The Role of Women in the Church of Pentecost: A Case Study of the Kwadaso Area – Kumasi, Ghana.

Samuel Kwasi Frimpong 

Issue: Vol.3  No.1 March 2022  Article 2 pp. 12-22
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/pecanep.2022312  |   Published online 11th March 2022.
© 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Views: 822
751 Downloads

DOWNLOAD PDF
This article is an investigation of the role of women in the Kwadaso Area, Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of the Church of Pentecost (CoP) in Ghana. It is stimulated by the realisation that while many of the Mainline Churches, as well as the African Independent Churches and Charismatic Churches have created avenues for women to play key roles and ordaining some as ministers at various levels, the CoP does not ordain female ministers.This entrenched position of the CoP has made its leadership (pastoral responsibilities) a male-dominated one in the context of not allowing females to become either District Pastors or Area Heads or to be called into the full-time. This action of the church is similar to the patriarchal structures of the Jewish community. This study used both primary and secondary sources in the collection of data. The data collection consisted of interviews, questionnaires and observations to assess whether the CoP has cultural challenges when it comes to the appointment of women into leadership positions. It was observed that, the highest leadership position a woman would be allowed to occupy in the CoP was a Deaconess. Also, the CoP has not officially opened up to discussions on the need to create gender equality when it comes to the appointment of members into leadership positions. The study recommended that the CoP should open up to discussions on the issue since the status of women is woefully inadequate. Again, the CoP leadership should re-look its Constitution with regards to enrolling only males into the ordained ministry.This study adds to the existing literature on women’s empowerment in the African Church.

Keywords: The Church of Pentecost (CoP), Culture, Leadership, Gender roles, gender inequality, gender equality.

Adasi,Grace Sintim.Gender and Change: Roles and Challenges of Ordained Women Ministers of the PCG, Gavoss Education PLC Ltd., Accra, 2016.

Ademiluka, Solomon O. 1 Corinthians 14:33b-36 in light of women and church leadership in Nigeria,Verbum et Ecclesia, 38(1), 1-8. https://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ve.v38i1.1672

Adeyemo, Tokunboh, Africa Bible Commentary, China: WordAlive Publishers, 2006.

Ampofo, Samuel Kumi, James Mckeown: the divine missionary, SonLife Press, Accra, Ghana, 2001.

Apusigah,Atia, Culture and National Institutions in Ghana: Institute for Education Development and Extension, University of Winneba, 2014.

Asamoah- Gyadu, J. Kwabena, Pentecostalism And The Missiological Significance of Religious Experience In Africa Today: The Case Of Ghana ‘Church of Pentecost’. Trinity Journal of Church And Theology 12 (1,2), (2002): 86-87.

Asare-Duah, Oppong, The gallant soldiers of the church of Pentecost: History of the Fathers of old whose relentless efforts gave birth to the church, Anniversary Brochure, ( n.d.), 154-156.

Asem, E. Kafui, A History of the Church of Pentecost, Volume 1, Pentecost Press, Ghana, 2005.

Baeta, C. G . Prophetism in Ghana: A Study of Some ‘Spiritual ‘ Churches. Achimota, Ghana: Africa Christian Press, 2004.

Barclay, William. The Daily Bible Study: The letters to Timothy, Titus & Philemon, India Theological Publications, 2001.

Boachie, John K. Attitude of Men and Women towards church activities in the AOG churches in the Old Tafo District, Kumasi(unpublished thesis), (University of Cape Coast, November, 2009).

______. An analysis of the activities of the women’s ministry in Assemblies of God, Ghana and its implications for church growth(unpublished thesis),(Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture, Akropong, 2012).

Brown, Judy L. Women Ministers According to Scriptures, Morris Publication, USA, 1996.

Dolphyne, Florence Abena, The emancipation of women: An African perspective, Accra: Ghana Universities Press, 1991.

Frimpong, Samuel Kwasi, Gender Equality in Classical Pentecostal Churches in Ghana: Assemblies of God and the Church of Pentecost as Case Studies. (Unpublished Thesis) Master of Philosophy, Department of Religious Studies,Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology 2014.

Kuwornu-Adjaottor, J.E.T. Interpretation of 1 Timothy 3 : 2A in some Ghanaians Mother-Tongue Translation of the Bible, Journal of African Bible Studies, 3,(2011): 43-51.

Larbi, E. Kingsley, Pentecostalism: The Eddies of Ghanaian Christianity, Accra: Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies (SAPC), 2001.

Oduyoye, Mercy Amba, Feminism: A pre-condition for Christian Anthropology. African Theological Journal, 2(3)1982, 15.

Oduyoye, Mercy Amba, Women in Religion and Culture: Essays in Honour of Constance Buchanan. Ibadan: Sefer Books Ltd. 2007.

Opoku Onyinah, Pentecostal Exorcism: Witchcraft and demonology in Ghana, Journal of Pentecostal Theology, Supplement Series 34, (2012): 134.

Osam, Kwaku E. (ed). ‘‘The effects of Religion and Traditional Barriers on Women’s Potential for Development,’’ New Life Theological Journal of Humanities, (2), (1998):89.

Quist, Ernestina Enyonam, Roles of the women in the Church of Pentecost in Ghana(unpublished thesis), (University of Ghana, Legon 2002).

Saucy Robert L. and Tenelshof, Judith K. Women and men in ministry: A Complementary Perspective, Chicago; Moody Press, 2001.

The Church of Pentecost-Ghana website; http://theophq.org/

The Church of Pentecost, 50 years of sustainable growth: James Mckeown Memorial Lectures, 2004.

The Church Of Pentecost: The Constitution Of The CoP, The General Council of COP, 2016.

The Life Aplication Study Bible, New International Version Edition, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, 1997.

Wallace, Jennifer, Free to Serve, God’s Liberated Women, (Wheaton, Illinois: Xulon Press, 2002).

Samuel Kwasi Frimpong is an Ordained Minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, with a BTH(Bachelor of Theology) from the Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon-Accra, Ghana. He also holds an MPhil in Religious Studies from the Department of Religious Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi – Ghana. He is currently a PhD Candidate in the same institution. His research interests center on Gender Equality in the Church and Society.

Frimpong, S.K. “The Role of Women in the Church of Pentecost: A Case Study of the Kwadaso Area – Kumasi, Ghana.” Pentecostalism, Charismaticism and Neo-Prophetic Movements Journal 3, no.1 (2022): 12-22. https://doi.org/10.38159/pecanep.2022312

© 2022 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