Krow, Solomon Owusu

Solomon K. A. Owusu Krow was born October 20, 1937 to David Ankamah Owusu and Christianah Appiadua Krow in Aburi, a hilly town thirty miles northeast of Accra. He was raised by his guardian, Robert Krow. After completing an elementary education he attended the West Africa Senior Secondary School, graduating in 1953. In 1967, he married Patience who bore him nine children.

Solomon Krow was working as an ice cream vendor when he unexpectedly became ill. No doctor was able to cure him, despite many attempts. His mother took him to Prophet Sagoe of the Church of the Lord (Aladura), hoping for a miracle. He received healing after much prayer and fasting. After his recovery, he continued his work as an ice cream vendor. However, he now shared the gospel with his customers. His zeal for spreading the gospel inspired Prophet Sagoe to recommend him to Josiah Ositelu, founder and primate of the Church of the Lord (Aladura). As a result, Ositelu invited Solomon Krow to Nigeria in 1956 and personally trained him for one year. Solomon Krow was then sent to Monrovia (in Liberia) from 1957 to 1960 for further pastoral training before returning home to Ghana. He started a branch of the Church of the Lord in Accra Newtown, a suburb of Accra. As the membership grew rapidly under his leadership the congregation built a bigger worship center in 1964 which he named the Nima Healing Temple.

Solomon Krow’s ministry in Ghana was very successful. He was a great preacher and healer. He also developed strong relationships with many people, particularly public figures. Many prominent politicians in the government of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of the Republic of Ghana, joined the Church of the Lord (Aladura).

Solomon Krow was consecrated as an apostle in 1989 in recognition of his hard work and successful ministry. He was then transferred to Monrovia to supervise churches. While in Liberia, he was the head of Saint Samuel High School, which belonged to the church. The Liberian civil war compelled him to leave Monrovia in 1991. He was transferred to the United States in 1993 to head church congregations and to start new branches. However, he suffered a stroke the following year and had to return to Ghana.

Solomon Krow was one of the pioneers of the African Independent Church movement in Ghana. He had a passion for church growth and holistic Christianity and for teaching the Word of God. At his funeral service, his children gave hime this tribute: “…when we as children were growing up, we had morning prayers everyday before going to school. Now, waking up at dawn was not easy for a child. But our father believed in instilling the Word of God in all of us, as early as possible.”

Solomon Krow trained his children to be mature Christians and taught the members of his congregations to be sensitive to the voice of God and to be bold, proclaiming what God wanted them to say. Spirituality was his prime concern, so he was keen on prayer, fasting, meditation, and Bible study.

One of his lasting contributions to Christianity, particularly African Independent Churches (AICs), was the pioneering role he played in the establishment of the Good News Training Institute, a Bible school for AICs in Accra. In 1970, when Edwin and Irene Weaver, missionaries from the Mennonite Board of Missions, were looking for a place to begin a Bible class for AICs, Solomon Krow gladly offered them the choir loft of Nima Healing Temple:

In Accra we went to greet Solomon K. Krow, then archdeacon. He urged us to start Bible classes at Nima Temple. This seemed to be the right thing to do. We began immediately. (…) We needed a place to conduct the Bible classes. There were no classrooms in Nima Temple. The choir loft in the balcony at the rear of the sanctuary was finally suggested. (…) Krow sent messengers throughout his area congregations that Bible classes were shortly to begin at Nima Temple. The date was announced. There was keen interest. About twenty-five leaders of the various church organizations, patrons and matrons, prophets and prophetesses, seers and seeresses [sic], laymen of all kinds, and most important, both Bishop and Mrs. Krow enrolled.

Solomon Krow’s contribution planted a seed. Today, the Good News Training Institute is known as the Good News Theological College and Seminary. It is the only inter-denominational pastoral institute of higher learning for African Independent Churches.

Solomon Krow suffered from the effects of the stroke for nine years. He died on December 22, 2003 at the age of 66.

Thomas Oduro

Sources:

Weaver, Edwin and Irene. From Kuku Hill: Among Indigenous Churches in West Africa. Elkhart: Mennonite Board of Missions, 1975.

Funeral program printed by Global Family Star Press. Accra. [8-20].

This story, received in 2007, was abstracted from Thomas Oduro, Christ Holy Church International: The Story of an African Independent Church (Minneapolis: Lutheran University Press, 2007). Rev. Thomas Oduro, Ph.D., is the principal of Good News Theological College and Seminary, Accra, Ghana and DACB liaison coordinator.