Encofrados de arcos, bóvedas, cúpulas y puentes

Diagram 5.5 Local affiliation, dual-purpose ministry (LADPM)

LADPM is a ‘chaplaincy model - which encourages full integration of Ghanaian members in local Methodist Churches’.149 _{In other words, rather than encouraging} congregations to form around an ethnic group, the aim is to have intercultural congregations. This can be seen in the taxonomy used by the British Methodists. Instead of being listed as congregations, the gatherings of Ghanaians are termed as ethnic minority ‘groups’ and ‘fellowships’.150 _{The Ghanaian fellowship is the most} frequently reported minority fellowship in three urban districts of the British Methodist

149 _{Emmanuel Aggrey-Ogoe, 'Ghanaian Methodist Fellowships [GMF]-United Kingdom Chaplaincy}

Report to the 5th Biennial/43rd Conference of the Methodist Church Ghana [2008]', The Methodist

Church Ghana, 5th Biennial/43rd Conference Agenda, Representative Session (1; Winneba, Ghana: The

Methodist Church Ghana, 2008), GPC 33-GPC 35.

Church.151 _{Fellowships are found in London (with branches throughout the city),} Nottingham, Glasgow, and Edinburgh.152

In the Italian Methodist Church, sometimes the integration into local churches has been so great, the Ghanaian Methodists have identified a need for

Intensification of efforts at the cultural integration between the African community, especially Ghanaians, always the majority in our churches, and the community of Italians and other nationals in church and society. 153

According to Richard Kofi Ampofo, who has served as the vice president of the Italian Methodist Church, the scenario in Italy is a

model of integration with brothers and sisters coming from Methodist Churches (and other Protestant denominations) in every part of the world promoted by Methodist and Waldensian Churches in Italy: neither ‘assimilation’ nor ‘parallel coexistence’, but a long term process of mutual integration, involving both Italians and not Italians to reconsider one’s own vocation and to build renewed individual and communal identities and mission, based on a true, open dialogue between different traditions, cultures, liturgical and theological sensitivities.154

Numerically, the Methodist church in Italy has seen a tremendous influx of Ghanaians. Though in union with the Waldensian Church, the Methodist body has retained its identity in the broader denomination.155 _{The Methodist section has about 7,000} members, and when the Easter and Christmas conventions are convened by the Ghanaian Methodists in Italy, the events attract ‘almost 2,300 Ghanaians’ (up from thirty-five just fifteen years ago).156

Why does this pattern manifest itself only in the United Kingdom and Italy? Perhaps survival is part of it, as both churches have experienced numerical decline in membership,157 _{and Ghanaians have been adding to the membership rolls. Ghanaians} are among the largest non-native ethnic groups in both the Italian Methodist Church and

151 _{Methodist Church (Great Britain), 'Conference Agenda', (Southport: Methodist Church (Great Britain),}

2011), pp. 669-669; Belonging Together Partnership Steering Group, 'Belonging Together Partnership Document 2010-2013 (2011 Revision)', (London: Methodist Church of Great Britain, 2011), pp. 18-19.

152 _{Belonging Together Partnership Steering Group, 'Belonging Together Partnership Document 2010-}

2013 (2011 Revision)', p. 18; UK Chaplaincy, 'The Ghanaian Methodist Fellowship UK Chaplaincy', 7th

Biennial and 45th Conference Agenda (Tema: Methodist Church Ghana, 2012), 349-354.

153 _{George G. Ennin, 'Chiesa Evangelica Metodista-Italia Report to the 6th Biennial Conference, the}

Methodist Church Ghana', 6th Bienniel/ 44th Conference (Cape Coast: Methodist Church Ghana, 2010), GPC 51- GPC 53.

154 _{Richard Kofi Ampofo, 'Being church together in Italy', e-mail correspondence with Kirk S. Sims,}

(unpublished, 2014b).

155 _{Richard Kofi Ampofo, 'A Little Taste of History: the Beginning of Methodist Missions in Italy',}

(2014a), Essamuah, 'Go ye into all the West', pp. 54-55.

156 _{Ampofo, 'Being church together in Italy'.}

the BMC. According to Essamuah, for the Italian Methodists a major shift took place when the decision was made in March of 1989 ‘to be the church together’ which changed the missional perspective in Italy.158

MCG36 offered an additional reason when he pointed out that the BMC has sponsored many ministers’ graduate studies. It is possible that a level of deference to the BMC is prominent with the MCG leadership in sort of a personal debt to that church. Integration into the BMC seems to be the aim because ‘The Ghanaian Methodist Fellowship is not a church and there is no intention to make it one….It seeks to encourage members to participate fully in all aspects of their local Methodist Churches and the fellowship.’159 _{In an effort to focus on integration the GMF also seeks} to have people not from Ghanaian backgrounds participate in its activities.160

The integration policy has been effective in connecting people to the BMC. Both MCG36 and BMC5 pointed out that many of the stewards and other leaders are Ghanaian. However, MCG36 also believes that BMC has imposed a glass ceiling for church growth among the Ghanaian population in the UK. He contends giving the Ghanaians a chance to form their own churches may be a better way of reaching a wider audience.

A lot of Methodist Churches are closing. In the US, I know of one or two UMCs that have been handed over to Africans and they are restoring the place. In the UK, they don’t want to do that because they fear the Africans will take over. But if they truly believe in mission as global, then they should give the people who want to worship a chance.

Though some Ghanaians are tempted to go to the independent Ghanaian-based churches that meet weekly, many have been able to find expression of Ghanaian worship forms and groups in the monthly fellowship meetings. 161 _MCG29 acknowledged the benefits to the MCG, both to those in the UK and Ghana ‘to foster fellowship and to pool resources for work in Ghana.’ Certainly material goods have flowed back to Ghana such as the nineteen-passenger van donated to the Rafiki children’s home.162

158 _{Essamuah, 'Go Ye Into all the West', p. 54.}

159 _{UK Chaplaincy, 'The Ghanaian Methodist Fellowship UK Chaplaincy', p. 349.} 160 _{Ibid., p. 353.}

161 _{Ibid., pp. 351-352.}

162 _{Davis, 'Extending Fellowship to the Methodist Church in Ghana', <http://www.methodistlondon.org.}

uk/ghanabus.pdf>, accessed 12 November 2011, archived at http://www.pdf-

5.4.6 Independent affiliation, ministering to Ghanaians

A sixth typology that arguably has a scant relationship with the MCG is independent

affiliation, ministering to Ghanaians (IAMG). Such an approach fits in with a typical

pattern where usually laypersons take the initiative to start a prayer group or fellowship that emerges into a congregation. If the MCG is indeed a missional church, then it is natural that when members migrate to other lands, those who already belong to a Methodist church are going to group together with other like-minded individuals and engage in mission. Those who belong to the modality are simply in new contexts, and this does not require a sodality. As this is an independent move that may eventually seek recognition by the MCG or the MCG’s partner denomination in that country, these bodies are technically independent in affiliation. This typology can be explained in the following graph. (diagram 5.6)