Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org ISSN (Paper)2224-5766 ISSN (Online)2225-0484 (Online) Vol.6, No.14, 2016 The Coming and Spread of the Salvation Army in Ghana: 1922- 2012 Evang. Isaac Boapeah Central University College Abstract The Salvations Army is a Christian denomination and a charitable organization which started in 1865 in East London by the Rev. William Booth and his wife Mrs. Catherine Booth who broke away from the Methodist Church. The Army works with a philosophy that “heart to God and hands to man”. It also uses military titles. In Ghana, the Salvation Army has health centres and educational institutions. The Army has its presence in 126 countries as of today. The Army got established in Ghana in 1922 through King Hudson. This work looks at how it has spread throughout Ghana. Introduction The Salvation Army is a Christian church denomination and a charitable organization with the philosophy that; ‘heart to God and hand to man’. The Salvation Army in Ghana is a member of the Christian council of Ghana. This work looks at how The Salvation Army (The Army) came to Ghana, then Gold Coast, and has spread to all the ten political regions in Ghana. It briefly looks at the establishment of the Army in London before it came to Ghana. This study also briefly throws some light on the religious setting within which the Army flourished in Ghana. This is considered because one of the factors that makes a crop to do well include the very land on which it is planted. Ghana has a pluralistic religious environment. Elom Dovlo has noted that it is common to find people of different religious beliefs living together in the same house. The religions in Ghana are mainly Christianity, Islam, African Traditional Religion (ATR) and Oriental Religions (religions that originate from the Eastern world). 1 Constitutionally, Ghana is a secular state; however, the constitution permits freedom of religion. 2 From the 2012 national housing and population census, 71.2 % of the populations are Christians, 17.6% are Moslems, and ATR has 5.2%, Oriental Religions 0.8% and no religion 5.2%. 3 The religious scene in the Gold Coast before the arrival of The Salvation Army The Salvation Army arrived in the Gold Coast in 1922. This part of the study looks at the religious scene in the Gold Coast before and around 1922. The essence of this is to find out the religious setting within which The Salvation Army came and flourished. By 1922, the religions one could notice in the Gold Coast were African Traditional Religion, Islam and Christianity. It is possible there were few people who professed other religions like Hinduism and Buddhism, but their presence could not be felt. ATR is the oldest religion in the Gold Coast. It could be found in all parts of the country. The situation was such that every traditional king or chief of the Gold Coast had a Traditional Priest who helped him with spiritual matters. In the Gold Coast, most traditional areas had festivals they celebrated. The Traditional Priest played very important roles in the celebration of the traditional festival. Most of the towns in the Gold Coast had taboos to be observed. Such taboos were normally given to the communities through the Traditional Priest. Should there be a break of a taboo which could result in disaster on the community, the Traditional Priest performed sacrifices to atone for the break of the taboo. 4 ATR was receptive, such that when one was serving a god and did not get the desired results, one could abandon that god and go for another god that would provide the desired request. The receptivity of ATR allows new gods and new religions to be introduced into any community if that god or religion does not pose any threat to it (ATR). 5 As a result, Islam and Christianity found comfortable grounds in the Gold Coast. Islam is the first foreign religion that entered the Gold Coast. It entered through the northern parts of the country in the 15 th century AD. Moslems who came to the Gold Coast initially did not have in mind coming to spread Islam. They came basically as traders but eventually found their religion established in the Gold 1 Elom Dovlo, ‘Engagement of Muslims and Christians in Post Independence Ghana’ Journal of African Christian Thought , Vol. 7 No. 2, (Dec, 2004) pp. 48-55. 2 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana (1992), Accra, Assembly Press of Ghana Publishing Corporation, pp. 27-28. 3 www.ghanembassy.org/index.php?page=population 4 John J. Smith African Religions and Philosophy , England, Clays Ltd, (1990), pp. 58-61. 5 Asare K. Opoku, West African Traditional Religion , Nigeria, Kucena Damian (Nig) Ltd, (1978), pp. 27-34. 86 Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org ISSN (Paper)2224-5766 ISSN (Online)2225-0484 (Online) Vol.6, No.14, 2016 Coast. 1 In the early stages of Islam in the Gold Coast, it was found in the Northern parts of the country. With time, it spread to the Southern parts of the country. 2 Islam in the Gold Coast influenced both great and small. Some Islamic religious practices mixed with some practices of African Traditional Religion of the north of the Gold Coast. The fifth Asantehene (Chief of Asante Kingdom), Nana Osei Kwame, was converted to Islam. He was removed from his office because he wanted to establish Koranic Law as the civil code for the Asante Kingdom. 3 Moslems who migrated to the South of the Gold Coast stayed in the Zongos (the isolated quarters where Moslems who migrated to the south of the Gold Coast). Islamic spiritualists (called malams in Ghana) used to prepare charms and amulets. These are mystical objects which are kept to protect the holder against evil spiritual attacks and also it could be used to harm enemies spiritually. The mystical objects attracted some people of the south to Islam; this was because there was the belief that harms and disasters were caused by witches and other evil spirits. 4 There was therefore the desire to be protected from these evil spiritual powers in some of the natives, south of the Gold Coast. Christianity is the second major foreign religion that entered the Gold Coast. It entered in 1482 through the Roman Catholic Franciscan Friars who accompanied the Portuguese traders. At that time Christianity did not have significant influence on the natives. Christianity was found mainly in the forts and castles. 5 In the 19 th century, other European missionaries came to the Gold Coast and this time succeeded in planting churches in many parts of the Gold Coast. Christian missions that were established before 1922 included the Anglican Church, Methodist Church, the Basel Mission Church (currently the Presbyterian Church of Ghana) and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. 6 European Missionaries who came to the Gold Coast from the 19 th century onwards were mostly people who had been educated within the scope of the enlightenment, who related all occurrences to scientific causes and effects only. 7 For example, they thought that diseases could only be caused by germs. This was contrary to the native African worldview that the spirit world could influence the material world either negatively or positively. 8 The Western mission churches had liturgies that were solemn. They did not seem to have solutions to the spiritual problems that the Gold Coast converts were facing. This gave room for the later establishment of African Independent Churches (AIC). For example, in 1917, one Anim N. Peter who was of a Presbyterian background started a prayer group at Asamankese in the current Eastern Region. By faith and prayers, he got testimonies of healing without medication. 9 He was encouraged by the testimonies and so started a kind of revival that the church should use only ‘Faith Prayers’ for healing. This was because most sicknesses were believed to be caused by evil spirits which should be fought spiritually through prayers. This revival spread quickly throughout Eastern Region. The support Anim received pointed out that there was a quest for Christian solution to the problems which the mainline churches had not addressed in the Gold Coast. It was against this background that when King Hudson (Amoako Atta) traveled and met The Salvation Army he was convinced that the Army was a kind of church that would be good for him and his people in the Gold Coast. 10 He saw The Salvation Army liturgy to be vibrant (very spiritual and effective) as compared to the solemn liturgy of the Methodist Church which he and his family were attending in the Gold Coast. He became more interested in The Salvation Army and his desire became a reality when he was trained a pastor of the Army and was commissioned to come and open branches of the Army in the Gold Coast. We now turn our attention to the establishment of The Salvation Army. Foundation of The Salvation Army at East London The Salvation Army was founded by William Booth and his wife Catherine. William Booth was an ordained minister of the Methodist Church in England. After four years of successful probation he was ordained a minister 1 Cephas N. Omenyo, Pentecost outside Pentecostalism, a Study of the Development of the Charismatic Renewal in the mainline churches in Ghana, The Netherlands, Boekencentrum Publishing House (2006), p. 31 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 Opoku, West African Traditional Religion, pp. 27-34 5 Ogbu U. Kalu (ed), African Christianity, An African Story , South Africa, Business Print Centre, (2005) pp.