Advertising tools and the growth of charismatic churches in Ghana

Abstract

This study sought to explore the use of advertising tools for church growth by Charismatic churches in Ghana. The study adopted a mixed methods approach where both quantitative and qualitative data collection methodologies of survey and in-depth interview, respectively were employed to collect data for analysis. Christian Action Faith Chapel, Lighthouse Chapel International, International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Perez Chapel International and Royalhouse Chapel International constituted the population from which the simple random sampling technique was used to select 350 church attendees from branches of the selected churches in Tema in the Greater Accra Region for the study. Data collected was analysed using SPSS and thematic analysis for the quantitative and qualitative approaches of the study. This study concluded that the use of advertising tool (radio, television, word of mouth, handbills) contributed significantly to church growth. The research findings showed that TV and radio were the two most persuasive advertising tools. Other media, such as, word-of-mouth and handbills additionally influenced the respondents in choosing their church. The research recommends that churches should increase their visibility or presence on TV and radio to increase their membership. The study shows that, churches in Ghana should mostly use radio/television, word of mouth/handbills and billboards/posters since they are the blend of advertising tools that were found to be most appealing to Ghanaians in choosing a church. The study also showed that advertising tools such as, magazine and newspaper do not make as much impact on people in choosing their place of worship.