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A handbook of councils and churches profiles of ecumenical relationships


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GABON

Population: 1,375,223

Surface area: 267,700 sq.km

Capital: Libreville

GNI per capita: 3,340 US$

Classification: Developing economy

Languages: French, Bulu Fang, other

Religions: Christian 91%; Muslim 5%; African traditional 4%

Christianity: Catholics 690,000; Protestants 199,800; Independent 236,600

The area of what is today Gabon was inhabited by the Bantu people when Euro­peans began to explore the west coast of Africa. The population was subjected to the slave trade, and the territory was colonized by the French in the 19th century. Gabon became independent in 1960. It has remained in the French sphere of influence. Rich offshore resources have made it a major oil producing country. However only a minority of the population benefit from the income. The tradi­tional economy of Gabon is based on timber, coffee, cocoa, palm oil and subsis­tence agriculture. The country has been governed by the same president since 1967. In the early 1990s, some democratic reforms were introduced. About half of the population belongs to the Catholic Church. The Evangelical Church is the largest Protestant church, followed by the Christian Alliance Church. Several African indigenous churches exist which have about the same number of follow­ers as the Protestant churches together. Gabon is the country where Albert Schweitzer exercised his ministry.



Evangelical Church of Gabon

(Eglise évangélique du Gabon, EEG)

Church Family: Reformed

Membership: 205,000

Congregations: 108

Preaching stations: 16

Pastors: 153

Member of: WCC (1961) – AACC – Cevaa – COFCEAC

The Evangelical Church of Gabon has its origins in the work of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions which worked in the area from 1842 to 1870, and the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the USA, from 1870 to 1913. From 1889 onwards, the Paris Missionary Society gradually took over the work until 1961 when the Evangelical Church of Gabon became autonomous. Unfortunately, beginning in 1970, the church suffered numerous divisions, which lasted until 1997 and had painful consequences for its mission and witness. Several attempts to settle the disputes were undertaken by different external partners, in particular the CEVAA, which played a leading role in the efforts to mediate between the parties in conflict. In 1997 the two main fac­tions met as one synod and elected a joint leadership. In April 2005 all the vari­ous dissident groups met at a large gathering and accepted the reunification of 1997. This happened without any outside intervention. It was the result of the will of the Gabonese pastors themselves to put an end to their disputes and divi­sions, and was perceived by all as a sign of God’s grace and power. The Evangeli­cal Church of Gabon is one again, and is at work to consolidate its unity and to respond to its missionary calling in the country and beyond. Since 2002, the church has extended its apostolic action to the south of Gabon and is present in all nine provinces of the country.

The Evangelical Church of Gabon, faithful to the principles of faith and free­dom which are its foundation, and in communion with all other Christian churches, affirms the Christian faith as expressed in the Apostles’ and Ecumeni­cal Creeds and in the confessions of the Reformation, in particular the Confession of La Rochelle. It believes in the authority of the holy scriptures as the rule of faith and life.

Current activities and priorities of the church include its expansion to cover the whole national territory, administrative, financial and juridical reforms, the for­mation of church workers (pastors, evangelists, catechists), and the continuation of its educational work. The EEG cares for almost 25 percent of all primary school education in Gabon, and runs seven secondary schools and a teacher training col­lege. It has as a theological school for the training of its pastors, which also pro­vides theological formation for lay people and is involved in theological reflection and animation. Since 2004 women can be ordained for the ministry. There is cur­rently one woman pastor. Youth and women movements are very active.

THE GAMBIA

*The Gambia Christian Council

Founded in 1965.

Basis: The Gambia Christian Council is a fellowship of churches and Christian organizations that worship one God in the Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; accept as scriptures the Holy Bible comprising the Old and the New Testament; have an established organization that teaches the Christian way of life and exercises discipline; are prepared to encourage their members to participate in ecumenical activities.

Member churches:



Anglican Church

Methodist Church

Catholic Church

Associate members:

Baptist Union

Young Men’s Christian Association

Young Women’s Christian Association

Youth With A Mission

Africa

GHANA

Population: 21,832,963 Surface area: 238,500 sq.km Capital: Accra GNI per capita: 320 US$ Classification: Developing economy Languages: English, 56 local languages Religions: Christian 55%; African traditional 24%; Muslim 20%; other 1% Christianity: Protestants 5,232,930; Catholics 2,500,000; Anglicans 265,000;

Independent 3,530,000

Ghana, in West Africa, was formerly known as the Gold Coast because of the gold mining that began some 500 years ago. Its history includes that of the Ashanti kingdom and of being a centre of the slave trade. The Gold Coast became a British colony in 1873 and, in 1957, was the first sub-Saharan country in colo­nial Africa to attain independence, when it adopted the name Ghana. Ghana has experienced both democratic and military governments since its independence. Currently, the government (president and parliament) is democratically elected once every four years. The economy is based on cocoa, mining, timber and some industry. The majority of the population live from subsistence farming. The strong and large Anglican, Protestant and Catholic churches of Ghana grew out of 19th century mission work. Ghana is also a centre of African indigenous churches, and charismatic churches. Ghana’s churches are experiencing some growth. The number of Evangelical and Pentecostal/Charismatic Christians was estimated in 2000 at 30 percent of the total number of Christians. The main line Protestant churches are grouped in the Christian Council of Ghana, the Pente-costal/Charismatic churches have formed the Ghana Pentecostal Council, and there is an Association of Evangelicals of Ghana, affiliated with the WEA. These together with the Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference work together collabo­ratively vis-à-vis issues that affect the entire nation.



*Christian Council of Ghana

Founded in 1929.

Mission statement: The mission of the Council is to strengthen the capacity of our members to contribute to achieving justice, unity, reconciliation and integrity of creation among various sectors of the Ghanaian society, and provide a forum for joint action on the issues of common interest. In seeking to achieve this, we are guided by the Holy Bible and, in all matters of national interest, remain non­partisan.

Member churches:



African Methodist Episcopal Church
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

Christ Evangelical Mission



Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Eden Revival Church International


Evangelical Church of Ghana

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana
Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana

Ghana Baptist Convention


Ghana Mennonite Church

Greek Orthodox Church (Patriarchate of Alexandria)

Methodist Church, Ghana

Presbyterian Church of Ghana

Religious Society of Friends

Salvation Army

Member organizations:

Young Men’s Christian Association

Young Women’s Christian Association

The Council has an office in Thamale, in the northen sector of Ghana.

Church of the Province of West Africa

Church Family: Anglican

Membership: 300,000

Parishes: 700

Bishops: 12

Priests: 900

Member of: WCC (1953) – AACC – CCG – ACC – CAPA

The Church of the Province of West Africa was formed in 1951 by five West African Anglican dioceses holding mission from the See of Canterbury, in Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. The dioceses of Liberia and Guinea were added in 1982 and 1985. Nigeria became a province in 1979. Cameroon became a missionary diocese under the province in 2003. The province has currently 14 dioceses, of which eight in Ghana and two in Sierra Leone. The process is in motion for Ghana to become an autonomous province, once it has fulfilled the conditions and guidelines set by the Anglican Communion. The five other coun­tries will make up the Continuing Province of the CPWA.

Article I of the constitution of the province states: “In conformity with Chris­tian principles, the Church of this Province proclaims that all men have equal rights, value and dignity in the sight of God and while mindful to provide for the special needs of different people committed to its charge, it shall not allow any dis­crimination in the membership and government of the Church.” The primary mission of the province is to witness for Jesus Christ through its life and work in all aspects of the lives of people in the various countries, in order to achieve the abundant and holistic life envisaged in the gospel. The method of achieving this mission is evangelism through teaching, preaching and other pastoral services. The chief objective is to bring into submission to Jesus Christ the members of the church and those with whom they come into contact. That includes proclamation of the gospel, living a common life, and striving to create a just and fair society. In pursuing this goal the church carries out a variety of programmes that could be classified as evangelistic, educational, agricultural, medical and pastoral. The province supports four theological seminaries (two in Ghana, one in Liberia and one in Sierra Leone) and a lay training centre in Ghana.

For the past fifteen years the church in the sub-region existed in an atmosphere of tension, civil strife and armed conflict which made growth a slow process. But things are improving and even Sierra Leone and Liberia, the two most badly war-torn countries, are beginning to enjoy some peace.

Africa

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana

Church Family: Lutheran

Membership: 26,000

Congregations: 150

Preaching stations: 300

Pastors: 25

Evangelists and lay Leaders: 50

Member of: WCC (2001) – AACC – CCG – LWF – ILC

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana was established in 1958 by mis­sionaries from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and formally registered with the Ghana government in 1964. Since then the church has established congrega­tions and preaching stations in ten regions of Ghana. Four American missionar­ies are working with the ELCG along with the Ghanaian pastors, evangelists and lay leaders trained to lead the congregations and preaching stations throughout the country. The church accepts the scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the only rule and norm of faith and practice, the Apostles’, Nicene and Athanasias Creeds, the Unaltered Augsburg Confession and the Large and Small Catechism of Luther. The church believes and teaches the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, and confesses God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The ELCG is not only interested in the spiritual life of Ghanaians but is also involved in social services in the country. Presently the church has day-care, pri­mary and junior secondary schools in nine locations. Special programmes have been established for the blind and the deaf in several regions. The church also offers free eye testing and free eye glasses to people in all walks of life. In the northern parts of the country the church is seriously involved in agricultural pro­grammes. It has introduced a crop improvement scheme based on the use of lime to control soil acidity, which has had a marked effect on improving crop yield (sta­tistics show an increase of harvested crop of over 35 percent). In addition the church is involved in a water project with several rural communities to provide clean drinking water for the people. It runs an ambulance service to support its clinics in the northern region for people who do not have means of transport to go to hospital.

The church has set up the Lutheran media ministry and runs a series of pro­grammes including a Bible correspondence course with a registration of 18,000. “This is the Life” of the Lutheran Church is telecast every Sunday on Ghana tele­vision. Another ministry has been the support of Liberian refugees since their arrival in 1990. In recent years the ELCG has opened mission stations in Uganda, Benin and Ivory Coast. The church since its inception relied on a seminary in neighbouring Nigeria for its needs of properly trained pastors and evangelists. By the grace of God, since 1998 the church has been blessed with a Lutheran semi­nary, known as Lutheran Clergy Study Programme, located adjacent to the head office in Accra. The objective of this seminary is to further train our local evan­gelists to become pastors.

Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana

Church Family: Reformed

Membership: 200,000

Presbyteries: 9

Congregations: 787

Pastors: 176

Member of : WCC (1963) – AACC – CCG – WARC – ARCA

Periodical: EP News (monthly, in English)

In 1847 missionaries of the North German Mission Society (Bremen Mission), closely cooperating with the Basel Mission, started work among the Ewe people in the east of present-day Ghana. After a period of rapid growth, at the outbreak of World War I, the church had two stations in the British Gold Coast Colony and seven in the German territory of Togoland. After the war German Togoland was divided into two mandated territories of the League of Nations, the western part under the British (The Gold Coast, now Ghana) and the eastern part under French rule (now Togo). In May 1922 the first synod of the mission at Kpalime declared itself the supreme governing body of the Ewe Church and elected the first moderator. The Congregational order of the North German Mission became the church order. In 1923 Scottish missionaries began to work in British Togo and in 1929 the Paris Mission took over in French Togo. For practical reasons, separate synods had to be set up in the two territories which led to separate development. To this day however, the two churches share the same constitution and hold a joint synod meeting every three years. In 1926 the name Ewe Hame (Ewe Church) was changed to Ewe Presbyterian Church. In 1954 the Ghana part of the church adopted the name Evangelical Presbyterian (EP) Church as a result of the expan­sion of the church beyond Eweland. The church is strongest in the Volta region of Ghana but has congregations all over the country.

The life and witness of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church are defined by its vision: Renewal & Transformation and its mission statement: Bringing light where there is darkness. As part of its evangelism programme the church undertakes com­pletion of church building projects started by congregations in deprived areas.

The EPC runs 196 nursery and 341 primary schools, 89 junior secondary and five senior secondary schools and two teacher training colleges. It is actively involved in quality health delivery services at strategic places in the country, with two hospitals and seven clinics as well as a very effective mobile clinic. An agri­cultural extension programme gives technical guidance to farmers and small self-help projects aim at empowering the marginalized through revolving loans. The Family Life Education programme seeks to enhance marriage and family life and addresses the ugly problem of violence against women and children. Through the Good Samaritan vocational training is provided for teenage mothers and school dropouts and street children who are able and willing to pursue formal education are motivated and helped financially. A Spiritual Resource Centre open to the general public is under construction. It serves already as a sacred and peace­ful space for spiritual guidance and faith development and will offer retreats, Bible studies, opportunities for meditation, prayer, fasting, etc. A National Counselling Centre is meant to be a place for specialized care and cure of souls, helping people facing stress, trauma and crisis. The church is planning to build an Evangelical Presbyterian university with special emphasis on agriculture, business manage­ment, theological studies and graduate studies.

Africa


Methodist Church Ghana

Church Family: Methodist

Membership: 800,000

Congregations: 2,905

Preaching stations: 514

Pastors: 700

Member of: WCC (1960) – AACC – CCG – WMC

Periodical: Methodist Times (bimonthly, in English)



Christian Sentinel (magazine, in English)

The Methodist Church Ghana was established through the collaboration of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society and a band of local Christians dedicated to the study of the Bible. At their request the first missionary arrived in 1835. He and many others died of malaria. All these pioneer missionaries are buried under the pulpit of Wesley Chapel at Cape Coast. The Methodist Church Ghana, which used to be under the British Conference, became autonomous in 1961. Methodism has since spread throughout the country and beyond. The Methodist approach to evangelization in Ghana has always included formal education and other social services including medical care. The church has several hospitals and health care facilities in the country. It also has a school for the visually impaired, and two of the best secondary schools in the whole of West Africa. In addition, the foremost teacher training college in Ghana, Wesley College, is also a Methodist institution with more than 80 years of history behind it. In 2000, the church established the Methodist University College Ghana that is accredited by the government to offer courses in business administration, economics and information technology.

In 1999, the church adopted a “Biblical Pattern of Episcopacy”. The head of the church was re-designated “presiding bishop” instead of “president” and the “dis­trict chairman” is now “diocesan bishop”. The presiding bishop is assisted directly by a lay president and each diocesan bishop also has a lay chairperson as assis­tant. Through this system of church government, the Methodist Church Ghana has maintained its belief in the teaching of John Wesley that sees the ministry as belonging to both the clergy and the laity. The expression “superintendent min­ister” has been maintained for ministers in charge of circuits, that is, groups of congregations around a specific geographical area constituting an administrative unit. The highest decision-making body of the church is the Conference, made up of equal numbers of lay and clergy representatives from the 15 dioceses in the country. The work of the church is facilitated through boards including the board of ministries, board of social responsibility and development, board of education and youth, and the board of administration.

In 1942 the church together with the Presbyterian and Evangelical Presbyter­ian churches of Ghana co-founded the Trinity Theological Seminary for the train­ing of ministers. Over the years it has expanded its team of sponsoring churches to include the Anglican Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. It also accepts self-supporting candidates from other ecclesial commu­nions like the Pentecostal/Charismatic churches into its programmes.

Methodist Church Ghana maintains fraternal links with the British Conference and United Methodist churches worldwide. Within the last decade Ghanaian Methodists in several cities in Western Europe and the USA have established “Ghanaian Methodist Churches” in order to provide a more relevant worship con­text for themselves in the diaspora. The church remains one of the strongest Christian communions in Ghana and indications are that it will continue to grow both in numbers and influence mediating God’s kingdom among his people.

Presbyterian Church of Ghana

Church Family: Reformed

Membership: 565,637

Presbyteries : 14

Congregations: 2,181

Pastors: 538

Elders: 13,607

Member of: WCC (1952) – AACC – CCG – WARC – ARCA

The Presbyterian Church of Ghana represents the harmonious blending of sev­eral traditions, primarily through the Basel Mission and the Scottish Mission. The Basel Mission started the work in 1828. After difficult beginnings the mission was firmly established by 1854, with the help of Christians from the West Indies. A seminary was founded and the Twi language put in writing. By the end of the cen­tury the mission achieved its long-cherished goal of working among the Asante people. In 1917 the Basel missionaries had to leave because of the war situation in Europe. The Church of Scotland responded to a call for help. This explains why the Reformed Church in Ghana adopted the presbyterian organizational model. In the 1940s the church extended its work to the northern parts of the country. In 2000 the church adopted the general assembly system for its governance.

The PCG has six departments. Church life and nurture deals with various min­istries: children and youth, women, men, ministry of the aged, worship, Christ­ian education, training, scholarships and counselling. Mission and evangelism is responsible for global mission and specialized ministries. The department of development and social services is in charge of development and environment, general education, agriculture and small-scale technology, and publications. Ecu­menical relations looks after the involvement of the church in ecumenism, in the society and with people of other faiths. Two other departments take care of finance, human resources, information, and planning. The church runs 487 nurs­ery schools, 984 primary, 399 junior secondary and 27 secondary schools, 40 pri­vate schools, six vocational institutions, five training colleges, a research centre and a university college. In the area of health care, the PCG is the third largest provider in the country, with four hospitals, 11 primary health care programmes, eight health centres, 13 clinics, two nurses’ training colleges and a technical unit. Agricultural services are offered in nine stations throughout the country. Media work is done through two printing and publishing houses, three newspapers and eight bookshops. For lay training the PCG has three centres. It also runs four guest houses and three conference halls.



GUINEA

Population: 8,788,030

Surface area: 245,900 sq.km

Capital: Conakry

GNI per capita: 430 US$

Classification: Least developed country

Languages: French, other

Religions: Muslim 84%; African traditional 11%; Christian 5%

Christianity: Catholics 150,000; Protestants 88,510; Anglicans 1,400;

Independent 7,000

Africa

The people living in the territory of Guinea when it was colonized by the French in 1891 were the Mandinga, who were Muslim. Islam has remained the majority religion. Guinea achieved its independence in 1958, refusing the kind of “commonwealth” proposed by France at that time, and cutting all its ties with the former colonial power. It opted for a socialist model of development, but became isolated, and gradually the economic and social conditions deteriorated. Guinea was still struggling in 2005 with setting up a viable democratic system. The civil wars in neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone in the 1990s created instability in the border areas, and an influx of refugees. Guinea has large bauxite reserves and is the second-largest bauxite exporter. The great majority of the population lives from subsistence farming. The Christian churches are a small minority in Guinea. The largest Protestant group, the Protestant Evangelical Church of Guinea, joined the WCC in 2005. Together with the small Anglican community – part of the Province of West Africa – and the Catholic Church, it has formed a Christian Council. There is also a Federation of Evangelical Churches and Missions, affili­ated with the WEA. An inter-religious council facilitates dialogue and relation­ships between Christians and Muslims.


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