The Making of Pastorship in Ghana

Abstract

This paper is about the making of pastoral careers and the craft of pastorship in Ghana. It looks at how a pastoral careers and trajectories in smaller Pentecostal congregations can be a way to achieve status and realize social aspirations. The paper discusses how the notions of wealth, power and truthfulness are central to establishing oneself as a pastor, and how these are interpreted both in a Pentecostal informed way, but also in a way that resonates with the local historical context of Asante. The paper contributes to existing scholarship on Pentecostalism in Africa as it goes beyond the focus on large urban mega-churches and the rhetoric of rupture and individualism. The paper argues that these new pastors, new figures of success, can be seen as part of broader reconfigurations of religion and everyday politics in contemporary Asante, Ghana. / The paper is based on my Ph.D. thesis (2008) titled ‘The craft of pastorship in Ghana and beyond’ from Roskilde University, Denmark. /