NSAWAM ROAD CHURCH OF CHRIST EVANGELISTS QUARTERLY REPORTS TO MISSIONS MINISTRY, ACCRA-GHANA.
MONTHS: JANUARY TO MARCH 2011.
INTRODUCTION:
We thank the Lord God Almighty for ushering us into the 2011 year. To Him is the glory, the power forever and ever, Amen. In this work report include the work I have done in the first quarter of 2011 which might not capture every bit of the activities I have done yet to some extend it covers most of what the Lord has led me achieved. These include edification (re-opening of Project Timothy, annual ministers and wives party, visitation to village congregations, the unspitual attitude of Thomas, Campus ministry in Yendi Senior High) and on evangelism (WBS 2011 campaign, plans to form a youth club-Friends of Christ-FOC, preaching at Macheleyili, reactivation of hygiene volunteers in the village community to be led by church members through Church of Christ Rural Water Development Program.
EDIFICATION:
Once again Project Timothy resumed on the 14th of February to 4th March 2011. The evangelists have continued teaching the students as leaders who hold the village congregations.
By the grace of God I was able to visit Bro. James Taphamba in Tatale (148km) on the 9th of January 2011. Service there was great as the congregation sang beautifully to glory God our Father. I was given the opportunity to preach which I did as the Lord led me. Tatale is 74 km from Yendi.
On the 16th of January 2011, ministers of the gospel in Yendi town gathered at the Catholic Church bishop’s residence and had an annual party. This party is an annual one for ministers and their wives which is a time of reflection on the past years activities. It serves as an opportunity for the iron to be sharpened by another iron. Individual ministers who are touched with any message of encouragement are permitted to deliver it to the other ministers for their edification and upliftment.
While we are praying and working hard to unite the church, there are still some elements whose parochial interest will dent the church and negatively affect it if left. One of such is Thomas Yigmam at Tamambiya who resides at Ngani now and was working with the Reynolds family but no more works with them. He wanted to change some the names of the Churches of Christ in the villages to a denominational church (Victorious Child Evangelical Ministry International) which I was called to help solve the problem. Indeed we put in our little effort which the Lord used to explain to the congregations that it will be unwise to follow such self-centered interest of Thomas. His intention as he moved around where formally Brother Adams was working to spread his diabolic message. Thanks to God that all the brethren understood him and fully avoid him.
On the 3 March I was in Ngani village to meet with the brethren and to encourage them as they have stood firmly for God for the past years.
The campus ministry in Yendi Senior High is also going on well. In order to be meeting the student for Sunday service we have fix their worship time at 7am so that one is able to be part of the school service even when he is leaving for village. On the 12th of March was the handover day from the outgoing students’ leadership to the incoming ones. It was a moment of oneness. We are praying that this ministry should grow to serve as a tool of evangelism in the school. Attach is a picture of the handover program.
I visited Bacheborido congregation on the 13th of March to worship with them. It is one of the big village congregations that are very spiritual. It also a place the Prestoncrest Church of Christ is assisting to have a worship place. We further had to discuss how they can step in in contributing towards the building of the church. I humbly ask them to think about how much they can contribute in the building of the church which they agreed to contribute financially and labor. The blocks are molded and we will soon try to put up the church building. One of the setbacks in our rural evangelism is our inability to build their worship places which we are now doing. It is serving as a tool of edifying and evangelizing as well. Many at time rain will drive us away when worship is in progress or when it is in the dry season and the trees shed their leaves and the members will not have shade to sit. This has been a hindrance to church attendance but we thank God we are gradually helping in that direction. Even such congregations are not able to worship at nigh which would have help in building their faith up.
The evangelists were able to fast and pray for the work on the 16th of March as usual, praying for the church in Ghana and outside Ghana. We have had several fruits out of fasting so we think it’s a tool to invite God’s approval in whatever we are doing.
Yashagu village was the place I worshiped on the 27th of the month. This is a small village congregation whose leader is a physical challenge product of Project Timothy. He is John. John is doing fine with the church and I will be glad if all who read this work report will be praying for this little congregation. They have been seriously challenged by idol worshipers. This is a village where a big idol is worshipped. The door to the room in which this idol is kept is never closed and any leaving thing that walks in there will be strike dead immediately. This is some of the challenges we face but we appreciate the hand of God in our lives because in all this the Lord has shielded us from such dangers. This congregation is given some roofing sheets to roof the worship place which was rip off by a storm this year.
I will still be asking prayer for Bro Kofi and Bawah who were once member of the Lords church and have falling. They come once in a blue moon and never appear until some other time. I know the Spirit of the Lord will fish for them as we add them to our prayer list.
The evangelists are teaching at the church school as part of our evangelism. That is teaching of the gospel to the pupils preparing them for Christ in the years to come.
With assistance from Westover Hills Church of Christ the evangelists have been able to assist Boadiyili and Kpanjamba congregations with roofing sheet. Also some are assisted with cement to plaster and floor their worship places.
Before Bro. Tom Carr arrived in Ghana he had already send some funds to me to fix a new overhead tank at the clinic guest house which I purchase in Tamale to Yendi. The arrival of the 8000 litters’ tank calls for mounting on a tall tower ment for it to supply water to some of the residence. The local brethren and the Bros. Kent, Gordon, Michael and Thomas participated to help mount the tank. It was not an easy task as it took as a long time to be able to achieve this. In all, we thank God because the tank was sent to the rightful place and now supplies the clinic and the guest house clean drinking water.
As part of the ongoing village ministry, I visited Bakpaba on the 30th of January to preach. Bakpaba is 16 miles away from Yendi. Bakpaba is one of the old congregations of the Church of Christ which has survived with all the difficult and hard times. It’s always a good time for them to see one of their preachers.
As one of the clinic management committee member we had a meeting on the 20th of March to see how best we can absorb the two new nurses who have just completed the nurses’ training school. Looking into the salaries and sectors of work within the clinic and also planning towards the clinic expansion. All went all.
EVANGELISM:
I met with Elder Nathaniel Adams of the Rural Water Development Program on the 30th of March when he came to Yendi. We had a fruitful discussion on the hygiene volunteerism in the village communities. This was once inaugurated some year’s back and many volunteers are in the villages but the CEO will want the church volunteers in the villages to lead in it so that Christ can be preached.
The evangelists fasted and prayed on the 12 January for our partners in Ghana and overseas especially the World Bible School campaign. It was a moment to pray for a save trip, peace for the American brethren coming and their families, praying for a receptive hearts among the students and teachers who are predominately Muslims and a generally smooth campaign. One of the impending ugly heads was Zohe Islamic Junior High School where the Proprietor told me they will not need us teach their students because when Christians are allowed to teach the students they will eventually convert them. We left them and never boarded until the headmaster met me on the 14th February after our brethren from States had gone and told me that they are waiting for us to come and teach at their school. I was highly surprise yet that was the reality. This result did not come on silver platter but rather as a result of fasting and prayers. Further to that was, I went to collect the WBS introduction lessons which was given to the school so that it could be given to different students in another school but to my surprise the headmaster told me that they have distributed the lessons to the students and I appointed a day with the headmaster for the collection of the lessons. Surely when I went the students had answered them and gave them to me for posting. If not the intervention of God what could change the hearts of the modern pharaoh’s than the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. We give all the glory to God our Father.
John Kambunja, one of the evangelists working with the Reynolds family died on the 7th and was buried on the 8th of January 2011. I had a number of phone calls to come and do the committals which I honored. By the grace of God it attracted a sizeable crowd. I was given the sermon which I preached leaving the committals to another preacher. I thought that a time has come when the Lord is uniting and building his church that was cracked in the past years. We will be glad if brethren will continue to be praying for us that the Lord should unit his laborers working in His vineyard that all within should be harmonious in the Yendi area. Even though it was a funeral ground I preached Christ for the village folks to understand that without Christ there is no peace on earth and life after death. At the time of the sermon every living soul was quietly listening and when we finished a number of the people came and shook hands with for the message that was delivered.
Our major evangelistic tool this quarter was the World Bible School campaign. The pre-campaign activities was fasting and prayer, meetings to plan for the campaign, meeting with Ghana Education Service officials and the delivery of WBS lessons to approximately 8 thousand Junior High Schools students in addition to two Senior High Schools. I must thank God for giving me the grace to deliver all the lessons to the 31 Junior High School in the Yendi Municipality. I have attached a picture of the lessons sitting on my motor bike. The real campaign started on the 7th of February 2011. We first and foremost visited the Municipal Director of Education with all the officials of the directorate who have assembled to welcome us and know how long we will be teaching in the schools in the Yendi municipality. The funny thing was that most of the schools thought that the visiting brethren were going to be in their respective school for one week each, which we could not have done because the number of the campaigners could not give room for that. This is also an indication that more campaigners need to be coming to augment the efforts we are putting forth. There were four brethren ( Bros. Gordon Ganzael, Michael Everist, Thomas Graham and Kent Chambers) from the West Over Hills in USA. We divided ourselves into four groups and each visited two schools in a day. This gave way to us reaching over ten thousand souls with the word of God. Even though we did not baptize anybody but the word was able to reach people who would for some reason not have the opportunity to hear it. We also took the opportunity to donate academic books to the Yendi Girls Junior High School through the Municipal Director of Education. The kind of books donated was Mathematics, English Language and Religious and Moral Education (RME).
The books donated by the American brethren were presented to the school by the Municipal Director of Education on the 22 February 2011. At the presentation was the “Parent Teacher Association” to receive the books on behalf of the school. I was happy when the director told the students that it was their friends in the Church of Christ who have sacrifice greatly for them to have their future built to take over from the elderly tomorrow.
Generally the people we visited were the Director of Education, the Municipal Chief Executive, teachers and students in all the Junior High School and the two Senior High Schools in the Municipality. The visiting brethren also took time to visit Papa Musah Dawud who is our eldest evangelist but lost his sight in the recent years. They prayed with him and encouraged him to remain steadfast in the faith. The joy among all the officials could be seen in their interactions and call for more visit in the years to come.
The group also had the opportunity to visit the Yendi Government prisons where two (2) dust bins were donated to the inmates for the collection of garbage in the prisons. The officer in charge at the prison was so happy because many have come there with big promises which were never fulfilled. They were therefore glad for the two garbage cans and requested disinfectants for cleaning the inner covered gutter in the prison yard. Last but not lease was the visitation of the Yendi leprosarium where a bag of 50kg rice, soap, water hose and charcoal were donated to five (5) lepers who are living there unattended to. The lepers could not hide their joy by telling us that they now have food to be cooking to supplement the food they get from the government through the Yendi government hospital.
The evangelists took time with the brethren from the USA to have a review meeting so as to evaluate the whole success and challenges of the WBS program. It was also a moment to encourage both sides in sacrificing for God. This followed the evangelists fasting and praying as thanks giving for God bringing the brethren from the USA safely and sending them safely too, having a successful campaign and reaching not less than about ten thousand people with the word of God.
As a regular program the evangelists fasted and prayed for the work in the north and our partners both in Ghana and the USA.
With so much thought in expanding the coverage of the WBS lessons, the evangelists with Bro. Fusheini Musah have come to an agreement to send the WBS program to Gusheigu district through him who works there. We are praying for God to lead us and prepare the ground so that word will be accepted.
One of the saddest but joyful things is that Bro. Boachi Jaakum who was working with the clinic pass away of the 7th of March 2011. Bro Jaakum was an elderly person and a member of the Yendi Church. His burial attracted a great crowd at his home village (Gbungbalga). I did the committals It is been told many times here in Dagbon that Christian do not perform funerals which some though is not a good thing if a group of God followers do not pay their last respect to a person who has labored and leaving the earth for his final rest in heaven. As a result of this we have always tried to gather as large as we can to diffuse this negative mind set. This point is one the reasons some of the Dagomba people (tribe) do not like Christianity. Bro. Jaakum funeral will be performing on the 29 and 30th of April at Gbungbalga. The church will be there in fullness, inviting the village congregations in addition to the Yendi church. It will be a ground to preach the word, encourage ourselves and preach the word to the non-Christians.
Lord willing the a member of the Yandi church lost her mother last year and the funeral took place in Sandema in the Upper East Region of Ghana where three ladies and two men making a delegation of five were assigned to attend the funeral which I was one of the five. We left home at 5: 30am and returned 8:00pm travelling in and out of about 750km on that day. This was a long tiring journey as we travelled on a road that is not totally tarred. Our presence was an encouragement to the sister and her husband. They are both members of the Lord’s church in Yendi. When we were going to return the elderly women in the family fetched some quantity of groundnut (peanut) and added two guinea fowls for as a symbol of us reaching the funeral ground. We turn the guinea fowl back. It was a display of African culture when the elder gave us those gifts.
We received sixteen (16) boxes of the World Bible School lesson for some Junior High School in the Yandi Municipality and I was able to distribute twelfth (12) of the boxes to the various schools with Bro. David Wumbei giving the other four (4) boxes to one of the schools. We gave them the dates on which we will return to collect the answer sheets but the Junior High Schools closed before the date we thought we could collect it. Even with the early closure of the schools we were able to take some of the lessons. This is aimed at facilitating the flow of the lessons from the students to their teacher in the USA. We hope brethren will join us in prayer in the regards so that the Lord will touch the hearts of the students to surrender to Christ who will give us the full peace and joy we need here on earth and in heaven.
I have thought of coming out with a youth club “Friends of Christ (FOC)” to accompany the WBS lessons. It may help in the sustenance as it should be directed towards Christ and the future of the children. One of the topics that I thought will be good is carrier awareness with which we will engage some of the times the Ghana Education Service Office in Yendi but this will depend on the kind of topics to be treated. I have discussed this with the preachers and will see how best we can coordinate this in our work to serve as a backup to the WBS program here in Yendi.
As part of our rural evangelism we went to Bacheborido during the visit of the brethren from Westover Hills Church of Christ to show Jesus Film in Konkomba language but the generator developed a fault which did not permit us do the video. We are handicapped in showing the village cinema due to the lack of means (van) to carry the cinema gadgets to the village communities. While we still grapple with other needs and challenges we still will need to lay this before brethren for prayer as it is one of the methods we use to evangelize in the rural communities.
We need prayers as you have always done for us to lead us in the rightful direction as we struggle as human to beauty the name of the Lord among those who do not see him in His total beauty. We give all the glory to God as our Father and Christ our Lord through whom we have life and hope forever.
CHALLENGES
Our major challenge is the completion of the Yendi church building complex. We are appealing to brethren in Ghana and outside Ghana to pray with us in getting funds for the completion of the project. The completion will give way to the church service within town and the church nursery school to move in. Also is the building of worship places for some of the village congregations.
Shalom,
Alhassan Abdulai Andrews
(Preacher, Yendi Church of Christ)
