Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, an event that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles.
A church service is a formalized period of Christian communal worship, often held in a church building. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism. The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be taught the "Word of God" and encouraged in their faith. Technically, the "church" in "church service" refers to the gathering of the faithful rather than to the building in which it takes place. In most Christian traditions, services are presided over by clergy wherever possible. Styles of service vary greatly, from the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Reformed, Roman Catholic, and Lutheran traditions of liturgical worship to informal worship characterized by certain free church traditions, common among Methodists and Baptists, that often combine worship with teaching for the believers, which may also have an evangelistic component appealing to backsliders and the non-Christians in the congregation. Quakers and some other groups have no formal outline to their services, but allow the worship to develop as the participants present feel moved. Most Christian denominations hold church services on the Lord's Day ; a number of traditions have mid-week Wednesday evening services as well. In some Christian denominations, church services are held daily, with these including those in which the seven canonical hours are prayed, as well as the offering of the Mass, among other forms of worship. In addition to this, many Christians attend services on holy days such as Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Ascension Thursday, among others depending on the Christian denomination.
The Church of the Province of West Africa is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering 17 dioceses in eight countries of West Africa, specifically in Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Ghana is the country with most dioceses, now numbering 11.
William Marrion Branham was an American Christian minister and faith healer who initiated the post-World War II healing revival, and claimed to be a prophet with the anointing of Elijah, who had come to prelude Christ's second coming; some of his followers have been labeled a "doomsday cult". He is credited as "a principal architect of restorationist thought" for charismatics by some Christian historians, and has been called the "leading individual in the Second Wave of Pentecostalism." He made a lasting influence on televangelism and the modern charismatic movement, and his "stage presence remains a legend unparalleled in the history of the Charismatic movement".
Charles Fox Parham was an American preacher and evangelist. Together with William J. Seymour, Parham was one of the two central figures in the development and early spread of American Pentecostalism. It was Parham who associated glossolalia with the baptism in the Holy Spirit, a theological connection crucial to the emergence of Pentecostalism as a distinct movement. Parham was the first preacher to articulate Pentecostalism's distinctive doctrine of evidential tongues, and to expand the movement.
Slain in the Spirit or slaying in the Spirit are terms used by Pentecostal and charismatic Christians to describe a form of prostration in which an individual falls to the floor while experiencing religious ecstasy. Believers attribute this behavior to the power of the Holy Spirit. Other terms used to describe the experience include falling under the power, overcome by the Spirit, and resting in the Spirit. The practice is associated with faith healing because individuals are often slain while seeking prayer for illness.
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) is a movement within the Catholic Church that is part of the wider charismatic movement across historic Christian churches.
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, known until 2006 as the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, is the province of the Anglican Communion in the southern part of Africa. The church has twenty-five dioceses, of which twenty-one are located in South Africa, and one each in Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Saint Helena. In South Africa, there are between 3 and 4 million Anglicans out of an estimated population of 45 million.
Orans, a loanword from Medieval Latin orans translated as "one who is praying or pleading", also orant or orante, as well as lifting up holy hands, is a posture or bodily attitude of prayer, usually standing, with the elbows close to the sides of the body and with the hands outstretched sideways, palms up. The orans posture of prayer has a Scriptural basis in 1 Timothy 2:8: "I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument" (NRSV). It was common in early Christianity and can frequently be seen in early Christian art, being advised by several early Church Fathers, who saw it as "the outline of the cross". In modern times, the orans position is still preserved in Oriental Orthodoxy, as when Coptic Christian believers pray the seven canonical hours of the Agpeya at fixed prayer times; The orans also occurs within parts of the Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies, Pentecostal and charismatic worship, and the ascetical practices of some religious groups.
The Neo-charismaticmovement is a movement within evangelical Protestant Christianity that is composed of a diverse range of independent churches and organizations that emphasize the current availability of gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and faith healing. The Neo-charismatic movement is considered to be the "third wave" of the Charismatic Christian tradition which began with Pentecostalism, and was furthered by the Charismatic movement. As a result of the growth of postdenominational and independent charismatic groups, Neo-charismatics are now believed to be more numerous than the first and second wave categories. As of 2002, some 19,000 denominations or groups, with approximately 295 million individual adherents, were identified as Neo-charismatic.
Ekwow Spio-Garbrah is a Ghanaian politician who was the Minister for Trade and Industry from 2014 to 2017 in the Mahama administration. He was formerly the Minister of Communications, Minister of Education and Acting Minister of Mines & Energy in the Rawlings administration. He also previously served as Ghana's ambassador to the United States and Mexico. He is a former CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation.
The Church of the Lord (Aladura) was established by Josiah Olunowo Ositelu founded in 1925 and inaugurated in 1930 in Ogere Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria.
The Methodist Church Ghana is one of the largest and oldest mainline Protestant denominations in Ghana. It traces its roots back to the landing of the Rev. Joseph Dunwell on 1 January 1835 in Cape Coast, in the Gold Coast. The Rev. T. B. Freeman, another missionary, took the Christian message beyond Cape Coast to the Ashanti Empire, to Nigeria, and to other parts of the region to become the father of Methodism in West Africa.
The Healing Revival is a term used by many American Charismatics in reference to a Christian revival movement that began in June 1946 and continued through the 1950s. The Healing Revival sparked the Latter Rain movement in 1948 and the two movements were interrelated. The period of revival was a significant influence on the modern charismatic movement.
Faith Tabernacle is an evangelical megachurch and the headquarters church of Living Faith Church Worldwide. It is at Canaanland, Ota, Lagos, Nigeria, current neo-charismatic movement. The senior pastor of this community is David Oyedepo since its founding in 1983. In 2023, the attendance is 100,000+ people.
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.
Allan Anderson is a British theologian and the Professor of Mission and Pentecostal Studies at the University of Birmingham. He is frequently cited as one of the foremost scholars on Global Pentecostalism.
The National Association of Charismatic and Christian Churches (NACCC) is an association of charismatic Christian churches in Ghana.
Action Chapel International (ACI) is a Charismatic Christian church based in Accra, Ghana. The church was founded by Nicholas Duncan-Williams in 1979, and since 1992 has met in the "Prayer Cathedral" near Accra airport. It is the headquarters of Christian Action Faith Ministries (CAFM).
Perez Chapel International is an evangelical, Pentecostal Charismatic Christian church. It was founded by bishop Charles Agyinasare and is headquartered in Accra, Ghana in Dzorwulu.
