Charismatics, independents, and missions: Church proliferation in Ghana

The paper traces the changing phases in the development of the African religious movement phenomenon, focusing on the newer versions, namely the charismatic churches, and analysing their activities and their impact on Ghanaian society. It observes that the motives for their proliferation are diverse but one of the main contemporary sources of proliferation is the prominence they have gained through the media and other telecommunication systems. With their strong intolerance towards African traditional religious customs, which they exhibit through the medium of tele‐vangelism, the charismatic churches have become the main opponents and source of Christian/African traditional religious conflict in contemporary Ghana.