Abstract

African Christians, not foreign missionaries, have been largely responsible for the spread of the Christian Gospel across the continent. African Initiated Churches were often formed in reaction to foreign control, especially where it involved cultural and colonial racism. The article challenges the prevailing idea in the ‘West’ of ‘mission’ being confined to professional missionaries. It draws on Ghana for examples of how indigenous churches, since 1970, have increasingly become sending agencies involved in both ‘cross-cultural’ and ‘reverse mission’. It concludes by asking churches in Africa, and in the ‘West’, to think critically about how Gospel mission can be promoted and sustained.