The Ghana Evangelism Committee, 1974–1985: Rapid mission expansion and early continental recognition

Prince Adu-Gyamfi Kyeremeh ORCID iD, Jonathan Edward Tetteh Kuwornu-Adjaottorc ORCID iD, Paul Kwabena Boafo ORCID iD & Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong ORCID iD

Issue: Vol. 12 No.5 2026 Issue Article 4 pp. 196 – 211
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20261254 Published online 30th June 2026.
© 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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This study explored the early years of the Ghana Evangelism Committee (GEC) from 1974 to 1985, tracing how an interdenominational mission organisation grew rapidly to a national scale and enjoyed prominence not only in Ghana but also across the African continent. It established that the purpose of GEC was, and remains, not to compete with the church but to address a practical issue in Ghanaian Christianity: how to mobilise a diverse ecclesial landscape for coordinated evangelisation while preserving denominational identities. The study was based on a qualitative institutional case study approach that incorporated archival stories, commemorative histories, constitutions, training manuals, survey reports, annual reports, and interviews, and interpreted the data using thematic analysis and data triangulation. The analysis revealed how GEC maintained a fast pace of growth through a church-based, reproducible evangelistic architecture centred on New Life for All (NLFA), district retreat systems, prayer-cell mobilisation, literature production, radio communication, and pastoral training. It also demonstrated that the early era, which bred a general evangelistic thrust and continent-wide familiarity, bequeathed the principles of subsequent church-growth approaches, saturation church planting, and mission intelligence. The study adds to the body of research on African Christian agency, parachurch mission, pragmatic ecumenism, and the history of mission mobilisation in postcolonial Ghana.

Keywords: Ghana Evangelism Committee, Mission Mobilisation, New Life for All, Para-Church Mission, Interdenominational Collaboration, Ghana, Evangelisation.

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Prince Adu-Gyamfi Kyeremeh (M.Phil) is an Assistant Lecturer at the St. Monica’s College of Education, Mampong-Ashanti, Ghana.

Jonathan Edward Tetteh Kuwornu-Adjaottor, PhD, is an Associate Professor of  New Testament and Mother Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics, Department of Religion and Human Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

Paul Kwabena Boafo, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Department of Religion and Human Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer, Department of Religion and Human Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

Kyeremeh, Prince Adu-Gyamfi, Jonathan Edward Tetteh Kuwornu-Adjaottor, Paul Kwabena Boafo, and Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong. “The Ghana Evangelism Committee, 1974–1985: Rapid mission expansion and early continental recognition.” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies 12, no.5 (2026): 196 – 211. https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20261254

© 2026 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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