Brief History

Brief History

The Church of Pentecost, like most great institutions, started in a small way. The Church’s beginnings are linked to the ministry of Pastor James McKeown (1900-1989); an Irish missionary sent by the Apostolic Church, Bradford, United Kingdom (UK), to the then Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1937 to help a group of believers of the Apostolic Faith led by Rev. Peter Newman who later became the founder of Christ Apostolic Church in a town called Asamankese. Due to doctrinal differences based on divine healing, the group split in 1939 into the Christ Apostolic Church and the Apostolic Church, Gold Coast. The latter saw significant expansion under Pastor James McKeown. In 1953, a constitutional crisis led to the founding of the Gold Coast Apostolic Church, led by Pastor James McKeown. On the attainment of independence by the country in 1957 and following the changes of its name to Ghana, the Gold Coast Apostolic Church was renamed the Ghana Apostolic Church. The split in 1953 did not end the crisis. New conflicts compelled the then President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Dr Kwame Nkrumah, to advise the leadership of the Ghana Apostolic Church to adopt a new name to foster peace and harmony on the Pentecostal front. Therefore, on August 1, 1962, the new name, The Church of Pentecost, legally replaced the Ghana Apostolic Church. The Church of Pentecost has since seen tremendous growth under various leaders, and as of April 2024, the church operates in 170 countries.