Excavaciones, Compactaciones y/o Nivelaciones.

2.3.3.2.1 The Rise of the African Indigenous Churches 

The early attempt by the mission churches to indigenise Christianity in Africa only proved eventually to be a necessary first stage. The rise and rapid expansion of the African Indigenous Churches (AIC) also played a significant role in the speeding up of reforms in the mission churches. The African Indigenous Churches have been established by Ghanaians. Ghana, like any sub-Saharan African country, abounds with the African Indigenous Churches

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(AIC).35 _{In fact they are scattered all over Ghana. Baëta calls them “spiritual churches” in} view of the role of the Holy Spirit in their activities (Baëta, 1962:1). Parrinder, however, prefers to call them “separatist churches” to emphasise the apparent discontent which got them out of the main traditional mission churches (Parrinder, 1951: 107). Bediako calls them African Independent Churches to reflect their “...more self-consciously seeking to be African than the churches of missionary origin” (Bediako, 1995:63). Assimeng would rather call them “sect” in line with their usual unpreparedness to engage in any meaningful relations with the wider community (Assimeng 1989:135).

Although the African Indigenous Churches differ among themselves in many ways, certain features distinguish them from the mission churches. Unlike the mission churches, they are usually formed and led by Ghanaians who often refer to themselves as prophets. Of the various features of the African Indigenous Churches the most crucial to this study are the stress of African world-view and the affection for freer form of worship. These churches are considered more African than the mission churches because they aim at Africanising Christianity in a manner that Ayegboyin and Ishola find more “pragmatic in contextualising Christianity” in Africa. Other characteristics include emphasis on prayer, the spiritual and interest in divine healing (Ayegboyin & Ishola, 1985:31). Thus, they appear in their varied beliefs, doctrines and response to the needs of their members, to be more practical than the mission churches. In other words, they preach and practice a kind of Christianity, which is considered more in line with the Traditional Ghanaian culture by incorporating the worldview of their members in their beliefs.36 _{For instance, in traditional African religion, various} divinities, semi-deified ancestors, sprits, demons, witches, fetishes are resorted to in order to meet challenges posed by social and economic problems. Baëta acknowledges that the African Indigenous Churches were quickly able to shift the people’s reliance on these spirits to the Christian God:

35 _{African Indigenous Churches in Ghana include: The Church of the Twelve Apostles, the Musama Disco} Christo Church, Memenda Gyidifo (The Saviour Church), The African Faith Tabernacle Congregation Church (AFTCC), The Church of the Lord (Aladura), the Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim Society. These churches have significant following in Ghana covering a large part of the rural folks. Even though Baëta describes the educational standards of members of the Twelve Apostle Church as for example “the lowest of any non-pagan religious body” in Ghana (Baëta, 1962:11) the situation has changed since they now have a significant number of their membership with high education. These churches seem to have excellent relations with the Ghanaian culture.

36 _{For instance, many of AICs do not see polygyny as a violation of religious principle. They allow polygynists} to the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

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“The ‘spiritual churches’ represent a turning away from these traditional resources of supernatural succour in order that help may be sought for the same purposes, from the God proclaimed in the Christian evangel. As needs, cravings and hopes remain unchanged, so also the basic ideas regarding the character of the universe, of its forces, their possibilities and the modes of their operation, have been preserved intact.” (Baëta, 1962:135)

Also, the African Indigenous Churches aim at engaging their congregation in active and conscious participation in their worship. In his book Religion in an African City, Parrinder quotes E. W. Smith’s favourable view of African Indigenous Churches’ liturgy thus:

“…their success is due in no small measure to their adoption of less formal, more lively, forms of worship with the use of native music and instruments-they approach nearer the African ethos whereas the churches of European origin are often so distressingly European and dull.” (Parrinder, 1961: 43)

These churches engage in free and livelier mode of worship in the form of singing, clapping, dancing, quite unlike the Mission Churches whose liturgies are considered dull and not exciting enough despite their earlier effort to incorporate Akan values.

In Ghana, the mission churches’ view of the African Indigenous Churches is summed up by Baëta in his remark that the mission chruches’ view of the Indigenous Churches is on “...the whole negative, being that they constitute a grave menace to the normal development of a healthy type of Christianity in the country”(Baëta, 1962: ix). Even though the African Indigenous Churches are not considered “proper” Christian Churches as depicted by Baëta or even religious aberration, (Assimeng, 1989:132) and the motivation of their founders appears questionable, they seem to be well-grounded and popular with members comprising largely the rural folks. Sundkler, however, seems to have a positive view of them as he states that: “…in these churches, one could see what the African Christian regarded as important and relevant in the Christian faith and in the Christian church” (Sundkler, 1961:17f). There are

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reservations regarding some of the beliefs, rituals and practices of AIC (Assimeng, 1989:151- 155) and even the source of the power of their prophets, yet one cannot assign to them outright condemnation in this work. The sources demonstrate the resilience of African spirituality and religious perceptions in the face of an emerging new Christian religion.

2.3.3.2.2 Pentecostalism and the New Evangelicalism   

Pentecostal movements are another group of Christian churches which have emerged on the Ghanaian religious scene. Ottosson suggests that Pentecostalism in Christianity started in the United States of America (Ottosson, 1977: 11-15). The movements are identified generally by their strict adherence to the Scripture, baptism in the Holy Spirit and the initial evidence of speaking in tongues and their emphasis on the second advent of Jesus Christ (Ottosson, 1977:13). In Ghana Pentecostalism broadly falls into two groups: the established Pentecostals and the Neo-Pentecostals. The established Pentecostals are the Apostolic Church, Church of Pentecost, Christ Apostolic Church and Assemblies of God. The Neo-Pentecostals are usually referred to as the ‘Charistimatic.’ One of the remarkable trends of the last decade among the Christian population of Ghana has been the dramatic rise of the “Charismatic” or “Pentecostal” movements. Hundreds of new churches and evangelical groups were established in cities and towns. They are also identified by their crusades, conventions and Bible schools. This contemporary Christian movement, appealing especially to younger, better-educated urban people, is arguably the fastest-growing section of Christianity in Ghana (Anderson, 2000: 24; Gifford, 2004:23, 38). All Charismatic churches conduct services in three parts: first is the ‘praise and worship’ which is a song ministration backed by electric guitars and electronic keyboards. It is totally participatory. Second is the offering, and then lastly, sermon which is the principal focus (Gifford, 2004:27). The vivacity and dynamism of the worship, the high quality of music and the sense of brotherliness are important indications of the appeal of these churches.

Many discourses have arisen especially in academic circles to explain why Pentecostalism has been a remarkable success in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Ghana. Anderson observes that Pentecostalism has been successful in Tropical Africa not only because of its emphasis on spiritual experience and its amazing strength to acclimatise to existing culture

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but also, most importantly, because of its roots (Anderson, 2000: 26). According to Anderson, Pentecostalism has its roots in African-based slave religion of the United States and its genesis in the black-led Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles slums (Anderson, 2000: 26). Many of the early manifestations of Pentecostalism were found in the religious expressions of the slaves in North America, who retained much of the African religious culture from which they had been abducted. Similarly, MacRobert argues that black Pentecostalism “…cannot be fully understood without some consideration of their African origins and the conditions of slavery under which a black understanding of Christianity was formed” (MacRobert, 1988: 9). Its African origins implies that Pentecostalism, from the outset, has been “...an adaptive remoulding of African religious practices in a decidedly Christian context” (Anderson, 2000:28). However, Gifford has attributed the success of Pentecostalism to the proliferation of Christian programmes on FM radio and Television stations and most importantly to the failed socio-economic policies of the ruling elite of Ghana. This view is true to a large extent as indicated by their overemphasis on success, wealth, finances and status (Gifford, 2004:44- 71). This prosperity message appears to be very well received because it embodies the traditional African orientation of religion which basically and essentially upholds prayer for solutions.

2.3.3.2.3 The Mission Churches    

The mission churches have over the years incorporated African belief systems into their activities. In other words, the indigenisation by reinterpretation in terms of the old religion, which has its beginnings with the African Indigenous Churches, has over the years become important and noticeable features of the mission churches as well. Thus, the marked differences between the mission churches and the African Indigenous Churches which Baëta observed in his research (Baëta, 1967:64) are hardly noticeable in the contemporary Ghanaian religious context. The flourishing of Charismatic Christianity has also had significant influence on the mission churches. The mission churches have succeeded in stemming the flow of their members to the Charismatic churches by the incorporation of certain elements such as clapping and dancing into the various liturgies, as well as healing and deliverance services (Gifford, 2004:38, 39). The Catholic Church has Charismatic renewal movements. The Presbyterians and Methodists both now have their charismatic wings.

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In line with these similarities, Bediako remarks years after Baëta’s work, about the identical features of churches in Ghana:

“The distinctions between the historical churches, of missionary origin, and the independent or African instituted churches, have since become less meaningful, as feature which were once thought to be characteristic of the latter have been found to be shared also by the former. The significance of the independents, therefore, has been that they pointed to the direction in which broad sections of African Christianity were moving, and so they testified to the existence of some generalised trends in the African response to the Christian faith in African terms.” (Bediako 1995:66)

The mission churches have come to acknowledge that meaningful change does not take place by mere direct prohibitions from church conferences; rather, it will have to grow from within the Christian community and from the hearts of individual Christians, and utter indigenisation by reinterpretation in view of the worldview and spiritual aspirations of the idigenous people.