Carlos Idun-Tawiah’s photograph “The Gospel, Accra, Ghana, 2022” condenses the electricity of a Sunday service into a single, urgent gesture.

A preacher, collar gleaming, lunges toward the congregation with an outstretched arm while his other hand anchors an open Bible. Light pours through stained-glass windows and ricochets off stone arches, turning the church interior into a stage where faith, history, and architecture meet.

In Accra, Sunday worship is more than weekly routine. It is a public declaration of belief, a neighborhood reunion, and an informal welfare system rolled into one.

Long before dawn, choirs rehearse, market stalls close, and streets fill with brightly dressed families heading toward their chosen denomination—Pentecostal, Methodist, Catholic, or charismatic “prayer camps.”

In a city that can feel fragmented by traffic, class, and rapid urban growth, the church service re-knits social fabric. Testimonies, collective singing, and call-and-response preaching give worshippers a voice, while post-service gatherings provide job leads, informal loans, and emotional support. For many, “going to church” is therefore spiritual nourishment and civic lifeline in equal measure.

Idun-Tawiah’s image recreates this atmosphere through a meticulous staging process that underpins much of his work.

Rather than waiting for decisive moments, he scripts them. The photographer scouts real locations tied to his childhood memories, then collaborates with pastors, friends, and family members who understand the rhythms of Ghanaian worship.

Wardrobe is selected to echo the period he is evoking—often the late 1990s and early 2000s—while props such as vintage microphones or weathered hymnals ground the scene in lived reality.

He blocks every movement, asking subjects to repeat gestures until body language feels authentic.

Lighting is treated cinematically: natural window light is supplemented with soft fill to preserve the warmth of morning service while sharpening facial expressions.

The final frame blurs the line between documentary and performance, offering viewers both a truthful atmosphere and a crafted narrative.

By fusing staged precision with cultural insight, Idun-Tawiah shows why Sunday morning in Accra remains a cornerstone of identity and hope. His photograph is not only a portrait of a preacher in mid-sermon; it is a distilled memory of a city that still turns toward the pulpit each week to find community, renewal, and the promise of something larger than itself.