History of Full Gospel Church

HISTORY OF THE FULL GOSPEL CHURCH INTERNATIONAL

The FGCI is one of the churches of Pentecostal and Charismatic orientation in Ghana which traces its roots to the mainline Presbyterian Church of Ghana established by The Basel missionaries of 1828.

The Pentecostal and Charismatic oriented churches emerged in Ghana in 1930s and 1970s respectively. Although the Pentecostal Charismatic Churches have demonstrated impressive growth in terms of ministry and numbers, it is still confronted with transitional challenges.

Birth of Full Gospel Church International

The Full Gospel Church International being the first Charismatic Church in Ghana (hereinafter referred to as FGCI) began as an independent prayer group at House Number I/J 94, site 21, Community 1, Tema. The genesis of FGCI is traceable to Very Rev. Emmanuel Ashong Mensah (hereinafter referred to as the Founder), then a Presbyter and Lay Preacher and his wife Catherina Mensah with the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG); and he, an employee of the then State Transport Corporation.

In 1963, Mr. Mensah had an encounter with Jesus Christ, which led to his re-birth in Christ. Soon after this experience, Mr. Mensah was transferred from Accra to Tema, and he continued to worship with the Presbyterian Church of Ghana Greenwich Meridian Congregation community 1 branch. Motivated by his new experience, he began holding a regular worship and prayer meetings with his family in the family’s residence. Assisted by Mrs. Adelaide Budu Dawson, a neighbour and also a member of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Community 1 branch, they continued the regular prayer meetings. The prayer meetings grew rapidly within the shortest spate of time and attracted public attention through manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit behind Mr. Mensah’s preaching and the accompanied miraculous signs and demonstrations. The meetings, under the leadership of Mr. Mensah, grew rapidly in number within a short period compelling them to relocate to a playground in front of the Menash’s family house. The Group was then christened ‘Prayer Group and Evangelistic Association’ (PGEA) which was popularly known as ‘site 21 Revival’ with the aim to put together a body of believers who will be prayerful and mission minded in winning converts into Christianity.

The PGEA occasionally invited other notable preachers among whom were Evangelist Abraham de-Love, Rev. Enoch Agbozo, Missionary Stanley D. King of the Apostolic Church of Pentecost in Canada who spoke at the PGEA meetings. For fifteen years, PGEA operated in the open park in front of the Mensah family house till it was moved to Padmore Basic Schools at site 21, Community One, Tema and held its first Sunday service on 3rd February, 1978. Motivated to grow and expand its reach, the teachings of PGEA focused on evangelism, church planting and strong prayer emphasis and subsequently, the PGEA extended its meetings to include series of evangelistic activities and made great impact within the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. This demonstrable missionary zeal of PGEA and its members actually facilitated all their efforts to be focused on its evangelical thrust to effectively take its activities and programmes to its immediate communities. It soon made great impact within the Tema metropolis. To their surprise, this situation provoked some antagonism resulting in incessant abuse and isolation from some of the traditional Christian Churches including the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG). Undaunted by these developments, however, PGEA and its leadership continued to deepen their influence and remained the vehicle for church planting for the Presbyterian Church in some of the communities in Tema.

In the face of the incessant antagonism meted out to PGEA, the leader was forced out from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and founded a new independent worship group. Consequently, PGEA gave birth to the Full Gospel Evangelistic Ministry (hereinafter referred to as FGEM) in 1978. By assuming its new status, the Founder was ordained as the Minister of Religion on 2nd February 1978, and became the first pastor and president of FGEM. Under his watch FGEM continued to expand its activities and outfits to other areas and regions of Ghana. New branches of FGEM were established at Tema New Town, Ashaiman, Ada Foah, Teshie, La, and Abossey Okai all in the Greater Accra Region, and Koforidua and Hohoe in the Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana respectively.

At a General Council meeting of FGEM on 25th September 1999, Rev. Samuel Noi Mensah assumed the position of the President and leader of FGEM (upon the retirement of Very Rev. Emmanuel Ashong Mensah). In the year 2000, at the Emmanuel Mensah Chapel, Rev. Samuel Noi Mensah was consecrated into the office of a bishop and inducted as president of FGEM. As a result, Rt. Rev Samuel Noi Mensah became the second President of FGEM.

Renaming the Church

By the end of 2001, FGEM had expanded its activities outside Ghana including Italy, Spain and also planted churches in these countries. In the wave of this transition spreading its frontiers (operations) beyond the borders of this country, on 19th June 2002, at an emergency meeting of the General Council, the name Full Gospel Church International was adopted as the churches new name to reflect its new mission, vision and identity due to planting of churches outside the boarders of Ghana. Therefore the Church, as it is presently known was registered on 22nd July 2002 as Full Gospel Church International, under the Companies Code 1963 (Act 179) as a Company Limited by Guarantee.

FGCI started as a fellowship of devotees of Jesus Christ, now has undergone a number of transformations from its time of inception to its present state. Notable among the transformations are:

Changing its identity and name from a prayer and evangelistic group to an independent Evangelistic Ministry to broaden its activities and services to its community;
Attaining a new identity as a Penteco-charismatic Church, and for the second time, changing its name to move away from its perceived ‘ministry and fellowship’ identity and the lack of permanency as a church of Jesus Christ, and to extend its evangelistic and church planting programmes beyond the shores of Ghana; and
The retirement from active ministry of the church by the Founder and the first President of FGCI, and the transfer of leadership to a new person.

Retirement and Home Call of Emmanuel Ashong Mensah

Like biblical Moses and Joshua, Ashong Mensah believed in the continuity of leadership and therefore when he had advanced in age after thirty eight years of successful ministry, retired at the age of 70, and gave way for the next generation leader to continue. He handed over the presidency of the church on 23rd January, 2000 to Samuel Noi Mensah. This great feat of leadership is attested by Arch Bishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams that ‘Ashong Mensah was the first and only known independent Charismatic church leader in Ghana who successfully raised his own son and handed over the mantle of leadership to him whiles alive. On 12th November, 2009, the Founder and first President of FGCI, Emmanuel Ashong Mensah was called into glory at the age of 82. He was posthumously awarded the Tema Millennium and Excellence Award in 2010 for his great Charismatic leadership.