The Spirit in the World

The Spirit in the World

Author: Veli-Matti Karkkainen

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2009-08-26

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0802862810

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Pentecostal scholars from four continents here offer constructive theological proposals focusing on the role of the Holy Spirit in diverse cultural and religious contexts. Typical Pentecostal topics Spirit-baptism, healing, and other charisms are interwoven with such themes as post-colonialism, religious plurality, racial diversity, and cultural heritage.


The Political Economy of Heaven and Earth in Ghana

The Political Economy of Heaven and Earth in Ghana

Author: Charles Prempeh

Publisher: African Books Collective

Published: 2023-09-30

Total Pages: 472

ISBN-13: 9956553905

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In March 2017, the president of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa-Akufu announced his intention to build a national cathedral to the people of Ghana. The announcement elicited watertight counter arguments that morphed into two a priori re-litigated assumptions: First, Ghana is a secular country and second, religion and state formation are incompatible. Informed by a frustrating paradox of an overwhelming religious presence and concurrent pervasive corruption in the country, public conversation reached a cul-de-sac of “conviction without compromising.” In The Political Economy of Heaven and Earth in Ghana, Charles Prempeh deploys the national cathedral as an entry point to provide both interdisciplinary and autoethnographic understanding of religion and politics. The book shows the capacity of religion, when properly cultivated and curated as a worldview to answer the why questions of life, will foster personal, moral, collective and ontological responsibility. All this is needed to stem the tide against corruption, commodity fetishism, environmental degradation (illegal mining—galamsey), heritage destruction and religious exploitation. Prempeh recuperates a historical fact about the mutual inclusivity between religion and politics—politics helping to manage differences, while religion provides a transcendental reason for unity to be forged for human flourishing. Separating the two is, therefore, ahistorical and an obvious threat to the intangible virtues that answers, “why and how” questions for public governance.


Transmitting the Spirit in Missions

Transmitting the Spirit in Missions

Author: Amos Jimmy Markin

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2019-02-05

Total Pages: 339

ISBN-13: 1532662424

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Transmitting the Spirit in Missions: The History and Growth of the Church of Pentecost discourses on how Pentecostalism in general has been involved in the current growth, mission, and changing face of global Christianity. It argues that African Pentecostals particularly are an integral part of the global expansion of Christianity in this century. Specifically, this book engages the history and growth of the Church of Pentecost, an African Pentecostal denomination from Ghana, to demonstrate how African Pentecostals have taken their spirituality into their own hands and planted churches in their home country, as well as other parts of the globe. The focus of this book is that African Pentecostals have achieved this feat through the experiential power and reliance of the Holy Spirit and the indigenous factor. The specific highlight is that this book is an updated analysis of the history, growth, and missions of the Church of Pentecost. Although this work is transformed from a PhD thesis, the content is presented accessibly to both the academia and general church populace, both pastors and the laity.


Pentecostal Exorcism

Pentecostal Exorcism

Author: Opoku Onyinah

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2019-05-21

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 9004397108

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"Witchcraft" and exorcism have long been dominant features of life in African cultures. This unique book provides a thorough, field research-based description and analysis of a specifically Pentecostal Christian response to these phenomena within the Akan culture of Ghana. Anthropological studies generally claim that the ultimate goal of exorcism is modernisation. Using interdisciplinary studies with a theological focus, the author takes a different view, arguing that it is divinatory consultation or an inquiry into the sacred and the search for meaning that underlies the current "deliverance" ministry, where the focus is to identify and break down the so-called demonic forces by the power of God and to "deliver" people from their torment. The deliverance ministry is one attempt to contextualise the gospel for African people. However, preoccupation with demonisation and exorcistic practices is found to bring Christianity into tension with the Akan culture, family ties and other religions. In order to develop a properly safeguarded ministry of exorcism in an African context, the author examines contextualisation and suggests the integration into African Christianity of divinatory consultation, which has strong resonances with the biblical concept of prayer.


Good Pastors, Bad Pastors

Good Pastors, Bad Pastors

Author: Dela Quampah

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2014-08-20

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 1630877719

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The emergence of Pentecostalism in Ghana has attracted a massive following and generated institutions that have significantly impacted Christian discourse and national life. The movement has produced prominent leaders who have developed exemplary Christian education programs and generated volumes of Christian literature unprecedented in Ghanaian Christianity. Nevertheless, public opinion often upbraids church leaders for unethical conduct. Despite the concern for high moral standards set by Pentecostal church polity and ministerial ethical codes, reports of Pentecostal ministerial misconduct appear regularly in the media. Although congregation members and perceptive public observers appreciate the constructive moral impact of Pentecostal ministers, instances of promiscuity, power abuse, financial misappropriation, and superstition reveal a gap between ethical ideals and practice. As this research reveals, factors behind unethical ministerial conduct include inadequate training, poor accountability, and a general low level of ethical reflection. Good Pastors, Bad Pastors suggests that a multidimensional approach of responsible reportage, emphatic moral education, appropriate but sympathetic response to moral failure, and peer-review accountability could help uphold a higher standard of ministerial ethics.


SACRIFICIAL SERVANT LEADER

SACRIFICIAL SERVANT LEADER

Author: PIOUS JOSEPH PAUL YANZUH

Publisher: ACTS MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL

Published: 2020-04-08

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13:

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This book discusses how these lay persons are inspired to lead, serve, and nurture congregations. Using the model which Jesus taught on servant leadership – “the son of man came to serve and not to be served” (Matt 20:28; Mk 10:45), an exploration is conducted on the concept of servant leadership, the characteristics and behaviors of sacrificial servant leaders, and the environmental factors that motivate sacrificial servant leaders to be effective in the Church. The purpose of this book is to encourage and motivate leaders to be sacrificial servant leaders and to enhance an effective church ministry. In this contemporary era and more than ever before, there is a need for sacrificial servant leadership and team-work to cope with the needs of the congregation. However, I approach sacrificial Servant leadership as the process of serving followers towards growth through sacrificial and selfless stewardship based on the example of Jesus Christ viewed within the Christian faith. In essence, the concepts of “sacrificial”, “selflessness”, and “stewardship” are foundational and define the larger facets of sacrificial servant leadership.


It Can't Be True! 2

It Can't Be True! 2

Author: DK

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2016-09-13

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1465459014

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All the amazing facts in this book are strange but true. With clever, yet easy-to-understand visual comparisons, you will make sense of things that seem too bizarre to be real. In It Can't Be True! 2, you can see a hippo's mouth large enough to swallow a car, a truck strong enough to carry 90 elephants, and a jellyfish longer than three blue whales. Plus, did you know that all the world's continents could fit into the Pacific Ocean? Or that all the world's trees could fill North and South America combined? These concepts are brought to life with fascinating CGI artworks. Find out how much paper you'd need to print out the World Wide Web (hint: it's a stack taller than the height of Earth's globe), how much sweat your feet produce in a day (it could fill a glass), and much more in this collection of weird facts and world records from planet Earth and space, animals and plants, people, and technology. If you think it can't be true, It Can't Be True! 2 will prove that it is!


Re-Visioning African Pentecostal-Charismatic Ecclesiology in the Public Sphere

Re-Visioning African Pentecostal-Charismatic Ecclesiology in the Public Sphere

Author: Christian Tsekpoe

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2024-09-05

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13:

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Despite the current impressive numerical growth of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity in Africa, there remain some concerns about the extent to which the church is making the desired impact in the public space. As the church grows numerically, the African continent is ironically plagued with many regrettable stories of corruption, bad governance, sexual abuse, gender discrimination and perversion, environmental degradation, robbery, economic crisis (leading to poverty and hunger), wars, and other social vices. This paradoxical increase in vices, alongside the demographic growth of the Christian population on the continent, has caused many to question the social impact of African Christianity. Re-Visioning African Pentecostal-Charismatic Ecclesiology in the Public Sphere is a response to these observations. The contributors to this volume, who are made up of seasoned academics (theological educators and missiologists) and mission practitioners, have engaged the subject from multidisciplinary perspectives, highlighting significant contributions of African Pentecostalism while pointing out critical areas for urgent attention. The volume is intended to stimulate conversations around the church’s mandate of influencing the public sphere as an agent of social transformation.


Road to Ghana

Road to Ghana

Author: Alfred Hutchinson

Publisher: Penguin Classics

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13:

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Following his acquittal on charges of treason in 1958, Alfred Hutchinson decided to flee South Africa. One evening he said goodbye to the woman he loved, boarded a train travelling northwards, and headed off into the unknown. This is the true story of one man's flight across colonial Africa.