INTRODUCTION
Reformation
literally means improving on someone or something by removing or correcting
faults and problems with the intention of making it better than before. In
Church history, Reformation was a term given to the sixteenth century religious
movement in Europe that set out to reform some of the doctrines and practices
of the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the development of Protestantism.
|
|
One
motive often given for the European penetration on the African soil, commonly
known to them as ‘a place in the Sun’, was to spread Western Christianity to
the Africans. There was a popular ideology amongst most Europeans that Africans
had no religion, idea about God and hence, were pagans. However, as a result of
missionary activities in the Gold Coast, Christianity was planted on the
African soil. As indicated earlier, the African saw the western Christianity as
an alien religion full of European culture which had no basis in the Bible and
hence sought to indigenise it by adopting certain traditional practices from the
African Traditional Religion. This resulted in schism in the various missionary
churches in Africa. This schism resulted in the formation of independent and
Pentecostal churches in many African countries. The charismatic churches,
however, came later.
So which
churches in Ghana can be referred to as protestant churches?
One
characteristic of all protestant denominations is the rejection of the notion
of papal supremacy over the church and generally deny the Roman Catholic
doctrine of transubstantiation.[1]
If this is so, then we can generally conclude that protestant churches in Ghana
are mainly the churches or Christian denominational groups outside the Catholic
church. This will therefore comprise of the charismatic, Pentecostal, African
Independent churches and even the prayer centers. However, it should be noted
that all these Christian denominational groups also emerged from the earlier
protestant churches such as Anglican, Presby, Adventist, Methodist, Assemblies
of God and the Baptist church. These churches were the groups that directly
broke away from the Catholic church during the Reformation period in the sixteenth
century.
Having
been able to identify protestant churches in Ghana, the next question for us to
tackle will be what should these protestant churches reform?
First
of all, to be able to understand what these churches should reform, it is
important we look at a brief history about the existence of these protestant
churches to be able to understand and appreciate their practices.
BACKGROUND TO THE PROTESTANT MOVEMENT
Initially,
the Catholic church was the sole Christian denomination in the World. However,
some people such as John Wycliffe (1330-1384), Martin Luther (1483-1546), and
John Calvin (1509-1564), began to question some teachings of the Catholic
church and challenged the authority of the Pope as the head of the Church.[2]
The term ‘Protestants’ was not initially applied to these reformers, but later
was used to describe all groups protesting Roman Catholic orthodoxy. Several
reasons have been given for their protest against the Catholic church. Some of
these reasons were, simony, nepotism, the wealth of the church, extortion of
money from the members, the selling of indulgences, the influence of the ideas
of the Renaissance, the printing press etc. These early reformers tried to
reform the Catholic church by protesting these teachings and practices of the
Catholic Church. But the teachings of these early reformers were considered as
heretical, hence most of them were excommunicated and burnt at stake by the
Catholic church. However, after the death of these early reformers, their
teachings lived on and led to the establishment of many protestant churches
across Europe, which later spread to the African continent.
It
can be deduced that the primary objective of these protestant churches was to
reform the Catholic church and to eradicate all forms of unaccepted teachings and
practices within the Church. It is, however, surprising that some protestant
churches in Ghana today still practice some of these corrupt teachings and
practices of the Catholic church during the Middle Ages.
THIS IS WHY PROTESTANT CHURCHES IN GHANA
NEED AN URGENT REFORMATION
First of all, one reason why the Protestant Churches in
Ghana need an urgent Reformation is that the practices of extortion in the form
of money, which existed in the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages still persist
among various Protestant Churches in Ghana today. During the Middle ages, the
clergy extorted money from the members and minors of the church. The money was
mainly used by the Pope and the clergy for their selfish interest. Again, the
monies collected from the sale of indulgence was mostly used to build huge and
expensive monasteries. Thus, the plight of the members in the church was not
the primary concern of the Roman priests. There was also excessive demand for
money for tithes and burial services. (Hurstfield, 1965). This situation is not
different from what is happening among many Protestant Churches in Ghana today.
For example, a Protestant Church in Ghana can give as many as three different
types of offerings at a service and notwithstanding the collection of tithes,
fellowship dues, ‘Kofi and Ama[3]’
and many more. More so, many protestant churches have adopted the habit of selling
the so called ‘Holy Water’, anointing oil etc. to members in the church at a higher
cost. The situation even becomes worse when the ‘Holy Water’ is not sold at the
same price; Some may cost more than the other. All these practices by
protestant churches in Ghana are in a form of extortion in one way or the other.
There is no wrong in demanding tithes and offerings from members in the church.
But what is the intention behind asking members to pay three different types of
offering? I am pretty sure that the offering of the poor widow recorded in Luke
21:1-4 and Mark 12:41-44 was offered once. Because if the temple had demanded
more than one type of offering, do you think that the poor widow could have
gotten extra mite as her offering? Meanwhile Jesus Christ commended her effort,
“Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all…, but she out
of her poverty has put in all the livelihood that she had”. This indicates that
it is not the number of times you pay offering at church that it will be
accepted by God. If the church continues with this habit, it prevents the not
to do well persons in the society to attend church. Obviously, if the poor
widow knew that three different types of offering will be collected at the
temple, she may have stayed home. The protestant Churches in Ghana need to reform
themselves to refrain from such bad habits of taking money from the poor and
using it for their selfish interest.
Secondly,
the Protestant Churches in Ghana need a Reformation because corruption has been
the order of the day for them. Prior to
the Protestant Reformation which we have discussed above, there was the
practices of selling indulgence. The granting of indulgences proved to be a
popular way of raising money for the church particularly because, unlike
tithes, it was voluntary (Encyclopedia Britannica Online). Most of the clergy
also paid for their positions. Many Protestant Churches in Ghana today demand
huge sums of money from members before they have a consultation with the Bishop
or the senior pastor. These Protestant Churches today have made it seem as if
it is only the Bishop who can help to solve the problems of their members as it
was in the case of the Pope during the Middle Ages. Normally, members in the
church discuss issues such as bareness, sickness, diseases, infirmity, unemployment,
family matters relating to marriage, the abundance of poverty in the family,
witchcrafts etc. with their pastors. Many Protestant churches in Ghana today have
also proved that they are capable of solving such intricate problems of
members. Therefore, members are required to pay huge sum of money before they
are able to have their problems addressed by their pastors. Therefore, in as
much as one cannot fulfill the demands made by the Church by paying
consultation fees, the individual’s problem will still persist until the
consultation fee is paid. There is no doubt that one of Jesus Christ’s
commission was to heal the sick and even after his resurrection and ascension
to heaven, the apostles of the early church also began to heal the sick. The
problem, therefore, is that did Jesus Christ or any of his apostles demand for
money or any kind before performing the healing miracles to the needy? Among
the thirty-one individual Healings of Jesus Christ in the Bible, He never
demanded anything from the victims, not from the leper in Galilee (Mark
1:40-45), the widow of Nain (Luke:11-16), the two blind men from Capernaum (Matthew
9:27-31), the Woman with the issue of blood at Capernaum (Luke 8:43-48), nor
the man born blind at Jerusalem (John 9:1-12). Peter, an apostle of Christ,
told the lame man at the beautiful gate that Silver and Gold I do not have but
what I do have I give you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and
walk (Acts 3:6). So let’s ask ourselves, what do these pastors have for us?
Comparing the nature of ministry in the early days to presently, it is clear
that the leaders in the early church were generally concerned about the plight
of their followers but certainly the same cannot be said about many pastors in
protestant churches in Ghana today. Protestant churches in Ghana have now
changed the phase of ministry to a more economic oriented. And I can state
emphatically that many protestant churches in Ghana have opened more radio and
television stations in order to advertise their economic ministry but not,
necessarily, the salvation of mankind. To attest to this fact, I personally
watched a pastor on one of the MultiTv channels advertising his spiritual
soaps, anointing oil, spiritual spray and other spiritual medications to his
church members and the audience. These items are generally believed by members
of the church to solve certain spiritual problems. Surprisingly, one of these
anointing oil cost GH₵500.00 and others not less than GH₵50.00.
How many women in such churches can get such amount of money? How much did
Jesus Christ collect for the miracles he performed? Also,
during fundraising in many protestant churches in Ghana, certain amount of
money attracts the blessing of only the Bishops while other low amount attracts
the blessing of the junior pastors. Therefore, Protestant Churches in Ghana
need an urgent Reformation to eradicate all these corrupt attitudes and to
redefine the nature of church ministry. If health-care cannot be accessible to
all, certainly God’s salvation is free for all.
Lastly,
Protestant Churches in Ghana need urgent Reformation because these churches
have buried their heads in material things instead of focusing on spiritual
perfection. During the Middle Ages, the Catholic church was more concerned
about acquiring wealth. The priests lived like kings and were more interested
in acquiring wealth for themselves. Hence, individual’s spiritual life was not
their concern. This habit and practice is very common among many pastors in
Protestant churches in Ghana. Most of the Bishops in the Protestant Churches
only preach about prosperity, marriage, prophecies and others while relegating
or in some cases share just a little message on salvation, relation with other
neighbours and individual holiness. These worldly sermons have been widely
accepted by the members so much so that even if a pastor attempts to hammer on
individual holiness in the church, members begin to excommunicate themselves
from the church. Women are more interested in the hearing of marriage and
prophetic sermons while the men stick to the prosperity sermons. This, however,
makes it difficult for pastors who want to preach the Gospel as it is while
other unscrupulous pastors also capitalise on the demands of the members
relegating the meaning of the true nature of the Gospel. I think we can’t
overlook the two most important terms in economics, Demand and Supply, at work
here. Jesus Christ never preached about marriage, wealth and others. Jesus
Christ’s vision was towards the eternal salvation of man. All His teachings were
based on love for one another and individual’s struggle for a perfect life
devoid of any impure attitudes. Protestant churches in Ghana are gradually
moving away from the doctrines of Jesus Christ as it was during the Middle
Ages. Reformation is necessary to restore the Protestant Churches in Ghana to
the fundamental doctrines of Christianity.
To
sum up, from the above arguments there is no doubt that Protestant Churches in
Ghana need to undergo an urgent Reformation to eradicate all issues of
corruption, extortion, and the materialistic doctrines which has been developed
by these Protestant Churches. These practices were the same reasons that
prompted Martin Luther and other reformists to call for a Reformation in the
Catholic Church. Even the Catholic Church responded with a Counter- Reformation
which removed all the corrupt practices of the clergy and the Popes. If
Protestant churches in Ghana will take a second look at some of their practices
and doctrines, Christianity will become more attractive and interesting to be
part of. However, if these practices continue in our protestant churches then
there is no doubt in saying that Protestant Churches in Ghana are still living
in the Middle Ages.
COLLINS NANA ABEBRESE (B.A HISTORY & RELIGIOUS STUDIES) UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST E-mail: Collyns3t@hotmail.com Tel : +233 542 083 047
REFERENCES
Hurstfield J. (Ed.) (1965). The Reformation crises. 41-maddox
street, London: E. Arnold publishers.
Appold K.G (1965). The Reformation; A Brief History.
Singapore, Ho printing Ltd.
Roman Catholicism. (2012). Encyclopedia
Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica
Ultimate Reference Suit. Chicago:
Encyclopedia Britannica.
Websites
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism
www.theopedia.com/protestant-reformation
[1] Information retrieved from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism
on 25th August, 2016.
[2] Information retrieved from www.theopedia.com/protestant-reformation on 24th August, 2016.
[3] Kofi and Ama is a competition offering
collected among many Ghanaian protestant churches in accordance with the
members’ names and the days they were born. The group of names and day with the
highest amount of money wins the competition.
0 Comments