The Moral Compass of Baptist Christianity: Examining Specific Teachings and their Impact in Sakumono Zone (Ghana)
Michael Ampofo 
, Victor Selorme Gedzi & John Kwaku Opoku
Issue: Vol.11 No. 9 2025 Issue Article 4 pp. 478 – 489
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20251194 | Published online 29th September, 2025.
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This study explored the moral landscape of Baptist Christianity in the Sakumono zone of Ghana, focusing on specific teachings and their implications. Employing a phenomenological research design and purposive sampling technique, twenty participants from various Baptist congregations were interviewed to gain insights into the moral beliefs and practices within the community. Thematic analysis, using the Braun and Clarke Approach, identified key themes and patterns in the data, highlighting the role of individual interpretation of scripture in empowering believers to uphold their moral convictions. The research revealed that Baptist ethics are deeply rooted in scripture, emphasizing personal responsibility, adherence to traditional beliefs, and the embodiment of moral values in everyday life. Rituals such as adult baptism, abstention from alcohol, and strict adherence to biblical teachings on marriage exemplify Baptists’ commitment to living righteous lives guided by religious principles. Furthermore, prayer, worship, and scripture play pivotal roles in shaping Baptist morality, alongside the emphasis on leading by example and holding oneself accountable to biblical standards. The findings shed light on the unique moral compass of Baptist Christianity in Sakumono, Ghana, and its significance in guiding believers toward virtuous living. Recommendations made included fostering dialogue and communication within Baptist communities, emphasizing relational ethics, encouraging flexibility in interpretation, and developing external outreach programmes to promote mutual respect and understanding. Through these recommendations, Baptist communities can strengthen their moral foundations and foster inclusivity within the congregation.
Keywords: Moral landscape, Baptist Christianity, Ghana, Personal Responsibility
Blazer, Dan G, J C Hays, and M A Musick. “Abstinence versus Alcohol Use among Elderly Rural Baptists: A Test of Reference Group Theory and Health Outcomes.” Aging & Mental Health 6, no. 1 (2002): 47–54.
Cahill, Lisa Sowie. “Kingdom and Cross: Christian Moral Community and the Problem of Suffering.” Interpretation 50, no. 2 (1996): 156–68.
Chatterjee, Shyamal K. “Rammohun Roy and the Baptists of Serampore: Moralism vs. Faith.” Religious Studies 20, no. 4 (1984): 669–80.
Crisp, Oliver D. “Infant Baptism and the Disposition to Saving Faith.” Scottish Journal of Theology 75, no. 4 (2022): 363–73.
Cross, Brenton Kevin. Southern Baptist Expository Preaching Homiletic Theory: Biblical Interpretation, Values, and Politics in Twentieth-Century America. The University of Texas at Dallas, 2019.
Danaher, William J. “Beyond Imagination:‘Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence in the Body of Christ’(1963) and the Reinvention of Canadian Anglicanism.” Anglican Theological Review 93, no. 2 (2011): 219.
Ellis, Christopher J. “Duty and Delight: Baptist Worship and Identity.” Review & Expositor 100, no. 3 (2003): 329–49.
Geychenko, Oleksandr. “The Church, Kingdom and Society in the Writings of Vasilii V. Ivanov (1846–1919): Towards a Public Theology for Post-Soviet Baptists.” International Journal of Public Theology 14, no. 3 (2020): 319–35.
Goodliff, Paul. “Baptist Theology Reconsidered.” Baptist Quarterly 46, no. 3 (2015): 113–19.
Green, Leanne Williams. “Spacetimes of Sociality, Neighbourhood Others and the Immoralities of Self-Protection among Middle-Class Baptists in Harare, Zimbabwe.” L’Homme, 2023, 31–60.
Greer, Danice B. “The Power of Prayer.” Journal of Christian Nursing 32, no. 1 (2015): 57.
Griffin, Susan O, Paul M Griffin, Chien‐Hsun Li, William D Bailey, Diane Brunson, and Judith A Jones. “Changes in Older Adults’ Oral Health and Disparities: 1999 to 2004 and 2011 to 2016.” Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 67, no. 6 (2019): 1152–57.
Groenewald, Jonanda. “The Foundation, Value and Meaning of Baptism in the New Testament.” HTS: Theological Studies 59, no. 2 (2003): 367–83.
Gustafson, James M. “The Place of Scripture in Christian Ethics: A Methodological Study.” Interpretation 24, no. 4 (1970): 430–55.
Kreuzer, Siegfried. “The Septuagint South of Alexandria—in Antiquity.” In The Septuagint South of Alexandria, 3–27. Brill, 2022.
Kuchinke, K Peter. “Phenomenology and Human Resource Development: Philosophical Foundations and Implication for Research.” Human Resource Development Review 22, no. 1 (2023): 36–58.
May, David M. “Saying the Lord’s Prayer in Baptist Bibleland.” Review & Expositor 118, no. 4 (2021): 442–59.
McKenny, Gerald. Karl Barth’s Moral Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.
McKercher, C. Disability in Popular Culture: From Pity to Power. New York, NY: Routledge, 2018.
Mikeshin, Igor. “‘I’m Not Like Most Of You Here, I’m Just An Alcoholic’: A Russian BAPTIST Theory Of Addiction.” Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics 10, no. 2 (2016): 19–32.
Musick, Marc A, Dana G Blazer, and Judith C Hays. “Religious Activity, Alcohol Use, and Depression in a Sample of Elderly Baptists.” Research on Aging 22, no. 2 (2000): 91–116.
Najjar, Laian Z, Chelsie M Young, Leigh Leasure, Craig E Henderson, and Clayton Neighbors. “Religious Perceptions of Alcohol Consumption and Drinking Behaviours among Religious and Non-Religious Groups.” Mental Health, Religion & Culture 19, no. 9 (2016): 1028–41.
Narramore, Bruce. “The Concept of Responsibility in Psychopathology and Psychotherapy.” Journal of Psychology and Theology 13, no. 2 (1985): 91–96.
Nel, Marius. “Petitionary Prayer for Healing and South African Pentecostals.” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 31, no. 2 (2022): 295–312.
Opuni-Frimpong, Kwabena. “An Examination of the Role of Public Theology in the Church’s Efforts Toward National Transformation in Ghana.” E-Journal of Religious & Theological Studies (ERATS) 9, no. 6 (2023).
Papen, Uta. “Hymns, Prayers and Bible Stories: The Role of Religious Literacy Practices in Children’s Literacy Learning.” Ethnography and Education 13, no. 1 (2018): 119–34.
Patterson, W Morgan. “The Role of Baptism in Baptist History.” Review & Expositor 65, no. 1 (1968): 33–41.
Pitts, Jamie. “Christian Ethics, the Bible, and the Powers of Reading.” Scripture, Tradition, and Reason in Christian Ethics: Normative Dimensions, 2019, 17–43.
Plaatjies-Van Huffel, Mary-Anne. “Patristic Ecclesiology in Africa.” In The Routledge Handbook of African Theology, 443–61. Routledge, 2020.
Powell, Rachael, Neil W Scott, Anne Manyande, Julie Bruce, Claus Vögele, Lucie M T Byrne‐Davis, Mary Unsworth, and Marie Johnston. “Psychological Preparation and Postoperative Outcomes for Adults Undergoing Surgery under General Anaesthesia.” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, no. 5 (2016).
Richardson, Paul A. “Worship Resources for Malachi.” Review & Expositor 84, no.3(1987): 479–86.
Roldán-Figueroa, Rady. “Βαπτίζω ‘Signifies to Dip or to Wash, but Never to Sprinkle’: London Baptists and Dipping as the Sign of Lay Supremacy, 1641–1645.” Church History and Religious Culture 99, no. 2 (2019): 151–82.
Sanders, Jack T. “The Question of the Relevance of Jesus for Ethics Today.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 38, no. 2 (1970): 131–46.
Schweiker, William. “Humanizing Religion.” The Journal of Religion 89, no. 2 (2009): 214–35.
Smedes, Taede Anne. Chaos, Complexity, and God: Divine Action and Scientism. Vol. 26. Peeters, 2004.
Souletie, Jean-Louis. “Baptism, the Matrix of Tradition.” Studia Liturgica 42, no. 1–2 (2012): 54–72.
Spangler, Jewel L. “Becoming Baptists: Conversion in Colonial and Early National Virginia.” The Journal of Southern History 67, no. 2 (2001): 243–86.
Thygesen, Lau Caspar, Louise NØrreslet Gimsing, Andrea Bautz, Niels Christian Hvidt, and Christoffer Johansen. “Chronic Neurodegenerative Illnesses and Epilepsy in Danish Adventists and Baptists: A Nationwide Cohort Study.” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 56, no. 4 (2017): 1429–35.
Thygesen, Lau Caspar, Niels Christian Hvidt, Helle Ploug Hansen, Andreas Hoff, Lone Ross, and Christoffer Johansen. “Cancer Incidence among Danish Seventh-Day Adventists and Baptists.” Cancer Epidemiology 36, no. 6 (2012): 513–18.
Tilson, Everett. “The Gospels and Christian Ethics.” Journal of Bible and Religion 28, no. 4 (1960): 423–31.
Viertiö, Satu, Olli Kiviruusu, Maarit Piirtola, Jaakko Kaprio, Tellervo Korhonen, Mauri Marttunen, and Jaana Suvisaari. “Factors Contributing to Psychological Distress in the Working Population, with a Special Reference to Gender Difference.” BMC Public Health 21, no. 1 (December 29, 2021): 611. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10560-y.
Widianto, Kasiatin, and Johannes Augustinus. “The Influence Of Spirituality On The Giving Of Tithing.” Journal Didaskalia 5, no. 2 (2022): 84–102.
Michael Ampofo is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi. His research focuses on Religion/Human Values and Development, Human Right and Morality and Ethics. He is a professional counselling Psychologist. Had his training from the University of Cape Coast. Currently, he is a member of Ghana Psychology Council- GPC, which is the governing council that has the constitutional mandate to License Counsellors and Psychologists in Ghana.
Prof. John Kwaku Opoku is a Catholic Priest in the Catholic Archdiocese of Kumasi. He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Religious Studies – Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He has a B.A. in the study of Religion and Sociology (Legon, Ghana), an M.A. in Intercultural Theology (Radboud Universiteit-Nijmegen), a Master of Bioethics (Medical Colleges of Radboud Universiteit-Nijmegen, Catholic University of Leuven-Belgium, the Universities of Basel and Padova -Switzerland and Italy respectively) and a Ph.D. in Theology and Health (Radboud Universiteit-Nijmegen). His areas of specialization are Pastoral Theology, Bioethics, and Religion and Health.
Prof. Victor Selorme Gedzi is a Professor (Associate) in Religion/Culture and Development in the Department of Religious Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. His area of specialization is Religion and Development. He holds a PhD in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Hague, the Netherlands. Internationally, Prof. Gedzi is a Nuffic Fellow; member of African Association for the Study of Religions (AASR); a Cambridge Publishing Editorial Advisory Board Member; a member of the European Centre for Research Training and Development (ECRT) UK.
Ampofo, Michael, John Kwaku Opoku, and Victor Selorme Gedzi. “The Moral Compass of Baptist Christianity: Examining Specific Teachings and their Impact in Sakumono Zone (Ghana).” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies 11, no. 9(2025): 478 – 489. https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20251194.
© 2025 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/).
Featured
Others
