Brief History
Introduction
The Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), is Ghana’s oldest continuing existing church. It is the product of a quadruple heritage: The Basel Mission, African Christians from the Caribbean, the Scottish Mission, and indigenous African Christians. The PCG traces its history to the arrival at Osu (Christiansborg) of the Basel Mission on 18th December 1828. This is a brief history of the Church’s journey from 1828 to the present.
The Beginnings
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a revival took place in the Protestant Churches of Europe. Many people began to seek a fresh understanding of the word of God. They were called Puritans in Great Britain, and Pietists on the continent of Europe. Pietists and Puritans were sure that God speaks directly to humans, and calls them to a higher life than that lived by their neighbours. They believed that God intervenes in the lives of his people to help and correct them and that in the events of our lives, in the words of the Bible, and especially in our feelings as we pray and read the Bible, God speaks to us. This led them to build up fellowships which were like islands in the broad seas of their non-Pietist neighbours; islands not only of stricter puritanical behaviour, but also of intensive individual piety and Bible-Study, where people encouraged each other to feel the love and forgiveness of God in their hearts. Examples of these in Germany were Korntal and Wilhelmsdorf. In 1780, a small group of these Pietists founded the “German Society for the Promotion of Christianity” (Deutsche Christentumsgesellschaft) in the Swiss city of Basel. Out of this Society, the Basel Mission was founded in 1815.
The Basel Mission was from the onset an ecumenical mission. The Mission trained missionaries to serve with older existing Protestant missionary societies. Its first batch of recruits was seconded to the
Dutch Missionary Society in Holland and the Church Missionary Society in England. By 1821, however, the founders had decided to establish religious outposts abroad in its own name. This was done in order to bring the distinctive Pietist worldview to regions that were considered “heathen”. It started
with a mission to the Caucasus region of Southern Russia for mission among the Jews, Tartars and Armenians. After fifteen years of struggle, the Basel Mission was
expelled from Russia. Another mission was started in Liberia in 1826, although they failed to maintain a foothold. Liberia that they turned to Ghana
The Founding of the Church
Paul Jenkins, long time archivist of the Basel Mission, has noted that the history of the Basel Mission in Ghana is one of stubborn determination on the one side
and tragedy on the other. This was because at three different times, whole parties of missionaries were completely wiped out by illness. Most of the early missionaries died of malaria fever and yellow fever at a time when West Africa was referred to as the “Whiteman’s grave.”
The very first batch of young
missionaries, Karl Ferdinand Salbach, Gottlieb Holzwarth, Johannes Henke, and Johannes Gottlob Schmid, arrived at Christiansborg on 18th December 1828, together with Frederick Noi Dowuona, a young Osu prince. They were sent in response to a request by the pupils of the Christiansborg school through Major Christian von Richelieu, a former Governor of Christiansborg. Tragically, the
first four missionaries died within a period of three years of arrival.
Dowuona was sent to Denmark by his father in the company of the former governor, Richelieu. He studied in Copenhagen and collaborated with Professor Rasmus Rask, the leading authority in comparative linguistics of his day to publish a scholarly Ga grammar book in 1828. In Osu, Dowuona served as teacher and missionary assistant before joining the colonial establishment. In the 1850s, following the bombardment of theOsu township by the English over the Poll Tax protest, Dowuona was enstooled as Osu Mantse and later became a member of the Eastern District Council of the Gold Coast. The Mission sent another team of three missionaries, Andreas Riis, Peter Petersen Jaeger, and a missionary doctor, Christian Friedrich Heinze. Unfortunately, two of them did not survive the first three months of arrival, leaving Andreas Riis. Indeed, Heinze, the doctor, was the first to die after only six weeks’ stay on the coast.
Riis would have followed suit but for the intervention of an unnamed indigenous African doctor who cured him with herbs. Riis later relocated the mission to Akropong in order to be away from the problems of the coast; malaria fever, negative examples of the Europeans along the coast, and to preach the gospel to a people who were not yet greatly affected by the contact with the Europeans. He was joined in November 1837 at Akropong by two more missionaries, Johannes
Mürdter and Andreas Stanger who came together with Anna Wolters, the bride of Riis. Stanger died in December 1837 while Mürdter survived until November 1838.
The time in Akropong was not altogether very successful causing Riis to return to Europe in 1840. At this point, the Mission was ready to abandon the Gold Coast as a mission field because it considered that the high mortality rate without the corresponding baptisms or conversions was a sign that the country was not ready for the gospel.
It was in 1843 when Andreas Rііs, Johann Georg Widmann and George Thompson arrived with some Caribbean families and bachelors (25 in all) that the mission
to Ghana started to produce the required results. The recruitment of these Caribbean Christians was in response to a request by the King of Akuapem, Nana Addo Dankwa I for African Christians to be brought. The Caribbean Christians settled in Akropong and established a mission station there. The Lord blessed
the renewed mission and soon schools were started in Akropong and Osu. This was the beginning of the successful ventures. The impact of the Caribbean Christians was in several areas. These include evangelism, spirituality (our hymns
and liturgy), social action (education, agriculture, potable water and architecture), development of vernacular, and church leadership.
First World War
The Basel missionary enterprise continued until the expulsion of the Swiss/German missionaries from the Gold Coast in 1918. This was because in the First World War, Britain was at war against the Germans. The Basel Missionaries
were deported from the then Gold Coast because the area of their operation was a British colony. The Basel Mission was formally Swiss and theoretically was neutral in the War. However, a large number of her missionaries were German and thus the organization was perceived to be German. The missionaries returned after the war but by the time of their return, their influence had waned.
Following their return, they worked in partnership with the independent indigenous Church that had inherited their work. Following the expulsion of the
Basel Mission, missionaries from the Scottish Free Church Missionary Society, led by Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Wilkie took over the supervision of the Church. The
new Scottish caretakers were far fewer in number than the Basel missionaries they were replacing. Rev. Dr. Wilkie took the significant step of organizing the church to become a self-governing Church.
The ecclesiastical system of government they introduced was that of Presbyterianism. In 1918, the first joint synod of the Ga, Twi East and Twi West Districts was organized at Akropong. The Synod was constituted as the supreme
court of the Church, an executive Synod Committee, of eight African members and three missionaries, was established, and the Reverend Peter Hall and Reverend Nicholas Timothy Clerk were elected as the first Moderator and Synod
Clerk respectively. Both men were second-generation Caribbean Christians.
This was the beginning of the move towards an independent church. For the first time, the young African church had African leaders, thus decisions concerning the work were made here. The Scottish Mission therefore transformed the Church
into a self-governing Church. According to Rev. Dr. Charles Gyang-Duah:
It succeeded in placing the church in the orbit of the world ecumenical movement…The Scottish Mission gave the Ghanaian church leaders
confidence by involving them in the administration of the church because by so doing the Mission boosted the self-esteem of the indigenous leadership.
This historic Synod of 28 ministers and 24 Presbyters accepted the proposal of Rev. Dr. Wilkie to have astructure as follows:
1. The Local Presbytery or Session
2. The Presbytery
3. The Synod
Eleven existing districts were retained as follows: Christiansborg, Abokobi, Odumase, Aburi, Akropong, Anum, Kyebi, Begoro, Nsaba, Abetifi and Kumasi. It was however in 1922 that the Synod accepted the creation of the first five Presbyteries. These were as follows: Ga/Dangme, Akuapem/Anum, Agona/Kotoku, Akyem/Okwawu, Asante/Asante Akyem.
In 1926, the Synod meeting at Abetifi decided to adopt the name ‘The Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast’ which was to become ‘The Presbyterian
Church of Ghana’ when the nation attained independence. The name ‘Presbyterian Church’ recognized the polity of the Scottish Church which traced its background indirectly to Switzerland of which Basel was for several centuries an
important Christian centre.
The Scottish Mission’s influence was not limited to the organization of a self-governing Church. They were also involved in promoting social services like education and health centres, thus continuing the strong emphasis in these fields established by the Basel Mission. They collaborated with the Colonial Office to build new blocks for the schools. Their relationship with the Colonial government created a new image of the Church. They also opened new schools such as Aburi Girls’ Secondary School, Presbyterian Women’s Training College, Aburi and Krobo Girls’ Secondary School.
Achievements and Impact Expansion of Christian Faith
A significant achievement of the Basel Mission was the introduction and expansion of Christianity in the Gold Coast. Together with other western European missionary societies like the Wesleyan Methodists and the Bremen
Mission, they preached the gospel and converted many Africans from traditional African religion to Christianity. Presently, Ghana is predominantly Christian.
Education
Secondly, the Basel Mission made an impact in the introduction of Western education to the Gold Coast. From the onset, it offered the primary education which was followed with teacher education at the Seminary. The first of such
seminaries was at Akropong. It was the second higher institution to be set up in West Africa after Fourah Bay College in Freetown, Sierra Leone. They also championed education among girls in their communities, empowering them with economic and social skills. In 1867, the Mission introduced the Middle School concept, patterned on the German Mittelschule concept. This educational system
of a six-year primary school and a four-year middle school was in practice for many years in Ghana until the 1980’s when the Junior High School System was
introduced.
Basel Mission education was holistic and aimed at training the head, heart and hand. Those who were trained at the Mission schools were equipped for life
and they distinguished themselves in every facet of life. Schools run by the Church were reputed for serious Spartan training that produced distinguished and disciplined persons who seasoned our societies. One major feature of the Church’s education was the Presbyterian discipline. Presently, PCG has over two thousand basic schools, thirty-four senior high schools, five colleges of Education
and two presidentially chartered universities.
Artisan Training
Basel Mission education was not limited to formal education. They were involved in the education of artisans, providing them with life skills. The Basel Mission
believed that the teaching of modern husbandry and craft skills was the best way to create the material basis for strongly organized and self-sufficient Christian villages or communities. The Church, therefore, trained many blacksmiths, coopers, wheel makers, and carpenters. This tradition has been maintained
in the Technical and Vocational institutions set up by the Church.
Agriculture
The Basel Mission made an impact in the agricultural and commercial spheres as well. The Mission worked to build up a Christian village culture among the farmers of Southern Ghana. They introduced a number of staples like cocoyam, mangoes and avocado into the local food economy.
They played a significant role in the emergence of the cocoa industry, presently Ghana’s third highest export commodity after gold and crude petroleum. It was the Basel Mission which first introduced the cultivation of cocoa into the
country. It was also the Basel Mission trained blacksmith, Tetteh Quarshie, who first embarked on commercial cultivation of the crop and distributed several seedlings to farmers on the Akuapem ridge. Finally, the cocoa industry was
dynamized through a collaboration between the Basel Mission Church and the Colonial Government of Governor William Brandford Griffith which saw the establishment of the Aburi Botanical Gardens.
Over the years, the Church’s involvement in agriculture has deepened. The Church operates a number of agriculture stations and several farms. The Presbyterian Agriculture Services undertakes agricultural advisory and extension,
farmer-based organization, development, production and marketing for food and tree crops, to support smallholder farmers maximize profits from their investments. Over the years, the Church has partnered with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and several international organizations as well as other strategic development partners to provide result-oriented interventions to smallholder farmers across the country.
Commerce
The Basel Mission also set up a trading company on the Gold Coast in 1859. Its pioneer missionary-trader was Hermann Ludwig Rottman who married Regina
Hesse, a native of Osu. The Basel Mission Trading Company (BMTC) was set up to supply the mission stations with their personal requirements, supply goods needed for the various projects and to train suitable indigenous personnel in
fair trading practices. The profits of the company were used to finance the missionary activities. The BMTC imported European foodstuffs, textiles, household goods, building materials, bicycles, sewing machines, etc. Later on, in
the post-war years, an automobile department was opened where cars and motorbikes were sold and auto-mechanics were trained. The Company exported palm oil, palm kernel, cotton, rubber and increasingly cocoa.
The Company observed a self imposed ban on trade with alcohol, arms and ammunition, even if it meant a loss of turnover. It also promoted fair trade which
meant that the farmers received reasonable money for their produce. Later, in the 1920s, the BMTC gave way to the more business minded Union Trading
Company (UTC). The Church’s role in the retail sector has ended although it continues to operate a few businesses such as the Presbyterian Printing Press, Salem all instructed in the vernacular and books for this purpose were published. It is regrettable that the State has abandoned teaching in the mother tongue and this accounts for the inability of many to interpret notions and ideas properly.
The missionaries, Johannes Zimmerman and Augustus Wilhelm Steinhauser, together with indigenous pastors and catechists such as Thomas Kwatei, Jakob
Nikoi, Carl Reindorf, Nathaniel Mohenu, Daniel Saba and Ludwig Richter, were the most outstanding linguists in the Ga language. Zimmerman, with the support of
his colleagues translated the Bible into Ga, authored a Ga dictionary and wrote a Ga grammar and a Ga dictionary.
Johann Gottlieb Christaller, Hans Nicolai Riis and Johann Adam Mader also collaborated with indigenous agents such as David Asante, Theophil Hermann Opoku and Jonathan Bekoe Palmer in the translation of the Bible into Twi. The monumental work done by Christaller, who led the translation of the Bible into Akuapem Twi, collected 3000 Twi proverbs and compiled a Twi dictionary, which is still regarded as standard work in Ghana, is worth mentioning. The use of vernacular affirmed the African culture and served as an important step towards the indigenization of the Christian faith in Ghana. The African theologian, Rev. Prof. Kwame Bediako, has argued that, accordingly, in the African Christianity of the post missionary era, the extent to which a church can be said to possess a viable heritage of Christian tradition in its indigenous language is the extent of that church´s ability to offer an adequate interpretation of reality and a satisfying intellectual framework for African life. Very Rev. Prof. Cephas Narh Omenyo,
former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, also argued that the legacy of the vernacular Scripture left behind by the Basel
Mission in Ghana is a major contributory factor for the massive growth of Christianity in Ghana, particularly among the Akan and Ga of Ghana, who very early, had their vernaculars reduced into writing mainly because they understood
the Gospel in their own languages and took it seriously. He has shown that areas without long traditions of the vernacular Bible do not usually have strong African Independent Churches mainly because they do not have the advantage of the
vernacular Bible as a basis to be engaged in a serious dialogue with their worldview.
Presently, the Presbyterian Church of Ghana is still involved in the work of translation through the ministry of the Bible Society of Ghana (BSG) and the Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation (GILLBT)
Ecclesiastical Polity and Leadership
The Church adopted the name “The Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast” in 1926, signalling its adherence to a Presbyterian polity. Later at the 1958 Synod, the Church decided to change its name in the spirit of the new name of the country. Synod resolved that the name of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast be changed to Presbyterian Church of Ghana with retrospective effect from 6 March 1957. Another significant change was the introduction of the district as a court in 1987.
A third significant change was the introduction of the General Assembly as the supreme court of the Church and the abolition of the synod system at the Abetifi Synod of 2000. The first General Assembly of the Church was held at Navrongo
in 2001. Presently, there are four courts of the Church. These are the Congregational Session, District Session, Presbytery Session and General Assembly.
Another major feature of the Church has been its involvement in overseas mission. In the 1960s the Church sent out fraternal workers to Europe and the United States of America, who served as chaplains to Ghanaian diaspora communities. These chaplains worked with the Church’s partners in the West. The situation changed when PCG started establishing PCG congregations in the diaspora. An overseas mission field was established to take care of these
congregations. By a decision of the 2013 General Assembly, two Presbyteries, Europe and North America-Australia were erected in 2014. With this, PCG has initiated mission in the homelands of its founding mission societies. It is
an affirmation of the shift in the centre of gravity of the Christian faith from the northern continents to the south.
Liturgical Reform
The young African Church at the onset maintained a liturgy inherited from its mission founders. The Church has, however, with time made amendments to the
service books. The first revised service book was introduced in 1960 and included prayers for the dedication of churches, erection of presbyteries, and other occasions as a way of acknowledging the Church’s growth. In the preface to this, the then moderator of synod, Very Rev. E.M. Lartey Odjidja, remarked that the PCG had never been averse to the use of a service book. Indeed, the Church since its “mission days has enjoyed the use of a liturgy which was never meant to supersede free prayer.” This was a crucial statement because the Church continued to maintain a conservative position in the use of written prayers. Odjidja’s statement became a reference point for many champions of change in the Church, who stressed that the prayers in the liturgy book only served as a guide. Free prayer, which until the 1980s was discouraged in PCG, has now
become a regular feature in its worship life.
The old liturgy and service book was criticised for the antiquated English words akin to the King James Version of the Bible and in the 1990s an attempt was made to revise its language. Other revisions include making provisions for liturgical practices that had become part of church worship over time such as group Bible study and the singing of local choruses. (popularly referred to as ‘Praise and Worship’) which were associated with the phenomenon of Pentecostalism.
In its early days, the Church used hymns that were translated from European hymnbooks. The PCG has made changes to its hymnody: a new synchronised hymn book for its Ga and Twi speakers was published in 2000 and launched
by the Very. Rev. Dr. Sam Prempeh, then Moderator of General Assembly, at the 2004 General Assembly in Cape Coast. Since then the hymn book has seen further revisions. The hymnbook includes a number of hymns written by twentieth century indigenous composers such as Rev. Dr. Otto Ampofo Boateng, Rev. Wilhelm Emmanuel Okae-Anti and Rev. Robert Francis Mante. Dangme and
English versions of the hymnbook have also been introduced.
Music in PCG has undergone many changes. Beyond the use of the hymns, one major change has been the adoption and use of locally composed choruses which have very local and traditional rhythms.
Christian Education
The Presbyterian Church of Ghana has been involved in various programmes to provide effective Christian education to its members, reducing considerably
the rate at which the Church lost its youth to newer churches. In 1982, a decision was made at the Bawku Synod to accept a youth policy that addressed the Church’s difficulties in retaining youth, by implementing grassroots education. The policy, which was crafted by the Youth Council, led by Rev. Peter Maugbi Kodjo, the General Youth Secretary, sought to provide Christian education from
the cradle to the grave according to age groups and developmental tasks. It led to the creation of the Junior Youth, an attempt to engage teenagers for effective Christian ministry and gave a national character to the Men’s Fellowship of the Church as a forum for men’s training. A further development was the introduction of the Young Adults’ Fellowship in 2005.
Finally, the Church has established a number of training centres. Aside the Ramseyer Training Centre at Abetifi, which was the first, a number of these centres have been established at Nsaba, Tamale and Abokobi. Theological and Ministerial Training Theological training was started at the Akropong seminary
which produced catechists, who served in addition to their calling as teachers in the Church’s stations. Experienced catechists were recommended for field ordination and in the first of such recommendations in 1872, ordained three catechists: Theophilus Hermann Opoku, Alexander Worthy Clerk and Carl Christian Reindorf. Ten years earlier, though, David Asante had become the first
African to be ordained in Basel.
In 1942, the young Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast collaborated with the Methodist and Evangelical Presbyterian Churches to build Trinity College, an ecumenical institute for ministerial training at Kumasi which was later moved to Accra. The PCG made a landmark decision to accept women into the ordained ministry in 1976. Rev. Dora Ofori Owusu became the first female commissioned minister of the church and Rev. Gladys Maku Nyarko was the first to be ordained.
With time, a number of women have risen to occupy offices in the Church. Rev. Alice Kyei-Anti, a former Women’s Work secretary with considerable experience,
served as the Chairperson of the West Akyem Presbytery. Some other women such as Revds. Esther Adjetey, Rose Abbey, Elizabeth Aduamah, Sophia Kitcher and Prof. Mabel Asante have served as Clerks of Presbytery. Rev. Mrs.
Esther Ohene Kwafo served as Director of Church Life and Nurture at the General Assembly Office.
Some lay women have also served as full-time directors at the General Assembly Office. The Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture is a post-graduate theological institution established by the Church. The Institute seeks to
develop academic programmes that provide adequate tools for serious and creative research into African Christianity and the African contribution to world
Christianity, as well as to offer new opportunities for meaningful and relevant theological research and publication. It serves the wider Christian community in
Ghana, Africa and world-wide, by focusing its research and training on issues of Christian mission in the African context, in order to help the Christian community in Africa better understand its task and witness more effectively to the Kingdom of God in Africa and in the wider world. It was named after two past great scholars of the Twi language and pioneer figures in the cultural witness of
the Church in Ghana, Dr. Clement Anderson Akrofi (1901-1966), and Rev. Johannes Christaller (1827-1895). The Institute was formally inaugurated in 1987 with Rev. Prof. Kwame Bediako as its founding Director.
The PCG Today
Presently the Presbyterian Church of Ghana is Ghana’s oldest continuously existing church. It has twenty-one Presbyteries. These are Akuapem, Akyem Abuakwa, Asante, Asante Akyem, Asante South, Brong-Ahafo, Central, Dangme-Tongu, Europe, Ga, Ga West, Kwahu, North America-Australia, Northern, Sefwi, Sekyere, Upper, Volta, West Akyem, West Brong, and Western Presbyteries. All four courts of the Church are administered through seven departments. These are the Departments of Administration and Human Resource, Church Life and Nurture, Development and Social Service, Ecumenical and Social Relations, Finance, General Education and Mission and Evangelism. It is a glorious mix of
young and old Christians, rooted in a strong tradition and yet adapting to contemporary trends. Through nurture groups like the Children’s Service, Junior Youth, Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade, National Union of Presbyterian Students of Ghana, Young People’s Guild, Young Adults’ Fellowship, Women’s Fellowship, Men’s Fellowship, Ministry to the Aging, Church Choir, Singing Band, Bible Study and Prayer Group and the several independent praise and worship teams, the Church provides Christian education at various levels for all her members.
Conclusion
The story of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana is that of a great heritage. Many of the missionaries and early Christians sacrificed to build a resilient bible based church. As we celebrate the bicentennial of this great church, we remember
the sacrifices and efforts of these men and women and are inspired to forge ahead to the glory of God. From a small western-mission church to an indigenously led global church, the Presbyterian Church of Ghana has moved forward into the twenty-first century as a Christ-centred, Self-sustaining and Growing Church. Presently, the PCG can be found in almost every continent of the world and making great strides. As we celebrate God’s faithfulness, it is important that the entire membership holds aloft the light of Christ as we impact generations through the Gospel.
Rt. Rev. Dr. Abraham Nana Opare Kwakye
(19th Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana)