Posts in category: Church News

From 2003 to 2008, Apostle Dr. Alfred Koduah (Rtd) served his first of two terms as General Secretary of The Church of Pentecost under the Chairmanship of Apostle Dr. Michael Kwabena Ntumy (Rtd). For thirty-nine years, he has known the former Chairman, whom he described as his brother, friend, chairman and room mate during their training at the Bible school in 1984.

The two of them developed a close-knit relationship that saw them discuss issues concerning the church mostly in the evenings, way back at the Bible school, as he recalled in his sermon titled, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good”, with Psalm 118:1-4 as biblical reference,preceded by the song, “we give glory to the Lord, He reigns” at the former Chairman’s retirement service in Hamburg, Germany.

One night when they were discussing the church, Prophet Appiah- Kubi remarked, “ these two people, you have been consistently discussing this church; God will in future entrust this church to your hands”. This came to pass in 1998 when at age forty, Apostle Dr. M. K. Ntumy was elected the fourth Chairman of the church, whiles Apostle Alfred Dr. Koduah (Rtd), was elected General Secretary in 2003.

Following his in-depth knowledge of Apostle Dr. M. K. Ntumy’s life, Apostle Dr. Alfred Koduah was better positioned to deliver the sermon on the occasion of the former Chairman’s retirement service. And what a call he made on all who followed the service – “Give thanks to the Lord; for He is good”.

Apostle Koduah’s call on all to give thanks to the Lord for His goodness was not without reason. He knows too well, the multiplicity of battles, the tough times and the close-shaves the former chairman has had with life-threatening situations, and how phenomenally, the Lord showed up for him, delivering him from them all.

For the thirty- nine years of his ministry, Apostle Dr. M. K. Ntumy encountered four wars, but the Lord delivered him; he was involved in three accidents, yet the Lord spared his life; twice he came out unscathed from food poisoning; and when some hoodlums attacked him, and inflicted cutlass wounds on him near his official residence at North Ridge, one night on his way home from jogging, the Lord once again came to his rescue.

What’s more! He has survived many surgeries, yet so remarkable has the deliverance of the Lord been in his life. Last, but not least of the Lord’s mighty acts in his life has been His sustenance of Apostle Dr. M. K. Ntumy’s life for the last fifteen years when a giant step towards dealing with a spinal challenge he had, following one of those three accidents he has previously had culminated in his current situation- paralysis.

The afore-mentioned experiences and many more of the Lord’s goodness to the former Chairman, especially, being alive to bring to an end thirty-nine years of authentic ministry backed by miracles and excellent demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power gave Apostle Koduah reason to exhort all to give thanks to the Lord on the occasion of Apostle Dr. Ntumy’s retirement service instead of focusing on his current situation.

He stressed that as Christians in this contemporary world full of negativity, fundamentally, as Christians, we have to give thanks to the Lord because goodness is the Lord’s composition.

Report by Elder David Tagoe

The Convener of the United Denominations originating from the Lighthouse Group of Churches, Bishop Dr Emmanuel Louis Nterful, has charged Ministers of God to come out of their comfort zone and yearn for maximum expansion of the Church in Ghana. 

The Bishop compared the Church to the mustard seed, which is very small but grows bigger with time to become a giant tree to provide shelter for the multitude. 

He admitted that though the Church began with few individuals, it has gained momentum with time. He, therefore, called for disciples to yearn to raise repented men and women who will make the necessary moral discipline that the nation needs. 

Speaking at the just-ended All Ministers Conference organised by The Church of Pentecost at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa Fetteh, on the topic: “The Cell System and Church Growth,” he said if righteous people take dominion of the affairs of Ghana, it will transform the nation into a peaceful and joyful one. 

He said the Church is the salt of the world. Therefore, the salt must be enough to make the nations feel its presence.

Bishop Dr Nterful further charged believers to consider evangelism a rescue mission that must be tackled with all seriousness and aggression. He told ministers of God not to perceive soul-winning as a talent given by God to some specific individuals. This phenomenon, he said, has caused some ministers to be content with their small membership instead of stepping out of their comfort zone for the people who are perishing in the nations.

He compared the Church to yeast, which catalyses baking. He said the yeast needs to be measured in the quantity of its flour. Therefore, as the nation grows, the Church must also increase to maintain its transformation role.  

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The Founder and Executive Director of Salt and Light Ministries, Rev. Dr Joyce Rosalind Aryee, has advised Christians to infest others with their purity for a catalysed transformation of the moral fibre of the nation. 

She states that the body of Christ should exert Christlike influence in all aspects of society. 

‘If Ghana is corrupt, then it is directly proportional to our lack of being the salt of the society,” she lamented, stressing, “We have been sitting as salt on the selves of society and not applying our saltiness.” 

Speaking on the topic, “The Church as Salt and Light of the World” at the 2nd All Ministers’ Conference held at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa Fetteh, from Tuesday to Friday for pastors and church leaders from over 280 denominations across Ghana, she pointed out that in Matthew Chapter 5, Jesus described the essential attitudes of his disciples. 

She said those ‘be-attitudes’ should be regularly displayed wherever Christians are identified. 

Touching on the importance of salt, Rev. Dr Aryee said salt is so essential and critical to life and was used as a salary for soldiers in ancient days. She postulated that salt is an essential commodity that people need, and it is connected with purity because it comes from the purest of things – the sand and the sea; thus, the Church must be seen to exhibit that purity.

“Whether corporate or individual, we are the body of Christ and must radiate His purity,” she stressed. 

She called on the Church to continually acknowledge the headship of Christ and avoid seeking praise and vainglory, saying, “Unless we realise that the Church is the body of Christ and Christ leads us as head, we can never succeed.”

Dr Aryee intimated that Jesus described his Church as light on a city to shine, salt of the earth to provide taste and yeast to give influence. Until these attributes are common with the body of Christ, the Church will remain insignificant in the nations.  

“As a body of Christ, we are called to hinder social decay by being a sweetener of society. People must emulate us rather than drag us into the pit,” she emphasised.

She observed that “the Ghana we want will be the Ghana Jesus makes. But we have a role to play by halting rottenness in the system.”

She cautioned against being aloof when evil persists in the land, stressing, “We must make sure that the food called Ghana is tasty because we serve as the right proportion of salt in it. Our presence should bring excellence, beauty, and perfection.”

She encouraged Christians not to think they are alone since they and the Holy Spirit are the majority. The power of God has transformed us, and we must make sure that we demonstrate the beauty of Christ in us, she added.

‘We are agents of hope. We must show the joy of the Lord to the people. We are the catalyst of transformation and God’s hope. We cannot isolate ourselves from the world but be actively involved in it. The agenda is about transforming the world. It’s about changing from the inside. Let’s tell our people to stop cheating and stealing,” she concluded.

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The President of the Africa Bible Centre for Disciple–making (ABCD), Apostle Jude Hama, has said the existence of the Church is to raise mature Christlike believers to effect moral transformation in the nations. 

The former General Director of the Scripture Union (SU), Ghana, said this in a presentation on the topic: “Discipleship: Raising Christlike Believers” at the 2nd All Ministers Conference (the biggest interdenominational gathering of Ghanaian pastors and church leaders) at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa Fetteh on Friday. 

The disciple–making and training specialist stressed that disciple-making and discipleship should be geared towards the transformation of the nation.

Apostle Jude Hama indicated that God wants his will to be realised when the nation is populated by Christlike persons who know the biblical majestic Christ better so that they can live a regular, consistent lifestyle of godliness with integrity in every area of human life. 

He submitted that if the growth of the Church is not tempered with Christlike believers, then the growth is a left-over. He stressed that the Church must adequately understand the New Testament biblical pattern for practical disciple-making.

He charged the Church in Ghana to build resilient, mature, Christlike disciples to work on the Ghana God desires. Apostle Jude Hama asked the Church to provide adequate traditional and contextual discipleship and small-group Bible study materials to attain this desire.

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The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana and President of the African Methodist Council, Most Rev. Dr Paul Boafo, has intimated that education in Ghana should inculcate knowledge and piety to provide a holistic formation of the human mind and heart.

According to him, there is a huge disconnect between knowledge and piety, and it is a dangerous crime for that to continue, saying, “Morality in this country is sinking, and in her place, we see greed, murder, selfishness. The Ghanaian society is beset with a lack of accountability, probity and integrity.”

The Presiding Bishop was speaking at the second interdenominational conference for Ghanaian pastors, dubbed ‘All Ministers Conference,’ hosted by The Church of Pentecost at the Pentecost Convention Centre at Gomoa Fetteh near Kasoa. The three-day conference, which ended on Friday, aimed at arriving at the unique role the Church can play in casting a moral vision and national development agenda for Ghana.

Most Rev. Dr Boafo opined that though Ghana has a moral compass, “we have just lost it.” 

He reckoned that the Church is the nation’s moral compass and cannot afford to be silent on national issues that mitigate against progress, development and social transformation. 

He noted that education is one of the tools in the hand of the Church to turn the tide. He advanced that mutual respect, equity and justice, honesty, humility, transparency, courage and conviction are human virtues that must play a major role in Ghanaian schools.

“Knowledge is power, but knowledge that does not set itself in the context of God and takes morality into account is a horrible knowledge that can lead to doom and disaster,” he said, adding, “Perfect students who are heartless is a crime. We have a role to play in our governance, schools and institutions.”

He charged Church leadership to rise and find a way out of the quagmire of deficient leadership and immoral citizenry. 

“Leadership without morality is dangerous. If we are looking for people to lead and direct us, and they have no morals, we are heading for doom,” he forewarned, adding, “If we back out and look on, we will forever be doomed. We must take our place wherever it matters, and education is one such place.”

He advised that in providing quality education by the Church, the aim should be to set the wills of the people right and not to go in there and add to the rot. 

He disclosed that the Wesleyan focus was to see education as the act of recovering to man his rational perfection, and religion was seen as central to achieving that. He was proud that the Church in Ghana had not abandoned this essential role of providing quality education. 

“No institution has given direction and guidance to Ghana than the Church, and this is evident from the educational institutions we find providing holistic formation in hearts and minds.”

He emphasised the need to strengthen all aspects of morality in educational institutions, particularly those established by churches. 

Most Rev. Dr Boafo said any education that is not fashioned to groom students after the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ has no essence. 

He proposed that the Church strengthen its relationship with the government, bring on board its philosophy and aim of providing education, and design a curriculum emphasising that God is supreme. 

“We cannot have people who are first class students who are corrupt, thieves and do not have sympathy for people, and don’t love people and God,” he lamented, pleading that “morality should not be decoupled from education because it is the part that touches the heart.”

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The Senior Pastor of The City of God Church and Apostle to the Newfrontiers Churches in West Africa, Apostle Dr John Kpikpi, has charged Christians to rediscover the icon of faith to enable them to take dominion and rule nations to truncate the corrupt and immoral practices flooding the Ghanaian society. 

Addressing participants of the 2nd All Ministers Conference on Thursday at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa Fetteh, Apostle Dr Kpikpi expressed concern about how people perceive politics as a dirty arena that men and women of God ought not to partake in. 

The Apostle to the Newfrontiers churches in West Africa was speaking on the topic, “The Church; God’s Hope for the Transformation of the Nation.” 

Apostle Dr Kpikpi believes that God intentionally calculated a time for Joseph to go and serve in the palace of Portifer, which was a very close position to governance, so he could take charge and avert problems in times of difficulties to save a nation. 

He urged Christians not to vacate the seat of governance for unbelievers. He pointed out that when Jesus Christ was born, the prophecy attributed to him was that his throne would be upon his shoulder, and he would be called the wonderful counsellor and ruler. 

“Therefore, as believers who carry the DNA of Christ, we must step up our effort to control and rule the nations,” he stressed.

The City of God Church Senior Pastor said thrones and rulership were created and made sacred and pure by God. Therefore, Christians must take up the mantle of rulership to fulfil the promises of God for the nation. According to him, governments should jiggle when they hear of believers staging up for transformation. 

Apostle Dr John Kpikpi maintained that politics originated from the Bible. He noted that Jesus Christ had to defend himself before political leaders; therefore, believers should not consider politics a dirty game and quit. 

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Professor Stephen Adei, a former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), has posited that the home is the best avenue for the intergenerational transfer of the Christian faith.

He said the home remains the potent force for instruction in solid Christian values, ethics and morals.

According to the founder of the Ghana Christian International High School, the people expected to transform the nation are in the Christian home. However, he observed that only a few people are working at winning and discipling them.

Presenting a paper on the ‘Christian Home and National Development’ at the 2nd All Ministers Conference ongoing at the Pentecost Convention Centre, Prof. Adei mentioned the home as a place of worship of God and a demonstration of unconditional love and affection. 

“If we train our home to be salt and light, our children can’t help but preserve the moral fibre of society,” he said.

Prof. Adei opined that every Christian has three callings: to abide with Christ, tell their families what the Lord has done, and go into the world and preach the good news. 

“Your home is the first place to testify if you’ve really met the Lord. They know you inside-out, but when they see the change, then you have won them for Christ.” 

He advised parents to make Jesus the Saviour of the home and its Lord, stressing that Jesus must be the head of the family and his word must rule.

He said since the Church continues to serve its purpose of disciplining Christians, the church in the Christian home can meet seven days a week. “The family must meet to share the word of God regularly and pray for themselves, the Church and the nation,” he stated, adding that the home is a den of protection, a means of God’s provision and above all the house of God.

He said if the home is well-discipled, it becomes an instrument for social cohesion, economic and political development and spiritual transformation. He disclosed that discipling the home takes time and requires intentional efforts. 

“Parents must give the needed attention to the home, and be intentional about it,” he said.

He said time management becomes crucial in this enterprise of discipling the home and admonished parents to use their precious time for discipling the home. He tasked the gathering to learn to balance their time at work and make time for discipling the home. 

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