The historic 44th Session of the General Council Meetings of The Church of Pentecost, which was held virtually, came to an end on Saturday, June 6, 2020 following five days of successful deliberations and elections.
The event, which was under the theme “A Glorious Church To Possess The Nations” (Ephesians 3:21, Ephesians 5:27), took an unconventional turn as over a thousand Councilors (ministers and lay leaders) from across the globe had to participate in the virtual meetings via Zoom.
Delivering his closing address, the Chairman, Apostle Eric Nyamekye reiterated that the decision to hold the meetings electronically was necessitated by restrictions placed on public gatherings and the closure of national borders by various governments around the world in efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Owing to these restrictions, the Executive Council rescheduled this year’s General Council meetings for 2nd to 6th June from its earlier date of 6th to 8th May. After prayerful considerations, we took the bold step to hold these meetings virtually since any further delay was going to have dire administrative consequences on the church,” he said.
Considering that this was the first-ever attempt of the church to organise the Council meetings virtually, Apostle Nyamekye took the opportunity to celebrate the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord for helping the church to chalk another significant milestone.
He was particularly buoyant about the successful election of new Executive Council Members which was also conducted electronically for the first time, saying “To the glory of God, the elections were held smoothly and in record time; thanks to the hardworking team of experts who worked round the clock to ensure such a sound process.”
The Chairman, on behalf of the Executive Council (EC), acknowledged the meritorious services of the outgone Executive Council Members as well as the reviewed Ministry Directors, while congratulating the newly elected EC Members on their appointments.
Apostle Nyamekye advised that, as the COVID-19 pandemic persists, Church leaders should continue to take advantage of technology to reach the millions of unreached people. He urged them to continue to encourage members to strengthen family devotional life and to take small groups and cell meetings seriously; as these are the interventions that have kept church functioning during this period.
Reacting to the Government of Ghana’s ease on restrictions on public gatherings, he said that the Executive Council of the Church has put together a document spelling out some guidelines for organising church services and this would be released to the church public soon.
“Area Heads are to orient all officers and members on these guidelines as we prepare to congregate in the assemblies. The implementation of these guidelines is, however, to be guided by the local context under the supervision of the Area Heads, without flouting Government’s directives. Our churches are to use the period from today Saturday, June 6 to Friday, June 19, 2020, for adequate preparation and resume church services on or after June 19,” he said.
The Chairman concluded his address by charging ministers to continue to pursue the church’s vision of possessing the nations despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID-19 has taught us how fragile and fleeting this life is. It has taught us to hold lightly on worldly possessions and rather place a premium on eternal things. It has encouraged us as Christians that we have a message that the world needs – redemption through our Lord Jesus Christ.
“We should therefore not allow COVID-19 to blur our vision and distract us in our quest to possess the nations for the Lord. We need to build a glorious church which is truly united globally! We need to build a glorious church that patterns its life after Jesus, the Master! We need to build a glorious church that does the will of God so to continually keep His glory in the church!
“Above all, we need to build a glorious church that is eternity focused! This world is not our home. So, we should not let COVID-19 slow us down but rather, take advantage of the positives it has presented and possess the nations, by changing and transforming every sphere of society,” he said.
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