At The Hope Journey, we have always held to a clear principle: we are a Christian missionary organization, and we do not take funding from groups whose values conflict with the Gospel. Anyone who donates is told plainly that they are supporting Christian ministry, not a neutral charity, not a “development organization,” and not a platform for donors to reshape our mission. We are not the typical nonprofit that survives on grants and then bends its identity to the will of funders.

This same clarity is what many mission schools in Ghana have slowly lost.

The confusion surrounding whether Muslims should be allowed to practice Islam on Christian campuses did not appear overnight. It is the predictable outcome of decades of the Church accepting money, influence, political approval, and public support from various groups, without clearly guarding our identity or mission. When Christian institutions blur the line between Christian mission and general social service, outsiders eventually assume they have a right to reshape the institution according to their own beliefs.

Mission schools were never founded as public, religiously-neutral centers of education. They were built as instruments of Christian formation, schools that existed to disciple children, integrate faith with learning, and raise young people who would serve Christ and country with a Christian worldview.

The more we accept outside funding without firm boundaries, the more we allow public opinion to dictate terms, the more our institutions lose the very thing that made them distinct. And when Christian schools become treated as public schools with a mission name on them, it becomes easy for people to argue that every religion should be given equal expression on campus.

This debate, therefore, is not simply about Muslims and worship spaces.

It is about whether the Church in Ghana will reclaim the original purpose of mission schools, or surrender them to secular expectations.

Christian institutions must recover the courage to say, without apology:

“This is a Christian school. This is Christian ground. And its mission is unapologetically Christian.”

Anything less is a slow abandonment of the very heritage that shaped our nation.

So, what is a public school?

Public schools are schools government founded, runned by government and fund funded by government, and most importantly owned by the government.

What are mission Schools?

 Mission schools are founded by missionary society or org, funded by missionary org or sometimes assistance from government, runned by missionary org or society, and geared towards raising next generation of educated Christians. 

If a government funds an organization, or support them by donating staff salary it still doesn't make the school public school with a mission name on them. It's just a support the mission organization got from government.  Also, mission schools are created as an intentional effort to extend the Sunday schools and children services. So the basel missionary society for instance has legend of punishing pupils who were not coming to Sunday children Service, it meant you've missed class. This was a practice even in the early 80s in certain parts of Ghana.

A wake up call.

This debate is a wake up call to the church in Ghana to relook at their involvement with people who donate they allow into their dealings. Trinity Theological seminary has been a culprit here, certain people they invite to give commencement speech should be relooked at. They are gradually secularizing the seminary. 

Root from Compromise.

As a former student of PRESEC Legon, I initially appreciated the atmosphere of tolerance extended to Muslim students. However, matters shifted when a dedicated worship space was granted, later referred to as a mosque, followed by requests for special accommodations during Islamic festivals. That became a turning point—and today it is cited, unfortunately, as a “positive precedent.”

Think of it as this, we saw that our schools are good. The mission schools are great, they raise the best people in every field in this country and we opened it up for everyone to have access to good things. Now some of these people who come in to enjoy now want to create new rules for us. New rules that will affect the reason for being. Christianity and Islam are not same or similar like how certain people put it, because they got their theology from RME. They are different and are parallel. Accepting Islam practice on a concencreated place dedicated by the church to teach children to become Christian adults is accepting idols in the chapel because it right and an act of love. 

The church will have to relook at how we accept certain donations from people. And how we gradually secularise our institutions to the level where people are bold enough to think they're public not government assisted institutions. 

Final words, Christian Schools are Christian Schools, extension for our chapel. The reason for being is to be separated from the world to raise young people to become Christian adults useful for church and country. And we need to stick to business.