The Director of the Pentecost Men’s Ministry (PEMEM), Apostle Vincent Anane Denteh, has asserted that the scope of contemporary missions now covers the ‘six continents’ of the world, not on a particular destination as was in the past.
“The Mission to Six Continents concept was developed by the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) under the auspices of the World Christian Council (WCC) conference held in Mexico City in 1963,” the PEMEM Director stated.
The PEMEM Director made this assertion on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, during a presentation at the Orientation for Missionaries at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa-Fetteh, near Kasoa.
Apostle Anane Denteh, who doubles as an Executive Council Member of the church, spoke on the topic, “Contemporary Issues In Missions.”
Quoting from Matthew 24:14, Apostle Anane Denteh said that the gospel of the kingdom of God is supposed to be proclaimed throughout the whole world, as a testimony to the nations.
“All those who matter in the kingdom are missionaries of Christ,” he said.
He explained that a missionary practitioner refers to all people involved in the activities of mission work. These, he noted, include the mission agencies, missionaries, donors, among others.
“Taking time to study the contemporary issues in mission is a critical exercise that every mission practitioner should take very seriously,” he stressed.
Apostle Vincent Anane Denteh, who is also the Chieftaincy Ministry National Co-ordinator of The Church of Pentecost, further stated that there are six basic qualities of a good practitioner of missions. He stated that a good missionary should be a student of the Bible, a student of mission, a pastor or a teacher in the mission field, a Holy Spirit-filled or matured person, an epitome of sacrifice, and a missiological researcher.
“As a student of missions, research is needed into the culture and traditions of the people,” he mentioned, adding, “In missions, every missionary is a messenger, and the people must accept the messenger to accept his message.”
He, however, pointed out that the mission field is filled with several challenges, notably among them are religious fanaticism leading to persecutions and terrorism; ungodly ideologies, worldviews, and national policies; nationalism, xenophobia, ethnocentrism, and racism, among others.
He also charged the clergy to indulge in digital evangelism, where technology is implored in the proclamation of the gospel of Christ.
Apostle Vincent Anane Denteh cautioned that while planting ethnolinguistic churches is a good missional strategy, care must be taken to manage those churches very well so that they would not turn into ethnocentric pressure groups in the church.
He further charged missionaries to allow the Holy Spirit to empower them, saying, “A mission practitioner may have the strategy or approach on the field but the one above all is the miracle of the Holy Spirit.”
PENTECOST NEWS.
