHAPTER TWO HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF GHANA AND ITS YOUTH MINISTRY 2.1 Introduction The historical sketch in this chapter seeks to trace the history of the youth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and also how the youth have greatly influenced the development of the church till now. The Chapter starts by examining the genesis of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) and indicates how young men whose ages fall within the youth bracket of the church led to the establishment of the church in the country. It also describes how the Young Peoples Guild of the church has developed over the years taking into consideration the development of the Presbytery Guild under study and also the development of the major evangelistic program of the Guild that contributes towards the growth of the church. The Chapter ends by looking at the student’s wing of the youth ministry which is the National Union of Presbyterian Students, Ghana. It examines its development and also the history behind its evangelistic program which has also become a major means of increasing the numerical strength of the church. 2.2 Brief History of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana The history of every group of people is very important since it serves as a basis for us to reflect on how the group had developed. The PCG is not an exception, its history also provides us with a great reflection of hard work and sacrifices by various people in the development of the church. The name “Presbyterian Church” is derived from the Presbyterian form of church government, involving assemblies of the congregation (Elders or Presbyters); a council approach which is found University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 21 at other level of decision making (Presbytery, Synod and General Assembly).27Arguably, Presbyterians have claimed over the years that the Presbyterian Church of Ghana is the oldest continuous existing Church in Ghana. This session looks at a brief history of the PCG and highlights some great roles played by young people in the development of the church right from the beginning till now. The PCG would forever remember 1828, because it was the year that saw the birth of the PCG. This was after a request made by the then Danish Governor of the Christiansborg Castle Major de Richelieu, upon realising that the Chaplain’s post had been vacant for about fifteen years. Richelieu reported this to Mr. Ronne who was a representative of the Basel Mission in Denmark, who in turn contacted the Crown Prince (one of his former pupils) about the possibility of opening a Basel Mission in Gold Coast. The Crown Prince then reported it to his father who graciously approved it. The Basel Mission was tasked to work on getting some missionaries to the Gold Coast.28 The first batch of missionaries after having been given “carefully thought-out priorities” was sent to the Gold Coast.29 The first batch included; Ferdinand Karl Salbach (28years)30, J.S. Schmidt (27years)31, Johann Philipp Henke (29years)32 and Gohlieb Holzworth (25years)33.One will realise that their ages indicate that these were young men and in the PCG today, per their ages, they would have been in 27 Presbyterian Church of Ghana, 13th General Assembly Brochure, held at Abetifi – Kwahu, 2013, 3. 28 J. Kofi Agbeti, West African Church History, 62. 29Noel Smith, Presbyterian Church of Ghana, 1835 – 1960 (Accra: Ghana University Press), 28. 30 Basel Mission Archives. Ferdinand Karl Salbach assessed on 19th September, 2015. http://bmpix.usc.edu/bmpix. 31 Ibid, J.S. Schmidt. 32 Ibid, Johann Philipp Henke. 33Ibid, GohliebHolzworth. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 22 the Y.P.G. As Kwame Bediako has commented, these were “young and ordinary “amateurs” who would not have been considered for ordination at home”34. They arrived on the Gold Coast on December 18, 1828 to start their mission in the Gold Coast. They decided to make Ningo their base in order to get away from the depraved conditions of Christiansborg.35It is important to note that, as young men, they started their work with great enthusiasm becauseof their youthful nature. Two focused on the Christiansborg areas while two moved along the coast towards the East. Unfortunately, by August 1829, Holzworth, Salbach and Schmidt had died leaving Henke alone. Henke therefore wrote a letter to the Basel Mission Committee and before he could hear anything from them, he also died in November 1831 in his loneliness. Although they were unable to convert even a single person to Christianity, they interacted with the local people, and due to their smartness as young men they managed to learn the local language and this set the pace for mission work on the Gold Coast. The Basel Committee, notwithstanding the death of the first batch of missionaries, sent a second batch of missionaries to the Gold Coast who arrived in March 1833. These included Christian Fredrick Heinze (27years)36 a medical doctor sent to study the reason why the missionaries could not survive the weather and also take care of the medical needs of the missionaries, Peter Peterson Jaeger (23years)37 and Andrew Riis (27years)38. Unfortunately, Heinze, the doctor, died within weeks of arrival and Jaeger also followed him, thus within three months, another batch of young men had passed away in the Gold Coast. Riis the only survivor also became very ill and fortunately for him he received treatment from an African traditional doctor. Riis after being healed was 34KwameBediako. Jesus in Africa: The Christian Gospel in African History and Experience (Akropong: Regnum Africa, 2013), 5. 35Smith, Presbyterian Church of Ghana, 29. 36 Basel Mission Archives. Ferdinand Heinze. 37Ibid, Peter Peterson Jager. 38Ibid, Andrew Riis. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 23 advised to move to the Akuapem ridge which had a more favourable weather for him. He however agreed to move to the Akuapem ridge because of the following reasons: firstly, Akropong is a hilly area and Riis will enjoy better weather and health there than on the Coastal plains around Christiansburg. Secondly, Akuapem ridge had not come into so much contact with the cruel behaviour of some of the Europeans and so would present a better place for the Gospel to be preached to win converts. Lastly, Akuapem was a strategic point to reach Kumasi, the great Ashanti Kingdom to establish a mission there, which was Riis’s main objective.39 The Basel Committee then sent the third batch of missionaries to augment the mission presence on the Gold Coast. These included; Johannes Murdter (23years)40, Andrew Stanger (23years)41 and Miss Anna Wolters (20 years)42 the bride of Andrew Riis. These young men and lady also contributed their quota to the evangelization of the Gold Coast. Unfortunately, Stanger died the year of their arrival and by the end of 1838 Murdter also passed on leaving Riis alone without his missionary friends but this time with his beloved wife Anna. Riis continued with his work on the Gold Coast and did more travelling to reach out to the people of the Coast with the gospel. He travelled to the Volta region and in 1839 Riis tried entering Kumasi, the capital of the great Ashanti Kingdom.Although he managed to reach Kumasi in 1840, he was not successful in his various attempts at speaking to the Asantehene. In 1840, after twelve (12) years of mission, Agbeti has stated, there was only one convert baptized at Christiansborg in 1839 although eight (8) missionaries had died.43Smith has argued that, there 39 Agbeti, West African Church History, 63. 40Basel Mission Archives, Mr. Johannes Murdter. 41Ibid, Mr. Andrew Stanger. 42 Smith, Presbyterian Church of Ghana, 31. 43 Agbeti, West African Church History, 63. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 24 was no convert after twelve (12) years of mission of the Gold Coast.44 This caused the Basel Committee to call Riis back to Basel because the committee felt the Gold Coast was not ready for the gospel. It has been claimed over the years that before Riis would leave the Gold Coast, due to his hard work and his friendly nature, the King of Akuapem, Nana Addo Dankwah informed him that, if only they could see a black man who also believes in the book (Bible) then they would be ready to believe also, because to him, God made the book for the white man and the “abosom” for the black.45 This all important statement by the king marked a great turn to the work of the Basel mission on the Gold Coast. When Riis got back to Basel he reported to the home committee the statement made by the Okuapehene. The Committee then resolved to continue mission work on the Gold Coast but this time employing the services of Jamaican Christians to help reach out to the people of the Gold Coast because of their colour. Inspector Hoffman of the Basel mission championed the policy of pursuing a strategy to recruit the West Indian Christians for mission work in the Gold Coast. Riis and Hoffman sailed to Jamaica in 1842 where they recruited twenty-four immigrants comprising six families to the Gold Coast. These West Indians were recruited because of two main reasons which are; firstly, to assist the European missionaries in building and agriculture thereby relieving the missionaries of manual labours which weakened them to death, and secondly, to ensure the continuity of the missionary enterprise and demonstrate that Christianity was a religion for Africans as well.46 44Smith, Presbyterian Church of Ghana, 34. 45 46 Abraham Nana Opare Kwakye, The West Indian Families and the Development of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana: A Rediscovery of a Mission Heritage. Thesis submitted to the University of Ghana, Legon in June 2011, 128. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 25 On April 17th, 1843 after about two months of sailing, the team of Basel missionaries and Jamaicans arrived on the Gold Coast. In addition to the Antiguan Jonas Hosford, a sixteen year old boy47, there were twenty- four Jamaican Christians. These were made up of the following: John Hall, his wife,Mary and boy Andrew; John Rochester, his wife, and their son John Powell and Rochester’s young sister, Ann; Mr Joseph Miller, his wife, Mary and their three children, Rose Ann, Robert and Catherine; Mr James Gabriel Mullings, his wife, Margarethe and their child Catherine Elisa; Mr John Edward Walker, his wife, Sarah, and their son John Mr James Green, his wife, Catherine, and their son, Robert; David Robertson; Alexander Worthy Clerk; Jonas Hosford; and Catherine Gewe Mulgrave, wife of George Thompson.48 These missionaries were all sent to Akropong to start work there. At the initial stages of the arrival of the West Indians, the people of Akropong and Aburi did not show much interest in them, because although they were blacks, they did not understand the vernacular of the local people. Notwithstanding the lack of interest in the West Indians, their arrival marked a turning point in the life of the mission work on the Gold Coast because upon their arrival a mission station was started 47 Ibid, 137. 48Ibid, 144. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 26 in the Gold Coast. By 1848, about five (5) years after the arrival of the West Indians, there were forty adult converts, as well as at least three hundred children receiving regular Bible and academic training at Christiansborg and Akropong.49 Despite all the above setbacks faced by the mission, the year 1851 marked a great success for the mission. They began to open mission stations from the Akuapem ridge to Osu and other places. In fact, the period from 1851 saw the rapid development of the mission on the Gold Coast; they made impact ineducation andagriculture and greatly affected the lives of the Africans. Notable amongst them were Johannes Christallar and JohannesZimmerman who worked on the Twi and Ga language respectively.The Basel missionaries also built schools to train people, brought on board new methods of farming and built Christian villages such as Abokobi. From Akropong the work of the mission spread first to Aburi (1847) then to Krobo (1849), Akyem (1861), Anum (1864) and Kwahu (1874).50 The expansion work of the Basel mission was however interrupted by the Asante invasions of 1869 which led to the arrest of two of the Basel missionaries Ramseyer and Khune who were taken to Kumasi, the capital of the Asante Kingdom. That notwithstanding, the mission work continued from 1870, the mission spread from the Akwapim ridge to Kwahu, Akyem to Asante, and across the Volta all the way to Yendi in the Northern part of the Country.51 However, after the First World War, the German missionaries were restricted by the British in their Colonies and were later deported on suspicion of the missionaries being spies for their home country. The Basel missionaries had to abandon their work and return to their country, the work 49Cephas Narh Omenyo, Pentecost Outside Pentecostalism: A Study of the Development of Charismatic Renewal in the Mainline Churches in Ghana. (Zoetermeer: Uitgeverij Boekencentrum, 2002), 53. 50Richard Foli, Christianity in Ghana: A Comparative Study of Church Growth, 20. 51Ibid. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 27 was taken over by the Scottish Missionary Society with the concern of the Basel Missionary Society who also had a Presbyterian ecclesiastical organization.52 The Scottish Mission continued with the work started by the Basel missionaries. They also focused on education and even went to the extent of getting Africans to be part of the leadership of the church. They had to fall on the Africans because the number of Basel missionaries leaving was more than that of which the Scottish church was replacing.53Due to the fact that, the Basel missionaries trained the local people, they were able to fill the gap as Catechists; they were able to run the church in the absence of the Basel missionaries. The Scottish team, led by the Rev. Dr. A.W. Wilkie, joined the Africans to transform the administrative structure of the church and gradually the church moved from a centrally controlled church model and adopted a more democratic model which falls in line with the reformed policy.54 By 1918, the church had developed nine (9) Districts, each with a number of sub-districts. The Districts included Christiansborg, Abokobi, Akropong, Aburi, Odumase – Krobo, Begoro, Abetifi, Nsaba and Kumasi.55 These districts constituted the first Synod whichled to the appointment of the first moderator Rev. Peter Hall and the first Clerk of synod Rev. N. T. Clerk who were both descendants of the pioneer Jamaican missionaries. The Basel missionaries were allowed to return in 1926. Upon their arrival they met a new structure of administration which included Africans and although they found it a little difficult to work with, the little effort of cooperation on the part of the Basel and Scottish missionaries on one side and the African agents on the other side, was 52 Agbeti, West African Church History, 72. 53Kwakye. The West Indian Families, 273. 54 Presbyterian Church of Ghana, 13th General Assembly Brochure, 11. 55David N. A. Kpobi, Triple Heritage: Facts and Figures about the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (Accra: Asempa Publishers: 1995) 9. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 28 very cordial helping the church continue to flourish more despite the difficulties faced by the church. After Ghana gained independence from the British in 1957, the church changed its name from the Presbyterian Church of Gold Coast to the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. In 2000, the General Assembly system was adopted by the church. The Synod system was abolished after a Synod committee had sat to review the regulations, practices and procedures forgovernance of the church. The General Assembly has since become the highest decision making body of the church. 2.3 History of the Ga Presbytery By a Synod resolution in 1971, the Ga-Adangme Presbytery was split into two (2), namely, the Ga Presbytery and Dangme-Tongu Presbytery, to facilitate evangelism and ensure more efficient administration. The Ga-Adangme Presbytery had existed for fifty (50) years, being one of the original five (5) Presbyteries created by Synod in 1922. The newly created Presbytery was inaugurated in 1972. It comprised nine (9) Districts, namely Teshie, Kaneshie, Abokobi, Adabraka, Labadi, Osu, Nungua, Tema and Accra Central. The presbytery is located in the Greater Accra Region stretching from Tema in the East to the fringes of the Central Region in the West. It also stretches northwards to the foot of the Akwapim hills. This area was originally occupied by the ethnic group known as the Gaafter which the Presbytery was named. This part of the Greater Accra Region has become increasingly cosmopolitan since the 1960’s making the Ga Presbytery the most ethnically diverse in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (P.C.G.). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 29 The first Chairman of the Presbytery, Rev. E.A. Adjei, who was elected in 1972, combined the functions of the office with those of a District Minister. So also did the Clerk of Presbytery, Rev. J.E. Svanikier. This arrangement continued for over ten (10) years until a decision was taken to detach the position of Chairman from congregational duties. That decision necessitated the provision of a manse for the Chairman as well as office facilities for the Presbytery. These facilities are sited at Kuku-Hill in Osu (now Jubilee House). As at 2013, the Presbytery had thirty-two (32) Districts, one (1) Mission Field and a Northern Outreach Programme. It had the following statistics: University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 30 Table 1.0 2013 Statistics of the Ga Presbytery Congregations 239 Preaching Points 145 Ministers 313 Catechists 281 Caretakers 83 Membership 180,175 Children 43,856 Teenagers (12 – 18) 24,865 Youths (18 – 29) 30,464 Young Adults 22,264 Adults 58,726 Presently, the Presbytery has thirty-four (34) Districts, one (1) Mission Field and a Northern Outreach Programme. It has the following statistics:56 56 Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Ga Presbytery. 2015 Presbytery Synod Chairperson’s Address, Clerk’s Report and Presbytery Statistics. Presented to the 2015 Presbytery Synod held at Abokobi, 18th – 23rd April, 2015, 34. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 31 Table 2.0 2014 Statistics of the Ga Presbytery Congregations 258 Preaching Points 151 Ministers 254 Catechists 305 Caretakers 83 Membership 180,175 Children 48,410 Teenagers (12 – 18) 27,555 Youths (18 – 29) 34,565 Young Adults 27,066 To end, it is important to note that presently two new Presbyteries are being carved out of the Ga Presbytery for effective administration. These new Presbyteries are Ga West and Tema. 2. 4 History of the Young People’s Guild The Young People’s Guild is the main youth wing of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. It can be found in almost all the congregations of the church and also has courts just as the mother church. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 32 It is made up of all members of the church between the ages of eighteen (18) to thirty (30) years. The YPG organizes a lot of activities to keep its members. These activities include Presbyterian Youth in Church Evangelism (P-YICE), youth rallies, and conference, among other activities to keep the guild running. The founding of the YPG is usually credited to a young man named Andrew Atkinson who was sent to the Gold Coast by the foreign mission committee of the Church of Scotland as an accountant of the mission. His first station was Christiansborg. His main duty was book keeping and accounting, but he also involved himself in other administrative work like stock orders, printing, binding and a host of others. Not only did he involve himself in other administrative duties but also actively in the parish work and was expressly given prominence by the then Moderator of the Church by virtue of his good work in the mission of the church. He preached in churches in Christiansborg and Accra upon invitation of Rev. Odonkor. It had been noted that he stated in his diary that, on the April 18th of the same year he arrived, he preached for the first time in the evening service and in the morning of that same day, he went to Children’s Sunday school where he had the opportunity to preach to the kids. He was then asked by Rev. Odonkor to take over a teacher’s class for the children, which Atkinson readily agreed to and set aside every Friday afternoon to teach the teachers who in turn taught the children. He taught 10 teachers who were responsible for teaching the children. He also embarked on visits to some parts of Accra and also visited places like Awisa, Koforidua, Aburi, Akropong, Krobo among others. During this visits, he had encounter with the missionaries there and also joined the youth in scout camps and other ecumenical activities.57 57 Martin Knispel, Youth in Mission, 36. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 33 He was appointed a member of the Youth Committee of the church and this led to the establishment of the first Young Men’s Guild at Adabraka.58 It is worth noting that, the Young Men’s Guild was actually not the first youth group because there had already been in existence as far back in 1932 a youth group in Odumase in Kroboland. The group had about fifteen (15) members which met regularly on Fridays in a classroom which Atkinson used as an idea to possibly form the Young Men’s Guild. Due to the emerging challenge the country faced with the migration of youth from the countryside to the city in search of work, which nearly distracted the work of Atkinson in forming more youth groups, he met the youth not only in the churches, but also on their compounds. With time, he gained the trust of the youth who opened up to him and this enabled him gain insight into the problem the youth were facing and offered advice to them. By 1938 Atkinson reported the establishment of four (4) youth groups. These include youth groups in Accra, Adabraka, Nsawam and Suhum.59 By the end of September that same year he reported of eight (8) YPG groups with about ninety (90) members in all. The eight included youth groups in the first four already named in addition to those in Odumase, Koforidua, Christiansborg and Kukurantumi. This marked the initial stage of the development of the Young People’s Guild. Atkinson set up a monthly newsletter called “The Christian Way” for the movement from 1938 onwards to inform the youth groups monthly on its activities.60 The formation of new YPG movements led to the organisation of the first National Delegates Conference from the 6th to the 9th December, 1938. This Conference was held at Osu Junior Boys School. This conference led to 58 Ibid, 37. 59 Ibid. 60 Andrew Jackson Odjawo and Philip Nai, eds., Youth Guide vol. 14 (Accra: Presbyterian Youth Resource Centre, 2011), 42. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 34 the drawing of the first constitution of the Guild to see to the effective running of the Guild at the various places. Also, it was this conference which came up with the motto of the Guild, which is, “To Know His Will and to Do It”. This motto has been in use till now. The all-important Conference saw the appointment of the first national executives for the Guild. The President was A. E. Bannerman (Later Rev) and D. A. Pupulampu was the Secretary and Treasurer, with Atkinson as the Organising Secretary of the Guild. Following the widespread development of the Guild, the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana officially entrusted the YPG with the entire youth work of the church. It became necessary to have a national office for the effective running of the Guild. The executives then negotiated with the Basel Mission which leased one of its bungalows at Osu to be used as an office for the Guild. The place had an office, a library and dormitories for out station members. It became the venue for National Conference of the Guild until 1950 when the place became the official residence of the Moderator of the PCG. A new place was however allocated to the Guild as office on the same compound.61 The composition of the Guild as it spread also changed, the Guild which begun as a youth group for men developed into one that was a mixed youth work with females being added to the group. In 1942, the then General Secretary of the Guild, Amoakwa- Adu began the publication of a quarter – yearly newspaper which appeared as the “Christian Messenger” for the Guild.62 By 1963, the Guild had grown to about one hundred and thirty (130) registered groups which was spread all over the country with about twenty- three (23) groups in Ga-Adangbe, twenty- one (21) groups in Akuapem/ New Juaben, nine (9) groups in mid Volta, twenty- four (24) groups in Akim Abuakwa, 61 ibid, 43 62Knispel, Youth in Mission, 39. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 35 ten (10) groups in the Western region, fifteen (15) groups in Kwahu and twenty – eight (28) groups in Ashanti and Brong Ahafo region. The Guild had about four thousand, six hundred (4,600) registered members.63The statistics above showed that by 1963, the group had spread all over the country with the exception of the Northern Section of Ghana. This has been attributed to the increased travelling activity of the founder. By 1983, there was a significant change in the life of the Guild as the PCG promulgated the Youth Policy. It was geared towards rehabilitating the young people in the PCG especially at its grassroots level and also suggested ways by which the Guild could grow.64 The policy also saw to the various ways of mobilizing the youth and this led to the merging of the Youth Councils and the YPG which used to be separate organizations. It also championed the course of NUPS-G as the student’s wing of the church to mobilise Presbyterian students. However in 2000, a revised Policy was adopted by the church as some changes were done to the proposed one in 1982. The policy defined who a youth is in the PCG, how the youth can be developed and empowered, how the youth should be administered and also how to fund the activities of the youth amongst others.65It categorised the youth into three groups namely; all those from twelve years (12) to eighteen years (18) as Junior Youth, from age eighteen (18) to thirty – five (35) as the Young People’s Guild and all Presbyterian Students in both Secondary and Tertiary institution under National Union of Presbyterian Students Ghana, (NUPS-G).66 The Youth Ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana has seen lot of progress and has grown over the years to all the parts of the country. Following the decision of the General Assembly held 63 Ibid 64 Youth Council, Proposed Youth Policy to 53rd Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (Bawku, August 1982), 3. 65 Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Youth Policy (Osu: Presbyterian Youth Resource Centre, 2000), 9. 66 Ibid, 10. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 36 in 2005 at Kumasi, the upper age limit for the Youth of the church was reduced to thirty (30) years.67 This decision led to the formation of the Young Adults Fellowship as a new generational group in the church. The YPG has had a lot of National Presidents till now, some of the national leaders from its formation years include;68 67 Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Young People’s Guild. Constitution. (Accra: DAOC Books and Stationery: 2014) 59. 68Ibid, 58. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 37 Table 3.0 List of National YPG Presidents NAME YEAR Mr. A. E. Bannerman(Later Rev) 1939 – 1940 Mr. C.O. Botchway 1940 – 1944 Mr. G. N. Offei 1944 – 1945 Mr. F. A Amoakwa Adu 1945 -1946 Mr. J. E Granham (later Rev.) 1946 -1948 Mr. W. E. Alfonso-Brown 948 – 1949 Mr. L. A. Bannerman 1949 – 1951 Mr. J. C. K. Ocloo 1951 – 1958 Mr. A. Akuetteh 1958 – 1961 Mr. G. M. Akita 1961 – 1964 Mr. O. K. Darko (later Rev) 1964 – 1970 Mr. S. Offei Addo (later Rev.) 1970 – 1976 Mr. E. Kissiedu Ayi (later Rev) 1976 – 1982 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 38 Mrs. G. Ohene-Ampofo 1982 – 1988 Rev. Dr B. Y. Quarshie 1988 – 1990 Mr. Erasmus Odonkor (later Rev.) 1990 – 1992 Mr. Michael Ofosu-Yebaoh (later Rev.) 1992 – 1996 Mr. Enoch Larbi Aboagye 1996 – 2000 Mr. Samuel Ansah Anobaah 2000 – 2004 Mr. Edward Nana Adansi Ofori 2004 – 2007 Mr. Samue Amoah Opare 2007 – 2010 Mr. Christian Okomfo Addo Aug. 2010 – Nov. 2010 Rev. Kofi Amfo-Akonnor Nov. 2010 – Aug. 2011 Mr. Richard Kwasi Offei Aug. 2011 – Sept. 2013 Mr. Isaac Kortey Martey Sept. 2013 - Date 2.4.1 Ga Presbytery YPG On June 17, 1972 the Ga Presbytery YPG was carved out of the Ga - Adangbe Presbytery YPG. The decision however was not liked by the youth of the two new Presbyteries because of the close working relations they had over the years and the fact that they had shared most things in common. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 39 Notwithstanding, the decision waseffected at an emergency meeting held at the Osu Presbyterian Secondary School under the seal of the then newly appointed Presbytery workers, Rev. E. O. Tettey and Rev. E. V. Mate of the Ga and Dangbe Tongue Presbyteries respectively.69 The spilt however, did not end the good relationship that existed between the two Presbytery Guilds. Before the split, the Ga – Adangbe Presbytery Guild was one of the largest Guilds in the church which covered the coastal belt of Accra and Ada (about 72 Miles) and stretched to Akuse (about 54 miles); which comprised of thirty – five (35) active branch Guilds with twenty – five (25) in Ga and ten (10) in the Dangbe with nearly 2,000 members. The braches that made up the Ga Presbytery Guild included: Accra, Adabraka, Apenkwa, Accra New Town, Chorkor, Lartebiokoshie, Kaneshie, Mamprobi, Abeka, Alajo, Adabraka Official Town, Odorkor, Weija, Osu, South Labadi Estate, Labadi, Teshie, Nungua, Madina, Kpone, La Bawaleshie, Tema Community two, Tema North and Tema Manhean. In the year the Ga Presbytery Guild was started, there was a revival of two dormant branches and also the formation of about fifteen (15) new branches in the following year due to the hard work of its leadership. By 1982, the Ga Presbytery Guild had about forty - one (41) branch Guilds, which happened to be the highest in all the ten (10) Presbyteries forming the National Guild by then. The Ga Presbytery Guild was divided into three districts which included the following; the Accra West, Accra East and Tema Districts. The Guild has so far engaged in a lot of activities towards its growth and the growth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. These activities include; building of places of convenience and church halls and the presentation of pulpits and chairs to churches. The Guild also involved itself 69 Committee on Youth Ministry, Brochure of the Ga ( Rainbow) Presbytery Guild Assembly, held at Legon on the 25TH to 28th June, 2015, 15. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 40 in clean up exercises, chapel cleaning, communal labour, farming and rural development programmes. The Ga Presbytery Guild for instance has contributed a lot towards the development of the national Guild in many areas, which includes representing the national guild at the Dahwenya project and earning the support and appreciation of the Ghana Youth Council in the Abokobi Project. These projects involved construction of a domestic science block for the middle school, farming and laying of potable pipe-borne water for the townsmen.70 Currently, the Ga Presbytery Guild, has thirty – two (32) district Guilds, with two hundred and ninety - three (293) branch Guilds and eighteen thousand, three hundred and sixty – eight 18,368 members.71 This indicates a growth in the Guild since its formation. The Guild also engages in various activities such as the Presbyterian Youth inChurch Evangelism (P-YICE), Youth Rally amongst others. 2.4.2 Presbyterian Youth In-Church Evangelism (P-YICE) The Presbyterian Youth In-Church Evangelism (P - YICE) as the name implies, is a programme initiated in response to the need for members of the YPG in the PCG to get involved in the evangelistic activities of the Church in response to the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. Itacquired its name from the Presbyterian Students in Church Evangelism (P-SICE) that is organised by the NUPS-G, althoughthe YPG had involved itself in Evangelism activities which predated P-SICEbefore adopting the name P-YICE. 70 Ibid, 16. 71 Committee on Youth Ministry, Reports Presented at the Ga ( Rainbow) Presbytery Guild Assembly, held at Legon on the 25TH to 28th June, 2015, 4. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 41 Over the years, members of the Young Peoples Guild have involved themselves in various evangelistic activities ranging from house to house Evangelism, Dawn Broadcasting, Crusades, amongst others. This has been in existence right from the beginning of the Guild till now. These evangelism programmes are done on congregational District bases. The various evangelism programs have been dubbed with different names which include: Presbyterian Youth Outreach Programme (PYOP), Mass Evangelism, Youth Outreach, Youth Xplo, amongst others. However, in 2008, under the leadership of Rev. Stephen Lankwei Lawson, the Presbytery Youth Coordinator, the name “Mass Evangelism” was adopted as a name for the evangelism program organised by the Presbytery for its Guilders.72 The Presbytery “Mass Evangelism” had Guilders all over the Presbytery coming together to evangelise and this made them even realise that the PCG has a lot of members. The first Mass Evangelism which was a one-day programme was held in Adenkrebi in the Abokobi District of the PCG.73 In 2013, the Guild, at its National Conference held at the Presbyterian College of Education, Kibi from the 22nd of August to 25th August 2013, adopted the idea of Mass Evangelism organised by various Presbyteries, renamed it Presbyterian Youth In Church Evangelism(P-YICE) and made it a statutory program of the Guild.74P-YICE was accepted to be the name for all YPG evangelism programmes throughout the country. Presbyteries were tasked to observe the programme in their Presbytery since it was difficult to organise a national one due to funds.75 All presbyteries were 72Lawson Stephen Lankwei. (Director, Ga Presbytery Church Life and Nurture) Interview, 29th December, 2015. Sakumono – Accra. 73Joseph Ntow. (Former Superintendent, Ga Presbytery YPG) Interview, 24th December, 2015. Kanda – Accra. 74 Presbyterian Church of Ghana Young People’s Guild, Brochure of the 76th Annual National Delegates’ Conference, held at Konongo Odumase Senior High School on the 21st to 24th August, 2014, 26. 75Joseph Ntow, Interview, 2015. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 42 also to report annually on P-YICE at the national conference.76 Also the P-YICE was to be organised in collaboration with the department of Missions and Evangelism.77 The Ga Presbytery YPG then identified three districts where it organized its P-YICE programme. These districts include: the Ga West Mission Field, Ga East Mission Field78 and Tema (which they saw as a mission field because the place was fast developing but the church lacked influence there). The program is usually organised in September or October depending on the place the program was organised. Every year, there is a rotation of venue for the program amongst these three districts. That of Oyibi District was organised from the 27th to 29th September, 2013 and it covered three areas in the district which include Seduase, Appolonia and Kweiman.79 An advance Team was introduced into the presbytery’s P-YICE program. The team comprised of; one member from each district, the various District protocols officers (who were in charge of evangelism) and the standing evangelism committee of the Presbytery. This team goes to the grounds on Wednesday and engages in activities such as House to House evangelism, Open Air Crusades, Dawn Broadcasting, amongst others, unlike the one day programme of the mass evangelism. The rest of the youth in the Presbytery then joins the team on Saturday to do a follow up on what the advance team has done and also do more outreach programmes. Currently, there is a restructuring programme to see to the introduction of a quota system which when put into action, instead of the rest of the youth joining the advance team on Saturday, each 76Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Young People’s Guild. Brochure of the 76th Annual National Delegates Conference held on 21st – 24th August, 2014. Held to Konogo Odumase Senior High School, Konogo – Odumase, 26. 77 Presbyterian Church of Ghana Young People’s Guild, Brochure of the 77th Annual National Delegates’ Conference, held at Dormaa Ahenkro on the 20th to 23rd August, 2015, 25. 78Now Oyibi District 79 Presbyterian Church of Ghana Ga Presbytery Young People’s Guild, Brochure of the 42nd Annual National Delegates’ Conference, held at Presbyterian Women’s Centre on the 4th to 6th April, 2014, 37. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 43 district would have to provide a number of youth who would go to the grounds right from Wednesday to Sunday to ensure that an effective evangelism work is done. After the outreach each year the Zone in which the P-YICE program takes place is tasked to follow up on the converts since the district visited might not be well resourced to do that alone, and the zone does it with the Presbytery executives playing supervisory role. Districts have also been encouraged to embark on their own P-YICE and are achieving success throughout the church. Unlike the P-SICE that receives some funds for their programme from the mother church, the P- YICE programme is solely funded by the YPG itself through allocating some percentage of the Youth and Students week proceeds and the membership renewal proceeds. This has aided in the establishment of a Youth Evangelism Fund to support the running of the P-YICE programme in the Presbytery. 2.5 History of the National Union of Presbyterian Students -Ghana (NUPS-G) The National Union of Presbyterian Students-Ghana (NUPS-G) is a union of all Presbyterian students in post basic educational institutions throughout the country. The union is found in Senior High Schools, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education, Nursing Training Colleges and Universities throughout the country. The NUPS-G engages in a lot of activities like worship service, evangelistic activities among others to keep students who, in the face of secularisation in our institutions of learning, serve as a bridge between the church and college, introducing the students to basic Christian teachings.80 The NUPS-G is open to all Presbyterian students in all Post-Basic Educational Institutions and makes room for associate members who are all members of the 80 Youth Council, Proposed Youth Policy, 12. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 44 Presbyterian Church of Ghana other than members of the NUPS-G and non – members of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana who express interest in the Union’s activities and identify with the objectives and beliefs of NUPS-G.81 The NUPS-G began at the Akuafo hall of the University of Ghana on the November 22nd, 1959 with 39 students. The late Catechist B.T. Pupulampu, then a student of the University of Ghana mooted that idea82. The primary motive for the formation of the union was to strengthen fellowship among Presbyterian students on campus and to promote more active and useful church members.83 This idea was pioneered by Rev. E. S. Mate-Kodjo, who became the first branch president (then later synod clerk of the PCG 1985-1995), Patrick Asare, S. A. Peprah, John Amponsah, O.k. Caesar, C. R. Garba and Kwamena-Poh. Others included P.V. Akoto, D. N. A. Nartey, Damalie, K .A. Ofosuhene and others with the late Rev. Prof. Emeritus C.G. Baeta as their patron. The idea of the NUPS-G was happily accepted by the church. At the inaugural ceremony of the union, which was held at Legon Hall of the University of Ghana, the moderator and the synod clerk of PCG graced the occasion. The ceremony was chaired by Rev. W. S. Robertson of the University of Ghana and also had in attendance the then moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian (EP) Church of Ghana because there were also Evangelical Presbyterian students who were part of the union. It is important to note, the union did not start with Students of Presbyterian Church of Ghana alone but also with students of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. This made the NUPS-G ecumenical in nature until the 1990’s when there was a spilt due to some schisms in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The idea of NUPS-G then spread to institutions and by 1962, 81 National Union of Presbyterian Students – Ghana, Constitution (April, 2010), 2. 82 Daniel Brobbey, ‘Evangelism and Church Growth in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana: the Role of the National Union of Presbyterian Students – Ghana’, Long Essay (Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon 2005), 25 83 National Union of Presbyterian Students – Ghana, Constitution, 1. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 45 the first National Conference was held at the Commonwealth Hall of the University of Ghana. The second National Conference was held at Winneba with about 26 delegates from the University of Ghana, 32 from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and from Techiman College (now Abetifi College of Education). The conference was to discuss issues drafted and prepared by the first national president (Mr D. N. A. Nortey) and was chaired by Mr. K. A. Ofosuhene. NUPS-G has had a lot of National Presidents till now, some of the national leaders from its formation years include; University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 46 Table 4.0List of NUPS-G National Presidents NAME DATE Mr. D. N. A. Nortey (later Prof) 1961-1962 Mr. K. A. Ofosuhene 1962-1963 Mr. S. A. Ocansey 1963-1964 Mr. A. A. Beeko (later very Rev.) 1964-1966 Mr. D. A. Dartey (later Rev. Dr.) 1967-1968 Mr. E. Y Boakye 1996-1970 Mr. I. A Fokuo (later Rev. Dr.) 1970-1971 Mr. A. A. Akrong (later Rev. Dr.) 1971-1972 Mr. Larbi Siaw 1993-1994 Mr. F. Anim 1994-1995 Mr. S. Ofosu 1995-1997 Mr. S. K. Adjei 1997-1998 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 47 Mr. E. A. Asiedu 1998-1999 Mrs. F. Gans-Lartey 1999-2000 Mr. S. Lartey 2000-2001 Mr. E. A. Dadzie 2001-2002 Mr. I. Appiah 2002-2003 Mr. Adjei Sevlo 2003 – 2004 Mr. S. Opare 2004 – 2006 Mr. E. Acquah 2006 – 2008 Mr Prosper Appiah-Nimo 2008 – 2010 Mr. David Agyei 2010-2012 Mr. Joshua Yeboah 2012-2014 Mr. Alfred Appiah 2014-2016 Mr. Bismark Asante 2016 - to date Since the formation of NUPS-G, it has been involved in training her members to be active in the church. The union has organized leadership training seminars for its leadership once every year. The first, which was organized at the Trinity Theological Seminary on January 26th, 1985, had University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 48 four Coordinating Branches attending the seminar.84 The NUPS-G has over the years been in partnership with the Ghana Methodist Students Union (GHAMSU). Some schools call this union Presbyterian Methodist Students Union (PMSU) and others, like the University of Ghana used Methodist Presbyterian Students Union (MPU). It is unfortunate to note that recently, most of these unions are separating, making the NUPS-G stand on its own in most of our tertiary institutions. The NUPS-G has an objective of bringing all Presbyterian students in all post basic educational institutions in the country under one umbrella, fostering good relations among members in the union, to inculcate in members, the fear of God by means of effective Bible study and prayer, and encouraging effective witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ, fostering cooperation with the Christian movements in Ghana and elsewhere, and finally, establishing branches of the union in all post-basic educational institutions in Ghana. 2. 5.1 Structure and Activities of NUPS-G The NUPS-G follows the PCG administration structure. It has its highest level being the National Congress in which delegates from all over the nation gather at one place to take decisions affecting the union biennially. It’s the highest decision making body of the union. Next is the National Council which is made up of National Executive Committee (NEC) and the Presidents, Secretaries and School Coordinators of the various Coordinating branches in the union, It has the general oversight of the union. The Council meets at least four times in a year. The next is the NEC which 84 Kofi Antwi, ( A Talk delivered by Mr. Kofi Antwi on the Church Administration, the history and structure of the PCG at NUPS-G National Leadership Training Seminar, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, 25th July, 2015), 5. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 49 also meets in between National Council meetings to see to the general running of the union at the national level. The next is the Coordinating branch which is made up of schools in a particular jurisdiction. The NUPS-G currently has five coordinating branches namely, the University of Ghana Coordinating Branch, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the University of Cape Coast, the University of Education-Winneba and the University for Development Studies, with Trinity Theological Seminary as a special Coordinating Branch. The coordinating branch also organizes conference biennially to take decisions affecting the union under that branch. The Sub-Coordinating branch comes after the Coordinating Branch. The Sub-Coordinating Branch consists of the coordinated schools at a particular jurisdiction. In the University of Ghana Coordinating Branch, for instance, there are further Sub-Coordinating Branches which include: Presbyterian Women’s College of Education (PWCE), Presbyterian College of Education(PCE), Accra College of Education(ACCE), Accra Polytechnic, Ho Polytechnic, Koforidua Polytechnic, Peki College of Education (GOVCOE), Koforidua Nurses and Midwifes Training College (KNMTC), the University of Professional Studies (UPSA), Abetifi College of Education (ABETICO), the Presbyterian University College – Ghana, Abetifi (PUCG), Akatsi College of Education(AKATSICOE) and Ada College of Education(ADACOE). These institutions have Coordinated Schools85 under them which also come together to take decision that affect schools under their jurisdiction. At the bottom of the structure is the coordinated post. Coordinated post are the unions at the various senior high institutions and tertiary institutions in the country that have not been inaugurated. 85 Coordinated schools are mostly Senior High institutions and other tertiary institutions that have not yet attained a sub – coordinating Branch status. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 50 NATIONAL CONGRESS NATIONAL COUNCIL COORDINATING BRANCH CONFERENCE SUB-COORDINATING BRANCH COUNCIL COORDINATED POST GENERAL MEETING Figure 1. Structure of the NUPS-G University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 51 2.5.2 Activities of the NUPS-G The NUPS-G embarks on several activities to help fulfil its objectives as stated earlier. These include P-SICE (a major evangelistic program that will be discussed below), Baselfest a program set aside to help inculcate in members of the union, Presbyterianism and to make the youth better appreciate the church they belong to and prayer rallies among others. 2.5.3 Presbyterian Students In Church Evangelism (P – SICE) The P-SICE is the major evangelistic program of NUPS-G which is aimed at winning more souls for Christ. P-SICE is organized at the end of every academic year for all tertiary NUPS-G members throughout the country. It was initiated in response to the need for students to get involved in the activities of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and also fulfil the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. It developed out of the SICE program, organized by the Ghana Fellowship of Evangelical Students (GHAFES), which was embarked on by tertiary students from various denominations. The NUPS-G used to organize work camp until 1985. The work camp was a programme in which students engaged in free manual service such as weeding around Chapels, Chapel Cleaning, Construction of Chapels, digging of toilet facilities for deprived communities, building of schools among others during their long vacation. The NUPS-G SICE came to replace the work camp which although involved manual service, had its main focus on reaching out to people to become believers. One could say, as Martha Fredrick puts it, thatthe SICE was more of mission as expansion as compared to the work camp which could be described as mission as diakonia86. This 86 Martha Theodora Fredericks, We have Toiled all Night: Christianity in the Gambia 1456 – 2000 (Putten: Geboren op, 1965), 8. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 52 is because SICE had the focus of converting people into Christianity by proclaiming the gospel unlike that of the work camp that sought to convert people indirectly by means of providing services for the people. The first NUPS-G SICE was held at Anum in the Volta Presbytery in 1986 with eight (8) participants led by Martin A. Obeng (now Rev.) with the following as participants; Florence Dartey, Rosina Debrah, Andrew Kwabla, Chris Bako, Yaw Aboagye Kumi, Fred Obese and Ernest Atakora all of KNUST, Kumasi and Morgan Asiedu a Methodist student from the University of Ghana, Legon. They went to the Ebenezer Congregation of the PCG, Anum where they spent eighteen (18) days. The second year of SICE (1987) saw an increase in the number of participants which moved from eight participants to twenty –five participants. They went to the Asamankese District of the PCG in the Akyem Presbytery and some were also sent to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EP) in Ho. By the third year of SICE (1988), there were a lot of students interested in the SICE program and about one hundred and ten (110) students from Teacher Training Colleges and the Universities registered and were trained to embark on the SICE. But, unfortunately, only twenty (20) students out of the 110 reported for the SICE program because the Universities were closed down due to a strike action before the SICE program. The students that reported were sent to the Asamankese, Nsawam and Salaga Districts of the PCG as well as to Ho and Anloga Districts of the EP. The impact of SICE has been very impressive because the students researched and found areas that needed to be evangelised, sourced for funds, planned the outreach, organized orientation and also conducted follow ups to the places they have been. The PCG, recognizing the great work of the SICE program provided some financial, moral and spiritual support for the SICE program. The University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 53 PCG showed its interest more in the SICE program when, by 2003, the newly established department of Missions and Evangelism was fully involved in the planning of the outreach and this has been done till this time. With the help of this department, students are sent to wherever they may be needed to embark on the SICE program in consultation with the Presbytery which they would be working with as the Presbytery hosted the participants. As years went by the name SICE was changed to P-SICE (Presbyterian Students in Church Evangelism) to make it different from other tertiary SICE programs because most denominations on various campuses came to adopt the idea of SICE, an example being the Ghana Methodist Students Union (GHAMSU). P-SICE has continued to make great impact in the PCG and it is not surprising that today, there has been a great increase in the number of participants of the program. For instance, in 2015, the University of Ghana Coordinating Branch recorded five hundred and fifty-five (555) participants in its two phases of the program.87 The program is now organized in two phases. The first one for the Universities and the second for the Colleges of Education and the Polytechnics. The Ga Presbytery has also had its fair share of the P-SICE program: in 1999, the students join some German Pfalz in their work camp at Abokobi and built a summer hut at the Presbyterian Women’s centre.88 In 2003, 2006 and 2008 the students embarked on the P-SICE program in the Ga East and West mission fields, Sakumono district and Abokobi districts respectively in the presbytery. Currently, the University of Ghana Coordinating Branch is in partnership with the Ga 87 National Union of Presbyterian Students – Ghana, Report of the Presbyterian Students in Church Evangelism held at the Central Presbytery, 2015, 2. 88See appendix D for a picture of the summer hurt. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 54 Presbytery to organize the P-SICE program in the Krakraba Areas of the Central Region of Ghana, which the Ga Presbytery has earmarked for the of planting fifty (50) churches in five years. The major activities that are undertaken during the P-SICE includes the following: house to house evangelism, open air crusade, dawn broadcasting, visitations to various educational institutions, teaching and counselling of students on basic issues affecting society, sensitizing of the communities on health issues and other social issues among others. Recently, activities such as free health screening and medication, “street freeze”, market ministration, Jesus shop (free clothes distributed to people in the communities) and games among others have been added. 2.6 Conclusion The impact of the youth of the church has been felt by the church right from its beginning till now and young ones contributed greatly to establishment of the church in the country. Also, the chapter has shown how the youth ministry of the church has seen great improvement over the years from its early states till now, indicating how they have contributed under various leaderships towards their advancement and how it has affected the growth of the church. The next chapter discusses the role of the youth towards the growth of the church and this chapter has presented a good background for its discussion since it focuses on how they have developed. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 55 CHAPTER THREE ROLES OF THE YOUTH IN CHURCH 3.0 Introduction The youth in the church are involved in various activities and as such, contribute to the development in the church. Growth in the church depends on their active participation in church activities and this chapter discusses some of the roles played by the youth. In the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, the youth in the church are in one way or the other involved in the activities and administration of the church play and various roles that contribute towards the growth of the church. This chapter highlights the roles of the youth towards the growth of the PCG. It deals with the roles indicated by respondents in the questionnaire and interviews gathered for the study. These roles include; Evangelism, Holistic Development, Church Administration, Leadership, Modernization of Worship and Financial Assistance. To indicate how respondents showed the role of the youth towards the numerical growth of the PCG, a tabular analysis is done showing the rate at which respondents listed a particular role. 3.1 Tabular Analysis of Respondents’ Choice of Major Roles of the Youth The table below shows respondents’ view of the role of the youth towards the numerical growth of the PCG. It indicates how various roles played by the youth are acknowledged by each respondent. It helps show the scale of what the youth in the various districts are doing. The majority of the respondents saw evangelism as a major role played by the youth which is 95.7%, followed by Leadership (71.4%). Holistic Development of members and Modernization of Worship University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 56 represents 42.9 %. Thirty-five percent (35%) also saw ecclesiastical leadership as another role played by the youth and this was followed by financial assistance, twenty eight point six percent (28.6%). Table 5.0 Analysis of respondents’ choice of major roles of the youth. Major Contribution Directors of M & E and CLAN Youth Frequency Percentage Evangelism 10 57 67 95.7% Holistic Development of Members 7 23 30 42.9% Ecclesiastical Leadership 8 17 25 35.7% Leadership (Teachers) 10 40 50 71.4% Financial Assistance 5 15 20 28.6% Modernization of Worship 2 27 30 42.9% Questionnaire’s Retrieved 10 60 70 100% University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 57 3.2 Evangelism Evangelism, is a huge aspect of church growth and development. As a duty call from the bible, Christians are encouraged to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). The duty to evangelize is laid on every believer and, in the church, serves as a task to be accomplished. In the Presbyterian Church of Ghana as well, congregants are made to understand the need to evangelize and spread the gospel to every part of the world. This duty, though it looks simple as a task, comes with the need for resources, and the enthusiasm carried by the youth in the church is vital. The youth groups in the church comprising “YPG, JY, BOYS and GIRLS BRIGADE” embark on evangelism in several ways for the church. Embarking on evangelism takes many forms and the involvement of the youth cannot be overestimated. The youth carry much zeal and enthusiasm in whatever they are involved in, making it easier for them to step out and share the Word of God. The passion exhibited by the youth in doing the work of God helps them to engage in various evangelism activities to help propagate the gospel of Christ just as the Basel missionaries. Some of the activities involved include street evangelism, market evangelism, house to house evangelism, crusades and dawn broadcasting, just to mention a few. All these activities mentioned above require a level of enthusiasm and strength and the youth are the right people to engage. The YPG and the NUPS-G of the PCG do not take evangelism lightly as indicated in Table 3.1. They see evangelism as a core mandate and so actively embark on evangelism. The two youth groups both have yearly evangelism programs as indicated in Chapter two of the research work. These programs contribute a lot to the growth of the PCG both in number of churches and membership strength. The NUPS-G’s P-SICE to start with, has contributed a lot to the growth of the church and at the 2013 General Assembly (GA), the Moderator of the GA, asked all the commissioners and University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 58 observers to the GA to rise and acknowledge the contribution the NUPS-G is making to the numerical growth of the church. At the General Assembly of the PCG held in 2015, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Coordinating branch of the NUPS-G received an award for contributing to church planting in the Asante Presbytery. During P-SICE, students engage in various activities like dawn broadcasting, house to house evangelism, and ministration to people of all walks of life. These programs lead to conversion and the converts joined the church, which increases the numerical strength of the church. A report of P-SICE organized by the University of Ghana Coordinating Branch (UG) of NUPS-G showed statistics of the number of converts that has been won into the church, which directly influences the growth of the church. The table below shows the number of converts won to the church. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 59 Table 6.0 Statistics of P-SICE from 2003 to 200989 YEAR DATE AREA CODE NAME CONVER TS REDEDICA TION 2003 30th June – 14th July Volta, Ga, Akuapem and Dangbe-Tongu Presbyteries. Operation World Bank for Christ 3125 3882 2004 19th May- 6thJune, 30th June – 12th July Asante Presbytery Go tell it on the mountain… Over the hills and everywhere 2928 1887 2005 28th May – 13th June, 25th July – 8th August Kwahu Presbytery On the mountains shall we declare … Heal our land ‘O’ Lord 1937 1894 2006 23rd May – 6th June 10th – 18th July Volta Presbytery Ga East & West Mission field of the Ga Presbytery. Return unto the Lord… And he will restore you. 1112 873 2007 21st May – 4th June 23rd – 30th July Akuapem Presbytery Proclaim the message … In and out of season 843 982 2008 Sakumono District, Ga East Mission field ( Ga Presbytery) Win a soul …. Be Wise 479 390 2009 7th – 15th July Dangbe-Tongu Presbytery & Abokobi District (Ga Presbytery) Win a Soul … Be Wise 140 164 TOTAL 10,564 10,072 89 Presbyterian Church of Ghana, National Union of Presbyterian Students – Ghana – University of Ghana Coordinating Branch. Brochure of 3rd Biennial Conference, held on 17th to 19th April, 2009 at the Aburi Girls Senior High School, Aburi, 19 – 20. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 60 From the above statistics the NUPS-G – UG alone within a period of seven years won 10,564 converts to the church and 10,072 people rededicated their lives to Christ. Although it is difficult to tell the number that joined the church due to the fact that the reports did not capture these figures, majority of the converts joined the church (PCG) because hither-to, they did not belong to any church. It is important to also note that when the Ga Presbytery deemed it necessary to enter the Central Presbytery to embark on an operation to plant more Presbyterian churches in the Kasoa and Gomoa Krakraba areas of the Central Region of Ghana dubbed as “Operation Krakraba”,90 the NUPS-UG was not left out of the operation. They also joined hands with the mother Presbytery to plant new churches in the area. To support the Operation Krakraba, the NUPS-G- UG organized two phases of the annual P-SICE in the area. The first phase led to a conversion of three hundred and forty seven (347) people and one hundred and twenty four (124) people rededicating their lives. It also led to the planting of three new Presbyterian Churches just within ten days of their stay there. These three new PCG churches include Nurses Quarters, Aberful and Ayiresu, with Ayiresu having a first time attendance of one hundred and twenty (120) members.91 Also, during the second phase, sixty – three converts were won and twenty rededicated themselves to Christ.92 In sum, in just a year the NUPS-G UG was able to win four hundred and ten (410) converts while one hundred and forty- four people rededicated their lives to Christ. Although all 90 Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Ga Presbytery. Annual Reports for 2014 from Districts and Departments, presented to the 2015 Presbytery Session on the 18th to 23rd April, 2015 at the Abokobi Women’s Center. 362. 91 Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Ga Presbytery. Minutes of Council Meeting, held on 29th July, 2015 at the Jubilee House, Osu. 8. 92 Presbyterian Church of Ghana – Ga Presbytery. Department of Mission andEvangelism. Third Quarterly Report to Presbytery Council, held on 12th September, 2015 at the Jubilee House, Osu. 2. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 61 these converts did not become members of the PCG, majority of them became members of the church as seen in Ayiresu where the number of people for the service, which largely included new converts, was one hundred and twenty. Aside the P-SICE program, which is an annual program of the NUPS-G, they also embark on other evangelistic programs on their campuses to see to the increase of the membership which also leads to an increase of the membership of the PCG. The YPG on the other hand, has also contributed immensely to the numerical growth of the PCG in the area of evangelism. The Presbytery Guild, over the past five years, has grown by an annual average of six percent (6%) which has also led to an increase in the membership of the whole church, because the YPG members are also members of the church93. The annual P-YICE has also seen the winning of more converts to join the church. In 2013, the Ga Presbytery YPG organized a mass evangelism in the Oyibi District of the PCG, and this program led to the conversion of fifty- two (52) people to Christ while sixty-eight (68) people rededicated their lives to Christ.94In 2014, the Presbytery YPG organized its P-YICE in the Ga West Mission field which led to the conversion offifty- two (52) people and sixty- eight (68) rededicated their lives to Christ. I must restate that although all these converts do not join the PCG, some join other churches which contribute to the expansion of the Kingdom of God. Some districts also apart from the Presbytery PYICE,organise evangelism that leads to the growth of the church. For instance the Osu District organizes a program called “Field of souls” through which converts are won to join the church.95 As part of the program, the youth are mobilized every second Saturday of the month for tract distribution and the third Saturday is for house to house 93 Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Department of Church Life and Nurture – Committee on Youth Ministry. Brochure of Ga Presbytery Young People’s Guild 42nd Annual Delegates Conference, held at the Presbyterian Women’s Centre, Abokobi on the 4th – 6th April, 2014, 24. 94 Ibid, 37. 95 Daniel Lawson, (Fourth Minister, Osu District) Interview, 28th January, 2016, Osu, Accra. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 62 evangelism. The youths, since February of 2016, embark on evangelism for two hours every Sunday morning after first service. In 2015, as part of this program, the youth of the Osu district organized an evangelism program on the 31st of December and it led to the conversion and addition of about three hundred people to the church.96 In summary, Youth involvement in evangelism in the church dates back to the arrival of missionaries to the Gold Coast who first brought the gospel of Christ to Ghana. The YPG and NUPS-G of the PCG, taking inspiration from the work of the young missionaries, have also contributed immensely towards the numerical growth of the church in the area of evangelism. 3.3 Holistic Development of Members The youth of the church, play a key role in the holistic development of the members of the church. They are involved in social activities and other forms of engagement which seeks not only the development of the church but of the individual members as well. The Church is made up of the individual members; if the individuals in the church develop, it affects the development of the church and can lead to the general growth of the church. The youth are involved in helping the aged in church; they contribute their intellect and skills to develop their lives and make the society a better place for them. Most often than not, the youth find themselves volunteering and offering their experience to the community. These activities usually include organizing extra study periods for students who especially are about preparing for their final exams. For instance, some YPGs in the Abeka district organise classes for the youth in 96Ibid. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 63 their community. Through the experience and knowledge they have, they are able to relate well with the young ones in the community, who see them as role models hence, making it easy for them to function. Apart from being a source of encouragement to the church, their involvement in church and communities contributes to the development of members as they indirectly benefit from these activities. For instance the youth are active during programs such as blood donation, football matches and general participation of community activities. The young ones in the church offer themselves not only foreseeing the spiritual growth of the church, but physical provisions as well. For every group of people there exists peculiar needs which can be addressed by the youth and therefore offering themselves in such periods is very crucial. They engage in activities such as community clean-ups, keep fit programs, civic responsibilities and other environmental sensitization programs. There is no way a community clean-up would go on without the full participation of the youth97. Their involvement in community activities is of prime importance as they have the necessary skills for such jobs. They are energetic and enthusiastic hence, their active participation in these activities. This makes them a highly important factor when it comes to developmental success in our communities. The YPG and NUPS-G play the role of developing their members effectively which affects the general growth of the entire church. They organize programs that would lead to the holistic growth of their members, these programs include bible study meetings, prayer meetings, retreats, seminars on leadership and how to excel in the corporate world and health talks.This fillsa gap in the church, 97 Richard M. Lerner, Jacqueline V. Lerner, Jason B. Almerigi, et al. "Positive Youth Development, Participation in community youth development programs, and community contributions of fifth-grade adolescents findings from the first wave of the 4-H study of Positive Youth Development." The Journal of Early Adolescence 25, no. 1 (2005): 17- 71. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 64 because the church focuses largely on the spiritual growth of its members leaving the other areas of growth. The youth groups comes in here to see to it that other programs are organized to meet the other growth needs of the members. Once every member is growing holistically, members would focus on evangelism, which would lead to an increase in membership. Again, once there are programs that ensure that the youth develop holistically, they would not have to go to other churches who would also provide such opportunities for them. It would help prevent the migration of the youth from the PCG to other churches. To sum up, once the members are able to grow, it would first and foremost prevent people from leaving the church and also once people are growing they would see the need to go out and also win souls for Christ which would go a long way to affect the numerical growth of the church. 3.4 Ecclesiastical Leadership The church is an organization that needs to be run by an effective management and administration. Church administration has in times past, been known to be a preserve of the adults in the church, but that has changed this 21st century.98 The youth find themselves in one way or the other involved in the administration of the church. Some young people find themselves serving as presbyters, session clerks, finance directors, committee members and sometimes even chairpersons of these committees. In an interview, Rev Stephen Nii Lankwei Lawson, the Ga Presbytery Director for Church Life and Nurture noted that “the lifeline of the Hope Congregation, Sakumono is the youth. For example, when you come to 98 Rev. Dr. Godwin Nii Noi Odonkor, (Former Chairperson, Ga Presbytery & District Minister, Kaneshie) Interview, 15th January, 2016. Kaneshie, Accra. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 65 the session of twenty-four (24) including the Aged, I can say that about seventy to eighty percent (70-80%) are quite young although they may not fall into the category of Youth.”99He also indicated that, the District Session Clerks for Kaneshie and Osu Districts are young persons; that of the Kaneshie District was a former District Organiser of the YPG, He further added that, the Abeka District recently elected Stephen Kwakye as the District Session Clerk who is also a Young person.100The growing youthful population in the Church requires that some young ones be in administrative roles to facilitate the attendance of their needs faster and more efficiently. As young as they are, the youth are able to work hard and effectively. They already have the strength to work; only an addition of encouragement and direction on the part of the elderly and they are good to go. The youth again play a significant role in running the church administratively in departments such as secretarial roles. When it comes to the Presbyterian Church of Ghana’s structure, individuals who manage the church administration play a key role in the smooth management of the church and all its projects hence, the need to get young people who are more active and innovative. Innovativeness has also increased the use of high technological tools such as smart computers and internet. The youth tend to be conversant with the use of modern technologies such as printers, projectors, keyboards and other vital church equipment, which can be handled by no other than the young ones. As stated by Gary Hamel and Coimbatore Prahalad, the youth draw their experiences with the use of computers to provide assistance in making working easy.101As 99Rev. Stephen Nii Lankwei Lawson is the Director of Church Life and Church of the Ga Presbytery and the District Minister for Sakumono District. He was formerly the Youth Coordinator of the Ga Presbytery for six years. 100 Ibid. 101Gary Hamel and Coimbatore K. Prahalad. Competing for the Future (Cambridge: Harvard Business Press, 2013), 8. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 66 indicated, the youth have knowledge in the use of sophisticated tools and as such contribute to church by offering these services. In Church Administration, the youth play an active role in the general maintenance of church. For most churches, the YPG and JY take up the role of cleaning the church and maintaining good sanitation around the church premises. Some youth groups have offered themselves to do this duty instead of the church hiring and paying a company or individuals to do this task, saving the church money. As indicated by Rev. Adjei Nortey, Previously we used to say the youth is the future but the youth is the strength of the church. Anything that require physical strength will fall on the youth. They also see to the maintaining of the cleanliness of the church especially in this church, on Saturday evening you will find them in their numbers coming here to tidy up the place to make it fit for service the following day. They also do other menial work on the surroundings of the church to make it look tidy and others.102 This role of the youth helps to keep the youth in the church since lack of proper administration of the church would lead to members leaving the church for other churches. It also helps to bring other people to the church which leads to an increase in the number of members. 3.5 Serving as leaders (teachers) in the children and youth ministry The youth and teachers ministry have for some time had young people joining in the leadership and teaching roles. The Children’s ministry, for instance, has seen more youth giving their best to impact in these children and using modern techniques to teach them. The children’s ministry in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana used to be handled by only the mothers but there is a changing trend as both young men and women who have the passion to impact in the lives of kids volunteer themselves to this task. 102 Rev Adjei Nortey, Interview, 29th December 2015, Accra. Rev Adjei Nortey is the Ga Presbytery Director of Evangelism and the District minister of the Kwashieman District. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 67 The youth play a very important role of teaching their younger siblings in the children and youth ministries and also serve as role models for the children. For instance, some members of the Young Peoples Guild (YPG) have volunteered to teach as teachers of the Junior Youth (JY) and impact in their lives. Rev Lawson indicated that in the Sakumono District “those who are taking care of the Junior Youth are all young people, the majority of children’s service teachers about 80% are young people”103He further indicated that in the whole Presbytery, eighty percent (80%) of the leadership of the Children Service and the Junior Youth are young people under thirty(30) years.104The youth mentor their younger siblings in the children’s ministry who see them (the youth) as role models to them as well. This role played by the youth to the church is very important as the church finds it significant to allow the youth take up the youth and children’s ministry. Again, the youth who have the opportunity to serve as leaders of these groups end up enriching themselves with leadership skills. Some of them develop their leadership qualities from positions held in church, from JY executives to YPG executives, which provide them the opportunity to develop as well as contribute to the development in the church. Additionally, they also lead bible studies in the adult service during the weekly forenoon service. The study discovered out that most of the leaders of the forenoon bible studies are mostly the youth. This also gives the youth the opportunity to impact the adult population with the knowledge of the word of God. 103Rev Lawson, Interview, Accra. 104Ibid. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 68 3.6 Financial Assistance The growth of every church depends on the significant involvement of its youth’s population. The youth contributes immensely to the church and serves as means to several resource provisions such as financial support to the church. With the development and increase of middle class in the country, most people falling between the age brackets of 18-40 years, have had rising income levels. This makes the youth form a significant part of the ‘financial bucket’ of the church as the church does not depend only on the contributions by the old people and pensioners in the church, but also the contributions from the youth. With the largest population share in the church, financial contributions through tithes, offerings, thanksgiving and other financial contributions towards church projects are very essential. This role played by the youth is highly recognized as the rise in their income levels influences the payment of their tithes. The youth sometimes volunteer to fund certain projects of the church as well which includes funding youth concerts, funding socialization programs, funding the purchase of church instruments among others. With their desire to make the church a beautiful place and as well appealing to them, the young ones make enormous contributions to fund church projects. They would go out and look for sponsorship to finance projects that will enhance the church’s development because they have the zeal to do so. 3.7 Modernizing the worship and introducing innovative ways of worshiping Another role played by the youth in the church is the introduction and modernization of innovative ways of improving the worship in the church. The 21st century youth are always exploring and technology has also been the order of the day. This then has laid a responsibility on the youth to University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 69 find modern ways of making church worship and other engagements innovative to attract others to church and make them feel more at home. The youths lead the Church in acquiring modern equipment for worship such as musical instruments, software for projections, comfortable and serene church atmosphere. Rev. Lankwei Lawson the District Minister of Sakumono indicated that If you look at our worship services, basically the lifeline of the worship services in terms of the dynamics of the worship service, how the worship is expressed and how people claim to be enjoying. It is not only about the pulpit but also the role the young people are playing. In terms of sound management, video projections and even the music ministry. 105 They also play the role of suggesting and working on innovative ways of making church a memorable place to be by organizing programs such as revivals, concerts, excursions etc. which will attract others to their church. Because of their youthful nature, they would want to hear good testimonies about their church and so would always want to adapt the best worshipping method to the best of their knowledge for their individual services. For instance, the youth may organize a prayer revival for themselves and the church where they have the opportunity to engage their own and pray as they want to. 3.8 Conclusion In conclusion, the chapter has discussed the role of the youth towards the numerical growth of the church. The study affirms that the role of the youth includes: Evangelism, holistic development of members, Church Administration, serving as leaders of the children ministry, providing financial support, helping to modernize the worship and introducing ways of worshipping, which all directly 105 Ibid. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 70 and indirectly contribute towards the numerical growth of the church. The next chapter will focus on the challenges the youth encounter in the discharge of these roles. CHAPTER FOUR THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE YOUTH TO THE PCG: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS 4. 0 INTRODUCTION The focus of the researcher in the preceding discussion in chapter three, had been to examine how the youth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, in their roles they play, contribute towards the numerical growth of the church. These contributions include: evangelism, holistic development of members, ecclesiastical Leadership, serving as leaders of the Junior Youth and Children Ministry, providing financial support and helping to modernize our worship. This chapter examines the challenges the youth face in the discharge of these roles and also suggests some remedies to the challenges to ensure an effective contribution of the youth to the growth of the church. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 71 4.1 EVANGELISM Discussions made in Chapter Three identified that one major role played by the youth towards the growth of the church is evangelism. We noted that the contribution of youth towards the success of evangelism in the church is enormous. Their enrolment in major evangelistic programs such as the Presbyterian Students in Church Evangelism (P-SICE) and Presbyterian Youth in Church Evangelism (P-YICE) has led to the conversion of hundreds of people who have joined the church, to ensure an increase in the membership of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and has also led to the planting of more churches to increase the number of Presbyterian Churches nationwide. In addition, the youth, through their evangelistic activities, have brought about the revival of several congregations that were dying off especially in rural areas, which has prevented the church from dying off to decrease the number of Presbyterian churches and has rather increased the membership of the church since new members join the churches when they are revived. Despite the achievements of the youth in the area of evangelism, there have been some challenges that the study has identified during the research which are discussed below. Some of these challenges include: Lack of Funds, Language Barrier, Lack of Logistics, Lack of effective follow up (Discipleship) and lack of commitment. 4.1.1 Funding as a challenge to Youth Evangelism One of the key challenges identified by the researcher is funding for youth evangelism. Eighty- five percent of respondents of the questionnaire identified funding as a major challenge in their roles performed to see to the growth of the church. Brian Smith, has stated that, it is important to University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 72 finance activities of churches and that is a great challenge churches are faced with.106 Globally, financial difficulties remain of prime concern for both profit making and non-profit making firms and the church is no exception.107 Admittedly, the church does not have its core mandate to generate income, but it is expected to spend and therefore needs to explore other sources of financing. The church’s income is mainly through donations and financial aids. This source of income is dependent on a skewed source of income, making it difficult for the church to finance its projects.108 Traditionally, the church is not to be seen as making profit, as all its resources are geared towards the development of its members and the society at large. The church’s scarce income has to be expended judiciously to ensure that its core objectives are achieved. The PCG is no exception to this: it also has a scarce income and a number of mandates to perform. This notwithstanding, funding of the church’s activities is a huge challenge hence transferred to all its departments, not leaving the youth ministries out. The youth are always daring and would want to bring changes to every environment they find themselves in.109 The church is no exemption with the portrayal of this attitude, the youth always craving their participation in most activities. But youth groups like the YPG and NUPS-G in PCG and other churches are faced with a number of challenges of which funding remains a prime focus. Just as indicated by Omar McRoberts, youth groups in churches are full of vibrancy and ideas which has to be supported, but lack funding to commence.110 The youth are mostly deterred from engaging in innovative activities which are 106Brian H. Smith, The Church and Politics in Chile: Challenges to Modern Catholicism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014) 83. 107 Jeremy Moon, “The Social Responsibility of Business and New Governance.” Government and Opposition 37, no. 3 (2002): 387. doi/10.1111/1477-7053.00106. 108N. Ndungane. "Poverty and the church." Dutch Reformed Theological Journal 45, no. 2 (2004): 197. 109 James Pfeiffer, “Civil society, NGOs, and the Holy Spirit in Mozambique.” Human Organization 63, no. 3, 359- 372. 110 Omar McRoberts. “Streets of Glory: Church and Community in a Black Urban Neighbourhood.” Black Theology 5, no. 3 (2005): 384 – 386. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 73 financially demanding. Funding activities of the church remains a key concern and the youth are often challenged to this effect. The church leaders are always compelled to allocate part of their scarce financial budgets to support the ministry of the youth. Furthermore, funding projects such as evangelism, which is a core mandate of church development, remains a key challenge due to inadequate funds. The unavailability of funds deters the youth from embarking on such adventures as would require expensive capital outlays. For instance the records of the National Union of Presbyterian Students- Ghana, University of Ghana indicated that from 2010 to 2015 they used an amount between twenty – seven thousand Ghana cedis (GH₵27,000) to thirty – six Thousand Ghana cedis (GH₵36,000) as their expenses for the P-SICE.111 This indicates that there is the need for huge sum of funds to run the program and their main sources of funds, just as indicated above, are donations and funds they raise among themselves.This is a major challenge since most of the time there are no funds to organize the program with and they have to feed members that embark on the program. Lack of funding for evangelism, concerts and other important activities which involve the full participation of the youth accounts for negative impact on the overall commitment level of this age bracket to church activities. Although the study revealed that the youths go through much difficulty in terms of funding, they are capable of raising funds to support their programs. When the youth are given the opportunity to seek for sponsorship for their programs, they do so with all zeal and are most often successful. For instance, the Sakumono and Tema Community Two district YPG have special programmes dubbed “Youth Xplo” and Youth Manifestation” respectively, for which they themselves raise 111 National Union of Presbyterian Students – Ghana, Report of P-SICE 2015. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 74 funds to organise the program. Again when given the mandate, young people have the ability of raising funds even among themselves, just to support an idea of interest. The study therefore proposes that the youth groups, even though they have the ability to raise funds, depend largely on the scarce finances of their church and so the church at the various levels should budget for the programs of the youth ministry to ensure that evangelism at various levels is carried out effectively without any lack of funds to affect the program. 4.1. 2 Language Barrier Language Barrier is also another key challenge affecting evangelism and this was identified by the researcher. Fifty percent (50%) of the youth respondents identified language barrier as a key challenge when they embarked on evangelism, especially in the rural areas where the people there could not communicate well in the English language. Most youth today, cannot communicate effectively in their own mother tongue, not to talk of other languages due to the fact that most of these youth spend much of their time in school. In school, these young ones are forbidden to speak any language apart from English language. Some even speak English with their parents at home hence making it extremely difficult for them to communicate effectively in the Ghanaian language with which they could evangelize the people who could not also communicate well in English. This challenge becomes worse when the youth have to go to areas that do not speak “Twi” or “Ga” which most of the youth are a bit conversant with, because despite the fact that most youth struggle with the local languages, they are able to communicate a little better in these languages. For instance, during the 2009 P-SICE held at the Dangme-Tongue Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, most participants in their reports to the Presbytery indicated language barrier as University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 75 the key challenge in the discharge of their duties because most of the people in the Presbytery either spoke ‘Ewe” or “Dangme”. Most of the students could not communicate in the language although a few were able to communicate in it which put much pressure on those who would communicate eloquently in the language. Again in 2013, most participants of the P-SICE held in the Volta Presbytery indicated language barrier as a major hindrance to their work on the field because most of the participants could not speak the Ewe language. This made them to resort to interpreters who were not always readily available to help them in their duties. This challenge seems peculiar to the National Union of Presbyterian Students and not the Young People’s Guild because the YPG normally organize their P-YICE in their own Presbytery and so though they face such challenges it does not greatly affect their work as compared with their NUPS-G counterparts. Despite this huge challenge, the study suggests that, just as the YPG organizes its P-YICE in its own jurisdiction, the NUPS-G should also consider organizing its P-SICE in areas where they can communicate well with the people to help curb the situation. Also, if the youth are going to places where they cannot speak their language a training program should be organized for the youth so that as young as they are they can easily learn and this would aid in effective evangelism. Alternatively, some youth on the grounds should be organized by the congregations where the evangelism program is going to be held to help so they partner the youth coming to ensure effective work. 4.1.3 Lack of Logistics For evangelism to be done more effectively, there is the need to acquire more logistics by the youth. Most of the evangelism work of the youth especially that of NUPS-G is done in rural areas University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 76 and there is the need for logistics such as accommodation for them to sleep, mattress, buses to convey them to the venues, food and water, public address systems, first aid and other more modern evangelism equipment to make the evangelism effective. It is very key to point out that, places where the P-YICE and the P-SICE are undertaken lack places for accommodating the youth that embark on these evangelistic activities, leaving some having to sleep with about ten to fifteen of their mates in one room or sleeping in old classrooms where they are exposed to mosquitoes, which in turn makes it extremely difficult for them to have a good rest which most often affects the next day’s activities, making the evangelism work less effective. Again due to the lack of public address systems the youths use their voice during crusades, dawn broadcasting, and market ministrations. This makes it difficult to reach a lot of people that should be reached, just because they don’t have the proper address system. Again modern evangelism requires the use of cinema vans, which helps show Christian movies for the people they visit most often in the evenings. These movies help get people converted to Christ but again, there is only one in the whole of the presbytery which makes it difficult to access when embarking on an evangelistic program especially that of the youth. The lack of proper accommodation and public address system makes the work of the youth less effective. Furthermore, during these evangelistic programs of the youth, they plant new churches. Some basic logistics are needed for the smooth running of church activities and they are in strong need for these materials to be provided as soon as the church is planted to aid in effective church service. They need logistics such as a place of worship, public address systems, musical instruments, chairs, bibles, tables and many more for them to be able to run their services effectively. Unfortunately, the youth are unable to help in this regard, although they try to contribute among themselves to help acquire some of these logistics for them. The YPG mostly does well when it University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 77 comes to acquiring these logistics but the fact still remains that they are unable to provide these logistics for effective church services to help these new congregations. Due to the lack of logistics, most of these new churches planted by the youth during their evangelism die off with time. For effective evangelism to be done there is the need for the youth to be able to provide logistics to the new churches they plant. 4.1.4 Parental Influence Another key challenge faced by the youth in the resourcefulness to the church is the influence by parents. Parents influence on their children has critical consequences in shaping their behaviour.112. Parental support is generally conceptualized as the level of acceptance or warmth that parents express toward their children. The time spent by children with their parents contributes to the attitudes and characters they develop which is carried on in life. Children are more likely to listen and adhere to advice from their parents and so the parents’ influence is critical. They heed to most advice given to them by their parents. Support is consistently regarded as an essential feature in the normal development of children and adolescents, but there has been far less consensus regarding the concept of control and its relationship to child and adolescent behaviour. Control has sometimes been examined as an aspect of effective parenting, and, at other times, it has been treated as an indication of negative, domineering parenting.113 112NancyDarling and Laurence Steinberg. “Parenting Style as Context: An Integrative Model.” Psychological Bulletin113, no. 3, (1993), 487. 113Kendra Barber. “Whither Shall We Go? The Past and Present of Black Churches and the PublicSphere.” Religions 6, no. 1 (2015): 245-265. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 78 Low level of participation by the youth in other curricular activities is due to influence from the parents or guardians, especially church activities.114 Some parents, according to the study, see involvement in church activities as having less influence in developing their children for better future and recommend them to school and their books. Some parents, see involvement in church activities as a waste of time which cannot enhance the accomplishment of the careers they desire for their wards. This influences them to prevent their wards from coming for church meetings such as choir rehearsals, bible discussions and other social gatherings of the church. Whenever parents allow their children to involve themselves in church activities, they perceive their academic performance will reduce hence keeping them at home to be with the books. This also the case of the youth in the PCG, about thirty (30) of youth respondents representing fifty percent (50%) of total youth respondents indicated that most of their colleagues do not join them on evangelism activities because they are not given permission by parents to embark on the exercise. This makes it difficult for the youth to get more of their colleagues on board whenever they are embarking on evangelism. In effect, this challenge prevents the young people, although they feel they have a duty to perform at church but because of the influence, they are unable to execute these tasks. 4.2 HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF MEMBERS Just as indicated in chapter three, the youth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana have a mandate to see to the holistic development of these members. The young people have their own leaders that 114 Angela Huebner and Jay A. Mancini. “Shaping Structured Out-of-School Time Use Among Youth: The Effects of self, Family, and Friend Systems.”Journal of Youth and Adolescence 32, no. 6 (2003): 453-463. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 79 see to the development of the other members in all areas of life; that is the spiritual, physical, psychological, emotional and economic among others. The development of members comes with its own challenges. Sixty percent of the youth respondents indicated the following as challenges faced by the youth when it comes to the holistic development of members. Firstly, there is lack of commitment on the part of the leaders and members to organize and participate in programs that will see to the holistic growth of members respectively. Secondly, there is lack of cooperation between the youth and the leadership of the church. And finally, the educational system also poses a challenge to the holistic development of members. These challenges are discussed below. 4.2.1 Lack of commitment Commitment for the achievement of a particular goal is a key part of every organization’s development. From the point of the business, the commitment level demonstrated by a worker shows the level of sacrifice the worker is prepared to make. This is not different in the church, as one of the challenges faced by the youth is commitment. Baumeister and Vohs stated that commitment is the level at which one wants to sacrifice and achieve a goal.115 Most faiths teach commitment as it acts as a key tool in determining the level of growth of the faith. Rusaw and Swanson argue that the level of commitment determines the love the person has for the Church.116 That is, when a church member is committed, it can be used as a measure of the love the person has for the church. Again, commitment is seen as the level of servitude towards a given religious group, therefore an important element for growth. 115Roy F. Baumeister and Kathleen D. Vohs. “Self‐Regulation, Ego Depletion, and Motivation.” Social and Personality Psychology Compass1, no. 1 (2007): 120. 116 Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson. The Externally Focused Church. (Loveland: Group Publishing, 2004) 168. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 80 Youniss et al., have also indicated that, the youth lack commitment towards activities of the church and are not committed to spend their resources towards its development.117 Their studies found that, the young people in the church lack the necessary commitment to undertake church activities. Rapid development and socialization in the 21st century, has compelled most young people to be attached to either their job, education, marriage or friends rather than committing themselves to church activities.118 Time is very scarce and the young people find it hard to commit some to church activities. Kenda Dean posits that the youth of today lack a sense of commitment and as such is translated to the church setting.119 The result from the youth respondents indicates that sixty percent (60%) of them see commitment by the youth to its activities as a huge challenge. This, then becomes a huge challenge for church leaders as they are compelled to encourage the young people in the church to be more committed. It remains a struggle as the older generation always complains that the young ones are not committed, maybe to the point they were committed to when they were young. But one will ask the question that, if this is a repeated complaint, then falling in such an age bracket, will elicit such behaviour. People within the age bracket of 18- 40years, have so much on their mind and want to accomplish all these plans before a particular time, thus having less time to spend in the house of God. Coming to church then becomes a routine duty and commits nothing more than that. Again, due to economic shift and development, people are compelled to even work on worship days, and in the context for the study, Sundays, resulting in low commitment rates. Again Jean Rhodes argue from the point of view that the youth are also 117 J. Youniss, S. Bales, et al “Youth Civic Engagement in the Twenty‐First Century.” Journal of Research on Adolescence 12, no.1 (2002):121-148. 118 Stanley Hauerwas. Christian Existence Today: Essays on Church, World, and Living in Between. (Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2010). 119Kenda Creasy Dean, Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004) 43 - 45. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 81 not given the opportunity to explore their talents and, as such, feel less committed to stand out.120 Some churches are well structured and provide less room for the inclusion of new ideas, as such, deterring the young ones from committing to anything at church. Even though some scholars have argued that the youth can be more committed if encouraged to participate in the church’s activities, this depends on the church’s ability to find innovative ways of conducting services. Churches need to have a strategy which will indulge the full participation of the young people of the church. The study hence proposes that, there exists a lack of commitment towards church activities by the youth. 4.2.2 Lack of co-operation from church leaders The next challenge that was identified by respondents on development of members is the lack of cooperation between the youth and church leaders. The lack of co-operation between church leaders and the youth remains a prime concern. The church is an institution for the people and even though there are leaders to direct them, they do not remain overall autocrats of such people. Communication and co-operation then becomes a vital tool for any development to take place. Some scholars, as such, have argued that there is a lack of co-operation between the youth and the church elders. Inferring from his study, Nanlai Cao found that the young people of the church have a feeling they are mostly denied from performing their duties in the church.121 Again Scazzero and Bird, found that there exists a kind of “friction” between the young people in the church and their church elders.122 That is, these scholars 120 Jean. E. Rhodes. Stand by Me: The Risks and Rewards of Mentoring Today’s Youth (London: Harvard University Press, 2009) 8. 121 Nanlai Cao. “The Church as a Surrogate Family for Working Class Immigrant Chinese Youth: An Ethnography of Segmented Assimilation.” Sociology of Religion 66, no.2 (2005): 188. 122 Peter Scazzero and Warren Bird. The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010) 10. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 82 acknowledge the fact that there is a lack of co-operation between the youth and the church elders. They are always unable to come into conformity on issues and as such always live with divided opinions. The study concludes that, the ratio for the lack of co-operation between the young people and the church leaders is huge. Another aspect of co-operation is the involvement of the youth in decision making, which tends to be a huge challenge faced by the young people in the church. Taking decisions is very vital in the development of every society and should involve people who are highly skilled and have in-depth understanding of the matter.123 Co-operating to take decision, becomes a problem for the church as drawing conclusions to decisions always become a hurdle.124Belbin again states that when it comes to decision making, our individual prowess is elicited and so no one wants to draw a compromise.125 It becomes a challenge for the church when the youth and leaders are unable to co-operate and take decisions. Therefore, due to the contribution of the older people to the church more than the youth, they tend to take decisions in their favour. That is the more the person contributes, the more it is perceived that they influence decision taking. But Boer differs in thought and posits that the youth and the church leaders should be able to co-operate in decision making, because the youths would provide good contributions.126 He further argues that side-lining the youth when it comes to decision making, could be harmful for the growth of the church and cites that this has contributed in the decline of a number among the youth in some churches. With congregations or churches where no ideas of the young people are taken into consideration, their “church expectancy” rate is reduced and they seek after other churches. Lack of co-operation in 123Martin Purdy. Churches and Chapels: A Design and Development Guide (Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2014) 21. 124Belbin, R. Meredith. Management Teams(London: Routledge, 2012) 65. 125 Ibid. 126 Roland Boer, Rescuing the Bible. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons,2008.doi: 10.1002/9780470692615.ch6 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 83 decision taking has even led to the low turn-out rates of the young people in some churches and some eventually stop church, just for these reasons.127 The study identified that although structurally, the youth of the PCG should be involved in decision making, in practice it is not always the case. In other words, there is no proper relation between the leaders of the church and the youth. 4.2.3 Educational system Another uncompromising challenge of the youth is the structure of the educational system in most parts of the world especially in Ghana. This challenge also affects the holistic development of members in the church. The educational system defines the mode in which students are to rise through different stages of learning. This might differ from country to country as some countries have accepted a unified educational system. As a former colony to the United Kingdom (UK), Ghana follows an educational system similar to that of the UK, which requires that a student spends 9 years in pre-schooling, 3 years in senior high school and 3 or 4 years in college or University. This sums-up to 16 years of schooling for an average Ghanaian student. But one would ask, how does this becomes a challenge to the youth in terms of commitment to church activities? Researchers such as Zajda, have indicated that development and globalization has necessitated the increase in education attainment.128 Students spend almost all their youthful lives in school, hindering them to participate fully in church activities. Twenge states that students tend to be more in school than home during their youthful life and with the increased accessibility of education to 127 Stuart Murray, Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World (Authentic Media Inc, 2013). 128 Joseph Zajda, “Globalisation and its Impact on Education and Policy.” Second International Handbook on Globalisation, Education and Policy Research, (2015):105-125. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 84 all, most young people are in school.129 Also with most of the schools in Ghana being boarding schools (senior high and tertiary education), the youth mostly are out of home for a period: students only come to church on vacations and are therefore limited to perform any role in the church. An observation made by Nelsen and Nelsen indicates that the numerical strength of the church is seen during vacations and runs almost empty during school periods.130 Students spend all their time in school and right from school begin working which means that either they relocate or are occupied by work so much that they become visitors to church. The youth, are an important part to church development and, as such, their long absence from church can have negative effects on church growth. Again, Luhrmann suggests that the exposure that students encounter in their schooling life affects their commitment to God and church as well.131 The researcher opines that these young people are very committed but as they start going through the stages of education and they are more exposed to other things, their faith begins wavering and they gradually reduce their involvement. Another study by Travis Kaiser suggests that students who were formally Catholics, after a period in time stop coming to church because of their exposure in high school and college.132 This suggests that apart from the school life which research shows decreases the commitment to church, the exposure to school and friends has an impact on the resourcefulness of the youth to the church. The youth respondents indicated that, most of the colleagues do not engage in their activities due to school and always attendance to meetings is low when students go back to school. Again they noted that, most of the students, after being exposed 129 Jean Twenge, Generation Me-Revised and Updated: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2014). 130 H. M. Nelsen and A. K. Nelsen. Black Church in the Sixties(Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky,2015). 131 Tanya Luhrmann, When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God. Massachusetts: Vintage. 2012. 132 Travis Kaiser,A Comparative Analysis of the Church Retention Rate of Christian High School Graduates. 2015. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 85 to other denominations of their various campus which the educational system allows do not come back to the church after school which negatively affects the growth of the Church. 4.3 FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE The youth, as noted in the preceding chapter, are noted to be in the class that falls under the working group of the church and they are able to provide financial support to the church to organize activities and hold programs that would see to the growth of the church. This role played by the youth also has a challenge which is lack of employment for the youth. This challenge is discussed below 4.3.1 Unemployment One of the major economic problems in the society is unemployment. Over decades, firms, countries, NGO’s and religious bodies have all been victims to this menace in the society. Globally, reports by the United Nations indicate that there is an alarming rate of unemployment, especially in developing countries such as Ghana.133 Youth unemployment is one of the most serious challenges facing the country, and is acknowledged as such by all the major political parties, as well as church leaders. Again, a report from the international monetary fund in 2009 indicates global recession as a major cause of high unemployment. There is an ever increasing number of unemployed graduates and as such an add-on to the already existing unemployment rate. Countries such as Spain and Greece were severely hit by the 2012 global recession, which almost collapsed these economies but for the intervention of international bodies. There are currently 1.4 million young people aged 16-24 who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) – nearly 1 in 5 of all young people . Of these, about half have been long-term NEET for a year or more, and are 133United Nations Department of Economic, & United Nations. Department of Public Information. The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009 (Wastionting: United Nations Publications, 2009). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 86 the main focus of policy concern. Some of these groups are experiencing long or recurrent spells of unemployment, whilst others have withdrawn altogether from the labour market (and so are not technically unemployed).134 The number of young people who are NEET has risen by around half a million since 2004, and is at its highest level for two decades. But, this is not just a temporary problem linked to the recent economic crisis. Even when the labour market was buoyant, between 7-9% of young people struggled with the transition from education to work, experiencing long or repeated spells of unemployment or inactivity. This group has remained persistently large over the past decade or more, through a period of sustained economic growth, despite government initiatives to address the problem. Again, researchers argue that for a country to have a healthy living standard for its citizens, certain situations must be given prudent attention. Religious bodies,which form an integral part of the society, have not been left out of this economic situation. The church is a part of the society and therefore is affected by general societal decision. Dockery further posits that, the church cannot be left out as an independent body and as such affected by the society’s problems.135Moodian has also spelt out that, despite the autonomy given to the religious bodies in a country, it is guided by the overall constitution and decisions taken by the society’s leadership.136 The church also has a calling and a mandate to work with government towards the reduction of unemployment. Therefore, there is the need for the church to provide employment opportunities for its youth to enhance their development. 134Voas, D., and S. Doebler. “Secularization in Europe: Religious Change Between and Within Birth Cohorts.” Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe 4, no.1 (2011): 39-62. 135Dockery, D. S. Renewing Minds: Serving Church and Society through Christian Higher Education. (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2008). 136Moodian, M. A. Contemporary Leadership and Intercultural Competence: Exploring the Cross-Cultural Dynamics Within Organizations: Exploring the Cross-Cultural Dynamics Within Organizations (London: Sage Publications, 2008). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 87 The resultant effect of unemployment in the church and society is on the youth, who make up the most in the population and in the working class group. The youth in the church, coupled with other challenges they face in life, have to work in order to be excluded from the group of the unemployed. The challenge of unemployment in the church, lays a huge burden on the church and its leaders, as the majority of their populace might not be working and so involve themselves in other activities. The same effect suffered by government on the issue of unemployment is not far different from what other organizations such as religious bodies face. The high rate of unemployment is a contributing factor also to the low financial standing of these religious groups as they are unable to give to support the churches’ activities.137 Further, since the unemployment rate is high, the church is mandated to provide for these ones. This thus lays a financial burden on the church. The youth who ought to have been working are now dependent on the church, which, in actual sense, they are supposed to support. But other scholars opine that the effect of unemployment in the church is not as high as on the general economy.138 They argue that the church is in the capacity of employing these youth, thereby reducing of this challenge. But diverging from that view Nickell, Nunziata and Ochel posit that unemployment remains an economic issue which can be solved at the governance level and so the church has less influence on its effect.139 Therefore, the study concludes that just as various scholars have said about unemployment, the study shows that it is a huge challenge for the youth and due to unemployment the youth are unable to contribute a lot to the growth of the finances of the church as a whole. 137Regnerus, M. D. and G. H. Elder. “Staying on Track in School: Religious Influences in High‐and Low‐Risk Settings.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 42, no. 4 (2003): 633-649. 138Okulicz-Kozaryn, A. “Religiosity and life satisfaction across nations.” Mental Health, Religion & Culture13, no. 2 (2010): 155-169. 139Nickell, S., L. Nunziata and W. Ochel. “Unemployment in the OECD since the 1960s. What Do We Know?” The Economic Journal 115, no. 500 (2005): 1-27. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 88 4.4 Serving as Leaders (Teachers) of the Junior Youth and Children Service The youth serve as leaders to the Junior Youth and the Children Service ministry which are vital ministries. Therefore, there is the need to pay particular attention to its services if the church would grow. This service of the youth is faced with a number of challenges which include: lack of motivation for these leaders and little or no training for these youth in the ministry. These challenges are discussed below. 4.4.1 Lack of motivation Another challenge identified in literature is the lack of motivation from the church to the youth. Research has identified that motivation is an important part in commitment development and thus incites joy and happiness among recipients.140When employees are motivated, it transcends to increased firm performance. Again, most youth groups in churches are less committed because they lack motivation. Motivation is a word heard over and over again as crucial to a child's learning, and is often heard as being a major problem in churches today. Two types of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, have been identified by Deci and Ryan.141Deci and Ryan describe an intrinsically motivated person as one who engages in an activity for the activity itself with the mind-set that the reward is the success of the activity. So when a young person is moved to help in a church activity just for the fun of being there and recognized as a worker, it is an intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation occurs when a person completes an activity because it leads to the receipt of an external 140Alia J. Crum and Peter Salovey. “Emotionally Intelligent Happiness.” The Oxford Handbook of Happiness (2013): 73-87. 141 Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan. “Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions.” Contemporary Educational Psychology 25, (2000): 54–67. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 89 reward. A child who is promised a trip to the movies after cleaning his room is said to be extrinsically motivated. While the majority of rewards given in church can be thought of as extrinsic motivators, young people learn the most when guided by intrinsic motivation. For example, youth who are intrinsically motivated become deeply involved in the task at hand and experience a feeling of enjoyment.142According to Vallerand and Ratelle, an intrinsically motivated person feels that he can try to produce a change in the environment, and feels confident that the change will occur.143 Motivations can either come as a reward or acknowledgement of an accomplishment and this can positively impact the attitude of the recipient. The challenge faced by young people in the church is that, no one seems to recognize their efforts in church activities. According to Bruce Wilson et al, young people are demoralized when after accomplishing a task no one recognizes them.144 This is a very critical aspect to which most people (young) attribute their low level of involvement. Other scholars such as Wilson and Corbett identified that the youth are demotivated whenever they are not seen for doing something good but always receive complaints for everything they do.145Humans as we are, when we are involved in an activity and perform so well but are not recognized, we tend not to put in the same effort the next time we are to perform the same activity. 142 Rousseau J. Vallerand and C. F. Ratelle. “Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: A Hierarchical Model.” Handbook of Self-Determination Research 128, (2002): 37-63. 143 ibid 144 Steve Bruce, “Secularization and Church Growth in the United Kingdom.” .Journal of Religion in Europe 6, no. 3 (2013): 273-296. 145 Bruce L. Wilson and Dickson Corbett. Listening to Urban Kids: School Reform and the Teachers They Want. (New York: Suny Press, 2014). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 90 4.4.2 Lack of Training Training is very key in every organization. Employers most often train their workers before they start working and also do some in-service training for its staff to ensure that they are well equipped for the services they are to provide for the public. The youths that serve as leaders in the Junior Youth (JY) most often lack adequate training because there is no standardized training by the church as compared with that of the children service. The Director of Church Life and Nurture of the presbytery indicated that “At least every year, training programmes are organised for over 800 young people who are JY leaders in the Ga Presbytery. But unfortunately, their course is not like that of the Children Service, where they go through basic training and pass, before going through refresher courses. That of the Junior Youth is more of refresher courses.”146This often makes leaders not well equipped to handle the ministry and, as key as the ministry is, most members of the JY leave to other churches because their needs are not met by their leaders due to the fact that they have to been trained to handle them. It is important to note that although some districts and congregations do organize training programs for the leaders there is not enough since it leads to a lot of the young men and women in the JY having to leave the church, thereby decreasing the growth of the church. The Children service in the PCG, on the other hand has standardized training programs for its leaders and this helps the leadership of the Children Service to be more equipped for service than their JY counterparts. Notwithstanding the training program most districts do not fund the youth to go for the course thereby making their leaders not also well equipped for service. For the PCG to grow, there is the need to train the leaders as to how to help the children and the Junior Youth 146 Lawson, Stephen Nii Lankwei Interview, 2015. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 91 members so they become proud Presbyterians and not leave the church. It helps he church to grow in membership since they would not leave the church but would join the adult congregation. 4.6 Conclusion The section concludes that there exist some challenges faced by the youth at church. It has been recognized by the research that the youth form an integral part of the church population and performs several roles towards its growth. That notwithstanding they are faced with a number of challenges which have been reviewed above, granting understanding on what scholars have done in the area and also what was gathered by the researcher on the field. Some of the challenges identified were the lack of funding, unemployment, lack of commitment, lack of co-operation from church leaders in decision making, lack of motivation, nature of the educational system and parental control. The study identified that, when these challenges identified above are resolved, it would help the youth play their role effectively towards the growth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 92 CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5.0 Introduction This chapter deals with summary and conclusion and makes recommendations based on the main findings of the research. It admonishes the Young People’s Guild (YPG) and the National Union of Presbyterian Students – Ghana (NUPS-G) on one hand the Presbyterian Church of Ghana on the other to address certain challenges to ensure there is effective contribution towards the growth of the PCG. 5.1 Summaries The purpose of the study was to examine the role played by the youth towards the numerical growth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. The study further discussed some challenges that affect the role played by the youth towards the growth of the church and suggested ways by which these challenges could be resolved to ensure effective contribution of the youth towards the growth of the PCG. The research established that, the youth of the PCG play a major role in the growth of the PCG. The roles the youth play with regard to the growth of the PCG include: evangelism, holistic development of members, church administration, leadership, modernization of worship and financial assistance to the church. Notwithstanding these prominent roles played by the youth towards the growth of the church, the research also noted that there are some challenges that if addressed would enable the youth play their role more effectively for the growth of the church. Historically, the development of the PCG from its inception highlights the great contributions of young missionaries of the Basel Mission coming into the Gold Coast to establish the PCG in the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 93 country. It is worth noting that, their youthful nature, which made them love adventure, made them come to the Gold Coast amidst the harsh weather conditions. Their youthful nature contributed immensely to the establishment of the PCG. The study concludes that it took the effort and hard work of young people whose ages fall within the age limit of the youth ministry to see to the establishment of the PCG, which shows the youth’s role in the establishment of the PCG. The youth ministries on the other hand were also not started by the elderly of the church but rather the youth. The Young Peoples Guild was started through the efforts of Andrew Atkinson, a young man sent to the Gold Coast to work as an accountant. He, together with some other youth played an important role in the formation of the YPG. The YPG, since its formation, has also contributed a lot towards the holistic growth of the PCG. The study also discussed the development of the Ga Presbytery YPG and indicates that through their own efforts, they were able to manage the group effectively till now as young ones and have also contributed towards the growth of the church through diverse ways. The NUPS-G on the other hand, was established through the efforts of students who realized the need of gathering with the aim of fellowshipping together as a family who are away from home. The efforts of these students that started the NUPS-G has been fruitful since NUPS-G today play a key role in the numerical growth of the PCG through its evangelistic activities. Its contribution has been immerse and has received the recognition of the Church at its highest decision making body, which is the General Assembly, in its contribution in evangelism. The NUPS-G has also contributed a lot to the growth of the PCG through its annual P-SICE exercise and other activities that have kept the church growing. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 94 With regard to the role played by the youth toward the numerical growth of the church, the research established that, major roles played by the youth toward the numerical growth of the Church include: evangelism, seeing to the holistic growth of members, ecclesiastical leadership, serving as leaders, providing financial assistance to the church and seeing to the modernization of the worship. This has been portrayed through the findings from interviews, reports and questionnaires regarding the role of the youth towards the growth of the church. The study concludes that the youth of the church has been playing a very instrumental role toward the numerical growth of the church. Regardless of the role the youth play in the growth of the church, the research, in Chapter four, discussed some challenges the youths face that hinder the role played by the youths in the growth of the PCG. These challenges came to light when the youths and some of the key leaders of the church were interviewed and questioned. The study then suggested some solutions to the challenges faced by the youth in the discharge of their duties. If the challenges are properly addressed by both the church and the youths themselves, it would help the youth play their role effectively to see to it that the church grows numerically. 5.2 Recommendations In view of the findings of the study, this section gives some suggestions and recommendations to help address the challenges above. These suggestions and recommendations, when carefully followed by both the Church and the youth, would help the youth play their role in growing the church more efficiently, which would see to the growth of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. As University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 95 indicated by Rev. Stephen Nii Lankwei Lawson, the youth are the lifeline of the church.147 This indicates that the youth are very crucial when it comes to the growth of the church and they cannot be left out in any growth agenda of the Church. On the whole the youth, both the YPG and NUPS- G, have played a major role in the growth of the PCG and must be commended for that. The study makes the following recommendations in response to some of the challenges identified in the research: First and foremost, in the area of lack of funds for effective evangelism, the study recommends a setting up of ‘Youth Evangelism fund’ for evangelism embarked on by the youth. The fund should be established by the church at its various courts that is the General Assembly, Presbytery, Districts and Congregations it would ensure that funds are mobilized throughout the year to support youth evangelism and not start raising funds anytime the program is to be organized. This would ensure that there are enough funds readily available for the mission work whenever they embark on the evangelistic program, especially their P-SICE and P-YICE. Also, the study recommends that there should be a partnership with institutions and other organizations to help solicit for funds for the evangelistic programs. This would ensure that there is not too much pressure on the funds of the church since it has other responsibilities to also take care of. Secondly, in the area of Evangelism as a whole the study recommends that all Presbyteries should come up with Church Planting Schemes, where these schemes would serve as a guide to the evangelistic programs of the church, especially when it comes to major evangelistic programs. The scheme should have a detailed plan as to how church planting would be done. The resources needed should be put in place. For instance, the land for the church or exact place for the church 147Lawson, Interview, 2015. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 96 should be ready, the agent to be in charge of the church should be assigned, chairs and other equipment’s needed to start the church (e.g. drums) should be available before the evangelism could start. This, the study believes, would help the youth to also have an effective evangelism. Thirdly, the study again recommends that there should be training of leaders and they should be well resourced to take over the churches planted by the youth. The research suggests that if possible, majority of the youth in the district where new churches are planted should be trained by the District agents to take over the churches they plant or go to revive in their evangelistic programs. The training would help curb issues raised like language barriers and lack of effective follow ups. Fourthly, academically, the research recommends a further study into how the youth have contributed to other areas of growth other than the numerical growth of the church. Also, a study can be conducted into why youth of the orthodox churches that migrate to the charismatic churches are not committed to the former church but becomes very committed to the latter church. 5.3 CONCLUSION The YPG and NUPS-G are youth groups in the church that contribute greatly towards the growth of the PCG. The study revealed that the PCG was established by the work of the young men who, because of their youthful nature, were able to persist despite the challenges. Due to their love for adventure as young men, they dared to come and spread the gospel in Africa despite the harsh weather conditions in the Gold Coast, which led to the establishment of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. The work of some young men led to the establishment of the PCG in the Gold Coast. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 97 The study has established that the Young Peoples Guild and the National Union of Presbyterian Students were also established by the young men themselves and these two groups play key roles in the area of church growth, especially with evangelism with their mega P-SICE and P-YICE programs that lead to the conversion of more people to Christ and also the winning of more people to join the PCG. Apart from the fact that young men established the PCG, today the young men in the church are playing a critical role toward the growth of the church. The youths from the beginning used their youthful abilities to see to the development of the PCG in the country and currently, the YPG and the NUPS-G are also playing key roles in the growth of the church. The role played by the youth are in the area of evangelism, holistic development of members, provision of ecclesiastical leadership, provision of financial assistance and modernization of worship to see to the growth of the PCG. The record on evangelism, as shown by the findings on P-SICE and P-YICE on the number of new converts and those that rededicate their lives yearly through the evangelistic growth of the youth, indicated that the youth is contributing immensely to the growth of the PCG since most of these people converted find themselves in the PCG and those who have left the church most often through rededicating their lives have come back to the church. Aside the number they add to the church through evangelism, a number of Presbyterian Churches have been established through the hard work of the youth groups in the church. Also, these evangelistic programs of the youth have also seen to the revival of many Presbyterian Churches especially, those that find themselves in the rural areas. Finally, these evangelistic activities aside leading to the converting of people and people rededicating their lives, it also helps to revive dying churches of the PCG. It also contributes immensely toward the social development of the places where these programs are held. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 98 On holistic development of members, the youth of the church play the role of nurturing themselves to be wholly developed for the world they find themselves. They provide assistance to the elderly, especially the aged, in the church, thereby ensuring their continuous stay in the church. Also, they contribute greatly towards the training of the youth in the church to grow holistically as Christians through bible studies, prayer meetings, organizing job fairs, social talks, health talks and seminars. This ensures that members of the church develop fully so that they would not leave to other churches which would lead to a decrease in the number of church members in the church. Due to this key role played by the youth, members are able to get whatever they need from the church, hence no need of moving to any other church. In the area of ecclesiastical leadership, the youth play a key role in seeing to the effective management and administration of the church, which ensures growth. The study established that most PCG Churches have people from the youth ministries managing the affairs of the church. Also they serve on the session right from the congregational, district, presbytery and all the way to the general assembly and they contribute greatly to the decision making that would ensure the growth of the church. Again the youth today as established find themselves on various committees in the church that also grant them opportunity to play a role in the growth of the church. Lastly the youth also see to the maintenance of the church and this aids in the growth of the church. Furthermore, the youth also serve as teachers of the Junior Youth (J.Y) and Children Service (C.S) of the church. The members of the JY and CS find themselves at a critical moment in their lives that, if not treated with care and taught well, they would not stay and rather leave the church to other churches. The youth again play key roles since most of the youth find themselves as leaders University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 99 of these groups. They teach their young counterparts thereby making them not leave the church because they have people that would be with them and teach them, which would prevent false teachings from getting to them. Finally the members of the J.Y and C.S are able to flow very well with the youth that teach them, preventing them from going wayward. In the area of financial assistance, the youth play a major role in financing the activities of the church. The youths of the church find themselves in the working class of the church and so whatever projects the church would want to undertake, they contribute a lot to it. The youth do this through paying their tithes, offerings, voluntary thanksgiving and other financial contributions. This enables the church to have a strong financial base to see to the growth of the church. Finally, the youth are the ones that help modernize the worship service and makes it attractive in this age of technological advancement and thereby lead to growth in the church. The youth in the church today lead the church to purchase modern means of communication in the church which attracts more people to the church. They project and streamline service on the internet, send reminders informing members about current happenings in the church through various social media and also do advertise church activities on these platforms. This ensures that the young ones in the church would stay in the church and other young ones would also join the church. Notwithstanding these major roles played by the youth towards the growth of the church, the youths face some challenges that cripple them from ensuring effective growth in the church. This section highlights some of the challenges as realized in the funding and offers some recommendations to help curb the situation in order to ensure more growth. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 100 5.3.1 Challenges 5.3.1.1 Evangelism This study identified that in the area of evangelism, there are a number of challenges associated with it that include lack of funds, language barrier, lack of logistics, lack of effective follow up and lack of commitment. The lack of funds for evangelistic activities sometimes leads to less work being done by the youth on such evangelistic programs. As indicated earlier, these programs need huge sums of money in order to be successful. The study realized that, due to inadequate funds the P-SICE program, which over the years has been a two- week program, has been reduced to a week and the number of participants have been reduced due to lack of funds and this affects the work of the youth since they are unable to reach out to a lot of people and also spend enough time in nurturing those they come across. The P-SICE program too had to reduce the number of participants due to lack of funds which, also affects evangelism. Secondly, language has also been a key challenge to the evangelism of the youth. This challenge is more serious when the youth have to find themselves in rural areas, especially places that the Ga and Twi language are not spoken by most of the natives there. This makes communication between them very difficult and this affects the impact of their work negatively. Thirdly, the youth also lack logistics for effective evangelism. They do not have enough megaphones, struggle to get a place of accommodation and also they do not have easy access to evangelism van to make the evangelism effective. Lastly, there is no effective follow up after the youths have embarked on the evangelism program. Because the youths most often travel to faraway places to engage in the evangelism, it becomes University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 101 difficult for them to go back and nurture the new converts. Since the local churches there do not also take action, it leads to some of the members going back to where they came from. 5.3.1.2 Holistic Development of Members The study also brings to bare, challenges that affect the youth when it comes to the holistic development of the members. These challenges include, lack of commitment and lack of cooperation from church leaders. Most of the youth in the church do not show interest in the activities put together by the youth to see to their development holistically. This makes them not to achieve the aim of seeing to the holistic growth of their members which also affects the growth of the church. Furthermore, the elders of the church, especially the leadership of the church do not cooperate with the youth to ensure that they organize such activities so as to attain the growth of the members. And once the youth is not growing, it also affect the growth of the church in general. Finally, the educational system of the country poses some challenges to the youth, playing effective role in the growth of the youth. Since the findings indicated that most of youths spend most of their time in school hindering them from participating in most church activities. And the major challenge is that most of the youths after being exposed in the SHS and the tertiary institutions also leave the PCG which also negatively affects the growth of the youth. 5.3.1.3 Financial Assistance In the area of financial assistance as discussed in the findings, the youth also face the challenge of the lack of employment which affects their conditions to the church which the church would use to run activities that would ensure growth. As indicated in the study, most youths who have University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 102 graduated from the tertiary institutions do not find work to do, which affects their ability to contribute financially towards the growth of the church. In summary, most youths are unable to contribute a lot to the growth of the church as they wish. 5.3.1.4 Serve as Teachers of the J.Y and Children Service Although most youths involve themselves in teaching the J.Y and C.S, they are faced with the challenge of lack of motivation. As the study indicated, these teachers do all their best but the church does not adequately motivate them to ensure effective work done. Secondly, these teachers also lack training which is very crucial to the growth of the J.Y and Children Service. They are unable to equip these ones with sound doctrines which would make the members of J.Y and Children Service better appreciate the church they belong to in order to ensure that they stay in the church. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 103 BIBLOGRAPHY Interviews Conducted by the Researcher Adjei – Mantey, Emmanuel (District Minister, Tema Community Two) Interview, 23rd January, 2016, Tema Community Two, Accra. Asane – Ntow, Joseph Yaw (Former Superintendent, Ga Presbytery) Interview, 24th December, 2015. Kanda, Accra. Lawson, Daniel (Fourth Minister, Osu District) Interview, 28th January, 2016, Osu, Accra. Lawson, Stephen Nii Lankwei (Director for Church Life and Nurture, Ga Presbytery & District Minister, Sakumono) Interview, 29th December, 2015, Sakumono, Accra. Nortey, Samuel Adjei (Director, Missions and Evangelism, Ga Presbytery) Interview, 29th December, 2015, Kwashieman, Accra. Odonkor, Godwin (District Minister, Abeka) Interview, 23rd December, 2015. Abeka, Accra. Odonkor, Godwin Nii Noi (Former Chairperson, Ga Presbytery & District Minister, Kaneshie) Interview, 15th January, 2016. Kaneshie, Accra. REFERENCE Agbeti, J. Kofi. West African Church History: Christian Missions and Church Foundations: 1482 – 1919 Leiden: E. J. Bill, 1986. Agyeman, Fred. Our Presbyterian Heritage. Accra: Pedigree Publications, 2006. Barber, Kendra. “Whither Shall We Go? The Past and Present of Black Churches and the Public Sphere.” Religions 6, no. 1 (2015): 245-265. Basel Mission Archives. Profile of Andreas Riis. Assessed on 19th September, 2015. http://bmpix.usc.edu/bmpix. ……………………………. 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Doebler. “Secularization in Europe: Religious Change Between and Within Birth Cohorts.” Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe 4, no.1 (2011): 39-62. Wilson, Bruce L. and Dickson Corbett. Listening to Urban Kids: School Reform and the Teachers They Want. New York: Suny Press, 2014. Youniss, J., S. Bales, V. Christmas‐Best, M. Diversi, M Mclaughlin and R. Silbereisen. “Youth Civic Engagement in the Twenty‐First Century.” Journal of Research on Adolescence 12, no.1 (2002):121-148. Youth Council, Proposed Youth Policy to 53rd Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.Bawku, August 1982. Zajda, Joseph. “Globalisation and its Impact on Education and Policy.” Second International Handbook on Globalisation, Education and olicy Research (2015): 105 – 125. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 109 APPENDIX A INTERVIEW GUIDE 1. Please what is your full name? 2. Can you briefly tell me about the development of the youth ministry in your Presbytery? 3. What is the major role of the youth in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana? 4. What are your views on the 2005 General Assembly decision on numerical growth? 5. Does the youth of the church know about this decision? What strategies have been put in by the church to educate them about the decision? 6. What is the role of the youth in the implementation of this decision? 7. What are some of the challenges the youth face in performing their role towards the numerical growth of the church. 8. What practical steps has your office put in place to help solve this challenges 9. How have P-YICE/ P-SICE contributed towards the growth of the PCG. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 110 APPENDIX B QUESTIONNAIRE FOR YOUTH Dear Respondent, This questionnaire is designed by an MPhil student of the Department for the Study of Religions of the University of Ghana to investigate “The Youth and Numerical Growth in the Ga Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana”. The outcome will be for academic purpose only and any information given out will be handled confidentially. Your co-operation in this exercise will therefore be highly appreciated. Thank you Questionnaire ID: …………….. Name (optional): ……………………………………………… District: ……………………. 1. Gender Male Female 2. Status Member Executive 3. Are you a member of the YPG / NUPS-G?Yes NO 4. Do you actively participate in activities of the YPG? Yes No 5. Do you know about the 2005 General Assembly decision on numerical growth? Yes No 6. What is the decision about? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 7. Does the youth have a role to play in implementing this decision of the Church? Yes No University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 111 8. If yes, describe the role? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 9. In your opinion, what are the major roles played by the YPG in the PCG? 1. …………………………………………………………………………………………… 2. …………………………………………………………………………………………… 3. ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4. …………………………………………………………………………………………. 5. ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 10. Does the YPG face challenge? Yes No 11. If yes, mention them ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 12. Have you engaged in P-SICE/ P-YICE before? Yes No 13. If no, why ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 14. Which other evangelistic activities have you engaged in at the youth level ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 15. What are the importance of these evangelistic activities towards the growth of the PCG? University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 112 ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 16. In relation to evangelistic programs (especially P-YICE/P-SICE), what challenges do the YPG face? 1. ………………………………………………………………………………………… 2. ………………………………………………………………………………………… 3. ………………………………………………………………………………………… 4…………………………………………………………………………………………. 5………………………………………………………………………………………… 17. Can you suggest ways of solving the above problems? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 18. How can the new members/converts be maintained in the PCG? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 19. Have the YPG contributed towards the numerical growth of PCG? Yes NO 20. If YES, how have they contributed to the numerical growth of PCG? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 21. If NO, how do you think they can contribute towards the numerical growth of the church? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 113 ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 22. What more can the youth do to ensure that the membership of the church is increases? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 114 APPENDIX C QUESTIONNAIRE FOR MINISTERS /DIRECTOR OF MISSION AND EVANGELISM & CHURCH LIFEAND NURTURE Dear Sir/Madam, This questionnaire is designed by an MPhil student of the Department for the Study of Religions of the University of Ghana to investigate “The Youth and Numerical Growth in the Ga Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana”. The outcome will be for academic purpose only and any information given out will be handled confidentially. Your co-operation in this exercise will therefore be highly appreciated. Thank you Questionnaire ID: …………….. Name (optional): ……………………………………………… District: ……………………. 1. Gender Male Female 2. Status Minister Presbyter Member 3. Are you actively involved in activities of the YPG? Yes No 4. Do you know about the 2005 General Assembly decision on numerical growth? Yes No 5. What is the decision about? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 115 6. Does the youth have a role to play in this decision implementation of the Church? Yes No 7. If yes, how? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 8. What are the major roles played by the YPG in the PCG? 1. …………………………………………………………………………………………… 2. …………………………………………………………………………………………… 3. ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4. …………………………………………………………………………………………. 5. ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 9. Does the YPG face challenges? Yes No 10. If yes, mention them ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 11. Does the YPG in your district participate in P-YICE? Yes No 12. If no, why ……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 13. Which other evangelistic activity does the YPG in your district participate in? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 14. How does this impact on the numerical growth of the PCG? University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 116 ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 15. In relation to evangelistic programs (especially P-YICE/P-SICE), what challenges do the YPG face? 1. ………………………………………………………………………………………… 2. ………………………………………………………………………………………… 3. ………………………………………………………………………………………… 4…………………………………………………………………………………………. 5………………………………………………………………………………………… 16. What practical steps has the church taken to address these challenges? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 17. How can the new members/converts be kept in the church? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 18. Have the YPG contributed towards the numerical growth of PCG? Yes NO 19. If YES, how have they contributed to the numerical growth of PCG? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… In what ways can they contribute towards the numerical growth of the church? ................................................................................................................................................ University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 117 ................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................... University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 118 APPENDIX D Plate 1. Summer Hut built by youth during work camp at Abokobi, 1999. Picture by Joseph Charles Quartey Plate 2. A picture of a P-SICE participant during market ministration at Djankrom, Eastern Region, 2016. Picture taken by Lina Agyekumwaa University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 119 Plate 3. Picture of P-SICE participants during School Ministration at Domerabra, Accra. 3rd June 2015. Picture by Benjamin Asante. Plate 4. Picture of a Crusade at Kojo Oku in the Central Region during 2016 P-SICE. 1ST June 2016. Picture by Benjamin Asante. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 120 Plate 5. Picture of a P-SICE participant during House to House Evangelism at Saforo, Eastern Region, Ghana. 6th June 2016. Picture taken by Lina Agyekumwaa Asante. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh