Harris movement

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Harris movement. A mass movement toward Christianity in the Ivory Coast and W. Ghana between 1913 and 1915, due to the itinerant ministry of a Grebo from Liberia, William Wadé Harris (c.1860–1929). Some 120,000 people of many tribes discarded traditional religious practices and magic, accepted his baptism and elementary Christianity. Harris independent churches, include the largest under John Ahui (b. 1894) with perhaps 150,000 members by 1980, and the Church of the Twelve Apostles under Grace Thannie (c.1880–1958) in W. Ghana. One of the best-known figures in the Ivory Coast is Albert Atcho (b. 1903), an Ebrié prophet-healer operating within the Harris context from his own village of Bregbo.

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