Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana | |
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Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana logo
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Classification | Protestant |
Orientation | Calvinist |
Theology | liberal Reformed |
Polity | Presbyterian |
Associations |
World Council of Churches World Alliance of Reformed Churches World Communion of Reformed Churches Christian Council of Ghana |
Region | Ghana |
Origin | 1922 |
Congregations | 748 |
Members | 600,000 |
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana (Ewe:Presbyteria Nyanyui Hame le Ghana) is a Protestant Christian denomination in Ghana. It is popularly referred to as the "EP Church". It has strong roots in the Evangelical and Reformed traditions.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church Ghana was founded by German missionaries on November 14, 1847 in Peki. These missionaries from the North German Mission Society (Norddeutsche Mission, Bremen), together with the Basel Mission in 1847, started work among the Ewe people in what is now the Volta Region of Ghana. By the beginning of World War I, they had established two mission stations in the British colony of the Gold Coast and seven in the German territory of Togoland. The first of the mission stations was (Mission-Tove) in present-day Togo.
After the war, Togoland was divided into two territories, the western one under British rule and the eastern one under French rule. The first synod of the mission stations in May 1922, despite the division of Togoland, declared itself to be the supreme governing body of the “Ewe Church.” The church adopted the congregational order of the Bremen Mission. In 1923, Scottish missionaries began working in British Togo (Transvolta Togoland), which is the present-day Volta Region of Ghana. The church in French Togoland (now Togo) was run by the Paris Mission.
As a result, development proceeded separately in the two territories, although both churches share the same constitution. They hold a common synod meeting every 4 years.
The EP Church is a trinitarian church.