The Lyric in the Fante Methodist Church

Abstract

Opening ParagraphThe Methodist Church in Ghana, in common with all the missionary-implanted Churches in the area, strongly reflects its Western origins: its organization and polity, its worship and discipline, and its ethos are manifestly those of the British Methodism which gave it birth. Methodist institutions have been present in parts of Ghana, particularly in the coastal strip, for over a century and have thereby become part of the social and religious landscape; but whether they are related to it or rooted in the soil has been seriously questioned. It is therefore all the more notable that within this implanted institutional framework typically Ghanaian attitudes seek expression, and that in one direction at least a Fante cultural form has found an honoured place within the Church's life. This is the Fante lyric.