A Proposal on an Assessment of Deliverance Ministry and Its Relevance to Evangelism in the Apostolic Church Sapele Area
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the relationship between deliverance ministry and church evangelism in Apostolic church
- To examine the belief and practice of deliverance in apostolic church
- To determine the most effective forms of evangelism as a result of deliverance ministry
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
Healing, deliverance and church growth are major themes considered very central to this research. These main themes have received scholarly discussions in their distinctive senses but not in how they relate with each other into details. For the purpose of this thesis, literature on general and specific areas of healing, deliverance, church growth and the history of Charismatic Pentecostal Churches in Ghana are considered for review. Allan Anderson’s work is considered one of the fundamental works which provides historical background to understanding the origin of the Charismatic Pentecostal phenomenon in Christianity. It also illustrates how the movements started and their subsequent development into distinctive new Christian religious movements and independent churches worldwide. He asserts that the contemporary Charismatic Pentecostal phenomena defeats universally acceptable definition due to the diversity in the seemingly common Charismatic Pentecostal practices. However, he defines the Charismatic Pentecostal phenomenon broadly as one that describes ‘globally all churches and movements that emphasize the working in of the gift of the Spirit, both on phenomenological and theological grounds’. Asamoah-Gyadu uses organizational structures to identify three categories of Charismatic Pentecostal churches in Ghana. These include the non-denominational groups which comprise individuals who belong to other established churches, the renewal movements that exist and operate within their mother churches, and the independently established Charismatic churches. Despite the diversity of their organizational status, these Charismatic Pentecostal religious groups, according to Anderson, have common practices and are similar in their approaches to religious activities. Among these practices are emphasis on the reliance on the Holy Spirit and the demonstration of his eminence in the activities of believers. Such activities include spontaneous praying, joyful singing, handclapping and dancing, periodic Bible study meeting, fast, public evangelistic crusades, healing and deliverance, prophesying, testimonies, and speaking in tongues. The history of Charismatic and Pentecostal churches in Ghana and the world is usually traced from America with reference to the Azusa Street experience of 1906. However, Anderson is of the view that, in recounting the Charismatic experience in Africa, and Ghana in particular, the influence of isolated activities of African prophets some of which became the founders of the African Instituted Churches cannot be denied. According to Anderson, the Charismatic Pentecostal churches ‘are essentially of African origin and fulfil African aspirations, with a root in a marginalised and underprivileged society struggling to find dignity and identity in the face of brutal colonialism and oppression’. Contrasting the African nature of Charismatic Pentecostal churches with the western mission churches, Allan Anderson argued that the Charismatic Pentecostal churches are motivated by a desire to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of Africans, offering solutions to life’s problems and ways to cope with the threatening and hostile world Some scholars have described Ghanaian Charismatic Pentecostal Churches as the fastest growing churches in the past three decades.25 This rapid growth, according Anderson, is attributed to the churches’ focus on making meaning of the contemporary existential problems that confront Christians through their contextualization approach. For these scholars, the Charismatic Pentecostal churches are experiencing this rapid growth because most of these churches are able to fashion out programmes that respond to the contextual needs of members and non members. In addition to the dynamism of the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches’ practices, which play very significant roles on their growth, Anderson identified faith healing and deliverance as one of their paramount practices. For him, among the different practices of the Charismatic Pentecostals, healing and deliverance is one of the most common which has been alluded to as having played tremendous role in the growth of the churches. This is inferred from the idea that most people become members of the church after they have been healed or delivered from one kind of ill-health or the other. The idea where people become affiliates and members of religious groups commensurate with this position thereby lays the foundation for this research as it investigates the relationship between healing and deliverance and church growth. Asamoah-Gyadu, offers the historical background to the emergence and practices of Pentecostal churches in Ghana. In tracing the history of Charismatic and Pentecostal practices in Ghana, Asamoah-Gyadu considered what he calls the religious and theological contribution of the older African Independent Churches.29 For him, the history of Charismatic Pentecostal churches is the continuity of the history of the African Independent churches. Apart from its general exposition on Pentecostals, the book is also considered to be very relevant to the current research due to its in-depth discussion on healing and deliverance, which are two concepts and practices classified as very central to this study. This literature, therefore, provides the grounds for understanding healing and deliverance in practical and conceptual senses and the role it plays in church growth. The concept of deliverance is the focus of Atiemo’s work. 30 In this study, the researcher examines the practice of deliverance in the history of the church as well as in contemporary Christian practices in the light of the Akan concept of Mmusu and Mmusuyi. The author defines deliverance as ‘a form of ritual that seeks ostensibly, to actualize for the believer all the benefits of God’s work of salvation in Jesus Christ. It seeks to provide the means by which the blessings – spiritual and temporal – of Christ’s work may be attained by the believer.’31 The study reveals that at times humans become vulnerable in certain situations due to factors that can be explained from religious perspectives, and as a result, can only be resolved by reference to religious approaches. The research provides an understanding into the African conception of the human and demonstrates how the human can be restored through an elaborate method and practice of deliverance. This literature does not only provide an understanding of the concept and practice of deliverance, but it also reveals some situations that interrupt the stability of humans and hence the resort to deliverance.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work. The choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to an assessment of deliverance ministry and its relevance to Evangelism in the Apostolic Church in Sapele Area
METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS
The researcher will employ oral and direct interview in administering this research questions. Responses from the respondents were needed unlike questionnaires, which is less rewarding due to late receipt and loss of responses from respondents. The method of data analysis that will be used by the researcher is the simple percentage. More so, percentage and degrees of the responses will also be used in the analysis. Here, the ratio of those whose responses were not in the affirmative will be found and conclusions will be drawn there upon. Representations of the level of responses will be made in tabular form. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software will be used to test the hypotheses.
References
- Amoah, Elizabeth, (Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2009).African Traditional Religion and the Concept of poverty in Peter J. Paris, (ed.), Religion and Poverty : Pan- African Perspective
- Anderson, Allan, An Introduction to Pentecostalism (Cambridge University Press, 2004): Global Charismatic Christianity
- Appiah-Kubi, Kofi, Man Cures, God Heals( Friendship Press, 1981).: Religion and Medical Practice among the Akans of Ghana
- Asamoah-Gyadu, Kwabena, J., African Charismatics ( Koninklijke Brill NV, 2005): Current Developments within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana
- Asamoah-Gyadu Kwabena, J., (Regnum Books International, 2013). Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity: interpreting from An African Context
- Ashigbie W. E., (ed), The History of the Global Evangelical Church- 1847-2011 (Accra Global Evangelical Publishing Services, 2012).
- Awolalu, Omosade J., & Dopamu, Adelumo P., (Onibonoje Press & Books Limited, 1979). West African Traditional Religion Baeta, C. G., Prophetism in Ghana SCM Press Ltd, 1962).: A Study of Some ‘Spiritual’ Churches).
- Bosch, David, Transforming Missions(Mary Knoll: Orbits Books, 1991): Paradigm in Theology of Missions
- Craig Ott & Gene Wilson in, Global Church Planting( Baker Academic, 2011). :Biblical Principles and best practices for Multiplication Emmanuel Kingsley Larbi, Pentecostalism Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies, 2001) ; the Eddies of Ghanaian Christianity
- Engel, G. ‘The Need for a New Medical Model( Addison Wesley Co, 1981) : A Challenge for Biomedicine’ in A. Caplan et. al. (eds), Concepts of Health and Disease
- Ferguson, Sinclair B., et. al. (ed), (Leicester: Intervarsity Press, 1988).
