Jesus Shall Reign? An Examination of Christian Mission to the Akan Palace

Abstract

The Gospel and African Culture interface has remained an ongoing dialogue due to the fact of inherent tensions. The genuineness of the conversion of the traditional leadership institution that welcomed the Western missionaries has remained in doubt in some missionary established churches. The conversion challenges of the traditional leaders have resulted from ancestors and ancestorial related functions that traditional leaders performed. The churches over the years created mission fields and chaplaincies with trained personnel and resources to address conversion challenges of specific and unique communities. While the creation of mission fields and appointments of chaplains have made significant responses to the conversion challenges of the people involved, the conversion challenges that traditional leaders have constantly requested for support from the churches have not been fully addressed. The study is an examination of the requests of some traditional leaders for Christian missions to be extended to the Palace and responses made so far by some of the missionary established churches. The study adopts a qualitative approach with an examination of relevant available materials and interviews. The study points to the fact that the conversion of the Palace and its functionaries must be considered as a major ministry and mission field of the church with trained ministers and resources for the specialized mission field. The study moreover calls for deeper research into matters of ancestors and ancestorial related rites that have remained as areas of tension between the church and the conversion of the Palace functionaries. Keywords: Palace, Christian Mission, Traditional Leadership, Chaplaincy, Conversion