The Ghana Evangelism Committee has launched its 50th Anniversary in Accra with a call on churches to revive the spirit of soul-winning both locally and globally to reach out to unbelievers.
The call comes in the wake of studies that showed that substantial progress was made in winning souls for the Christian community in Ghana between 1980 and 2010. However between 2010 and 2021, for nearly eleven years, the growth of the Christian community grew from 71.2 per cent to 71.3 per cent constituting a growth of only 0.1 per cent.
The Chairman of the Committee, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, made the call during the launch which was held under the theme, “The Church must Go" rooted in both Matthew 28:19 and Psalm 145:9.
Hinduism,secular state
He further stated that the 2021 Population and Housing Census showed that Hinduism is the fastest growing religion in Ghana. He therefore charged churches not to focus only on building local churches without evangelising stressing that “the steam in evangelism in the churches is dying off and needs to be revived.”
“Let me begin by drawing your attention to the fact that Ghana is legally recognised as a secular state, though it is a Christian-majority country. When a nation identifies itself as secular, its soul has to be fiercely contested for. Any spirit can possess it” Apostle Nyamekye warned.
He explained that Ghana's identity as a secular state simply means that “the nation's religious pendulum can swing easily, much like what we have seen in other countries.”
Apostle Nyamekye who is also the Chairman of the Church of Pentecost stated that a research article published in 2023, titled “A Critical Examination of Ghana's 2020-2021 Census and its Implications for Christian Mission”, authored by Abraham Appiah made some projections.
The article, he observed, argued that without any massive mythological shift in evangelism approach, Ghana is set to become a majority Muslim nation by 2096.
The church has the responsibility to reveal God's image on earth at any particular time through the power of the gospel. As the church goes, so goes the world. Our forebears in their generation dedicated themselves to transforming the religious landscape of their time.
They fought passionately against idol worship, engaging in vigorous outreach efforts supported by intense fasting and long prayer sessions” he added.
Statistics
Apostle Nyamekye observed that in 1960, Ghana's Christian population stood at 44 percent, Islam, 11.9 percent, Animists, 43.9 percent. Just think about that.
“But the rise of the Christian believers at the time changed this narrative. GEC came into existence in 1974 and together with the efforts of other Christian groups rallied the churches across Ghana for the evangelisation of the land. Their commitment, tenacity in pursuing this goal led to the substantial progress and noteworthy outcomes” the Committee chairman observed.
He indicated that by 1980, the percentage of Ghanaians identifying as Christians had risen to 53.66 percent, while the number of animists shrunk from 43.9 to 29 percent. By 2000, Christians accounted for 69 per cent of the population. In 2010, that number increased slightly to 71.2 percent.
But somehow, he said from 2010 to 2021, over nearly 11 years span, the growth of the church in Ghana was highly insignificant, edging up only from 71.2 to 71.3 per cent, a 0.1 percent increase. Meanwhile, Islam grew from 17.6 to 19.9, per cent if you like, 20 percent around the same period in 2021.
Apostle Nyamekye further stated that according to the 2021 Population and Housing Census, Hinduism is the fastest-growing religion in Ghana.
