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I.
Introduction
The Pentecost Men's
Fellowship (PEMEF) is the youngest movement in the
Church. It started off as a local fellowship in The
Church and was granted full status as a movement at the
2008 Council Meetings. But its name as a fellowship has
been retained for good reasons. Following is a brief
history of the fellowship before I go on to a discussion
of the support expected of pastors.
II.
Creation and Growth of PEMEF:
1)
The 1991 Council Meetings endorsed the creation of
PEMEF as a local fellowship to deal with matters
concerning men. The fellowship was to organise seminars,
workshops or lectures in the areas of marriage
enrichment, domestic law, business management, church
history as well as leadership and responsibility of men
in the church and state.
2)
To facilitate the growth of the fellowship, the
first National PEMEF Executive, under the leadership of
Apostle Moses Ladejo, was inaugurated in March, 1997.
The immediate key task of this first Executive was to
put together relevant material to guide the development
of the fellowship. This was realised through the
publication in 1999 of the PEMEF Study Guide, Volume 1.
3)
The second PEMEF Executive under the leadership of
Prophet Appiah-Agyekum, had the opportunity to organise
the first national PEMEF conference in August 2000 at
the Central Cafeteria of the University of Ghana, Legon.
The conference was attended by representatives from all
districts of The Church. Its purpose was the formal
launching and discussion of the PEMEF Study Guide.
A second national PEMEF conference was held in January
2005 at the Pentecost University College, Sowutuom,
Accra, to launch the PEMEF Badge which had been produced
to identify members of the fellowship. However, since
PEMEF was then not recognized as a movement, issues such
as administrative support for the fellowship at the head
office remained unresolved.
4)
The development of the fellowship entered a new phase
with the approval of the 2008 Council Meetings for the
establishment of a PEMEF Directorate at the Head office
and the appointment of Apostle N. A. O. Amegatcher as
the first PEMEF Director. PEMEF has also been assigned
additional functions as has been done for the other
movements of The Church. A new vision (PEMEF Vision
2013) based on the expanded functions has now been
prepared and copies made available to all PEMEF Area
Leaders to guide the activities of the fellowship.
III.
PEMEF Slogan:
i)
Man, the Image and Glory of God;
i) Man, Be Strong and
Courageous.
The reason why the second
slogan was added was the early realisation that PEMEF,
having a God-given potential, will face challenges in
its growth and so, like Joshua, the men of the
fellowship needed to be "strong and courageous."
Concerns have also been
raised on the appropriateness of the first slogan,
arguing that it appears to apply to both men and women.
However, the biblical context of this slogan is 1
Corinthians 11:7, "For a man indeed ought not to cover
his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but
woman is the glory of man "; it is clear that the slogan
applies to only man in the sense that he is God's
representative and had been given authority over the
earth before the creation of the woman to be his helper.
The principle of authority and subjection to that
authority as established in God's creation, is discussed
by the apostle Paul a few verses earlier in 1
Corinthians 11 :3, "But I want you to know that the head
of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and
the head of Christ is God".
First, the head of
Christ is God;
Secondly,
the head of every man is Christ; Christ is Lord and man
is subject to Him;
Third, the head of
woman is man; the place of headship was given to the
man. .
Questions 3 and 4 of
Lesson One under Topic One in the PEMEF Study Guide
(page3) were designed to stimulate in-depth group
discussion of the meaning of this slogan and the
headship role given to man.
IV.
The Headship Role of Man
Lessons two through four
under the same Topic One of the PEMEF Study Guide expand
on man's headship role as a husband, father as well as
leader at home, work and church. . The leadership role
expected here is different from that of the world. He
should not be "bossy" but must adopt the perspective of
a servant-leader.
The headship
responsibilities of man fall into the following order of
priority:
First,
to God who is the source of his delegated authority;
Second,
towards the woman and any children God has given him;
Third,
to work to earn a living; and
Fourth,
to serve in the church
Man is not expected to
continue to live in the darkness of the world but to
walk in accordance with the principles of the kingdom of
light. By so doing, man will be successful and be a
blessing to the church to the extent he fulfils his
responsibilities as a leader in the home and walks in
partnership with God in all areas of life. It is He who
gives man power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8: 18).
V.
The New Vision of PEMEF and the Role Expected of
Pastors
a) The highlights
of the core programmes in "PEMEF Vision 2013" include:
i.
Evangelism: breakfast, lunch and dinner
meetings, seminars, conferences by targeting
professionals, businessmen, politicians, traditional
rulers, chief executives and the media.
ii.
Bible Studies and Quiet Time Prayer Sessions;
iii.
Professional Growth and Development: cultivating
Christ-like professional practices in all spheres of
life through counselling, mentoring, networking and
partnerships. Breakfast, lunch and dinner meetings,
seminars, workshops and conferences shall be used among
other strategies;
iv.
Promoting the Development of Businessmen, Artisans
and Farmers:
cultivating Christ-like practices in businessmen,
artisans and farmer
promoting their activities through seminars, workshops,
breakfast, lunch and
dinner meetings, networking, partnerships, trade fairs
and capital accumulation.
v.
Family Life Education Programmes:
vi.
Health Programmes;
vii.
Community Projects/Services; and
viii.
Income Generation Projects
b)
To realise this new vision, PEMEF needs the support and
active involvement of pastors at the local and district
levels in:
i.
Re-orienting members to understand and commit to walk in
partnership with God to realize their ordained potential
in the home, business or working life and in the church.
ii.
Assisting PEMEF leaders to organise and schedule
programmes; and
iii.
Improve relations between local PEMEF leaders and their
pastors
**
Questions 3 and 4 of Lesson One under Topic One in the
PEMEF Study Guide:
3. Discuss the
differences between man and woman as God created them
(Gen 2.18;
I Cor 11:8, 9).
4. Discuss the meaning
of the scripture, "Man is the image and glory of God;
but woman is the glory of man.” (1 Cor 11:3, 7). In the
matter of authority, is the image of God limited to man
alone?
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