Introduction

Summary

In November 2006, at a rural Presbyterian retreat center located between New York City and West Point, a group of about one hundred Ghanaian immigrants from various Ghanaian Presbyterian churches in North American met for a week-long retreat. The event was announced as an occasion to “build capacity for pastoral care and service.” This general description was used by the Ghanaians to explain the purpose of the gathering to their white, American, and religiously liberal Presbyterian hosts. These Ghanaians in fact were learning various techniques for the care of individuals within their congregations. But, more specifically, this group of Ghanaians from major North American cities was at this workshop to be formally trained by Catechist Ebenezer Abboah-Offei—the leading practitioner in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana's healing movement—in the theory and practice of Christian therapy. Among this network of Ghanaian Presbyterians, pastoral care was synonymous with deliverance, defined by Abboah-Offei as the process of freeing people as well as places and objects from the power of Satan and his demons.