“Kejetia Preaching”: An Analysis of Contemporary Phenomena of Street Preaching in Kumasi, Ghana

Abstract

Street preaching/evangelism is one of the activities undertaken by Christians to broadcast or spread the gospel. It is one of the forms of making disciples of all nations and winning souls for Christ in accordance with the Great Commission of making disciples if all nations (Matt. 28:18-20). In Ghana and some other parts of Africa, street preaching is a common phenomenon. Arguably, street preachers have a larger audience than “pulpit preaching” at the Sunday service. While Sunday service preaching is mostly confined to the chapel and focuses on members of a particular church, street preaching targets and reaches people of varied denominational and religious backgrounds. Though a common practice, street preaching comes with a number of theological, ethical and pastoral issues which need scholarly analysis. The purpose of this paper is to critically assess street preaching from theological, ethical and pastoral perspectives and to recommend ways in which potential pitfalls may be addressed. The paper employed qualitative and historical-descriptive research designs to describe the current state of the exercise and its impact on the soul-winning ministry and Christianity in general. In addition to the data collected from the field through interviews and participant observation, the paper used secondary sources such as books, journal articles and dissertations. After a careful analysis of the subject matter the paper established that even though street preaching is a legitimate and effective way of spreading the gospel, it may contribute negatively to the qualitative growth of the church due to the lack of proper theological/ministerial training of most of these preachers and the resulting unbiblical and unethical practices that sometimes characterize this enterprise. To avert the situation, the paper made recommendations for the nation (Ghana), church and preachers to enhance the qualitative growth of the Christian community through effective and biblically-sound preaching. Keywords: Ghana, Evangelism, Street Preaching, Christians