International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue VI, June 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186
Emmanuel Foster Asamoah1, Jones Dwomoh Amankwah2
1Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Religious Studies
2Pentecost University, School of Theology, Mission and Leadership (STML), Department of Theology Student
Abstract: The study assessed the effects of funeral celebrations on church activities with reference to The Church of Pentecost. Data was sourced through key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The study focused on the Birifor ethnic group in the Savanna Region of Ghana. The findings underscore the likelihood that people belonging to the Birifor ethnic group over rate funerals. For instance, they would put everything on hold if a family member, distant or nuclear, kicks the bucket. This tends to impact negatively on church activities; church attendance is always low during funerals. Members do not participate fully in church activities; they tend to have divided attention even at church. The following recommendations were made based on the findings of the study: there is the need for the church to piggy-back on funerals to engage in active evangelism. There is the need for the church to accept the culture of the people and tailor their programmes to suit it by adopting and contextualizing their funeral celebrations to eliminate inherent practices that contradict Christian values. In addition, the church might want to intensify education on cultural issues in such a way that members become aware of where they ought to stand as Christians.
Keywords: Funeral Celebration, Culture, The Church of Pentecost, Birifor Ethnic Group
I.INTRODUCTION
According to Wolfelt (2007), rituals are “symbolic activities that help us, together with our families and friends, express our deepest thoughts and feelings about life’s most important events.” These help families and loved ones to share fellowship. One of these rituals is funeral which comes from the Latin word funus (dead body) and has a variety of meanings, including the corpse and the funerary rites themselves which are performed to take care of the dead body.
A funeral “is a public, traditional and symbolic means of expressing our beliefs, thoughts, and feelings about the death of someone loved” (Wolfelt, 2007). Building on Wolfelt’s definition, a funeral can be defined as a traditional ceremony organised publicly by families of a deceased person as a means of expressing their beliefs, thoughts, and feelings about the death of a member(s).