Time well spent

Well, we had been warned. Our fearless mentor Ray had told us that missionaries wear many hats. Thus, we knew that we had a "job description", but that could change depending on the needs. When we sat down with Robert (board chairmen) a week after arriving, we went over a revised job description focusing on some areas where we were planning, and several that we weren't. I will be spending less time working at the institute and more time taking over the CFCI Pastor Association. Sure, I will still work on the website, produce the newsletters, and hopefully put in a computer lab at some point, but my main focus is on the support, encouragement, and training of the 7 pastors CFCI has under the association. So, it was with some uncertainty that Ron and I attended the "End Of Month" meeting on March 3rd. I had no idea what to expect, with the meeting starting at 9 AM. I jokingly told Sara I would be home by 4 PM, which turned out to be close...

The meeting started with the pastors giving monthly reports detailing weekly attendance, visitors, offering and tithe contributions, church expenses, and any conversions and visitors to the church. For example, the church in Adeiso had 2 new converts for the month with an average offering of about 6 cedis. That may not seem like much, but I challenge you to find more cheerful givers then the people in Ghana. The way they sing as they all walk up front and put their offering in the basket is a testimony in itself, and a reminder about the way our hearts should be for our giving. Once that was done, Ron extended the official welcome to me, followed by a very special time of prayer as they laid hands on me and prayed for Sara and I. We then were led by Pastor Joseph in a time of worship. I wish I could show you the way these men worship. No instruments, no projector, just pure, unashamed worship with hands and voices raised to the Lord. We then had a time of discussion as we had several items to discuss. We closed the meeting with prayer, and "enjoyed" a meal of banku and fish. It really wasn't bad, but it takes some time to be able to put a lot down! The fish was really quite good. Suffice it to say, I bought some FanIce on the way home.

Pastor Isaac with a new Bible

It was at that meeting where they invited me to their "Mid-month" meeting on the 10th. So, I picked up Pastor John at the Media junction, stopped at the land site for Pastor Isaac and some Bibles, and proceeded to the church in Adesio for our meeting. We were 15 minutes early, which is not the way it is done in Ghana. Pastor John and Isaac attempted to teach me how to drum properly, then started singing and drumming at the top of their lungs. Pastor Isaac took over the snare drum within a few moments, as the Western influence didn't sound right at all. By 9:30, all but Pastor Ema had arrived. The meeting started with us sitting in a circle, with the elected "officials" sitting to the front. Pastor Steven is the chairmen, with Pastor Foster Vice, and Pastor Joseph being the secretary. If you wonder why I call them "Pastor so and so", it's because it is a sign of respect and I need to train myself to always address them accordingly. We had a time of worship, again very sincere and pure, and then talked about several issues that they were facing with their local congregations. Pastor Steven was distracted a bit, as his wife was due to have a baby any minute. We did find out the next day that she had a successful delivery of a baby girl, their first child! I handed out 5 English Bibles to each pastor to hand out at their church. We have plenty English Bibles to hand out, the problem is that many in their congregation cannot read and understand English very well, which is why we are starting a sponsorship program to raise money for Bibles in their local dialects of Twi, Ewe, or Ga. We adjourned at noon. This time we purchased lunch along the street in Nsawam, the bread capital of Ghana.

I know I will enjoy getting to know these pastors better. These are men who are very sincere in their walk with God, who can quote more scripture than I, & want to spread the truth of God to their congregations. They get along well, and the discussions are quite lively. But they are young in their faith, and need support and encouragement along the way. They need more teaching in many areas, from leadership to teaching the hard truths Jesus taught. Attempting to understand their culture and all it entails is a large process, but one that I can spend several years learning. My mind returned home as the Encourage Men sessions wrapped up in Ephrata PA today, and I am hoping we can use some of that teaching to build up these men.
Many of these men have amazing testimonies. The team here in October got to hear Pastor Isaac share his testimony in person, which we tried to video (until our memory cards got full). I have attached a shortened version he provided for me to put on the website here. I hope to put all of them up there in the near future. It is the testimonies of people like Pastor Isaac that encourages us to press on, for the fields are white for the harvest.