Reverend James McKeown (12 September 1900 – 4 May 1989) was an Irish missionary who spent considerable time in the Gold Coast, now

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. He was the first Pentecostal missionary to come to Ghana from the United Kingdom and was instrumental in the establishment of The Apostolic Church - Ghana. In the 1950s he founded the

Church of Pentecost The Church of Pentecost is a Pentecostal denomination that originates from Ghana. The Church currently has a presence in more than 135 countries globally. Its current Chairman, who happens to be its highest officer worldwide, is Apostle Eric Nya ...

, the church with the biggest denomination in Ghana and which has branches all over the world. He is considered a "pioneer of Ghanaian Pentecostalism".

Missionary work

James McKeown arrived in the Gold Coast on 4 March 1937 to begin missionary work as the resident missionary of the Apostolic Church of Bradford after having left the United Kingdom for the then Gold Coast on a boat in February 1937. He had delayed the decision to become a missionary for 15 months after a prophecy had been made that he would go to West Africa on Missionary duty. He had initially refused to become a missionary owing chiefly to his inadequate formal training. He settled in

Asamankese Asamankese is a town in south Ghana and is the capital of West Akim Municipal District, a district in the Eastern Region of south Ghana. Asamankese has a 2013 settlement population of approximately 39,435 people. Asamankese is on the main ...

and begun his missionary work there. His wife Sophia joined him in the Gold Coast in September 1937. After he had been able to establish the Apostolic Church in the Gold Coast, McKeown fell out with the native Church leaders for having been taken to the Ridge Hospital Accra in Accra for medical attention. In 1953 another crisis arose which saw a large section of the Apostolic Church following Pastor McKeown to form the Gold Coast Apostolic Church. This eventually culminated in the founding of the

after Ghana's first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah advised for a change of name so as to settle disputes that arose as a result of its break away., In early 1982, Mckeown handed over leadership of the Church to a Ghanaian, Rev. Fred. S. Sarfo, and inducted him into office in October 1982 after which he left Ghana. He paid his last visit to the West African country in 1984.

Death

His wife Sophia died on 27 January 1983. James McKeown died on 4 May 1989, at his home in Ballymena, in Northern Ireland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKeown, James 1900 births 1989 deaths Irish Protestant missionaries Protestant missionaries in Ghana Irish Pentecostals