The Presbyterian Church of Ghana is a

mainline Protestant The mainline Protestant churches (also called mainstream Protestant and sometimes oldline Protestant) are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States that contrast in history and practice with evangelical, fundamentalist, and charis ...

church denomination in

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 ...

. 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 ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and arrived on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

to spread Christianity. The work of the mission became stronger when Moravian missionaries from the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

arrived in the country in 1843. In 1848, the Basel Mission Church set up a

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

, now named the

Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong The Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong, is a co-educational teacher-training college in Akropong in the Akwapim district of the Eastern Region of Ghana. It has gone through a series of previous names, including the Presbyterian Trainin ...

, for the training of church workers to help in the missionary work. The Ga and

Twi Twi () is a dialect of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly of the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana. Twi has about 17-18 million speakers in total, includ ...

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 Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

, the mother church of the worldwide orthodox or mainstream Presbyterian denomination. The official newspaper of the church is the Christian Messenger, established by the

Basel Mission The Basel Mission was a Christian missionary society based in Switzerland. It was active from 1815 to 2001, when it transferred the operative work to , the successor organization of ''Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione'' (KEM), found ...

in 1883. The denomination's Presbyterian sister church is the

Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana The Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana ( ee, Presbyteria Nyanyui Hame le 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 Reform ...

Church structure

The church is a founding member of the

Christian Council of Ghana The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) is an umbrella group that unites 31 churches and denominations in Ghana. The council has its members from Charismatic, Pentecostal, Orthodox and other churches. History of the Council The CCG was formed o ...

. The association is an umbrella group that unites several churches in Ghana and monitors the activities of members to ensure that they are united in their Christian mission. Ordained ministers wear the

Geneva gown The Geneva Gown, also called a pulpit gown, pulpit robe, or preaching robe, is an ecclesiastical garment customarily worn by Ordained Ministers and Accredited Lay Preachers in the Christian Churches that arose out of the historic Protestant ...

and a clerical collar. Historically considered a "

high church The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...

" denomination, the institution’s form of worship is marked by formality – liturgical readings, traditional hymn singing, church announcements and periodic administering of the

Holy Communion The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted ...

. Yearly religious observances, such as

Advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''. In ...

and

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

are noted in the church’s

almanac An almanac (also spelled ''almanack'' and ''almanach'') is an annual publication listing a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, tide tables, and other ...

. In contemporary times, however, a ' praise and worship' segment, more commonly associated with

evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

Pentecostalism Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

and the

charismatic movement The charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream Christian denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of spirit ...

, is sometimes incorporated into church services to meet the preferences of younger congregants. The Presbyterian Hymn Book is used during services and is available in primarily English, Ga, Twi, Ewe and other Ghanaian languages and dialects. The Presbyterian Church of Ghana has seven church departments that have specific tasks of building up the church in their respective activities. These are: #Department of Administration & Human Resource #Department of Church Life & Nurture #Department of Mission & Evangelism #Department of Ecumenical & Social Relations #Department of Development & Social Services #Department of Education #Department of Finance

Membership

By the 2015, the church had 876,257 members and 2573 congregations. By the end of 2019, the PCG had about a total membership of 1,015,174. According to the 2019 report of the Committee on Information Management, Statistics & Planning (IMSP) of the Department of Administration & Human Resource Management (AHRM) of the church, it had 4889 congregations. As of 2021, there were more than 1.7 million Presbyterians in Ghana, representing approximately 8% of Ghanaian Christians and comprising members of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, Global Evangelical Church and other smaller Reformed denominations in the Presbyterian tradition. PCG Statistics – 2001 to 2013

The Church and education

Education is an integral part of the church's responsibility to the communities it operates in. In general, Ghanaian Presbyterians have a high educational attainment. Together with Ghanaian

Anglicans Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...

, Methodists and

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

- Christian denominations that also prioritize higher education, Presbyterians in Ghana were historically disproportionately represented in the upper ranks of government, industry, academia and the professional occupations. The church is the proprietor of more than 2400 basic schools including 487 kindergarten and nursery schools, 984 primary schools and 399 junior high schools. The church has 30 senior high schools, 40 private schools, 6 vocational institutions, 5 teacher training colleges, 2 research centres, 4 nursing training colleges and 5 training centres for pastors and laity. In 2003, the church started a university known as the

Presbyterian University College The Presbyterian University, Ghana (formerly Presbyterian University College, Ghana) is a partially private & public university with multi- campuses and its headquarters located at Abetifi-Kwahu in the Eastern Region of Ghana. It is one of th ...

. It is located at

Abetifi Abetifi is a small town in south Ghana and is the capital of Kwahu East district, a district in the Eastern Region of south Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the ...

-Kwahu in the Eastern region of Ghana.

The Church and health

The church is a member of the

Christian Health Association of Ghana The Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) is the umbrella organization that coordinates the activities of the Christian Health Institutions and Christian Churches’ Health programmes in Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officia ...

(CHAG). CHAG is an

umbrella group An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...

that unites all the health facilities in Ghana that are owned and run by Christian churches in Ghana. The church is the third largest provider of healthcare in Ghana, in terms of number of health facilities across the country in cities and towns such as Agogo, Bawku, Dormaa-Ahenkro, Donkorkrom, Bolgatanga, Salaga, Tease, Konongo, Duayaw-Nkwanta, Garu, Sandema, etc. Among its 55 health institutions, the church operates four major hospitals, 11 primary health care programmes, eight health centres, 13 clinics, 4 nurses' training colleges and a technical unit. These institutions provide a substantial portion of health services in the rural areas with a workforce of 1,977 and total hospital beds of 745. Curative, preventive and promotive services are provided to clients by the facilities in their respective catchment areas. The PHC interventions cover areas such as antenatal care, postnatal care, family planning, nutrition, growth monitoring of children between 0 – 5 years, immunization, health education, environmental sanitation, HIV&AIDS control, prevention, home-based care and counselling and clinical care at the health centres. The Church is currently the third largest single provider of health services in the country. The hospitals provide medical specialist services with resident specialists as follows: *Agogo Hospital – Ophthalmology, internal medicine, general surgery, obstetrics / gynaecology and paediatrics *Bawku Hospital – Ophthalmology, general surgery, orthopaedic surgery and obstetrics / gynaecology *Dormaa Hospital – Paediatrics.

The Church and agriculture

The Presbyterian Church of Ghana was established in 1828 and formalised partnership (Reg No. ACB 146/88) with the then government of

now the

Republic of 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 ...

in 1932 to contribute to the Spiritual and socio-economic development of the citizenry of Ghana. To this end, the Church established six (6) Agricultural Service stations in the late sixties in the Northern, Upper East, Eastern and Greater Accra regions of Ghana to complement the efforts of Government at poverty eradication in rural communities of the country.

Assets

The church owns two printing and publishing houses including Waterville Publishing House, three newspapers, including Christian Messenger and eight bookshops. It has three retreat centres and operates four guest houses and three conference halls.

Church leadership

Moderator of the General Assembly

The

Moderator of the General Assembly The moderator of the General Assembly is the chairperson of a General Assembly, the highest court of a Presbyterian or Reformed church. Kirk sessions and presbyteries may also style the chairperson as moderator. The Oxford Dictionary states t ...

position is the chairperson of the general assembly (previously synod), equivalent to the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

or president of the governing body of the national church organisation. Serving moderators use the honorific style,

The Right Reverend The Right Reverend (abbreviated The Rt Revd, The Rt Rev'd, The Rt Rev.) is a style (manner of address), style applied to certain religion, religious figures. Overview *In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholicism in the United Kingdom, ...

. Retired moderators use the style,

The Very Reverend The Very Reverend is a Style (manner of address), style given to members of the clergy. The definite article "The" should always precede "Reverend" as "Reverend" is a style or fashion and not a title. Catholic In the Catholic Church, the style i ...

after leaving office.

Synod Clerk / Clerk of the General Assembly

The Clerk of the General Assembly position (previously Synod Clerk) is the chief ecclesial (ecclesiastical) officer of the general assembly, equivalent to as the

chief administrative officer A chief administrative officer (CAO) is a top-tier executive who supervises the daily operations of an organization and is ultimately responsible for its performance. Government and non-profit A CAO is responsible for administrative management of ...

secretary-general Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

executive secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the national church organisation, responsible for daily operations or performance. The Clerk uses the title style

The Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...

. The following ministers were elected and served as the Synod Clerk or Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana:

Notable people

Gallery

File:Christ Presbyterian Church Akropong.jpg,

Christ Presbyterian Church, Akropong The Christ Presbyterian Church, formerly known as the Basel Mission Church, Akropong, is a historic Protestant church located in Akropong–Akuapem, Ghana. It is the first Presbyterian Church to be established in Ghana. It was founded in 1835 by ...

File:West wing OEPC.png,

Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Osu The Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, formerly known as the Basel Mission Church, Christiansborg, is a historic Protestant church located in the suburb of Osu in Accra, Ghana. The church was founded by the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society in 18 ...

File:Ramseyer Presbyterian Church.png,

Ramseyer Memorial Presbyterian Church The Ramseyer Memorial Presbyterian Church, originally named the Basel Mission Church, Kumasi and later the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, is a historic Protestant church located in the suburb of Adum in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region o ...

References

{{Authority control Protestantism in Ghana Members of the World Council of Churches Members of the World Communion of Reformed Churches 1828 establishments in the British Empire Presbyterian denominations in Africa Presbyterianism in Ghana