Mission Financing: The Case of Contemporary Prophetic Ministry in Ghana

Daniel Nii Aboagye AryehORCID iD

Issue: Vol.1  No.4 September 2020  Article 1 pp. 67-78
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/pecanep.2020091   |   Published online 17th September 2020.
© 2020 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Views: 1,718
1123 Downloads

DOWNLOAD PDF
This article discusses the ways in which “newly called prophets” begin and sustain ministry activities. It argues that among the various ways “newly called prophets” use to raise the needed funds to begin ministry is a bare-foot ministry in public places. It also posits that charging consultation fees as a requirement to receiving the services of a prophet, selling “anointing oil”, relics, and prophylactics to aid miracles for seekers, and as means of mobilizing funds to sustain ministry activities in the media lack effective biblical support. Even though money is a critical resource in mission and church life, the means that are used to mobilize funds from the congregants must not be oppressive. The study employed a narrative historical analytical approach towards the discussion of issues. It is recommended that contemporary prophets must adapt good biblical principles and fundraising strategies that do not over-burden congregants/donors.

Keywords: Mission financing, prophetic ministry, money, charisma.

Agbeti, J. Kofi.West African Church History: Christian Missions and Church Foundations: 1482-1919. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1986.

Anto, Isaac. The Office of the Prophet. Accra: Nobles Multimedia, 2011.

Aryeh, Daniel Nii Aboagye. The Relationship Between Christianity and Entrepreneurship: A Curriculum for Leadership Training for Pastors in Africa. in Understanding the Relationship Between Religion and Entrepreneurship edited by Khaled Tamzini and Anis Ben Salem, 25-50. Hershey PA, IGI Global, 2020. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-1802-1.ch002

_____.Socio-Rhetorical Exegesis of 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 for an Understanding of προφητης in Pauline Corpus and its Implications for Contemporary Prophetic Ministry in Ghana. A Master of Theology. Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon Ghana, 2015.

______.Urban Public Space Evangelism: Evangelism in Some Market Places in Ghana. Saarbrücken, Deutschland: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2015.

_______.A Study of Prophetism in the Gospels and Gã South Municipal Area: A Way Forward for Prophetic Ministry in Ghana’s Christianity. All Nations University Journal of Applied Thought 4, no.1 (2015): 196-221.

Asamoah-Gyadu, J. K. African Charismatics: Current Development Within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2005.

____.2013. Spirit and Spirits in African Religious Traditions. Veli-Matti Kӓrkkӓinen (ed.) Interdisciplinary and Religio-Cultural Discourses on a Spirit-Filled World: Loosing the Spirits. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013: 41-54.

_____.Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity: Interpretations from an African Context. Oxford, UK: Regnum Books International.

_____.Sighs and Signs of the Spirit: Ghanaian Perspective on Pentecostalism and Renewal in Africa. Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2015.

Assembly Warn Churches. Install Soundproof or Face Closure. April 10, 2014. The Ghanaian. Times.

Barclay, W. The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of John Vol. 2. Bangalore: Theological Publication in India. 2009.

Barrett, P. W.Tentmaking.Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin and Daniel G. Reid. Downers Grove, IL and Leicester: InterVarsity Press. 1993

Bierlich, B. The Problem of money: African Agency and Western Medicine in Northern Ghana. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2007.

Bishop Bonegas in Trouble: Police investigate him for unlawful Use of Cop. June 30 2015. Daily Graphic. June 30.

Churches, Business of Today. 1999. The Mirror. June 26, 2.

Churches must Pay Tax on Sale of Anointing Oil. 2015. The Ghanaian Times, January 26, 1,4.

Craddock, F. B. Luke.Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Preaching and Teaching, ed. James Luther Mays. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1990.

‘Dumsor’ has Reduced Offertory and Tithe – Kumchacha. 2015. The Al-Hajj. April 30, 9.

Ekem, John David Kwamena. Professorial Chair Inaugural Address. Journal of Mother Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics 1, no. 1 (2015): 158-173.

Evert, J. M. Financial Support. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin and Daniel G. Reid (Eds.) Dictionary of Paul and His Letters. Downers Grove, IL and Leicester: InterVarsity Press, 1993.

Fahey F. J. and Vrga, D. J. The Anomic Character of a Schism: Differential Perception of Functions of the Serbian Orthodox Church by Two Feuding Factions. Review of Religious Research 12, no.3 (1971): 177-185. https://doi.org/10.2307/3510421

Geest, S. van der. Money and Respect: The Changing Value of Old Age in Rural Ghana. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 67, no.4 (1997): 534-559. https://doi.org/10.2307/1161107

Gifford, Paul. Ghana’s New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalizing African Economy. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2004

Hamon, B. Prophets and the Prophetic Movement: God’s Prophetic Move Today. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image. 1990.

Holbraad, M. Expending Multiplicity: Money in If́aCults. Journal of the Royal Anthropology Institute 11, no.2 (2005): 231-254. Accessed September 14, 2019. https://atlasti.com/qualitative-research-methods/.

Jansen, H. Research, Narrative, and Representation: A Post narrative Approach. History and Theory, 58(1) (2019):67–88. doi:10.1111/hith.12100

Kaler, A. When They see Money, They Think It’s Life: Modernity and Morality in Two Sites in Rural Malawi. Journal of Southern African Studies 32, no.2 (2006): 335-349. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070600656333

Kunhiyop, S. W. African Christian Ethics. Nairobi: Hippo Books, 2008.

Mangena F. &Mhizha, S. The Rise of White Collar Prophecy in Zimbabwe: A Psycho-Ethical Statement. Ezra Chitando, MasiiwaRagiesGunda& Joachim Kügler (eds.) Prophets, Profits and the Bible in Zimbabwe. Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press, 2013: 133-152.

Maurer, B. The Anthropology of Money.Annual Review of Anthropology, 35 (21), (2006): 15-36.

Mbiti, J. S. Introduction to African Religion 2nd edi. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers,1975.

Meier, S. A. Themes and Transformations in Old Testament Prophecy. Downers Grove, Illinois InterVarsity Press. 2009.

Methodist Bishop Supports Tax on Anointing Oil. 2015. The Ghanaian Times, February 9, 15.

Niven, W. D. The Conflicts of the Early Church. London: Hodder and Stoughton Limited. 1979.

Obeng, P. Abibisom (Indigenous Religion) by Another Name: A Critical Look at Deliverance Ministry in Ghana. Trinity Journal of Church and Theology, 18 (2), (2014): 27-40.

Omenyo, Cephas N. Pentecost outside Pentecostalism: A Study of the Development of Charismatic Renewal in the Mainline Churches in Ghana (Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum  Publishing House, 2002.

Omenyo C. N. and Arthur, W. A. The Bible Says! Neo-Prophetic Hermeneutics in Africa. Studies in World Christianity 19, no.1 (2013):  50–70. https://doi.org/10.3366/swc.2013.0038

Opoku, K. A. West African Traditional Religion. Accra: FEP International Private Limited, 1978.

Ott. C and Wilson, G. Global Church Planting: Biblical Principles and Best Practices for Multiplication. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011.

Plueddemann, J. E. 2007. Theological Implications of Globalizing Missions. Craig Ott and Harold A. Netland (Eds.) Globalizing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in an Era of World Christianity. Nottingham: InterVarsity Press. 2007

Porter, H. Shekel. James Orr Ed., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Volume IV. Grand Rapids,M: WM.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1949.

Prophet ‘One’ Challenges T. B. Joshua over Banku and Ayittey Powers bout. 2014. The New Places & People. (April 2014): 7-9.

Quarcoopome, T. N. O. West African Traditional Religion. Ibadan: African Universities Press, 1987.

Quayesi-Amakye, J. 2013. Prophetism in Ghana Today: A Study of Trends in Ghanaian Pentecostal Prophetism, n.c.: n.p., 2013.

Quayesi-Amakye, J. Prophetic Practices in Contemporary Pentecostalism in Ghana. Canadian Journal of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity 6, (2015): 43-69.

Rawlings Jabs Obinim, Kumchacha: Calls them False Prophets. 2014. Daily Guide. November 12,

Scott, L. Money. John Corrie (Ed.) Dictionary of Mission Theology Evangelical Foundation. Nottingham and Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2007.

Street Preachers Banned in Sunyani. 2014. Weekend Finder. August 1 – August 7, 3.

Tasker, R. V. G. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: The Gospel According to St. John. Grand Rapids, MI: WM.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980.

Vitell, S. J, Paolillo, J. G. P. and Singh, J. J. The Role of Money and Religious in Determining Consumers’ Ethics Beliefs.Journal of Business Ethics 64, no.2 (2006): 117-124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-005-1901-x

White, P. and Niemandt, C. J. P. Ghanaian Pentecostal Churches’ Mission Approaches. Journal of Pentecostal Theology 24, no.2 (2015): 241-269. https://doi.org/10.1163/17455251-02402010

Yankah,Kwesi. .Education, Literacy and Governance: A Linguistic Inquiry into Ghana’s Burgeoning Democracy. Accra: Combert Impressions, March 2006.

2010 Population and Housing Census, Summary Report of Final Results, Statistical Service of Ghana. May 2012.

Daniel Nii Aboagye Aryeh is the Dean of the School of Theology, Perez University College. He is a PhD Candidate at Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon.

Aryeh, Daniel N. A.,”Mission Financing: The Case of Contemporary Prophetic Ministry in Ghana” Pentecostalism, Charismaticism and Neo-Prophetic Movements Journal 1, no 4 (2020): 67-78. https://doi.org/10.38159/pecanep.2020091

© 2020 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Articles in this Issue

About Journal