The Ghana Rural Library Project

One of the other things you notice first in this country is the incredibly ubiquitous impact that Christianity has made here. Many years ago, Pentacostal missionaries came and spread their faith. There are small pockets of Moslems, but from what I’ve seen (and what I’ve heard of other regions) the religion has permeated every nook and cranny of this country.

While this sounds great to many a traditional Christian, upon closer inspection you really begin to see how much of Ghanian Christianity is colonial religous syncretism instead of sincere conversion.

Every converted culture will mix its old, traditional beliefs with the ones of the colonial power. It also makes sense that religions that blend more easily with the traditional faiths, which makes the syncretism easier, will spread more rapidly.

It’s a chicken-and-egg scenario, but Ghanians tend to be very superficial, but I only use that term for lack of a better one. What I mean is that they tend to show off – everyone wants to be the loudest, or the best, and they want everyone anywhere nearby to know it. You see this all over the place – every chop bar will point its speakers outside, blasting music at the highest volume out into the street instead of into the restaurant for the customers. Pentacostalism fits well with this – the louder you get, the more speaking in tongues you do, the crazier you writhe on the floor, the more you’re praising God.

What I’m getting at is that in Ghana, religion has manifested itself in an extremely disturbing fashion. It’s become another way to show off. Throughout the day you will hear churches blasting their worship music across town (and when I say throughout the day, I mean from 5am until 2am). Religion has pervaded every aspect of life here, but not in an Islamic theocracy kind of way, where everything is controlled or even consistent. Every single car (literally, at least 95%) has some kind of bumper sticker with a picture of Jesus or some kind of Christian phrase. Every single establishment has a Christian name – from Repent hair salon to The Blood of Jesus plumbing supplies, to God’s Love fast food (I’m being entirely serious, all of these places are within a kilometer of where I’m staying). You see this in the classroom as well. If anyone mentions God or anything in class, every single student from that point on will try their hardest to say something more Christian than the last student. One of our teammembers mentioned how a student told her that he has a cat, and that it’s named Jesus. Wow.

Another troubling (yet understandable) aspect is the corruption. Not only do churches ask for offering five times (yeah, five times, and you are expected to give during all of them) during services, but they aren’t accountable as to where the money is going. Many a church is interested solely in profit. We would see huge, expensive banners advertising a sermon series (headed up by “prophet” so-and-so – not pastor, but “prophet”), while underneath people are scraping by, trying to sell enough breadfruit on the side of the road to feed their family.

We also went and took a look at a traditional shrine, where Ghanians would, before the conversion, practice their animistic religions. Adu, who is one of our helpers/translators, mentioned that nobody uses them anymore. But Mike disagreed with him, and Adu eventually acknowledged that they are still in use.

What does this mean for missionaries? Religion becomes something bombastic and superficial, or people don’t accept it at all. I was talking with Lisa about what it’s like in Thailand and she said it was extremely similar. Are missions worth it?

I feel like there’s so much more to say about this topic but I just don’t know yet what to think. It’s disturbing but maybe it’s just different? One goal for this trip is to look at the culture here with new eyes, to not try and project my values onto their lives. I hope I’m capable.