ABSTRACT
Research into Pentecostal/Charismatic religion and theology takes me to a num ber o f churches belonging to that stream o f Christianity and their special programs. The numbers o f people, especially wom en, who visit the ‘break through’ services and healing camps o f these churches, hoping to have their own biological children, is striking. The search for childbirth w ithin religious contexts is new to neither traditional African religions nor churches in Africa. D uring a wedding at the M t Z ion M ethodist Church at Sakum ono in Accra in Decem ber 2004 , a fam ily m em ber was called upon to pray for the newly weds. The prayer went as follows:
In the M ethodist C hurch itself, the first Sunday o f every m onth is M oth ers Thanksgiving Day. W om en w ho have given birth w ith in a certain period bring special offerings and are led through the thanksgiving liturgy as part o f the m ain service. The new m others are led to appropriate words from Psalm 1 1 6 . The psalm ist does not specifically m ention pregnancy and child birth. H ow ever the words seem to have been w ritten in the context o f cer tain struggles, perhaps illnesses and near-death experiences from w hich the healing, salvation and deliverance o f G o d had been realized after agonizing prayer: ‘The snares o f death encom passed m e’ , it says, ‘the pangs o f Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name o f the L o r d :. . . For thou hast delivered m y soul from death, m y eyes from tears, m y feet from stum bling ’ (vs. 3 -4 , 8). Indeed the very language em ployed in announcing the special offerings o f new m others in the M eth odist C hurch , okor sa na w ’aba fie dwodwo , ‘she has returned successfully from battle’ , is very revealing o f the m indset that childbirth involves a pro cess akin to a physically tough fight. It is considered a spiritual m atter that makes or breaks fam ilies. In spite o f this historic m ission church’s interest in the physical and spiritual risks o f childbirth, there is no provision, at least not at the official church level, for religious rituals that actually seek to help those struggling w ith the difficulties o f barrenness and sterility. That side o f things has always been part o f the C h ristian ity o f the A frican initiated/ independent churches (A ICs).
