HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST IN THE THREE-NORTHERN REGIONS (NORTHERN, UPPER EAST AND WEST REGIONS) OF GHANA.
TAMALE
Mr. Kingsly Addo, at the Bomsu Church of Christ, father (name needed) was the first person to start the Church of Christ in Tamale in 1970. Mr. Kingsly’s father was a merchant and a Church of Christ brother who stayed in Tamale as a merchant. Mr. Bob Frahm, a missionary from the USA, converted Elder Christian Nsoah in 1968. These two men became friends and co-workers in the Lord’s vineyard. Bob Frahm heard of Kingsly’s father and went to work with him in Tamale.
BOLGATANGA
With the church started in Tamale, Bob moved to Bolgatanga in the Upper East region with Christian Nsoah on a survey in 1971. After this, a group of church workers including Joseph Fodjour and Cosmos Amoaku went and preached at Bolgatanga. Conversion was very slow, but two churches were established. Even though conversion was not as rapid as expected, the team never gave up and was even excited for the achievement the Lord has helped them accomplish. That was how these first two churches were established.
YENDI
Nsoah was a Senior Supervision Superintendent in Tema Cocoa Company at that time, but resigned in June 1982 (as a result an advice given to him by Elder Josiah Tilton) and became a full time minister of the gospel. In 1970, they (names needed) came to Yendi and started a small church of less than 15 people who were all from the southern part of Ghana and were government workers. The church that was established died due to the transfer of all her members from Yendi to some other part of the country. The leader was called Koomson (second name needed).
As a result, the group decided to use Tamale as a springboard to reach the whole of the three northern regions. In 1979 and 1980, Nsoah kept coming to Tamale with the hope of establishing a church which did not materialize. In 1981 Elder Josiah Tilton and a group of American and Ghanaians came to Tamale, yet the people in Tamale did not show any interest in the Lord (church). It was at this time that Josiah Tilton encouraged Nsoah to leave his lucrative job as a Senior Supervision Superintendent in the Tema Cocoa Company and he finally resigned in June 1982 after working there for 19 years.
At that point in 1982, brothers from the southern part of Ghana came to the northern part of Ghana to evangelize. This group in particular was made up of: Peter Anitey, Joseph Ampofo, Ocheame Akufu, Isaac Kpakpo Adotey, Stephen Nyamavor, Christian Nsoah, Doris Obeng,Tracy Martinez with her father Aaron Martinez, Josiah Tilton, Bill Yates, and Dennis Hamilton. The group mentioned above came to Yendi and converted 43 people. The only survivor among the 1982 group of converts in the Yendi church of Christ is Sister Ali Victoria Lardi. It was later that Samson Laar (the first preacher of the church) was converted. Jaminja Ndakar was one of the converts, but was not baptized. The group that established the church realized that Jaminja Ndakar was not baptized when he was made the church secretary. It was after this that he was baptized, bringing the total number of baptized members in Yendi church of Christ in 1982 to 42 (44?).
The first place of worship for the church was the Yendi court house, now the Yendi circuit court, which is still located in front of the Yendi Prisons. The church moved the worship place to the present day St. Kizito Junior Secondary School (J.S.S.) and later moved to Yaro (second name needed) house in Yendi. Yaro’s house was rented for the purpose of a mission house. That is a place for both for accommodations and worship. The church was then moved from this place to the present day Church of Christ site in the south of Yendi, after that land was purchased.
YENDI LAND PURCHASE
The Evangelical Presbyterian (EP) church farms was the residence for all the group members who were coming from the south and the USA to Yendi until the EP staff of the farms found that the activities of the missionaries were unacceptable. That is, they were converting the EP members to the Church of Christ when officials of the farms detected it. This then brought about the ejection of the evangelists from the place, because their stay at the EP church Farms was a threat to the Evangelical Presbyterian church growth. One Mr. Bakari, (second name and department needed?) a pig farmer, then accepted the group and accommodated them in some of the government bungalows in the east of Yendi until other government officials disagreed with Mr. Bakari. This risk Mr. Bakari took almost ended his job in an untimely fashion. One of the reasons the other government officials were against Mr. Bakari was that they were from other denominations and were not happy because some of their members might join the Church of Christ as the truth was being taught. Because of this, they tried to find a way of getting the evangelists out of the bungalows so that they probably would not have accommodations and that alone could force them out of Yendi. The group then went to the north-east of Yendi. , the Gusheigu barrier, and pegged their tents to stay and worship. That ejection brought about the purchasing of the church site at the place it is presently. As the evangelists were ejected or rejected, they struggled to buy a piece of land. The first land purchase was twelve acres. The next purchase was also twelve acres, thus 12 x 2 = 24. These 12 X 2 lands were purchased by Bro. Dan Lesely McVey and Elder Josiah Tilton respectively. This is the land on which the Church of Christ is located today.
KUMASI CLINIC
Glenn Boyd, director of African Christian Missions, was called in to assist in the work in the north. At this time the medical organization already had a clinic in Kumasi. Nsoah’s relationship with Glenn started when Nsoah was asked to pick him up at the Accra airport to stay with him in Tema on his arrival and departure from the USA. At this time Nsoah had already bought his house in Tema from the labor of his sweat as a worker from Tema Cocoa Company. Nsoah capitalized on his relationship with Glenn and requested a clinic in Yendi, but Dan Lesely McVey and Ted Wheeler were asked to do a survey at Kwamedasu. This trip did not yield anything at Kwamedasu, but the attention of the medical organization shifted to Kumasi… hence the clinic at Kumasi.
MOBILE CLINIC/YENDI CLINIC
The northern mission workers continued talking with Glenn Boyd as the director of the African Christian Missions (ACM) to help Yendi with a clinic. They went further and invited him to come along with them to the north, so that he would see the needs of the area with his naked eyes. They did this to motivate the coming of the present day Yendi church of Christ Mission clinic. The first move of Glenn was a donation of medical supplies to be use to help the people of Wanjuga, east of Cheriponi near the Ghana-Togo border. This was the beginning of the mobile clinic of the Church of Christ in the north and finally resulted in the establishment of the Yendi clinic in 1996.
WENCHIKI/CHERIPONI
The group started a church in Wenchiki in 1986 with a membership of 87; this was the largest of the congregations in the north. The church was established through one Kofi Ka who was working with Ghana Linguistics and was doing Bible translation at Cheriponi. Kofi Ka by the divine grace of God visited Jaminja Ndaka (secretary to Yendi church) in Yendi and the evangelists met him there and had a study of the word of God with him and he said even though he was doing Bible translation he did not know that the Bible was good as explained. He went home and told the people of Cheriponi and they were very happy. He therefore proposed that the group of evangelists come to Cheriponi and establish a church there. The invitation was made when Nsoah and Nyamavor were leaving Yendi to Accra and they promised that they would visit them on the next trip and even gave them the date they would be coming back to Yendi.
When the evangelists arrived, but were tired and could not proceed immediately to Cheriponi, the people of Cheriponi hired a truck to transport them the following day. On their way to Yendi (while traveling to Cheriponi), the evangelists met a delegation coming from Cheriponiat Sunson. At Sunson the delegation from Cheriponi joined the evangelists and returned with them to Cheriponi while the hired truck proceeded to Yendi because of passengers who boarded the car.
These evangelists were Nsoah and Edward Nana Quansah. Before this they were working in Wa, Sandema and Weiga, all in the Upper West region. During one of the evangelists’ journeys, the evangelists met a motor bike rider coming from Bolgatanga who directed them not to travel from Bolgatanga to Tamale on their way to Yendi. His reason was that the road was long and there was a short way they could take to Yendi. He advised them to pass through Wulugu through the Gambaga road to Nalerigu then to Gbindiri to Wenchiki and to Chereponi. (The other alternative given was Bawku through Garu to Nakpanduri to Gusheigu, then to Chereponi.) At Wenchiki, while taking the advised route to Chereponi, a gentleman came to Nsoah and Seth Okyere as he saw the sticker of the Church of Christ on the car when they were driving to pass. He asked the following questions: “What is the Church of Christ doing?” Nsoah and Okyere responded that they preach the gospel. The man again asked “to special people?” The evangelists responded no, but said their supplies were finished so they wanted to go back to Accra and come back later. The man again asked “What if we die before the arrival of the evangelists?” These questions compelled the evangelists to make a decision to come the following day. On the next day they left Chereponi and went to Wenchiki. Seth was then preparing breakfast (tea) while Nsoah was preaching. At the end of the teaching they thought they had baptized 85 instead of 15 converts. The reason was that many of the people had never boarded a car before, so while they could carry 5 people to be baptized, when they returned two would alight and then three will remain for another baptism just because they wanted to ride again. This occurred unnoticed. The evangelists ended thinking they had baptized 85 people not knowing that it was 15 people who were converted.
WALEWALE
In 1987, Christian Nsoah, Josiah Tilton, Joel, Aaron Martinez, Kpakpo, Baah Okyere Kwame in Tamale and Joe Odai were working in Walewale. Baah was on a World Bible School (WBS) follow up in Walewale so he and the group worked together. In Walewale they had no meat and Baah went to buy chicken in the market. A member of the group shot and killed 10 partridges on their way back to Walewale while coming from a village doing evangelism work. When they got to Walewale, Baah and Joe were not happy buying fowls while there were 10 partridges on the way to the cooking pot. It was in May so the place was very dry and dusty. Ten to twelve people were baptized in Walewale while the evangelists were there for eight to ten days.
RURAL WATER DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
The year was a very hard one and many did not have resources in hand, including food. Nsoah told the group he wanted to inform them about a problem when they reached Wenchiki. This was the genesis of the Church of Christ Rural Water Development Project (COCRWDP). When they arrived at Wenchiki, they worshipped there on either a Wednesday or Friday. The car they were using did not have an air conditioner, so they were always dusty anwhere they went. After the worship service, Nsoah brought two cans of milk for two mothers of malnourished babies and then asked guinea worm infested people to stand up… which they did. The Americans among the group were confused with this kind of disease, because they had not seen such a thing before in their lives. One unusual aspect of it was that the church leader himself (Peter Akor) was also infested. Josiah asked where this strange disease came from. From here Josiah Tilton (Si) asked Nsoah to take them to the pond where the people got this strange disease. When they got there some of the people were washing their clothing while others were fetching water home for consumption. Si asked whether they could do something about that, and Nsoah said he had already reported it to the Ghana Water and Sewage Cooperation (GWSC), but they had not done anything. The evangelists estimated that three boreholes could serve the entire community satisfactorily. They traveled back to
Chereponi, on through Tamale, and passed the night in Kumasi. At that time of the age, there was only one man in Techiman who had a fridge for commercial purposes. The evangelists stopped over there for a coke before they reached Accra. In Accra the group visited McVey for a discussion on the guinea worm problem at Wenchiki. McVey and Nsoah said they needed to see the UNICEF country office for something to be done positively about the plight of the people of Wenchiki. They went and met one of the UNICEF officers called Mr. Bawah (full name needed) and requested three boreholes on behalf of the people of Wenchiki, but Bawah said that they id not drill boreholes… however he would give the evangelists pipes if they wanted to drill for the community.
At that point, Si decided to speak to his home congregation (full name congregation needed) in the USA for assistance. After Si left back to the States, within 3 to 4 weeks Nsoah had already gotten World Vision International to assist with the boreholes. Si spoke to his congregation (who accepted the challenge) and within two months they raised $85,000 US. World Vision accepted the task to drill, but at $10,000 US per borehole. This would have been very costly to the congregation, so they(by the grace of God) found Kevin (second name needed) in California who knew the head of World Vision. The influence of the World Vision officer (name needed) changed the contract to 15 boreholes for the same $85,000 US. The grace of God brought more and more donations towards the well drilling. This encouraged the elders of … to look for rig/machine that would now be the property of the church and be used for the borehole drilling to needy communities irrespective of their religious backgrounds. Nsoah put together the first drilling crew comprised of Alfred and Stephen Nyamavor. These two men were sent to World Vision to work on practicals, pending the arrival of the church drilling machine. It was later Nathaniel Adams was added to the crew. In January 1989 World Vision agreed to move to the north for drilling at the Wenchiki area. Kevin, director of Manna International, knew Curt King who was a driller all over the world. Some of the places he was drilling were in Ethiopia, Sudan…. He trained Alfred and Stephen. World vision drilled the 15 boreholes in 1989 in and around Wenchiki.
In July the same year the congregation shipped the rig. It went through Dambaya to Yendi. In the same year in October, Curt King came to Yendi to train Alfred and Stephen some more. The first ever borehole drilled by the crew was at Yaro’s home on the South-West of Yendi, which was a rented mission house as well as church auditorium. After the landlord (Yaro) ejected the missionaries, the borehole has not been rehabilitated and is not in use. Curt stayed for two months and later came back in March 1990. In April and May of 1990, he gave Alfred and Stephen additional training. The crew and evangelists went to Saboba for both evangelism and drilling. In Saboba, after the evangelist set their tents, a young boy had a monkey as a pet. When Curt saw it, he developed an interest and within a short time Nsoah could not be found…Curt not knowing that he had gone to the bush to hunt for a monkey. He surely got one monkey for Curt on his return from the bush in about two hours time. Curt would always sit the monkey on his shoulder while drilling. In a village around Saboba they drilled at 200 feet and did not get water. (The crew drilled at two places and did not get water.) While they were leaving the village, both men and women wept. Out of 45 trial boreholes, they hit 15 wet wells.
All along, it was Alfred, Stephen and old man Amponsah (needing the second name) who were working together. Old man Amponsah would rebuke them where they were wrong and if it was necessary. They moved their families to Yendi in 1994 but the Dagomba- Konkomba conflict made them send their families back to Accra. The other reason for them sending their families was the standard of education at Yendi. It was not qualitative as compared to that of the south (Accra) where they were from. At that time, the electricity corporation of Ghana had a power generator that supplied Yendi electricity, yet the present church site did not have light. Electricity was supplied from 5am to 6am and from 6pm to 10pm in Yendi, so they were living without electricity at the church site.
By 1989 Kpakpo’s house, the present water project guest house, was built. Samson Laar was already there before Ibrahim Johnson then came from Bolgatanga in 1994, but his first week was the 1994 conflict. By 1992 the UNICEF officer, Mr. Bawah, told the church that UNICEF could not continue to supply hand pumps. This left a big challenge to the leadership of the Well Drilling, both internationally and locally. The Well drilling project then took up the responsibility of drilling wells and have since worked alone up to 2001. From 2001, the bombing of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in New York, USA affected the businesses of donors to the project. From then onwards, the leadership of the project again partnered with UNICEF in the rehabilitation and drilling of boreholes in Ghana.
VILLAGE OF HOPE/HERITAGE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE
The Village of Hope (VOH) was taken over in 1992 after the one who established it had abandoned it. In 1992 Nsoah and Kpakpo looked for Musah Dawud to attend the then National Bible College, which was later named Nationwide Bible College (NBI) and presently the Heritage Christian College (HCC). Dugbagy Chaitey, Adams Abdulai, Alhassan Abdulai Andrews, Musah Fusheini and Musah Alhassan followed.
PROJECT TIMOTHY
In Zabzugu/Tatale district, the church by then had drilled 102 boreholes which attracted the then DCE. He invited the leaders of the well drilling and requested more assistance, but the resources in the hands of the organization was scanty hence the request could not be met. The church did not have resources as at that time and could not do otherwise. James Taphamba was then converted and sent to the Project Timothy leadership training in Yendi and later left for the NBI. His son Chendiku and Emmanuel Wumbee Buwalte were classmates in the project timothy in Yendi. Emmanuel Wumbee Buwalte later went to the H.C.C. too.
TRANSPORTATION
The first motor bike bought for Samson Laar could not be put inside Nsoah’s car, because the room in the car was small to accommodate the motor. Si and Nsoah had to ride Samson’s motor bike with Samson from Accra to Yendi through the Volta region on an exchange. At Damanku, they passed the night and Samson had to sleep on his motor bike, because it had no lock and for the sake of thieves he would not leave the motor to sleep somewhere. Another greater grace was in 1982 when Nsoah and Si were coming from the north to the south. At Damanku the river had run down so the ferry could not reach the normal place to load and off load. There were over 50 cars packed to be transported across the river and the ferry could only carry 3 to 4 cars on each trip. Nsoah and Si’s car was as far as the fiftieth back and when they got to the people/passengers at the river side, the people were picking stones to support the docking of the ferry. Si as a white man also participated in the picking of the stones and that attracted the attention of the passengers who were also picking the stones. He did this because the Lord teaches that he who wants to be the greatest must be the servant (Mark 10:43). Because of that example, even though they were as far as the fiftieth car, the whole group of passengers called them to be the first 3 or 4 cars to board the ferry.
