Very Rev. Prof. Johnson. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Ph.D. (University of Birmingham), President and Baëta-Grau Professorial Chair of Contemporary African Christianity and Pentecostal/Charismatic Theologyof Trinity Theological College (Legon, Ghana)

The Very Rev. Prof. J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu PhD, DD (HC), FGA has been a Minister of the Methodist Church Ghana for 37 years.  He is currently the President of the Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Ghana.  The Very Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu candidated for the ordained ministry of the Methodist Church Ghana in 1982 and from 1983 to 1986, studied at the Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon.  He obtained his BA (Religion and Sociology) in 1987, and MPhil in Religious Studies, both from the University of Ghana, Legon in 1994. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu obtained his PhD in Theology at the University of Birmingham, UK, in the year 2000.  He is the occupant of the Baëta-Grau Professorial Chair of Contemporary African Christianity and Pentecostal/Charismatic Theology at the Trinity Theological Seminary.  

The Very Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu served the Bethel Methodist Church, Agona Nsaba, as circuit minister from 1987 to 1991. During his time at the Seminary as a lecturer, he has also served various churches including the Atomic Hills United Church, the Tema Joint Church, and as Associate Minister at the Bethany Methodist Church, Dzorwulu.  The Conference office appointed the Very Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu to act as Superintendent Minister to the North Kaneshie and New Achimota Circuits of the Methodist Church Ghana during various difficult periods.  In addition to his position as President, he is also currently pastor at the Asbury Dunwell Church in Accra. 

In the field of academic work and scholarship, the Very Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu’s has served as visiting scholar to Harvard University; Luther Seminary, Minnesota; the Overseas Ministries Study Center, Princeton, NJ, USA; Asbury Theological Seminary; and the Yonsei International University in Songdo, South Korea. On John Wesley Day, 24th May 2014, he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree by Asbury Theological Seminary. In 2023, he has served as short-term visiting professor to Asbury Theological Seminary and the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. The Very Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu is a member of the Billy Graham-founded Lausanne Theology Working Group and a board member of several institutions and ministries, including the Methodist, Central, and Perez Universities in Ghana. He served on the Governing Councils of the Pentecost University Council for two terms. He also served for eight years (2010-2018) as a member of the Governing Council of the Oxford Center for Mission Studies, and has served as external examiner to many international universities including his alma mater, the University of Birmingham, the University of Roehampton, and the South Africa Theological Seminary.  

The Very Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu is the author of several books and many articles on Religion, Theology, and Christianity in Africa. His articles that have appeared in international journals relate to Christianity as a non-Western religion. He is widely travelled as an international scholar and in early March 2023, was keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Wesleyan Theological Society meeting at the Asbury Theological Seminary, during which time, he also preached in the Asbury Chapel at their ongoing revival. In July 2023, he was the inaugural speaker at the establishment of a new Center for Pentecostal Studies at the Candler School of Theology, at Emory University. He has been a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2015.  In addition to his position as President of the Trinity Theological Seminary, the Very Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu also teaches in the areas of World Christianity, Pentecostal/Charismatic theology, Healing and Deliverance in Counselling, New Religious Movements, and Christian Theology.

Select Publications

The Holy Spirit our Comforter: An Exercise in Homiletic Pneumatology (Accra: Step Publishers, 2017).

Sighs and Signs of the Spirit: Ghanaian Perspectives on Pentecostalism and Renewal in Africa (Oxford: Regnum International, 2015).

Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity: Interpretations from an African Context (Oxford: Regnum International, 2013).

Jesus our Immanuel: An Exercise in Homiletic Christology (Accra: Africa Christian Press, 2012).

Strange Warmth: Wesleyan Perspectives on Ministry, Renewal and Discipleship (Accra: Asempa Publishers,2011). 

African Charismatics: Current Developments within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2005).

Christianity, Missions, and Ecumenism in Ghana: Essays, in Honour of Robert K. Aboagye-Mensah (Accra: Asempa Publishers, 2009). 

Taking Territories and Raising Champions: Contemporary Pentecostalism and the Changing Face of Christianity in Africa: 1980-2010, Published Inaugural Lecture in Commemoration of the Promotion to the Position of Full Professor in 2009 (Accra: Asempa Publishers, 2010). 

Babel is Everywhere! Migrant Readings from Africa, Europe, and Asia, edited with Andrea Fröchtling and Andreas Kunz-Lübcke (Leiden: Peter Lang, 2013).

Email:  kwabena.asamoahgyadu@trinity.edu.gh