'Local species' in African soil: the development of James McKeown's Mission Models and The Church of Pentecost, Ghana

This thesis examines the mission models of the Revd James McKeown, a British missionary who became the first chairman of The Church of Pentecost (CoP), Ghana. The relatively high growth of the CoP is normally attributed to McKeown's indigenous mission models by some members of the Church. Consequently, any attempt to introduce changes in the Church's existing practices is treated as heterodoxy by a cross-section of church members, who claim McKeown's name as authority.
The research identifies that the inclination to idealize the past and preserve implicit mission models for succeeding generations has always been a major source of rift among the generations in Christian mission. Although scholars have recognised this challenge, studies in the field of missiology have concentrated on foreign missions to the neglect of mission in multigenerational contexts. Using archival and ethnographic tools of qualitative research, and adopting a theoretical framework, which combines studies from the fields of contextualization and intergenerationality, the research argues that theology has to be done again for every generation, not for fashion but because people are cultural and cultures continue to change.
To mitigate the rift between the generations in the Church, this thesis proposes an 'Intergenerational Mission Approach' (IGMA) as important contextual missiology, especially from an African Pentecostal perspective. This approach has the capacity to incarnate into the contexts of the different generations within the Church, addressing the deep-seated needs of the older generations and responding to the contemporary needs of the younger generations. The thesis further argues that the IGMA's emphasis on context and social change, promises its potential to prolong the mission of the Church in Africa in the foreseeable future. This thesis is, therefore, a vital contribution to the growing body of knowledge in the field of missiology.