Editing Methodism (section)

====Ghana====
{{Main|Methodist Church Ghana}}
[[File:Kow Egyir and MCG College of Bishops.JPG|thumb|[[Bishops in Methodism|Methodist bishops]] at a church conference in [[Winneba]], 2008]]
Methodist Church Ghana is one of the largest Methodist denominations, with around 800,000 members in 2,905 congregations, ministered by 700 pastors.<ref name="Ghana">{{cite web|title=Methodist Church Ghana|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/methodist-church-ghana|website=oikoumene.org|date=January 1960 |publisher=World Council of Churches|access-date=20 January 2017}}</ref> It has fraternal links with the British Methodist and United Methodist churches worldwide.

Methodism in Ghana came into existence as a result of the missionary activities of the [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist Church]], inaugurated with the arrival of Joseph Rhodes Dunwell to the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]] in 1835.<ref>F. L. Bartels. The Roots of Ghana Methodism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965, pp. 12–18.</ref> Like the mother church, the Methodist Church in Ghana was established by people of Protestant background. Roman Catholic and Anglican missionaries came to the Gold Coast from the 15th century. A school was established in Cape Coast by the Anglicans during the time of Philip Quaque, a Ghanaian priest. Those who came out of this school had Bible copies and study supplied by the [[Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge]]. A member of the resulting Bible study groups, William De-Graft, requested Bibles through Captain Potter of the ship ''Congo''. Not only were Bibles sent, but also a Methodist missionary. In the first eight years of the Church's life, 11 out of 21 missionaries who worked in the Gold Coast died. [[Thomas Birch Freeman]], who arrived at the Gold Coast in 1838 was a pioneer of missionary expansion. Between 1838 and 1857 he carried Methodism from the coastal areas to [[Kumasi]] in the [[Ashanti people|Asante]] hinterland of the Gold Coast. He also established Methodist Societies in Badagry and AbeoKuta in Nigeria with the assistance of William De-Graft.<ref>[https://dacb.org/stories/ghana/freeman-t2/  Dictionary of African Christian Biography website, ''Freeman, Thomas Birch (B)'']</ref>

By 1854, the church was organized into circuits constituting a district with T. B. Freeman as chairman. Freeman was replaced in 1856 by William West. The district was divided and extended to include areas in the then Gold Coast and Nigeria by the synod in 1878, a move confirmed at the British Conference. The districts were Gold Coast District, with T. R. Picot as chairman and Yoruba and Popo District, with John Milum as chairman. Methodist evangelisation of northern Gold Coast began in 1910. After a long period of conflict with the colonial government, missionary work was established in 1955. Paul Adu was the first indigenous missionary to northern Gold Coast.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walls |first=A. F. |date=1969-08-13 |title=The Roots of Ghana Methodism. By F. L. Bartels. (Cambridge University Press. 1965. 368 pp. 50s.) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/27725472-04101013 |journal=Evangelical Quarterly |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=55–56 |doi=10.1163/27725472-04101013 |issn=0014-3367}}</ref>

In July 1961, the Methodist Church in Ghana became autonomous, and was called the Methodist Church Ghana, based on a deed of foundation, part of the church's ''Constitution and Standing Orders''.<ref name="Ghana" />