{"id":622,"date":"2009-04-14T20:07:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-15T03:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622"},"modified":"2009-04-14T20:07:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-15T03:07:00","slug":"latest-news-and-some-local-commentary-on-the-presbyterian-church-of-ghana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622","title":{"rendered":"Latest News And Some Local Commentary On The Presbyterian Church Of Ghana"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of you have probably noticed that one of the global Presbyterian branches I try to follow closely is the Presbyterian Church of Ghana<\/a> (PCG).  What makes this possible, and in itself is one of the aspects that I find interesting, is the amount of media coverage that the church receives.  Based on the amount and nature of the media coverage this Presbyterian denomination is a recognized entity in the life of that nation.  So today I will bring a few short notes on that church in the media, and finish with something unusual — a published local criticism of the church.<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago the Moderator of the General Assembly of the PCG, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Dr Yaw Frimpong-Manso raised many eyebrows when he commented on several recent fatal traffic accidents.  In addition to human factors he raised the issue of “forces of darkness” being involved.  Joy Online writes<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe spiritual dimensions of the recent spate of fatal accidents,
\ntherefore, call for spiritual solutions\u201d, Rev Frimpong-Manso told The Ghanaian Times<\/b> in Accra on Monday in sharing his thoughts about the carnage on the roads. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It should not be a surprise that those writing on the comments page for this story<\/a> mostly criticize the Moderator for invoking “superstition.”  And while this criticism takes on some cultural aspects, it also has parallels in the just released Barna survey<\/a> that most U.S. Christians don’t believe Satan or the Holy Spirit exist.<\/p>\n

There have also been a couple of recent words from the church leaders addressed to the people of Ghana.  At a chapel dedication on Easter Sunday the Rt. Rev. Dr. Frimpong-Manso “urged political leaders to mobilize the country’s human and material
\nresources… to
\nenhance the living standard of the people” and “appealed to Ghanaians to use the resurrection of Christ to transform
\nthe nation and avoid negative tendencies such as corruption, armed
\nrobbery and laziness but should work hard to increase productivity in
\nthe country,” according to an article in Modern Ghana<\/a>.  In another appearance he “advised the youth to avoid indecent dressing and other immoral activities during festive occasions,” also from Modern Ghana<\/a>.  The Rev. Abraham Nana Opare Kwakye, a District Minister in the church, in a report from AllAfrica.com<\/a>, warned his listeners about “the increasing spate of ethnicity and tribalism in the
\ncountry.”  The article goes on to say that “He warned that if the practice was not checked with the
\nurgency that it deserves, it could ruin the development of the country.”  Finally, Modern Ghana reports<\/a> a speech by the Rev. Otuo Acheampong at another dedication (this a public sanitary complex) where he encouraged virtue and moral behavior by the young people.  The article quotes him as saying \u201cThe act of going to church regularly is good in itself however, we
\nmust be more conscious of putting into practice what the Holy Book says
\nif we are to achieve our aims and objectives to be sons of God\u201d.  And this is just a sampling of the many public comments by PCG clergy to the citizenry as reported by the media over the last couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

But, there has also been a rare published piece of criticism of the church this past weekend as well.  In an op-ed piece in Modern Ghana<\/a> Mr. Yaw Opare-Asamoa writes about “The Reformed Tradition and the Presbyterian Church.”  Beginning with the motto “The Church reformed and always to be reformed” (as he phrases it) he complains that the church should have a “dissatisfaction with the status quo” and then asks “Why does the church today seem to be so satisfied with the status quo?”<\/p>\n

He raises three issues that, in his opinion, need to be dealt with.  The first issue is “postings,” where a minister is assigned to work, especially new ministers.  While the “field” areas outside the cities need good ministers those ministers who are well connected can get more desirable and comfortable assignments in the cities.  He suggests that the process is political<\/p>\n

Ministers go to the head office to lobby for placement to
\ncongregations\/stations they consider favourable. If you are not
\n‘connected’ at the head office, then your chances of being posted to
\nany of the ‘plush’ congregations are virtually nil.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And he holds up the Methodists’ system as an alternative<\/p>\n

They (the Methodists) have a laid down structure where new ministers
\njoin the ‘queue’ and wait their time. You start your ministry from the
\nvillage\/town and work your way to the city.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He points out that one effect of the political nature of the process is that new ministers don’t immediately take parish work but continue in school to earn more academic qualifications in an attempt to avoid the country churches.<\/p>\n

The second issue is that some ministers don’t want to be posted outside the main city of Accra.  For those that speak Ga they avoid serving the country churches since many of those speak Twi.  Yet, Mr. Opare-Asamoa points out that they don’t seem to have a problem serving a Twi church in Accra.<\/p>\n

Finally, he takes issue with the quality and editorial bias of the church’s monthly newspaper, Christian Messenger<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Third issue has to do with the ‘Christian Messenger’ (Ghana’s oldest
\nChristian monthly newspaper). I have never seen any Christian newspaper
\nthat is as unchristian as the Christian Messenger. If you pick up this
\nnewspaper expecting to be edified or spiritually exhorted forget it!
\nYou would be lucky to find a page of biblical\/spiritual content. The
\nrest of the pages are reserved for obituaries and announcements. There
\nare pages devoted to activities that various congregations have
\nembarked upon. For years the former editor had a stranglehold over the
\npaper. Nobody could say anything to him. The quality got from worse to
\nworst. During private conversations with some ministers, they
\nacknowledged the sorry state of the newspaper but were not ready to
\ncross the editor. I wondered why. He eventually went on pension only to
\nbe contracted back as a consultant, for what I don’t know.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unfortunately Christian Messenger<\/i> does not appear to have a web presence, as far as I could tell, so checking out the content and editorial bent for ourselves is not easily done.<\/p>\n

Based upon the Modern Ghana page Mr. Opare-Asamoa is a regular contributor of op-ed pieces to the web site.  He usually deals with the politics in Ghana and from looking through his other pieces this appears to be the only one that addresses the PCG.  Also, his style and level of criticism of his other targets seem to be similar to this article.  None the less, as he points out churches in the Reformed tradition are to be “always reforming” so a voice pointing out potential problems and holding the church accountable has a place.<\/p>\n

As I said at the beginning, this style of criticism is unique in the numerous articles I have read about the PCG.  The church generally seems well regarded by the media and the people and the PCG is an active and supportive part of many communities.  As such, I have not found either corroboration or contradictory evidence of Mr. Opare-Asamoa accusations.  Particularly regarding the “posting” system, the potential for abuse is clearly understandable.  This is one advantage of the “call” system in many Presbyterian branches, that the congregations select the pastor rather than receiving a pastor by appointment.  However, even in the PC(USA) there is a preference among ministers<\/a> for urban over rural parishes.  Some things are constant in the church no matter where you are on the globe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many of you have probably noticed that one of the global Presbyterian branches I try to follow closely is the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG).  What makes this possible, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-pc-ghana"],"yoast_head":"\nLatest News And Some Local Commentary On The Presbyterian Church Of Ghana - The GA Junkie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Latest News And Some Local Commentary On The Presbyterian Church Of Ghana - The GA Junkie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many of you have probably noticed that one of the global Presbyterian branches I try to follow closely is the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG).  What makes this possible, and […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The GA Junkie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-15T03:07:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Salyards\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Salyards\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve Salyards\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e30c1b854f165e0423ea436d3961c1c0\"},\"headline\":\"Latest News And Some Local Commentary On The Presbyterian Church Of Ghana\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-15T03:07:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622\"},\"wordCount\":1304,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"news\",\"PC Ghana\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622\",\"name\":\"Latest News And Some Local Commentary On The Presbyterian Church Of Ghana - The GA Junkie\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-15T03:07:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Latest News And Some Local Commentary On The Presbyterian Church Of Ghana\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/\",\"name\":\"The GA Junkie\",\"description\":\"The Politics of Presbyterianism\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GA Junkie\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Cross-Square.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Cross-Square.jpg\",\"width\":1,\"height\":1,\"caption\":\"GA Junkie\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/ga_junkie\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e30c1b854f165e0423ea436d3961c1c0\",\"name\":\"Steve Salyards\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f098d5fd6e11f0399f5340bc917d2834c81c2c84247856402d200760feff0c86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f098d5fd6e11f0399f5340bc917d2834c81c2c84247856402d200760feff0c86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f098d5fd6e11f0399f5340bc917d2834c81c2c84247856402d200760feff0c86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steve Salyards\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Latest News And Some Local Commentary On The Presbyterian Church Of Ghana - The GA Junkie","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Latest News And Some Local Commentary On The Presbyterian Church Of Ghana - The GA Junkie","og_description":"Many of you have probably noticed that one of the global Presbyterian branches I try to follow closely is the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG).  What makes this possible, and […]","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622","og_site_name":"The GA Junkie","article_published_time":"2009-04-15T03:07:00+00:00","author":"Steve Salyards","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Salyards","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622"},"author":{"name":"Steve Salyards","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e30c1b854f165e0423ea436d3961c1c0"},"headline":"Latest News And Some Local Commentary On The Presbyterian Church Of Ghana","datePublished":"2009-04-15T03:07:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622"},"wordCount":1304,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["news","PC Ghana"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622","url":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622","name":"Latest News And Some Local Commentary On The Presbyterian Church Of Ghana - The GA Junkie","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-04-15T03:07:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=622#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Latest News And Some Local Commentary On The Presbyterian Church Of Ghana"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/","name":"The GA Junkie","description":"The Politics of Presbyterianism","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#organization","name":"GA Junkie","url":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Cross-Square.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Cross-Square.jpg","width":1,"height":1,"caption":"GA Junkie"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/ga_junkie"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e30c1b854f165e0423ea436d3961c1c0","name":"Steve Salyards","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f098d5fd6e11f0399f5340bc917d2834c81c2c84247856402d200760feff0c86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f098d5fd6e11f0399f5340bc917d2834c81c2c84247856402d200760feff0c86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f098d5fd6e11f0399f5340bc917d2834c81c2c84247856402d200760feff0c86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Steve Salyards"}}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}