The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Children’s Ministry of the Methodist Church Ghana: A Case Study of Emmanuel Society-Konongo
Issue: Vol.9 No.6 June 2023 Issue Article 1 pp. 194-205
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.2023961 | Published online 6th June 2023.
© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
The Coronavirus-19 (Covid-19) pandemic took the whole world by surprise and caused unanticipated changes in people’s life. The effect of this global pandemic on the religious, economic, political and social lives of people has been enormous. In Ghana (the context of this study) many churches experienced great challenges for their members could not fellowship together physically because of the restrictions that were imposed by the government. Churches whose members tended to depend solely on their leaders to access God’s blessings learnt a bitter lesson as their members could not have any meaningful encounter with God without their Pastors. Many studies have been conducted on the effects of the pandemic on Church life with a greater focus on adult members of the Christian community. There is just a little attention paid to the impact of the pandemic on the Children’s Ministry. This paper contributes to filling that gap by examining the impact of the pandemic on the Children’s Ministry of the Methodist Church Ghana using the Emmanuel Society of the Konongo Circuit as a case study. It is an empirical study that gathered data through questionnaires, interviews and participant observation. The responses received revealed that there was a huge gap created between the children, other believing friends and Sunday School teachers. The paper made recommendations for the Christian community.
Keywords: Covid-19, Children’s Ministry, Methodist Church Ghana
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Isaac Boaheng (PhD) is a Lecturer in Theology and Christian Ethics at the Christian Service University College, Ghana. He is also a Research Fellow at the Department of Biblical and Religion Studies, University of the Free State, South Africa. Boaheng is an Ordained Minister of the Methodist Church Ghana serving the Suame Circuit of the Kumasi Diocese.
Frank Adarkwa is a Minister of the Methodist Church Ghana serving the Wamfie circuit of the Sunyani Diocese. Adarkwa holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Trinity Theological Seminary and has research interest in Systematic Theology.
Boaheng, I. & Adarkwa, F. “The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Children’s Ministry of the Methodist Church Ghana: A Case Study of Emmanuel Society-Konongo,” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies, 9 no.6 (2023): 194-205. https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.2023961
© 2023 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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