The first inroads of the movement into Ghana came about 1957 when missionaries for the American Churches of Christ (a cappella) in Nigeria began making exploratory trips shortly after Ghana gained independence. An early convert was John Gaidoo who responded to an ad for Bible correspondence courses and later received further training in Nigeria. Gaidoo was responsible for baptizing several before his death in 1961. That same year Jerry Reynolds and Dewayne Davenport of the American churches moved to Ghana and soon established 15 churches. Reynolds has since made over 40 trips to Ghana. Early work included digging wells, evangelism and prison ministry. Ghana Bible College in Kumsai, the Accra School of Preaching, and several other schools have been established. In 1990 the Churches of Christ received recognition from the government. The Accra church has established over a hundred congregations in the last twenty-five years and the Ghanaian Christians have sent missionaries to several nearby countries. Today there are over 300 congregations and mission points. Dan MacVay is a veteran missionary working closely with these congregations.
A second group related to the a cappella tradition are “One Cup” Churches of Christ, concentrated in the area around Tema. They are also related to the “Old Paths” Churches of Christ in the United Kingdom.
In 1966 Jerry Gibson went to Ghana to set up a preacher training school in Accra, the capitol city. He gathered a few students and rented a building to teach Bible classes. Very early it was seen that the work being carried out was very similar to other independent African churches that had separated themselves from the denominational mission churches to become more “African.” Many of the leaders of these churches were biblically illiterate but open to Bible teaching. The decision was made to use the school to teach Bible based leadership for these congregations. Out of these efforts, Ghana Christian College and Seminary was formed. The graduates of GCC&S then established the Ghana United Christian Churches Brotherhood as a national organization. It is a co-operative structure with national leadership, independent of the missionaries, now being led by Ghanaians Christian Adjei (Chairman) and Enoch Nyador (Vice Chairman). The Churches receive some support through missionaries connected with GCC&S.
In 1966 Ronald and Doris Rife arrived from America to take up the work of Ghana Christian College and Seminary, followed by Dorothy Eunson in 1968, who has served continuously since that time. Others of the American Christian Churches and Churches of Christ who have served in Ghana have been Cyril Simpkins, Richard Hostetter, Kent Taylor, and many others. Today, known as Ghana Christian University, the school is thought to be the largest Bible college in Africa. A new, expanded campus is being built on the outskirts of Accra with inaugural events planned for August of 2003. The new campus will adequately serve the needs of students for many years to come.
Other work begun by the American Christian Churches and Churches of Christ includes FAME (Fellowship of Associates of Medical Evangelism) Ghana, established in May of 1987. Since that time FAME Ghana has built at least ten clinics which have treated 80,000 people and established more than 65 churches which have baptized more than 3,000 individuals. Enoch Nyador, a native Ghanaian, gives leadership to FAME Ghana which also employs several native evangelists, nurses and field-support workers. Christian Leadership Training Institute, with Bob Sheffler as the current director, is currently doing theological education by extension in Ghana and other countries of west Africa. There are an estimated 100 independent congregations with a membership of around 10,000. The number continues to grow as new congregations are being formed with particular growth seen in the north.
In 1992 the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada initiated involvement in Ghana through their Africa office in the Division of Overseas Ministries. Disciples efforts in Ghana include ecumenical partnership in the Christian Council of Ghana and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana with both financial and personnel support.
The Fellowship of Churches of Christ in the United Kingdom also have a presence through its missionary, Brian Jennings. On the staff of Ghana Christian University, Brian is also active in training and education for the local congregations.