View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Birmingham Research Archive, E-theses Repository NEGOTIATING THE INTEGRATION STRATEGIES AND THE TRANSNATIONAL STATUSES OF GHANAIAN-LED PENTECOSTAL CHURCHES IN BRITAIN By BERNARD OTOPAH APPIAH A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham For the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Philosophy, Theology and religion College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham December 2014 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT Christianity has seen phenomenal growth in sub-Saharan Africa and African churches in the West have also grown rapidly in the last few decades. The majority of members in these churches in the West are migrants and their children. In Britain, these migrant churches represent a vibrant form of Christianity with regard to their visibility and prominence. Considering the history of these migrants’ churches and the challenges they face in their efforts to evangelise the host community, most migrant members of these churches use the churches as the platform for their own expression of personhood, faith and mission. The relationships the migrants maintain with their churches, host communities and their places of origin gives them a transnational status. Beyond the superficial tagging of these churches as transnational entities is the need to enquire how the churches negotiate these multifaceted networks of relationships to become transnational. As a result, the focus of the thesis is on the detailed processes that take place within this relationship, which gives the churches and the migrant members a transnational status. This leads to the examination of the internal strategies designed and implemented by the churches to assist members to integrate into the wider society. These internal strategies otherwise referred to as micro-integration strategies in the thesis, concentrate on preparing the members for living in the communities they reside in. It is argued that these internal strategies determine the level of contextualisation of beliefs and praxis in the host communities, thus creating a new identity that is a combination of Ghanaian and British values. The study has explored how the internal integration strategies and the contextualisation of the Ghanaian migrants’ faith determine the extent to which the churches assume a transnational status in their outlook and the expression of their faith. To The Late Ebenezer Atta Otopah ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For the tremendous support received from friends and colleagues at the Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies at the University of Birmingham, the Centre for World Christianity at the University of Edinburgh, and Dr Kofi Asare during the tenure of my study, this work is a tribute. I am particularly grateful for the encouragement, love and support of my wife Mrs Juliana Appiah, our children: Chrystabel, Faith and Leon who were a source of joy and motivation. I appreciate them sincerely for being understanding. I am indebted to Prof. Dr. Allan Anderson, my supervisor for his acceptance to supervise my research, his interest, helpful insight and resources he made available to me to complete this research. I am also grateful to Dr Afe Adogame of the University of Edinburgh, for the encouragement to get onto the academic ladder once again after a break. I also appreciate Dr Heather Buckingham for editing the thesis. I am thankful to the help and support of Dr Shadrach Ofosu-Ware, Senior Pastor of Freedom Centre International and Rev Sam Korankye Ankrah who was a constant source of encouragement and upliftment throughout my studies. ‘O for a thousand tongues to sing’ the praises of my God. I am grateful to God for what he has done in my life and how far He’s brought me. TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Significance of the study 6 1.3 Engaging the Literature 9 1.4 Theoretical Framework 14 1.5 Methodology 19 1.6 Limitations 27 1.7 Structure of the Thesis 27 2. MIGRATIONS AND HISTORY OF AFRICAN-LED CHURCHES IN BRITAIN 29 2.1 Analysis of Migration Theories and Factors Precipitating Migration 29 2.1.1 The Missing ‘Religious’ Factor of Migration 33 2.1.2 Migration and Globalisation 34 2.1.3 Ghanaian Migration to Britain and the Immigration Policy Debate 36 2.2 Situating the Ghanaian-led Pentecostal church within the African-led Churches and Global Pentecostalism. 41 2.3 Pentecostalism, Ghanaian Indigenous Cosmologies and Communities 46 2.3.1 Pentecostalism and Ghanaian Indigenous Cosmologies 47 2.3.2 Pentecostalism and Ghanaian Indigenous Communities 50 2.4 History and Organisation of Ghanaian-led Churches in Britain 52 2.5 Analysing the Churches: The People and the Vision 68 2.5.1 The People 68 2.5.2 The Vision 70 2.5.3 Leadership 72 2.6 Summary and Discussion 74 3. INTEGRATION STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THE GHANAIAN-LED PENTECOSTAL CHURCHES 79 3.1 Introduction 79 3. 2 On Integration, Society And the Church 81 3.3 Social welfare intervention programs to mitigate ‘uprootedness’ 91 3.3.1 Immigration and Nationality Forum 101 3.3.2. Personal Development, Leadership Training 105 3.3.3 Financial Empowerment and Business Workshop 117 3.4 Education and training through the use of the mass media by the churches; and the creation of a new 'Ghanaian-British' identity 130 3.4.1 Promoting the Pastors through Media Initiatives 134 3.4.2 Promoting the Church and its International Connections 140 3.4.3 Promoting God 144 3.4.4 The ‘Nature and Nurture’ Combination Determining Ghanaian-British Religious Identity 149 3.5 The Multi-cultural Pendulum: Oscillations of Religious and Social Convictions to establish Ghanaian-British Identity 154 3.5.1 Church Worship and Liturgy 156 3.5.2 Co-habitation and the Marriage of Convenience 158 3.5.3 Personal Giving and Money Management 163 3.6 Summary and Discussion 168 4. CONTEXTUALISATION: CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITY OF AFRICAN PENTECOSTAL CHRISTIANITY IN THE SETTLED COMMUNITY 171 4.1 Introduction 171 4.2 Prophetic Consultation 173 4.2.1 Prophetic Consultation in Ghana 176 4.2.2 Prophetic Consultation in Britain 177 4.2.2.1 The Theological Controversy 179 4.3 Libations and Libation Language in Pentecostal Prayer 183 4.3.1 Indigenous Libation Practice 183 4.3.2 Libation Prayer Use In Ghana 187 4.3.3 Libation Language Use in Britain 189 4.4 Naming (Din to) and ‘Outdooring’ Ceremonies 191 4.4.1 Naming (Din to) and ‘Outdooring’ in Ghana 194 4.4.2 The Pentecostal Din to Experience in Ghana. 194 4.4.3 Naming (Din to) and ‘Outdooring’ in Britain 196 4.5 Expelling malevolent spirits as Deliverance 198 4.5.1 Deliverance Practice In Ghana 198 4.5.2 Deliverance practice in Britain 203 4.6 The Youth, Music, Dance and Choreography 206 4.6.1 The Youth, Indigenous Music and Dance and Choreography 206 4.6.2 A Legacy Continued In Churches in Ghana 209 4.6.3 Youth, Music, Dance and Choreography in Britain 212 4.7 The Public Perception Discourse of The Ghanaian-led Churches 216 4.8 Summary and Discussion 222 5. THE RIPPLES OF THE TRANSNATIONAL STATUSES OF THE CHURCHES IN BRITAIN 224 5.1 Introduction 224 5.2 Changes to the Religious landscape 225 5.2.1 The changing landscape: contra-flow of the transnational influence 232 5.2.1.1 Strict Adherence to Time 234 5.2.1.2 Use of Mass media and Social Networking Platforms by Ghanaian Churches 237 5.3 Community Regeneration through Socio-Economic Infrastructural Development 240 5.4 Summary and Discussion 244 6. CONCLUSION AND FINDINGS 247 6.1 Introduction 247 6.2 Continuity and Discontinuity of Ghanaian Pentecostal Beliefs and Praxis in Ghanaian-led Pentecostal Churches 251 6.3 Internal Integration Strategies 255 6.4 Assuming the Transnational Status 259 BIBLIOGRAPHY 263 Church Documents and other Reports 279 Audio Visual Sources 279 APPENDIX 1 281 APPENDIX 2 285 APPENDIX 3 290 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background The last few decades have witnessed an unprecedented flow of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to the West. These migrants bring their religions with them, creating religious communities in the diaspora and ‘resulting in the remapping of old religious landscapes’.1 These migrants have included adherents of indigenous African Religions, Muslims and Christians. Like the migrants of the other religions mentioned above, the Christians among them come from different Christian denominations. Significant among these denominations are the Pentecostals who upon arrival congregate themselves together and request a pastor from their place or origin, or in some instances plant their own church with ties to their parent church or churches at the place of origin. The motivation for this phenomenon is that Africans are religious no matter where they find themselves.2 One important feature of these churches is that the predominant nationality of the members is in most cases determined by the nationality of the leader or pastor in charge of the churches, apart from the factor of the origins of the church itself. So for instance a church may be designated as a ‘Nigerian Church’ such as Matthew Ashimolowo’s Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC), Glory House led by the Odulele brothers or Christ Faith Tabernacle led by Apostle Alfred Williams; a ‘Ghanaian Church’ such as the International Central Gospel Church led by Dr 1 Afe Adogame, “African Christian Communities in Diaspora,” in O.