THE INFLUENCE OF TRADITIONAL BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ON THE METHODIST CHURCH AT ANTOAKROM IN THE AMANSIE WEST DISTRICT OF THE ASHANTI REGION.

Abstract

The Great Commission that was given by Jesus Christ in Matthew 28; 18-20 enjoins all Christian believers to go everywhere and proclaim the good news of salvation to everyone. This good news, otherwise referred to as the gospel is to be proclaimed to all people irrespective of sex, race, age, social status, ethnic identity or place of residence. Thus, people in urban as well as rural communities should be given equal opportunity of hearing the gospel and respond to it. It can be noted that the term nations referred to in the Great Commission does not connote present day political groupings such as Ghana, Benin, or Italy. Rather, as noted earlier, it refers to groups of people who share common ideologies and who have cultural distinctives of their own. The Bible considers the human race as divided along cultural lines, and as the gospel was revealed to humankind through the medium of culture, so it has to be proclaimed and accepted within the cultural contexts of the people it encounters.