The Kumasi Diocese was born out of the missionary activities by the Wesleyan Methodists in Ashanti, spearheaded by the Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman, in 1839. Prior to this, Mr. James Hayford, a representative of the British Merchant Company Administration in Kumasi, had started a Methodist Fellowship of a sort in Kumasi. Due to his good relations; he on one occasion had the opportunity to conduct a Divine Service in the King’s Palace.  Reports of these developments to the church in Cape Coast partly precipitated Rev. Freeman’s missionary enterprise in Kumasi. The church then mobilized an amount of sixty pounds to fund this mission project. Coupled with this was the interest in converting the then “dark Ashanti” to the saving knowledge of Christ. Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman encountered several obstacles on his first missionary trip to Kumasi. Notable among these was the long delay he faced in Kusa (his first stop in Ashanti) and Fomena due to the confused notions held concerning the nature of his mission enterprise. Rev. T. B. Freeman was eventually admitted by the King, Nana Kwaku Duah, into Kumasi on 1st April, 1839; after he had waited patiently in Kusa and Fomena for a total of 48 days.

In Kumasi, as Rev. Freeman recounted in his journal, he and his entourage were warmly received by the Asantehene and his Court. The King allowed him to preach in the streets and he was again given the opportunity to conduct two divine services during his stay. At this stage the seed of Methodism in Ashanti and what was to become the Kumasi Diocese had just been sown.