PCUSA Presbyterian Women Grant Recipient

In 2011, the Presbyterian Women from the Presbyterian Church USA gave a grant to a women's cooperative near Kasoa, a seaside town to the west of Accra.  The women of this cooperative currently use traditional techniques to dry and smoke fish.  Most of this work happens within the household, and the resulting smoke can cause health problems for the women and children.

The PW grant will help the cooperative to build a community fish smoking facility.  Take a look at some of the pictures below.  

Currently, the women smoke fish in the yard of the house, where they also do the cooking and the wash.  The new facility will eliminate the need to do this at home. 

Women buy the fish at the beach, when the men come in from fishing, to sell what they catch. 

Sun dried fish! 

The new facility, under construction. 

Kasoa Fishing Harbor

In the pictures below, you'll get an impression of the fishing harbor near Kasoa.  This is where the women come to buy the fish that the men have caught and brought back to the harbor.  In the pictures, you see people mending nets and repairing boats.  Even the very young boys help out with the work.  

What I Love About Ghana - Akpafu Odomi

Wednesday night worship at the Akpafu Odomi Evangelical Presbyterian Church. 

Akpafu Odomi is a village just north of Hohoe, in the Volta Region of Ghana, about 4 hours northeast of Ghana's capital Accra. It's small, but nonetheless, the congregation is vibrant and has an incredible music ministry. I always enjoy when I can visit them and listen to the choirs sing.

In 2003, a group from the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago traveled to Akpafu and helped work on the early stages of the chapel construction project.  Additional funds given by Fouth Church allowed Akpafu to completely roof the chapel.  In November, 2010, the church celebrated its 100th anniversary with a dedication of the finished chapel -- although there is still quite a bit of finishing work to be done.

Here, you can see some pictures of the anniversary celebration in 2010, and the construction in 2003:

The church choir, as the centennial service is about to begin.

Rev. Francis Amenu, moderator of the EP Church, cutting the ribbon into the chapel. 

When Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, came to Ghana in June, 2003, this is what they found.  The group worked alongside the residents of Akpafu Odomi, hauling sand and water from the river to make concrete blocks. 

Healing and Deliverance

One of the things I have been trying to understand and appreciate since coming to Ghana is the healing and deliverance services that have become and more and more visible and important within Christian congregations. In the Presbyterian churches across West Africa, the younger generation of pastors and church members have made healing and deliverance a focus of much worship and ministry.

I encourage you to watch a video that is posted on the web, by the filmmaker James Ault. Although the video is more than 10 years old, it is a good picture of what healing and deliverance is like.

www.vimeo.com/album/123087

I think this is an area in which our different churches and cultures need to have more dialog. I would also like to hear more theological reflection from the church in West Africa, how healing and deliverance is part of the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Deliverance session with Nana Yaa & her mother led by Abboa-Offei from james ault on Vimeo.

March, 2011 - Ghana

During my visits to Presbyterian congregations in Ghana, I’m often asked to find for them American church partners.  Although there is an expressed desire for international friendships, when I probe about why congregations want foreign partners, I’m almost always told that these partners have the ability to bring in needed money and resources.  When Ghanaian congregations begin construction of a new chapel, there seems to be an especially strong desire to find someone from abroad who can help speed up the building process.

I believe that a legacy of poverty, colonialism, and past unequal connections have led many Ghanaian congregations to believe that they can only be the recipients, while foreign partners can only be the givers.  If we aren’t careful, it seems our partnerships run the risk of reinforcing these stereotypes and repeating past mistakes.

Last year, after the Haiti earthquake, I noticed some conversations in Ghana that were quite striking for what they implied.  There were a few appeals within the country asking people to assist Haiti financially.  And on more than a few occasions, I heard people questioning, why would we give, how can we give, when we are the ones who have such great need.

If anything, I think the Presbyterian Church (USA) can help its West African partners by lifting up the conviction that they, too, have been given gifts by the Holy Spirit.  They, too, have something valuable to give, both to serve the common good and to build up the body of Christ.

Over the past several years, First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights, Illinois, and the Kaneshie, Accra congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana have joined together as mission partners, helping to build a school and chapel in a rural and undeveloped area on the outskirts of Accra.  I love the work they are doing, because it’s not Arlington Heights giving and Kaneshie receiving.  Rather, the two congregations have come together to help build up a third party in Ghana.

I think this model of mission has been particularly empowering for Ghanaians.  As parts of Ghana get richer, I pray that we in the PC(USA) can help encourage our Ghanaian brothers and sisters to realize that they do have quite a bit to give, and they can be the ones helping those in the country who have less.

Above:  The dual use school and chapel, which Kaneshie and Arlington Heights are building in Udontia.  
 

One of the lay preachers in the newly-established congregation, giving me a tour of the construction site.

 

This is the "chapel" that the Udontia congregation is currently using.  One of the associate pastors at Kaneshie, Rev. Samuel Ofoli, frequently leads worship in the village. 

PCUSA Mission Yearbook - Nigeria - February 18, 2011

The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria traces its origins to 1846, when missionaries from Scotland arrived in Calabar, at the invitation of the local kings.  In its early years, the church spread to the nearby cities of Port Harcourt and Aba.  In more recent times, it has expanded into Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria, and Abuja, the political capital.  The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria is a large, vibrant, and growing denomination.  It is a wonderful example of how a church can be African, charismatic, and Reformed, all at the same time. 

The church has placed a high priority on establishing a university, named Hope Waddell University, in honor of the first Presbyterian missionary to arrive in the country.  The church envisions “a dynamic institution built on the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria’s tradition of academic excellence and the Church’s commitment to the regeneration of society toward service to God and humanity.”  It sees the university as a way to train leaders who will serve Nigeria, just as the church has served the country. 

Nigeria’s potential is enormous.  It has a large and educated population, and vast natural resources.  But the problems are also daunting.  There is periodic violence between religious and ethnic groups, and wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few while most are poor.  Let us pray, therefore, for the church and its work. 

Lord God, you have promised that in Christ, there is a new creation, the old has past and the new is come.  We pray for the Christian mission, ministry, and service of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria.  With the power of your Holy Spirit, may they bring about transformation and regeneration of church and society.  

The moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, Rev. U. B. Usung, standing in front of a historic congregation in the city of Calabar.  

PCUSA Mission Yearbook - Ghana - February 16, 2011

In 1869, Swiss missionaries Fritz and Rose Ramseyer were captured and imprisoned by the Asante people of Ghana.  During their five years in captivity, they became the first people to preach the gospel of Christ in the Asante capital of Kumasi. 

In 1896, the Ramseyers returned to Kumasi, this time to establish a new preaching post for the Basel Mission.  Those five years in prison had prepared them well, as they once again began to evangelize among the Asante people. 

Today, the Ramseyer Memorial Presbyterian Church sits atop one of the highest hills in Kumasi, Ghana’s second city.  More than a thousand people pass through its doors every Sunday.  It is a vibrant and important congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.

One block away from Ramseyer, on the grounds of the old Basel Mission, the congregation has begun to reach out to the many Ghanaian northerners who have moved south to Kumasi for work.  Although the northerners often come from families with a Muslim or traditional African religious background, they have embraced Christianity with zeal.

This Frafra-language speaking fellowship, part of the PCG’s “Northern Outreach Program,” is about 100 strong in number.  Almost all are under the age of 30.  It is wonderful to witness their new faith in Christ and the powerful way the Holy Spirit is working in their midst. 

Prayer:  Lord God, we are grateful for those who planted the seed of your gospel in years past; we are grateful for those who continue this work today.  We pray for the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and for its Northern Outreach Program.  May it continue to spread the good news of your Son Jesus Christ among all the many peoples of Ghana.  

The Ramseyer Memorial Presbyterian Church, founded in 1896, located in the heart of Kumasi, Ghana's second city.

A member of the Northern Outreach Program Frafra-speaking congregation choir, standing in front of the old work shed which they use as their chapel.