Presbyterian Church of Ghana

The Presbyterian Church of Ghana represents the harmonious blending of several traditions, primarily through the Basel Mission and the Scottish Mission. The Basel Mission started the work in 1828. After difficult beginnings the mission was firmly established by 1854, with the help of Christians from the West Indies. A seminary was founded and the Twi language put in writing. By the end of the century the mission achieved its long-cherished goal of working among the Asante people. In 1917 the Basel missionaries had to leave because of the war situation in Europe. The Church of Scotland responded to a call for help. This explains why the Reformed Church in Ghana adopted the presbyterian organizational model. In the 1940s the church extended its work to the northern parts of the country. In 2000 the church adopted the general assembly system for its governance.

The PCG has six departments. Church life and nurture deals with various ministries: children and youth, women, men, ministry of the aged, worship, Christian education, training, scholarships and counselling. Mission and evangelism is responsible for global mission and specialized ministries. The department of development and social services is in charge of development and environment, general education, agriculture and small-scale technology, and publications. Ecumenical relations looks after the involvement of the church in ecumenism, in the society and with people of other faiths. Two other departments take care of finance, human resources, information, and planning. The church runs 487 nursery schools, 984 primary, 399 junior secondary and 27 secondary schools, 40 private schools, six vocational institutions, five training colleges, a research centre and a university college. In the area of health care, the PCG is the third largest provider in the country, with four hospitals, 11 primary health care programmes, eight health centres, 13 clinics, two nurses’ training colleges and a technical unit. Agricultural services are offered in nine stations throughout the country. Media work is done through two printing and publishing houses, three newspapers and eight bookshops. For lay training the PCG has three centres. It also runs four guest houses and three conference halls.