In most churches around the world, students have been at the forefront of trying to find solutions to conflicts and disputes that usually engulf their churches. The Faith Church (Gyidi Church) since its establishment more than nine decades ago has disintegrated into more than 40 sects. The disintegration has become a major concern to both members and non-members. For example, in 2004 Appeal Court judge Justice J. A. Ansah made the following remarks in his ruling of case involving two factions:
‘A church that had enjoyed peace and tranquility during the days of its founder Samuel Brako and his immediate successor Isaac Asirifi, suddenly found itself embroiled in a multi-faceted dispute. The record of proceedings alone spanned four hefty volumes and I wonder where the trial would have been by now had it been conducted and held in an ordinary court where proceedings are manually recorded. When the trial concluded finally hopes were that the parties would accept the verdict in the best of faith and leave matters in the hands of He whom they have known, trusted and believed, but the losing side has launched an appeal against it. Well, they may be exercising their legal rights in a court of law hoping that their cause might be vindicated and justice done to them in accordance with the laws of the land…The bone of contention between the parties was over who should be held the proper General Superintendent of the Church, and also whether or not a faction had seceded from the main Church to found its own, and thirdly whether if there was in fact a secession, the break-away group could maintain ownership of properties of the Church as their own.’
Because of these concerns I have decided to generate a healthy discussion among students of the various denominations who are likely to be future leaders about the roots of conflicts, disputes and schisms and what can be done to avert it. I joined the National Union of True Faith Students (NUTFS) WhatsApp platform on 10 January 2022. Before joining the platform I was told that since its establishment about four years ago, no important and intellectual discussion ever took place and that the platform has been reduced to members only offering birthday wishes to one another. I wanted to revitalise the platform and for members to put their academic acumen to good use.
On 12 January 2022, I asked the following questions: 1) WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF CONFLICT AMONG MEMBERS OF THE GYIDI DENOMINATIONS; 2) WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF THE CONFLICT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH; 3) HOW CAN WE END THE CURRENT CONFLICT; 4) HOW CAN WE AVERT FUTURE CONFLICT?
One member by name Kyeimens [Kyei Mensah] wrote: ‘Snr to help me answer your qtns [questions], I need clarity from your #3. What is d [the] current conflict?’
I responded by saying ‘Currently there are ongoing litigations, disputes and associated violence among some of the denominations. About a week ago something serious happened in Bonweri. Loss of life was only averted because of the wise decision by one of the leaders.’
Another member who goes by WhatsApp name Gyidi Asare ‘If Mr Lord would want to define what “Gyidi” means in his question, it will give proper context to what we are talking about.’
I responded by saying that ‘Gyidi means all those denominations that trace their root to Faith Church and those who attend these denominations who call themselves Gyidifo and Gyidini’.
Gyidi Asare responded ‘Ahah!!... so we are talking about a bigger tree... here , so the context of “Gyidi” is very clear now. I am a TFCI member, and about 90 per cent of people on this platform are TFCI members. So it is good that we now know what *Gyidi* your question means... So that nobody would confuse the definition of Gyidi in the question for TFCI.’
Another member by name Samuel Twum wrote ‘I think you should rather clarify your question to Gyidi you are referring to. It’s an indisputable fact, we all know the divisions that has hit the TFC’.
I asked Samuel Twum the following question: ‘Is TFC the only GYIDI denomination that has suffered schism?’
Kyeimens [Kyei Mensah] answered ‘Not really, bt [but] it [is] important that we situate the discussion and not enter into generalisation. How do we get value from d [the] discussion wen [when] I begin to tlk [talk] abt [about] New True Faith, Saviour Church and others tlk abt the other denomination. Let's not forget most of us here are TFCI’
Samuel Twum replied Kyei Mensah ‘There are TFCI, TFCE, NTFCI, TFR, TFSC, TFL Etc..Kindly specify which of these you’re referring to so that we don’t end up discussing issues ignorantly’.
I asked Samuel Twum ‘Please which of them do you want to discuss?’ And added ‘We want to understand why there are conflicts in the Gyidi denominations. This suggests that conflict is not peculiar to one denomination. Hence the question: What are the sources of conflict among members of the Gyidi denominations. Why do we have conflict in almost all the Gyidi denominations? What accounts for the conflict in the Gyidi denominations? We are not limiting ourselves to one denomination. The question is clear. You can select any of the denominations you are familiar with and discuss the sources of its conflict.’
One member by name Philip Mensah who wanted members to focus on the question and discuss it with seriousness and sophistication wrote: ‘That would comprise general information that do not contribute to objective of the study unless you would want to set as control variables. With Mr. Lord's question, we are all aware that there are divisions in Gyidi, and he has defined Gyidi as not limited to a particular denomination. If could ask if he is referring to inter-denomational conflict or intra.....’
In a reply to Philip Mensah, I wrote ‘I like your last point intra-denominational conflict and inter-denominational conflict. The sources of intra and inter may be different or related. There are two broad types of conflicts 1) Conflict within a particular denomination (intra) e. g. New True Faith Church International. 2) Conflicts between two or more denominations (inter) e.g. Saviour Church-Nyanyano vs Saviour Church-Osiem. Both of them impact on the Gyidi as a brand.’
Gyidi Asare in agreement with Kyeimens wrote ‘Information should be properly channel[led] to the right audience... Of what relevance/value is whatever happening in Saviour church or New True Faith Church offering people on this platform?’
I asked Gyidi Asare ‘Were you at the Konongo Convention in somewhere in 1998? I mean the TFC convention’.
Gyidi Asare’s answer was ‘I was probably not born, or even a member of TFC...’
I responded to Gyidi Asare by stating that ‘That is why you think what happens in Saviour is of no value to you’.
Gyidi Asare ‘Tell us if you know what the value is?’
This is why I asked Asare whether he was at the Konongo Convention. At the Konongo Convention, members of the town who were pro-NPP decided not to open their homes to the True Faith Church because they had been informed that the Gyidifo were pro-NDC. This forced the leadership of the church to mount large public address system and went through the town to announce that they were not affiliated to any political parties in the country. The announcement therefore convinced the town’s citizens and they offered accommodation to members of the church. Similar thing happened when Faith Salvation Church went to Mampong in Ashanti Region.
Gyidi Asare wrote again ‘Saviour Church is different from TFCI, and this is a widely known fact’
I said yes but ‘It is also called Gyidi. Gyidi is a brand whatever happens in one sector can positively or negatively impact on the other sector.’
Gyidi Asare replied ‘I disagree, and I believe many of us here share the same view’.
Kyeimens concurred with Gyidi Asare ‘Well I disagree, thats why we have diff [different] names. We may agree on some believes [beliefs] bt [but] doesn't make us same. He added ‘Mr Adusei what relevance wil such generalised discussions of over 30 sects yield on this platform?’
I responded ‘Your disagreement doesn’t negate the fact that Saviour is also called Gyidi’
Gyidi Asare who by this time appears to have done some google search about me came back with more surprising statements
Gyidi Asare ‘Your [referring to me] writeups impugn a lot of hiden disdain for anything apart from Savour church (aka the original). So your questions are really grounded on these believes. So I dare say, that you did not come to the table of "discussions" with open mindedness. You came with a clear cut entrenched position. Anyway, maybe I am belabouring the point. (these are pure intellectual discourse, no hard feelings).
I asked Gyidi Asare ‘Where did I write that “Gyidi nyinaa yɛ pɛ"? Where? In this short minutes you have moved from “Gyidi nyinaa yɛ pɛ” to open minded. You earlier said my question was misplaced. Yet hasn’t attempted to even answer a fraction [of the] 4 questions I put on board.’
One member going by the name Mr. TinTin tagged and replied to my statement ‘Your question was never misplaced’.
Gyidi Asare in a response to my statement wrote ‘there are 110 people here on this platform... and If your question has not raised any engagements beyond 10 people, shouldn't that tell you something? over generalisation, what happens in any gyidi affects all. Were you at Konongo 1998 hyiamuu etc etc. Saviour mu nsɛm efa me ho bɛn?? New True Faith Church mu nsɛm ɛfa me ho bɛn? Faith Salvation mu asɛm ɛfa me ho bɛn????? [to wit what do matters in Saviour, New True Faith, Faith Salvation concern me?]
Another member by name Emmanuel Darkwa Jr in agreement with Asare added ‘TFCE, NTFCI, TFR, TFSC, TFL Etc..Mu nsem nsem ɛfa me ho bɛn?
Gyidi Asare this time extended his arguments to members of the church on other platforms saying they all talk from their head anyhow ‘On all the other platforms, I bet you have not received these kinds of questions, and they all start talking about the so-called problems, everyone talking from their head anyhow with various audio recordings... Here we put questions to strict value-for-time analysis...’
Kyeimens finally tagged the main question and asked the following ‘Mr Adusei your answer to qtn 3 clearly shows u hade a very fair idea of wat [what] d [the] conflicts are, I also knw [know] for sure u appreciate the source of such conflicts and d solution. So why do u ask qtns [questions] u have answers to?’
Gyidi Asare quickly replied Kyeimens ‘To educate us??’
Kyeimens replied to Gyidi Asare ‘Well maybe open mindedness or impugned to be less diabolic’
To be continued…
