Religion exerts a comprehensive influence on the thought and action of Africans.1 It acts “as a dynamic force in society.”2 We will ask: In what ways are Ghanaian Pentecostals able to bring their Christian discipleship to bear in the public sphere? This article will concentrate on the implications of how Pentecostals (Christians) actually act in the sociopolitical spheres. Since there is no “official” Ghanaian Pentecostal public theology, I will seek to construct biblical and theological reasons or building blocks for a Ghanaian Pentecostal public theology. Ghanaian Pentecostal!sm has become the largest strand of Christianity in the country. In the late 1970s, a newer version, the Charismatic Ministries/Churches (CM/Cs) emerged, so that now we can discuss Classical Pentecostals and Charismatic Christians in Ghana. Perhaps, the major difference between them lies in their respective theological emphases. While Classical Pentecostals emphasize the imminent return of Christ, the CMs preach a local brand of the prosperity gospel of North American televangelists.
This paper uses both empirical and secondary data to systematically describe, evaluate, and formulate concepts on the drastic paradigm shift in the attitude of some Ghanaian Pentecostals towards Christianity and socio-political concerns. This work is local or contextual in the sense that it arises from a Pentecostal engagement with the hitherto “evil” public spheres in Ghana. It seeks to show the explicit socio-political dimensions of being a Christian in the pluralistic, multicultural democratic state of Ghana. Therefore, I will accentuate what discipleship of Christ means in the public sphere in Ghana, which is a rather new question that requires a paradigm shift for many preachers and laity in the Ghanaian Pentecostal church. Consequently, I will describe and critically examine the church’s tasks in three areas: responsible citizenship, psychological support, and social justice. This will be done via the analysis of personal interviews/conversations, sermons, and augmented with relevant literature on church-state relations.
The Pastoral Task
The church has a duty to disciple its members to be responsible citizens, trained to live peacefully with other people, especially those of other religious faiths. Also, it must provide psychological support to Christians and non-Christians.
Discipleship for Responsible Citizenship
The church’s discipleship function involves teaching its members to live responsibly as good citizens in their communities and nation. On the one hand, it means that Christians eschew negative attitudes and tendencies. For example, they must not steal or misuse/abuse state property. They must not give or accept bribes or engage in any form of nefarious activities and practices (Amos 2:8; 5:12; Micah 2:1, 2, 8; 3:9, II; 7:3).3 They should not evade taxes, over- or under-invoice or misuse or abuse their office for personal gain. They should desist from acts that promote ethnocentric tendencies. These acts do not promote the national interest but are parochial and hamper national cohesion, development, and progress.
Bribery makes it difficult for the receiver to act prudently and justly (Exod. 23:8; Deut. 16:19; cf. simony in Acts 8:20). We are told that the ancient Greeks had, in addition to words that were neutral, words for bribery and gifts that powerfully “implied the destruction of a person’s independent judgement and action.”4 Misuse and abuse of one’s position makes the holder of that position selfish in his/her actions and decisions.
The net effect of the misuse or abuse of state property is that whole communities or the state are denied of what rightly belongs to them. The opposition thinks that such blatant dissipation of state funds underlines the economic problems of the country, resulting in unwarranted accumulation of domestic and foreign debts. Most Ghanaians (including politicians) claim Christianity, so the church must disciple Ghanaians to be good, responsible, and law-abiding citizens5 and avoid shady dealings.6
That Ghanaian Christians should not be apathetic to national prosperity cannot be overemphasized. Their positive involvement in national transformation is critical. Hence, there should be a general repudiation of the Ghanaian nonchalance towards matters of national concern. As Uncle Ato stresses in his song, Oman yiye wo man (This is your country), it takes a collective effort to succeed as a nation. Any tendency to ignore the national interest is irresponsible and undermines national prosperity.
Ghana needs citizens who work hard to make it prosper and succeed. This means pooling talents, skills, and expertise for the improvement of society. Such an approach to national life radically transforms the traditional notions that dichotomize life into secular and religious. If every citizen joins hands with other concerned citizens, there is no way the nation will not be able to solve its many problems and change its dependency status to that of a self- supporting nation.
Ghana’s present dependency status makes it bow to economies that sometimes do not possess a fraction of its natural resources. As with many African countries, Ghanaians live in confusion about their future.7 Hence, they need a “new” national consciousness that rejects passivity, guile, and covetousness and chooses a work ethics of hard work, decency, and the genuine acquisition of wealth undergirded with the fear of God. Such a transformed national consciousness reverses the retrogressive status quo of mediocrity and opens the nation up to external support. Since Ghana is endowed with both human and material resources, it ought not to wander aimlessly through the labyrinth of uncertainty.
Such a psychological transformation begins in the church where Christians show the way towards a positive attitudinal change. Despite the overwhelming presence of Christians, estimated at least 70 percent,8 corruption in Ghanaian society is alarming. This social decay was the thrust of Pastor Mensa Otabil’s sermon “Influence,” which he preached at the School of Theology and Missions of the Central University College (CUC) on March 28, 2012.
Psychological Support
Drawing lessons from Matthew 5:13-16, Otabil who doubles as the chancellor of CUC and founder/general overseer of the International Central Gospel Church, a leading CM, averred that the decay of Ghanaian society raises questions about the overwhelming presence of Christians in the country. To him, this was a worrying indictment of the church, especially when at least 70 percent of daily radio call-ins criticising the church come from Christians. Such a state of affairs questions the church’s credibility as an agent of social transformation.9 Therefore, the church’s failure to influence society’s moral, spiritual, psychological, and environmental decay can provide a recipe for society’s rejection, exclusion, and scorn of the church.
In Otabil’s view, embedded in responsible citizenship are the ideas of integrity and excellence, virtues that are crucial for the positive transformation of Ghanaian society. They are virtues the church must teach its members to inculcate. Integrity means that Christians inspire society by their good deeds to aspire for positive attitudinal change (cf. Acts 20:19; 20:33). Excellence also means that Christians eschew laziness, mediocrity, and all forms of negative conduct and tendencies. Instead, they work hard to transform their communities and society into a humane environment for all citizens. This means inculcating right personal and work ethics of hard work (see Titus 3:1), loyalty, honesty, truthfulness (Col. 3:9), punctuality, and concern for the environment. We can see that the church must teach responsible citizenship in Christians. Such discipleship must naturally enable Christians to be altruistic. This is crucial if the church is to impact society positively for national development.
The economic hardship in Ghana today has left many people, including Christians, disillusioned. Many Christians stop attending church because of financial difficulties. Some people succumb to unconventional practices to make money: they swindle, visit occult sources for “get- rich quick” rituals or perform their tasks dishonestly. The high rate of suicide, promiscuity, drunkenness, hard drug addiction, among others, may be linked to the general economic hardship in the country. In a word, people are confused and do not know what to do. Such a state of affairs cries for accelerated counselling services from the church.
Naturally, Christian psychologists, psychiatrists, and others are expected to offer counselling services to distraught persons (both Christians and non-Christians) while Christian lawyers provide legal support for minimal fees. Formalized, open, and specialized counselling secretariats of local assemblies and church district offices can also provide excellent counselling and guidance services to members and nonmembers.
Since some psychological and emotional needs of Christians are rooted in financial difficulties, they look to their local assemblies for financial support. This is why effective welfare systems set up by local assemblies relieve members of a heavy burden. The goal and character of an effective church-based welfare system is that it helps members organize their financial lives in accordance with the teachings of the Bible. Indeed, the provision of psychological support to Christians and society is imperative for the church. This is away of influencing society positively.
With a solid influence on society, the church is set to perform its prophetic role in Ghanaian society.
Social Justice
According to the Ghana Evangelism Committee (1999),10 Christians constitute a two-thirds majority in the Ghanaian population. Pentecostals alone constitute one fourth of the population.11 This means the Christian church, in general, and Pentecostals, in particular, are better positioned than any other organization/system to challenge Ghana’s politico-economic and socio-cultural life prophetically. As John R. W. Scott argues, the world is waiting for a relevant church that listens and understands it in its situation of hopelessness.12 It is this kind of church that the Ghanaian society is waiting for so it can see that the “gestures of Jesus have the value of returning ‘the human’ back to man, over and above all intent of dehumanisation”.13 Yet this task has not been effectively carried out at times. It is imperative, then, that the church challenges the Ghanaian society to grant justice to all its citizens, irrespective of their social, religious, and political status. “The issue of justice is profoundly a human identity matter.”14 It is made possible through agape and becomes a reality only when it is founded on the intrinsic dignity of each human person.15 In fact, justice understood as a structural change is an inseparable dimension of agape in responding effectively to the most urgent needs of people.16 Consequently, the church’s demand for justice is an evangelistic task.17
Individual rights and freedoms are often trampled upon and abused by powerful individuals and state institutions.18 The seriousness of this is demonstrated in Robert B. Chisholm’s commentary on Israel’s covenantal disloyalty:
For the rich to accumulate property in complete disregard of the rights and needs of their covenant brothers and sisters was blatant practical denial of the Lord’s ownership of the land. It also disregarded the covenantal principles of equal access to the land God had given and responsibility for the well-being of one’s neighbour.19
We can see that a disregard of social justice is a serious sin since it undermines God’s will for every human being and creates social imbalances. God hates the dispossession of other people’s properties, and so the church must demand that the state have good laws on, for example, landownership and use. In Ghana today, the weak and poor are sometimes wrongly dispossessed of their land by the rich because the latter can employ thugs, called land guards, to molest rightful owners to abandon their entitlement.20 It is relatively easy for those with economic power to influence the police, get good lawyers and mild punishments, and even escape altogether. Such attitudes and actions that encroach on personal and family autonomy call for the church’s unequivocal condemnation. This is what Karl Marx meant when he wrote long articles against what he saw as the theft of common property from the have-nots by the rich:
We demand for the poor a customary right, and indeed one which is not of a local character but is a customary right of the poor in all countries. We go still further and maintain that a customary right by its very nature can only be a right of this lowest, propertyless and elemental mass.21
The demand for social justice is possible if church leadership deliberately creates
awareness among Christians of their rights, freedoms, and duties. The demand is strengthened when the church ensures that the law is equitably applied to all. Since justice thrives on good laws, Onyinah, in “Entering into God’s Rest,” admonishes Christians to enter the law profession and politics to help enact just laws for the nation. In this way, they will be able to help the poor and needy. As Rafael Luciani has correctly argued, the church has a duty to denounce every “single totalitarian project that disallows dissidence and pluralism of thought”22 as personally, socially, and politically immoral. The church in Ghana must listen carefully to the “noises” from the underdogs since they understand their own plight better. Expressed differently:
The exigencies of the gospel of love and sharing can best be experienced and articulated by those who are in need, by those who suffer, by those who are abused. It is the wounded who know the pain of wounds. The oppressed are those who best understand and are receptive to the promises of the kingdom (Matt. 5:3- 11; Luke 10:21). The oppressor is insensitive to the demands of justice and love.23
Given the backdrop of suspicion and mistrust people sometimes have about the church, it is important for the church to clarify its understanding of a just society. Sometimes people disconnect justice from peace. Simon Maimela draws attention to traditional theology’s divestiture of Scripture’s social import with a promise of an individualistic eschatological utopia. This becomes a ready tranquilizer by which oppressors muffle the agitation of the oppressed for freedom.24 Martin Luther King Jr. condemns such acquiescence to the determinate oppressive will of the oppressor as negative peace, a state of absence of some negative force (but true peace is the presence of positive force … the presence of justice and brotherhood).25
Of course, Maimela’s criticism of traditional theology was given against the backdrop of the apartheid regime.26 Can similar sentiments not be expressed about the Ghanaian church? There are some Ghanaians who feel that some pastors’ greed for inordinate wealth and power makes them condone corruption in society. For such critics, church leaders are the privileged, powerful, well-fed who are “comfortably situated and protected by the prevailing social arrangements against the rough edges of the oppressive structures that keep the [great] majority in misery.”27
In the Bible, however, justice is another word for righteousness, which the Old Testament prophets demanded from Israelite society. To be a model nation, Israel’s kings, leaders, and ordinary people were required to live justly and peacefully with their neighbours (Deut. 4:5-8). Therefore, the kind of just society that the church must demand is that equity, respect, and tolerance exist for everybody, irrespective of social, ethnic, or religious affiliation. It must also be a society where people are well informed about their rights and freedoms. This is significant since suffering is sometimes the result of withholding relevant information.28 We have already indicated that the powerful always succeed in controlling the masses by soothing their minds with some hopefulness.29
Given the chronic political upheavals in Africa30 why should the church keep quiet in the face of social injustice? Indeed, the victims of displacement, poverty, and diseases are the vulnerable who need the church’s support and prophetic voice.31 Joshua N. Kudadjie bemoans the church’s long-standing “Good Samaritan” tradition of waiting to bring “relief when the harm has already been done” as not good enough.32 Similarly, C. T. Akumiah draws the church’s attention to Scripture’s enjoinment to share in solidarity and to be concerned neighbours to other people.33
Indeed, Andrew Kirk indicates that the major debate in theology today is about contextual hermeneutics that is devoid of abstract interpretation.34 This is because spirituality only becomes meaningful when it provides a locus for inner peace and liberation in people’s encounter with Jesus Christ. Such a divine/human encounter must not stop at a life of prayer and meditation but must be authenticated by a commitment to life since “it is useless to groan over the oppression and misery of the people while those who govern do so with impunity.”35
We can conclude, then, that the church must demand social justice for all Ghanaians. Such advocacy must also take an interest in supporting minorities’ welfare in society. Needless to say, the church is caught in a dilemma in calling for social justice and peace. The state expects the church to help in creating a good and just society, yet the state may sometimes craftily prohibit the church from meddling in socio-political matters, especially when the church says what the state is unwilling to hear. Nonetheless, the church must not allow itself to be intimidated. It must understand that its defence of the voiceless and vulnerable, even to the point of being under threat of losing its life itself, is integral to its calling and obedience to the Lord.
We may reflect on Robert J. Shreiter’s view that the challenge of contextual shifts today has necessitated that even theologies of liberation take new directions.36 This includes undertaking a new social analysis of not only external determinants of problems but also internal ones to the various locales “even when they go against cherished ways of seeing things.”37 It is important for Ghanaians to reimage (neoliberal capitalism as) the source of evil since constantly “concentrating on the distant enemy—real as that enemy might be—may make one blind to the nearer one. … Concentrating on outside agents of evil can prolong the victimisation of the colonised … can undercut whatever sense of agency is emerging.
It is disappointing that some social commentators and technocrats continue to play the blame game by shifting Ghana’s failure to some neo-liberal capitalism. While outsiders may contribute to our domestic problem, it is equally true that we are the controllers of our destiny. If we are a bit selfless and honest, we will do wonders. Nations progress when citizens are patriotic, honest, and willing to pay a little price for the nation. Agreeably the Ghanaian problem concerns visionary leadership with the guts for drastic change that may even endanger itself. This is a virtue the church must instil in Ghanaians through word and deed.
For relevance, the church in Ghana must explore new and better ways of educating Ghanaians to take their destiny into their own hands. It must help Ghanaians to develop and put their mental capacity to work to solve their own problems. This calls for conscientious and deliberate promotion of quality and accessible education. The point is that the days when “machoism” ruled are past. Today’s world is globalized, and survival requires relevant and adequate knowledge and expertise. The preaching of the Bible must, therefore, be tailored towards challenging Ghanaians to identify their potentials and specialize in skills critical for individual and national development.
We see that the church must not distance itself from everyday civic responsibilities. In addition to its prayers, the church must also advise politicians. Christians must enter politics, but they must steer clear of any form of corruption. Finally, I have shown that both the Ghanaian state and the Pentecostal church have a duty to promote a humane society.
Conclusion
In this paper I have attempted to respond to the question: In what ways are Ghanaian Pentecostals able to engage their Christian discipleship in the public sphere? The paper described, discussed, and examined the tasks of the state regarding citizens and the church’s tasks. The church has a duty to grant Ghanaians a humane and peaceful life. We have seen that the Pentecostal church can improve its contributions to society. This is achievable in the context of free church-state relations. – Encounter: Journal for Pentecostal Ministry
1 Kwame Gyekye, African Cultural Values: An Introduction (Accra, Ghana: Sankofa Publishing Company 1996), 5.
2 Abraham Akrong, “African Traditional Religion and Development: Clash of Two Worlds of Discourse and Values,” Trinity Journal of Church and Theology XIII, no. 3 (2003): 39.
3 Robert B. Chisholm, Jr. “A Theology of the Minor Prophets,” in A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, ed. Roy Zuck (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1991), 401-402.
4 Mark Phillips, “Defining Political Corruption,” Political Studies 45 (1997): 442.
5 Opoku Onyinah, personal interview, July 19, 2012.
6 Nii Tackie Otoo, telephone conversation, July 18, 2012.
7 See Jean-Marc Ela, African Cry (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986), 100.
8 M. K. Ntumy, No Easy Road: A Pastor’s Journey into Paralysis (Erzhausen, Germany: Schonbach-Druck, 2012).
9 Cf. Gbile Akanni, “The Church in Mission: A Lifeline to a Dying World,” in National Pastors and Christian Leaders Conferences 2012 (September 3-7) (Accra, Ghana: Challenge Enterprises, 2012), 9.
10 The Ghana Evangelism Committee in partnership with the churches in Ghana. “NACOE 2012” (July 29- August 3, 2012) (Accra, Ghana: University of Ghana, Legon, 2012), 11.
11 Ntumy, 28.
12 John R. W. Scott, “The World’s Challenge to the Church.” In Vital Ministry Issues: Examining Concerns <& Conflicts in Ministry, ed. Roy B. Zuck (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Resources, 1994), 11.
13 See Norberto Saracco, “The Liberating Options of Jesus,” in Sharing Jesus in the Two Thirds World, ed. Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans 1984), 37.
14 Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Rome: The Vatican. Reprint, http: //www. Vatican. va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_just peace doc 2 0060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html (2005). ch. 4, 166-168 (accessed November 1, 2012). Ch. 4, 202. ’
15 Ibid., ch. 3, 132.
16 George Soares Prabhu, “The Jesus Faith: A Christological Contribution to an Ecumenical Third World Spirituality,” in Spirituality of the Third World, ed. K. C. Abraham and Bernadette Mbuy-Beya (Maiyknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1994), 157.
17 cf. Compendium, ch. 2, 66.
18 C. J. H. Wright, Old Testament Ethics for the People of God (Leicester, UK: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 123- 24; Jean-Marc Ela, African Cry (Maiyknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986), 83-84.
19 Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., “A Theology of Isaiah,” in A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament ed. Roy B. Zuck (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1991), 402.
211 Chisholm, “A Theology of Minor Prophets”, 201-203.
21 Karl Marx, “Debates on the Law on Thefts of Wood,” in Collected Works. Vol. 1: Karl Marx: 1835-43, ed. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1975), 224-263.
22 Rafael Luciani, “Politics and Church in Venezuela: Perspectives and Horizons,” Theological Studies 70, no. 1 (2009), 195.
23 “Final Statement of the Fifth EAT WOT Conference,” in Irruption of the Third World, ed. Virginia Fabella and Sergio Torres (Maiyknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983), 199.
24 Simon Maimela, “Current Themes and Emphases in Black Theology,” in The Unquestionable Right to Be Free: Black Theology from South Africa, ed. Itumeleng J. Mosala and Tlhagale Buti (Maiyknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986), 103.
“5 James M. Washington, ed., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1986), 51.
26 Maimela, 103.
27 Ibid.
28 James L. Gibson, John Ivancevich, Robert Konopaske, eds. Organizations, Behavior Structure Processes, 9th ed. (Boston MA: Irwin McGraw-Hill, 1997), 255.
29 J. M. Waliggo “Africa Christology in a Situation of Suffering,” In Faces of Jesus in Africa, ed. Robert J. Shreiter (Maiyknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997), 164-80.
30 Joseph N. Kpanie, II, “The Gospel, Poverty and the Displaced in West Africa: The Liberian Situation,” in The Gospel, Poverty and the Displaced in Africa: The Case of the West African Region, ed. Emmanuel Martey and Mary Gerald Nwagwa (Accra, Ghana: Presbyterian Press, 2000), 92-98.
31 Martina lyabo Atere, “The Impact of Poverty and Displacement on Women and Children,” in The Gospel, Poverty and the Displace Africa: The Case of the West African Region, ed. Emmanuel Martey, and Mary Gerald Nwagwa (Accra, Ghana: Presbyterian Press, 2000), 56-64.
32 Joshua N. Kudadjie, “Opening Speech by the Chairman of WAATI at WAATI Biennial Conference ‘98” in The Gospel, Poverty and the Displaced in Africa: The Case of the West African Region, ed. Emmanuel Martey and Mary Gerald Nwagwa (Accra, Ghana: Presbyterian Press, 2000), 3.
33 C. T. Akumiah, “Christian Council of Ghana Relief and Rehabilitation Unit Programme in Favour of Refugees, Returnees, Internally Displaced Persons and Destitutes,” in The Gospel, Poverty and the Displace Africa: The Case of The West African Region, ed. Emmanuel Martey and Mary Gerald Nwagwa, (Accra, Ghana: Presbyterian Press, 2000), 7.
34 Andrew Kirk, “Theology from a Feminist Perspective,” in Men, Women and God, ed. Kathy Keay (Basing Stoke, Hants: Marshall Morgan and Scott Publications, 1987), 24.
35 Bernadette Mbuy-Beya, “African Spirituality: A Cry for Life” in Spirituality of the Third World, ed. K. C. Abraham and Bernadette Mbuy-Beya (Maiyknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1994), 67.
36 Robert J. Shreiter, The New Catholicity: Theology between the Global and the Local (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004), 98-99.
37 Ibid., 106.
38 Ibid., 107.
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