Christian Council of Ghana

Last updated
Formation30 October 1929;94 years ago (30 October 1929)
TypeEcumenical body
General Secretary
Cyril Fayose
Website www.christiancouncilgh.org

The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) is an umbrella group that unites 31 churches and denominations in Ghana. [1] The council has its members from Church of Power World Ministry, Charismatic, Pentecostal, Orthodox, Inside God Christian college, and other churches.

Contents

History of the Council

The CCG was formed on 30 October 1929. [1] Five churches, namely:

united aiming to work with various congregations on social matters and to speak for the voiceless in society. [1] [2]

Membership of the council

The council has been restructured several times since its formation. It currently includes 29 churches and two Christian organizations. [1] [3]

Current Membership
  1. The Methodist Church Ghana
  2. Presbyterian Church of Ghana
  3. Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana
  4. The Salvation Army
  5. African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
  6. Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
  7. African Methodist Episcopal Church
  8. EDEN Revival Church
  9. Ghana Baptist Convention
  10. Evangelical Lutheran Church
  11. Religious Society of Friends
  12. Ghana Mennonite Church
  13. Greek Orthodox Church
  14. Christ Evangelical Mission
  15. Evangelical Church of Ghana
  16. Fellowship of Christian Churches
  17. Restoration Christian Church
  18. Young Men’s Christian Association
  19. Young Women’s Christian Association
  20. Legon Interdenominational Church
  21. Anglican Diocese of Accra
  22. The Luke Society Mission Inc.
  23. Ghana Evangelical Convention
  24. Accra Ridge Church
  25. Tema Joint Church
  26. Teshie/Nungua United Church
  27. Atomic Hills United Church
  28. Ghana Police Church
  29. Nigritian Episcopal Church
  30. Grace Communion International
  31. Church of power World Ministry
  32. Inside God Christian college

Ecumenical affiliations

  1. World Council of Churches
  2. All Africa Conference of Churches
  3. Fellowship of Christian Council in West Africa
  4. Programme for Christian/Muslim Relations in Africa (PROCMURA)

Chairpersons of the Christian Council of Ghana

Chairpersons of the Christian Council of Ghana [4]

FromToNameOrganisation
19291934 Rt. Rev. J. O. Anglionby Anglican Diocese of Accra
19351937Rev. C. W. Armstrong
19381939Rev. H. H. G. MacMillan Accra Ridge Church
19401943Rev. M. B. Taylor Methodist Church Ghana
19441945Rev. J. Bardsley
19461949Rev. M. B. TaylorMethodist Church Ghana
19501950 Rev. C. G. Baëta Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana
19511951Rev. Canon C. H. Elliot
19521953Rt. Rev. J. C. DalyBishop of Accra
19531956Rev. S. G. Williamson
19561957Rev. C. G. BaëtaEvangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana
19571960Rev. G. T. Eddy
19601963Rev. C. G. BaëtaEvangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana
19631965Rev. F. C. F. Grant
19651967 Rev. E. M. L. Odjidja Presbyterian Church of Ghana
19671968Justice Nii Amaa Ollennu
19681969Rev. T. W. Koomson
19691970Col. S. J. Hill
19701971Rt. Rev. I. S. M. LeMaire
19711972Rev. A. K. AbutiateEvangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana
19721975Rt. Rev. G. K. Sintim-Misa
19751976Rt. Rev. C. K. Yamoah
19761978Rt. Rev. C. K. DovloEvangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana
19791979C. Awotwi - Pratt
19801980Rt. Rev. Dr. I. S. M. LeMaire
19811981Rt. Rev. I. H. Frempong
19821983 Rt. Rev. Prof. N. K. Dzobo Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana
19841984Rt. Rev. S. B. Essamuah
19851985Rt. Rev. F. W. B. Thompson
19861986Rt. Rev. I. H. Frempong
19871987Rt. Rev. Prof. N. K. DzoboEvangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana
19881988Rt. Rev. J. S. A. Stephens
19891989Rt. Rev. Lt. Col. F. W. B. ThompsonAnglican Diocese of Accra
19901990Rt. Rev. D. A. KorantengPresbyterian Church of Ghana
19911993 Rt. Rev. Prof. K. A. Dickson Methodist Church Ghana
19941995Rt. Rev. Lt. Col. F. W. B. Thompson Anglican Diocese of Accra
19961998Col. John E. Amoah
19982001 Rt. Rev. Justice Offei Yaw Akrofi Anglican Diocese of Accra
20012003 Rt. Rev. Dr. Sam Prempeh Presbyterian Church of Ghana
20032006Rt. Rev. Dr. Paul Kofi Fynn [5] [6] [7] Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana
200621 April 2010 Rt. Rev. Dr. Yaw Frempong-Manso [8] [9] Presbyterian Church of Ghana
21 April 20102013 Most Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante [9] [10] Methodist Church Ghana
25 April 20132016 Rt. Rev. Francis Amenu [10] Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana
20162019
201921 April 2021 Most Rev. Dr. Paul Kwabena Boafo [11] [12] Methodist Church Ghana
21 April 202119 April 2023 Rt. Rev. Prof. J. O. Y. Mante [11] [13] Presbyterian Church of Ghana
19 April 2023Incumbent Rt. Rev. Dr. Hilliard Dela Dogbe [13] [14] [15] African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

Projects

The council undertakes various projects in Ghana. One of its major goals is the elimination of stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS. [16] The project trained community members in areas of the country that had high HIV/AIDS prevalence of 8–9%. The training involved basic facts about HIV/AIDS, stigma and discrimination among others. [17]

The council has also set up an Interfaith Unit to educate Christians on the need for peaceful existence and tolerance among members of different faiths. [17] The School Dropout Scholarship Programme promotes education among Liberian refugees in the Buduburam refugee settlement near Accra. The programme also identifies the causes and consequences of school dropout among the refugees. [17]

In governance and nation building, the council monitors the activities of political parties and professional bodies in the country and offers advice to them. In 2005 the council appealed to Ghanaians and professional bodies to put the country's economy nation first and spend more time discussing issues of national interest concerning education, health and poverty. [18] In 2011 the council encouraged political party leaders and their followers to avoid the use of provocative language in their speeches. [19]

Related Research Articles

Protestants in Myanmar make up 5% of that nation's population in 2023. Most Christians are from the minority ethnic groups such as Karen, Lisu, Kachin, Chin, and Lahu. An estimated 0.1% of the Bamar population is Christian.

The Right Reverend is an honorific style given to certain religious figures and members of a clergy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana</span> Religious denomination

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in Ghana. It is popularly referred to as the "EP Church". It has strong roots in the Evangelical and Reformed traditions. The denomination's Presbyterian sister church is the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in Ghana</span>

Traditional religions such as the Akan Traditional Religion and Dagbon Traditional Religion are the indigenous religions of Ghana. Islam was the first Abrahamic religion to be introduced in the country between the tenth and 15th centuries, by Muslim traders. Later, Christianity was introduced via contact with the European missionaries. Today, Christianity is the largest religion in Ghana, with substantial adherents of Islam and traditional faiths. Christianity is mainly in the country's south while Islam is based in the north. Islam gained widespread acceptance in northern Ghana after Yaa Naa Zanjina accepted the faith in the 17th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Amenu</span> Former Moderator of E.P. Church, Ghana

Francis Amenu (born ?) is a Ghanaian metallurgical engineer who also trained and ordained as a minister. He served in the Evangelical Presbyterian (E.P.) Church, Ghana. In 1999, he was assigned to serve Ghanaian congregations in London, United Kingdom. There in 2003, before returning to Africa, he founded the E.P. Church, UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accra Academy</span> Male second cycle institution in Kaneshie, Ghana

Accra Academy is a boys' high school located at Bubuashie near Kaneshie in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana. It admits both boarding and day students. Founded as a private school in 1931, it gained the status of a Government-Assisted School in 1950. It is the oldest existing high school to have been privately founded in the Gold Coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in Ghana</span>

Christianity is the religion with the largest following in Ghana. Christian denominations include Catholics, Methodists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Seventh-Day Adventists, Pentecostals, Baptists, Evangelical Charismatics, Latter-day Saints, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presbyterian Church of Ghana</span> Protestant denomination in Ghana

The Presbyterian Church of Ghana is a mainstream Protestant and ecumenically-minded church denomination in Ghana. The oldest, continuously existing, established Christian Church in Ghana, it was started by the Basel missionaries on 18 December 1828. The missionaries had been trained in Germany and Switzerland and arrived on the Gold Coast to spread Christianity. The work of the mission became stronger when Moravian missionaries from the West Indies arrived in the country in 1843. In 1848, the Basel Mission Church set up a seminary, now named the Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong, for the training of church workers to help in the missionary work. The Ga and Twi languages were added as part of the doctrinal text used in the training of the seminarians. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Presbyterian church had its missions concentrated in the southeastern parts of the Gold Coast and the peri-urban Akan hinterland. By the mid-20th century, the church had expanded and founded churches among the Asante people who lived in the middle belt of Ghana as well as the northern territories by the 1940s. The Basel missionaries left the Gold Coast during the First World War in 1917. The work of the Presbyterian church was continued by missionaries from the Church of Scotland, the mother church of the worldwide orthodox or mainline (oldline) Presbyterian denomination. The official newspaper of the church is the Christian Messenger, established by the Basel Mission in 1883. The denomination's Presbyterian sister church is the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dansoman</span> Place in Greater Accra Region, Ghana

Dansoman is a suburban town in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, It is known as one of the largest estates in West Africa.

Kaneshie is a suburb in the Accra Metropolitan district, a district of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The name was derived from a word in the Ga-Adangbe, that is "Kane Shie Shie", meaning "under the lamp" referring to its beginnings as a night market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accra High School</span> Public high school in Ghana

Accra High School is a Senior High school located in Accra, Ghana in West Africa. It initially started as a Boys School.

Christian Tsui Hesse, popularly known as Chris Hesse is a Ghanaian cinematographer, filmmaker, film administrator, photographer and Presbyterian minister who is known for his cinematography in several award-winning films such as the critically acclaimed Love Brewed in the African Pot (1980) and Heritage Africa (1989). He was the personal photographer of Ghana's first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah. Chris Hesse helped to document the visual history of the political leadership and development of the country. He also worked for the United Nations, serving as a photographer, documenting the Congo crisis in 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Timothy Clerk</span> Gold Coast theologian, minister and missionary (1862 –1961)

Nicholas Timothy Clerk was a Protestant theologian, clergyman and pioneering missionary of the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society in southeast colonial Ghana. His father was the Jamaican Moravian missionary Alexander Worthy Clerk, who worked extensively on the Gold Coast with the Basel Mission and co-founded in 1843 the Salem School, a Presbyterian boarding middle school for boys. Born on the Gold Coast, N. T. Clerk was elected the first Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast, in effect, the chief ecclesiastical officer, equivalent to the chief administrator, leading the overall strategic operations of the national church organisation, a position he held from 1918 to 1932. A staunch advocate of secondary education, Nicholas Timothy Clerk became a founding father of the all-boys Presbyterian boarding school in Ghana, the Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School, established in 1938. As Synod Clerk, he pushed vigorously for and was instrumental in turning the original idea of a church mission high school into reality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clerk family</span> Ghanaian family

The Clerk family is a Ghanaian historic family that produced a number of pioneering scholars and clergy on the Gold Coast. Predominantly based in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, the Clerks were traditionally Protestant Christian and affiliated to the Presbyterian Church. The Clerk family is primarily a member of the Ga coastal people of Accra and in addition, has Euro-Afro-Caribbean heritage, descending from Jamaican, German and Danish ancestry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Henry Clerk</span> Ghanaian educator, minister, administrator and journalist(1895 – 1982)

Carl Henry Clerk was a Ghanaian agricultural educationist, administrator, journalist, editor and church minister who was elected the fourth Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast, assuming the role of chief ecclesial officer of the national church from 1950 to 1954. Between 1960 and 1963, he was also the Editor of the Christian Messenger, established by the Basel Mission in 1883, as the newspaper of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon</span> Protestant seminary in Accra, Ghana

The Trinity Theological Seminary is a Protestant seminary located on a 70-acre campus in Legon, Accra. As an ecumenical theological tertiary and ministerial training institution, it serves students in Ghana and the West African sub-region. The focus of the curriculum is pedagogy, guidance, counselling, and fieldwork to adequately prepare students for careers in Christian ministry. The school has charter status, offers certificate, diploma, and degree programmes, and is accredited by the National Accreditation Board of the Ghanaian Ministry of Education.

Kwabena Opuni Frimpong is a Ghanaian academic and Presbyterian minister who served as the General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), equivalent to the chief executive officer of the ecumenical organisation. He is also a lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Hilliard Kwashie Dela Dogbe is a Ghanaian clergyman and bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. He currently serves as the Bishop of the Western West Africa Episcopal District, which encompasses Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Togo.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Welcome to the Christian Council of Ghana ". www.christiancouncilofghana.org/. Archived from the original on 2011-06-27. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
  2. "Organization profile". www.ecuspace.net. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
  3. "Christian Council of Ghana". www.oikoumene.org. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
  4. "Past Chairperson | Christian Council of Ghana". www.christiancouncilofghana.org. Christian Council of Ghana. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  5. "Clergyman advises against destructive criticism". 14 August 2005. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  6. "Chancellor and his Legacies – Dada Foundation Gh" . Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  7. "Rt. Rev. Dr. Paul Kofi Fynn Receives Sabre of Boldness". Gottesdienst. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  8. "Christian Council elects new chairperson". modernghana.com. ModernGhana. 18 May 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  9. 1 2 "Christian Council elects Reverend Asante as Chairman". BusinessGhana. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  10. 1 2 "Christian Council elects Rt. Rev. Amenu as Chairman". modernghana.com. ModernGhana. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  11. 1 2 "Rt. Rev. Prof. J.O.Y Mante chairs Christian Council of Ghana". Ghana News Agency. 21 April 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  12. "I was humbled and fulfilled as Christian Council Chair – Most. Rev. Boafo". NewGhana.com.gh. 23 April 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  13. 1 2 "Chairman | Christian Council of Ghana". www.christiancouncilofghana.org. Christian Council of Ghana. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  14. Chris Nunoo (19 October 2023). "Fruitful final year, my biggest wish — President Akufo-Addo". Graphic Online. Accra: Graphic Communications Group Ltd. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  15. Stephanie Birikorang (12 January 2024). "2024 elections: refrain from engaging in personal attacks, divisive politics – Right Rev. Hilliard Dogbe – Ghanaian Times". ghanaiantimes.com.gh. New Times Corporation. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  16. "PROJECT PROFILE". www.christiancouncilofghana.org. Archived from the original on 18 September 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  17. 1 2 3 "Christian Council of Ghana". www.globalministries.org. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  18. "Christian Council of Ghana: Put Country First". www.christiantoday.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-03. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  19. "Christian Council decries acrimonious language". www.ghanaweb.com. Archived from the original on 2011-02-27. Retrieved 23 May 2011.