Forestry Commission Officials Pay Courtesy Call On The Church of Pentecost Chairman

Forestry Commission Officials Call On The Church of Pentecost Chairman

by with No Comment Church NewsTop Stories

The Forestry Commission of Ghana led by Mr. John Allotey, Chief Executive Officer, have paid a courtesy call on the Chairman of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Nyamekye at the General Headquarters, La in Accra today.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, the visit was to inform the Chairman about the President of Ghana’s initiative to plant 20 million trees this year as part of the Green Ghana project.

He said looking at the performance of the tree planting exercise last year, it would be achievable this year.

He, however, explained that trees planted by the roads and avenues were challenging, yet, the Commission plans on meeting with the Parks and Gardens Department to help protect the trees through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

He revealed that the Government of Ghana through the Commission has adopted two strategies to tackle the objective of the exercise.

He noted that as part of the strategies, 50 percent (10 million) of the trees would be planted in degraded forest reserves where compartments have been dedicated to be bought by corporate organisations at an amount of GH₵ 1,550,000.

A compartment consists of 1,200 hectares (320 acres) of land with a planting of 133, 000 seedlings. He iterated that two compartments would be assigned to each of the 50 forest districts in Ghana labeled with the name of the organisation.

“The Church of Pentecost will pay for the cost of one-year maintenance and fencing of the land which will be used to cater for the community and members of the community managing them,” he noted.

He reiterated that the second strategy would allow individuals and corporates who willingly want to plants and adopt compartments without paying.

The Chairman of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Nyamekye, in response, said that the Church of Pentecost as an entity is concerned about the society because it is part of the society.

“The relevance of the church must first be seen through their works to make the society better,” he pointed out.

He added: “This is why The Church of Pentecost would like to partner with the Government of Ghana to ensure the success of the Green Ghana Planting exercise.

Apostle Samuel Gakpetor, Chairman, Environmental Care Campaign and Agormanya Area Head of the church indicated that the church would be planting one million trees this year and that the adoption of a compartment is a good idea to consider.

“Forestry Commission district offices will liaise with The Church of Pentecost districts and Areas to help assign the reserves to them,” he said.

He assured the Commission on the involvement of the church in planting more trees and contribute towards it.

The Forestry Commission delegation includes Mr. Hughes Brown (Director of Plantations, Forestry Commission), Elder Elisha Asiedu Amponsah (Director, Internal Audit of Forestry Commision), Loiusa Fuseini, and Adu Safo (Media / PRO).

PENTECOST NEWS

Ashanti-Bekwai Area Donates Mattresses To Ghana National Fire Service

Ashanti-Bekwai Area Donates Mattresses To Ghana National Fire Service

by with No Comment Church NewsTop Stories

The Ashanti Bekwai Area of The Church of Pentecost has donated 20 packets of four-inch high-density Latex Foam mattresses to the Bekwai Ghana National Fire Service.

Speaking at a short ceremony held on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, at the forecourt of the Area Office, Apostle Fred Tiakor, the Area Head, said that per her mandate as ’Salt of the Earth and Light of the World,” the Church must contribute meaningfully to the development of nations. 

He further noted that the gesture, which is in line with the Church’s “Possessing the Nations” agenda, was in response to a specific request made by the fire station to the Church to enhance their operations. 

Receiving the items, the Municipal Fire Commander, DOIII Daniel Asamoah, said this timely intervention by The Church of Pentecost would go a long way to support the operations of the station. 

He also commended the leadership of the Church for the great vision that seeks the welfare of society. 

The Ashanti Bekwai District Minister, Pastor Emmanuel Okoh Lartey, prayed for the staff of the Ghana National Fire Service to climax the presentation.

Report by Overseer Frank Osei Tutu (Area Media Coordinator)

Is-Jesus-the-only-way-to-heaven wow

Is Jesus The Only Way?

by with No Comment ArticlesChurch NewsTop Stories

“Jesus is the only way to God” may be the most controversial claim of Christianity, so we had better have good reason for it. And I think we do.

WHAT DOES JESUS SAY? 

Let us start with Jesus. We certainly do not want to claim something for Him that He would not claim for Himself. If the Gospels are historically reliable (and we have overwhelming evidence they are), then we have Jesus’ own words and we discover He claims to be the only way to God.

In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus does not leave much room for debate. Indeed, Jesus says whoever rejects Him “rejects the One who sent [Him]” (Luke 10:16). So according to Jesus, there is no other path to God. If you think highly of Jesus, eventually you have to grapple with His claims about Himself.

IS JESUS SPECIAL? 

Those who claim all religions are basically the same simply have not studied them closely. This is because religions make contradictory claims.

Hinduism, for instance, says God is an impersonal force while Christianity teaches God is a personal being. Both cannot be right. Also, Jesus is completely unique among the religions of the world. Jesus’ disciples taught that Jesus is God (John 1:1, Philippians 2:5–7) because Jesus claimed that Himself (Mark 14:61–64, John 10:30–34). No other founder of a major world religion claimed to be God.

Now, Jesus was either right or wrong and He provided a standard to verify His claims. Jesus said His resurrection from the dead would be confirmation (Matthew 12:38–42, Mark 14:28). Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism, is still in his grave. Muhammad, the founder of Islam, is still in his grave. But not Jesus. He is risen, providing the ultimate evidence for the truth of His unique claims.

WHY IS JESUS THE ONLY WAY? 

We are conditioned by our culture to think of religion as a personal preference. We are told, “You’ve got yours, I’ve got mine and there’s no right one.” So, to claim Jesus is the only way to God is like claiming chocolate ice cream is the one true flavor. It sounds absurd. However, preference is the wrong category for religious truth, and ice cream the wrong analogy.

Instead, we ought to think of religion the way we think of medicine. Each religion recognises the world is sick and offers its own diagnosis, just as a doctor would. In addition, each religion offers a potential cure. And we do not choose medicine like we choose dessert. It would be absurd to say, “Doctor, I prefer aspirin over chemotherapy.” Instead, we want to know what is true. Which cure actually works.

When you examine the diagnosis and cures offered by other religions, you discover they differ radically from Christianity. In John 8:24, Jesus says “if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” Here Jesus offers both diagnosis and cure. Sin is the disease we are all infected with and Jesus is the cure. So, why is Jesus the only way? Because Jesus is the only medicine that can cure the spiritual disease—sin—that is killing us.

Source: www.str.org

Osino District, PEMEM Donate To Missions

Osino District, PEMEM Donate To Missions

by with No Comment Church NewsTop Stories

The Osino District in the Suhum Area of The Church of Pentecost, in collaboration with the Pentecost Men’s Ministry (PEMEM), has donated a tricycle and a motorbike at a cost of GH¢ 19,850.00 respectively to support internal missions evangelism.

Presenting the items at the Suhum Area Office on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, Pastor Prince Agyemang, Osino District Minister who also doubles as the Suhum Area PEMEM Leader, indicated that the gesture corroborates the vision 2023 agenda which focuses on possessing the nations.

“As a way of possessing the nations, I am optimistic that this gesture will help in propagating the gospel,” he stressed.

Receiving the donations, the Area Head, Pastor Anthony Eghan Kwesi Ekuban, thanked Osino district and PEMEM for their contributions to the missions enterprise of the church.

For the past four years, the Osino district has been instrumental in supporting internal missions. Every year, the district donates a motorbike to support the missions work of the church.

Report by Samuel Danso.

Elder Amoah Builds Ultra-Modern Children’s Auditorium For Nkwanta Assembly

Elder Amoah Builds Ultra-Modern Children’s Auditorium For Nkwanta Assembly

by with No Comment Church NewsTop Stories

The Chief Executive Officer of Prince Mark Group of Companies and member of the Santasi District in the Kwadaso Area of The Church of Pentecost, Elder Prince Amoah, has built an ultra-modern Children’s Auditorium for the Nkwanta Assembly in Sefwi-Anhwiaso District of the Sefwi-Bekwai Area of the church.

The auditorium which cost One Hundred and Seventy-five Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH₵ 175,000.00) to complete, consists of three rooms, ninety custom-made chairs, four washrooms, two bathrooms, and an interior made to appeal to children.

The dedication occurred recently at Nkwanta by Apostle Emmanuel Osei Ofosu, Sefwi-Bekwai Area Head, assisted by Pastor Samuel Blessed Ababio, District Minister of Sefwi-Anhwiaso.

In addition, Elder Prince Amoah donated items worth sixty-six thousand Ghana cedis (GH₵ 66,000) to the church. These are a set of brass band equipment for the establishment of a Children Evangelism Brass Band, three keyboards with stands, two bass guitars and combos, three television sets, three laptops, one projector and a screen.

The rest were ten tambourines, one chargeable speaker with two microphones, three teachers’ tables and chairs, three whiteboards with two boxes of markers, three registers and a set of drums.

According to him, the children’s auditorium will serve as a training and equipping centre for the children in possessing the nations’ agenda.

“It is my sincere hope to save all the children in the community for Christ for a better future,” he said.

He intends to establish a Children’s Music School in addition to the Evangelism Brass Band to help provide the children with skills to help their service to God.

A total of three hundred (300) children participated in the short ceremony, and as a result, 60 souls were won for Christ.

Report by Pastor John Afawuah (Children’s Pastor, Kumasi).

Untitled-2

Aflao Area Organises Prayer Rally

by with No Comment Church NewsTop Stories

The Aflao Area of The Church of Pentecost has organised a mega prayer rally which resulted in healing and breakthroughs.

The event which took place recently at the forecourt of the Shekinah Temple in Aflao, had 2,224 members attending.

Hosted by the Aflao Area Head, Apostle Peter Kofi Dzemekey, the prayer rally was joined by Apostle Dr. Dela Quampah, Coordinator of the Volta Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC) and Executive Council Member, who doubles as Ho Area Head. Also, in attendance were the Aflao Area pastorate as well as officers in the Area.

Delivering the sermon on the topic, “The Valley of Achor is a Door of Hope,” Apostle Dr. Dela Quampah said that the Valley of Achor was the place where Achan, one of the family heads of the tribe of Judah, was stoned to death after he took some of Jericho’s plunder after Israelite’s conquest.

“Even though the Israelites were warned not to take any plunder, this man was disobedient to God and was subsequently stoned to death together with his family,” he further said.

He stated that due to God’s divine judgement, the valley became a place of desolation and hopelessness to the Israelites, yet the Prophet Hosea prophesied that the story of the Israelites will not be the same again.

The Volta RCC Coordinator assured that the valley will be a door of hope for God’s people in any situation.

He declared that God has made believers ‘curse breakers’, saying, “However difficult your situation may be, God can turn the hopeless situations into a beautiful future.”

He further testified about how God miraculously healed him from intestinal obstruction in the year 2012.

He, therefore, prayed that God will pour out his immeasurable grace upon his people so that they can overcome all obstacles.

The host, Apostle Peter Dzemekey, in a remark, iterated that the prayer rally would help increase the anointing of God on the members to perform greater works.

During the prayer session, Innocent (aliased Osofo), a machete-wielding man, having been touched by the Holy Spirit ran to the grounds to surrender his life to Christ.

Report by Francis Lamptey, Aflao Area Reporter.

Untitled-1

Elder Professor & Mrs Victoria Bosiako Omani Antwi Donates Musical Instruments To COP Tiawia Assembly

by with No Comment Church NewsTop Stories

The congregation and residents of Tiawia in the Akoasi District of Nkawkaw Area could not hide their joy when they received a donation of musical instruments from Elder Professor Kwame & Mrs Victoria Bosiako Omane Antwi on Sunday 26th March, 2022.

The items worth GHC 35000 include a mixer, set of drums, trumpet, audio link, speakers, monitors, keyboard, bass and lead guitars with combos. Also at the ceremony, Eld & Mrs Omane Antwi donated separate instruments to the Mpraeso Assembly in Obo District.

Elder Omane Antwi hails from Tiawia in the Eastern of Ghana. The ceremony coincided with the 70th birthday of Eld. Omane Antwi.

Receiving the items on behalf of the Church, Prophet Foster Aniakwaa urged the congregation to pursue a good name. “A good name is more noble than the riches, wealth and vanities of human pursuit” he reiterated. He cited scriptural reference from Phil 2:9 and stressed that the items should be put to good use and well maintained to ensure that it last the test of time.

In a brief comment, Eld. Omane Antwi thanked his wife for introducing him to Christ and standing behind him as a solid pillar. He gave a testimony of how God saved him from sudden death in 2009 when he was being honoured at the National Theatre and he collapsed. He thanked God for seeing him through that difficult time of his life.

The Assembly, in a show of appreciation, presented a picture portrait and a citation to Elder & Mrs Omane Antwi.

Present at the ceremony were Area Head and wife of Nkawkaw Area; Prophet Foster & Mrs Grace Aniakwaa, Ps. William Appiah Britten (Area Secretary), Ps. Anthony Kwarteng (PIWC Sakumono), some pastors and Wives in Nkawkaw Area, Officers and members from Tiawia.

Report by Area Media Team

Vincent Anane Denteh (Rev.)

Revisiting HIV/Aids In The Face Of Covid-19

by with No Comment ArticlesChurch NewsTop Stories

Humanity is now facing the ravages of two global pandemics raging simultaneously; namely, HIV/AIDS and COVID-19. Global attention seems to have shifted to the COVID-19 pandemic at the expense of other pandemics such as the HIV/AIDS, a concern that has been expressed by many experts, including Magnani et al (2022): “The COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns as to its impact on other health programs. One such program that appears particularly vulnerable is HIV and AIDS.”

It is against this backdrop that this article discusses the public health responses to the HIV/AIDS menace and the need to check its spread without ignoring that of the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion in this article is premised on the fact that every pandemic is a critical public health issue which must be combated with vigour until it is entirely eradicated, or humanity develops a cure for it. 

A Brief Background to HIV/AIDS

Like most pandemics, information about the origin of HIV is sketchy. Scientists, however, source it to Africa and human contact with chimpanzees around the 1920s (Gallagher, 2014). The disease was recognized as a pandemic in the 1980s with the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) as its causative virus (although many believe its existence predates its discovery) and it has since claimed millions of lives.

In 1981, the disease was discovered in the US among gay partners, making the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to name it Gay-Related Immune Deficiency (GRID)because of its prevalence among the gay community at the time (Canadian Foundation for Aids Research [CANFAR], 2022). Later in 1982, the CDC revised its notes and re-named it Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), and, in 1984, the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) was proved to be the cause of AIDS.

The virus’ rate of spread was so swift that by 1982, it was widespread among all persons using injectable drugs like heroine because of the corporate use of a single injection on many people. Contaminated blood transfusion was another cause for infection. By 1985, scientists had realised that the virus could be transmitted through unprotected heterosexual intercourse making it possible for people to contract the disease through sex.

Unsterile injection or use of sharp medical equipment to pierce patients also spread the virus to people. Other causes of infection were considered such as vertical transmission from mother to child and transfusion of infected blood products. By these developments, it became necessary to fight the spread of the disease through political and scientific means leading to the first international conference on HIV/AIDS organized in 1986 in Georgia, USA.

Discovering of Drugs

In 1988, a great discovery by scientists brought a relief to humanity when news about Anti-Retroviral Drugs, azidothymidine (AZT) was approved for use by the US Food and Drugs Administration. Afterwards, scientists have discovered many other drugs. Although these medicines are not curative of the virus, they have the potential to help reduce the rate of transmission and also prolong and improve the quality of life of patients as long as they continue to use them.

In December of the same year, the first World AIDS’ Day was celebrated amidst the alarming infection of the disease. The situation was so precarious that by 1990, the worldwide infection rate was around 10 million people and by 2000, an estimated number of 33 million people were living with the pandemic.

Critical Interventions

It is felicitous to say that since the declaration of the HIV/AIDS as a global pandemic, world leaders, medical and the scientific community have responded to the onslaught of the HIV/AIDS pandemic with the alacrity it required and put in place stringent measures to address the condition. Countries around the world, including African nations had their own robust way of dealing with it.

In Ghana, public education about the devastating effect of the pandemic was common place, in fact, in all our institutions, including faith-based organizations. The establishment of the Ghana AIDS Commission in 2002 and subsequently by the Ghana AIDS Commission Act 2016, Act 938 of Parliament, to deal with the HIV/AIDS pandemic is a testament of Ghana’s effort in fighting the rapid spread of the disease.

Forty-One Years Celebration of HIV/AIDS

Having been around for the past 41 years, HIV/AIDS may now be considered a quadragenarian pandemic; the world has been living with it without a successful cure or a viable vaccine to stop its spread.

Despite advances in our scientific understanding of HIV and its prevention and treatment as well as years of significant effort by the global health community and leading government and civil society organizations, too many people with HIV or at risk for HIV still do not have access to prevention, care, and treatment, and there is still no cure (Global Statistics, 2022).

Why is the production of a potent HIV/AIDS vaccine taking so long, compared to the swiftness with which vaccines for other pandemics were discovered? It took the scientific community less than two years to develop vaccines for Ebola and COVID-19, yet HIV/AIDS, which has claimed many lives over the past 41 years had no viable cure till date. Of great public interest is the realisation that even public education about the pandemic is declining. What plausible reasons could the scientific community advance for these obvious laxities?

COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS

About 445,096,612 people have been infected with the COVID-19 virus recording 5,998,301 deaths as at March 6, 2022 (World Health Organisation, 2022). Conversely, an estimated 79.3 million people have contracted the virus “and 36.3 million people have died of AIDS-related illnesses” (Global Information and Education on HIV and AIDS, 2022) in the past 41 years.

Although the infection rate has reduced drastically over the years, HIV/AIDS continues to have a disproportionate toll on the lives of humanity to the extent that “in 2020 an estimated 37.7 million people were living with the HIV virus (including 1.7 million children), with a global HIV prevalence of 0.7% among adults. Around 16% of these people (6.1 million) are not aware that they have the virus” (UNAIDS in Global information and education on HIV and AIDS, 2021).

The World Health Organization (WHO) (2021) admits that “HIV/AIDS remains one of the world’s most significant public health challenges, particularly in low-and middle-income countries.” The organization warns that the global community would have “to redouble our efforts to avoid the worst-case scenario of 7.7 million HIV-related deaths over the next 10 years”. This report presupposes that the world may slack into an alarming HIV-related condition if stakeholders do not step up efforts in combating the pandemic.

The WHO (2021) attributes the increasing new HIV infection to “service disruptions during COVID-19, and the slowing public health response to HIV.” For example, WHO (2021) reports that 37 countries in Africa suffered “disruption in antiretroviral therapy
services caused by COVID-19 in March 2021.” This concern is corroborated by Booston et al (2021), “The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting HIV care globally, with gaps in HIV treatment expected to increase HIV transmission and HIV-related mortality”.

The critical concern is that there are two dangerous pandemics raging and devastating the world, and there is, therefore, the need to pay equal attention to them. As indicated earlier, while COVID-19 has claimed more than 5.9 million, HIV/AIDS has killed 36.3 million people and still counting.

Although WHO recommends for every person who may be at risk of HIV infection to have access to testing for the virus, to what extent is this directive being enforced and how available are the testing kits to the average person in society? Sadly, a cursory observation shows that the public education about HIV/AIDS has drastically reduced and needs to be revived. 

The Ravages of HIV/AIDS Are Ongoing

An urgent attention to HIV/AIDS is still very necessary. Its devastating effect must be a burden to society and the following information affirms this claim:

It’s one of the largest killers globally; but for some countries – particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa, it’s the leading cause of death.… For countries in Southern Sub-Saharan Africa, deaths from HIV/AIDS are more than 50% higher than deaths from heart disease, and more than twice that of cancer deaths (Roser and Ritchie, 2019).

A report on a number of worldwide deaths in 2019 published by Global Burden Disease (2021) indicates that HIV/AIDS killed 863,837 people worldwide in 2019 ahead of malaria, hepatitis B, and meningitis. WHO (2022: 20) indicates that by the end of 2021, “diarrhoea diseases, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS” remained in the top 10 causes of deaths. According to the organization, despite the decrease in HIV/AIDS prevalence cases thus far, “the current pace of improvements is not rapid enough for many indicators to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets by 2030, because of the rate of new HIV infections being recorded.

In 2020, the estimated number of newly-infected people with HIV were between 1.5 million and 2.0 million (UNAIDS, 2022) and this suggests that the HIV/AIDS pandemic is still a serious public health issue that the world must pay much attention to. For example, some reports suggest that Ghana lost 14,181 people to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in 2020 (NACP, 2019a, in Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research [ISSER], College of Humanities, University of Ghana, 2020:1). This figure is far more than COVID-19 deaths of 1,442 since its first reporting in Ghana in 2020.

Why is it taking a long period to eradicate the spread of HIV/AIDS pandemic in the world? The ISSER observes that, “complacency resulting from reduction in HIV infection rates from past years, the notion that HIV is no longer a threat, and the societal belief that the virus is non-existent” are among other factors affecting the vigorous combat against the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Ghana.

While it is a positive sign to celebrate the decline of the virus, the discussion so far indicates that it is still active and remains a dangerous pandemic in human history. Studies conducted in England and South Africa concluded that “the risk of dying from COVID-19 among people with HIV was double that of the general population” (UNAIDS, 2022).

The challenge now is that humanity is caught up in the center of two dangerous pandemics, HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 of which the former tends to accelerate the mortality rate of the latter among those with comorbidity. Thus, it is very important to deal equally with these two pandemics as a major public health issue of our time.  

Conclusion

It can be noticed from this discussion that global leaders, the medical community, and all stakeholders in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS have made some kind of progress in containing the pandemic. That notwithstanding, there are several lingering challenges about the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS pandemic that need to be addressed.

The advent of COVID-19 teaches a great lesson of how global pandemics are combated with all the energies, financial resources, and any available resources or means to contain it. Many believe that same effort must be applied in our fight against HIV/AIDS pandemic. The world should, however, be reminded that pandemics by their nature are not friendly to human lives and survival; the more a pandemic is allowed for whatever reason to fester, the more it destroys lives.

Therefore, we should be very careful to refrain from advancing any hypothesis that would make us appear apologists of HIV/AIDS, but rather join the campaign against its spread so that together we can eradicate it from the world. The earlier we fight it with the same or even more vigorous approach as we are doing with COVID-19, the better it will be for the survival of humanity.

Therefore, this discussion calls for a revisit by all stakeholders to the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS on all fronts. If every stakeholder gets involved and there is a concerted global marshalling of resources to address the condition, as we are doing with COVID-19, HIV/AIDS will soon be among the list of pandemics that occurred in history and no longer a threat to public health.

Bibliography

Booston RD, G. Fu, L. MacGregor. 2021. The impact of disruptions due to COVID-19 on HIV

transmission and control among men who have sex with men in China. Accessed from

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33821553, 2022-02-26.

Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research. 2022. History of HIV/AIDS. Accessed online from

https://canfar.com/awareness/about-hiv-aids/history-of-hiv-aids, 2022-02-28.

Gallagher J. 2014. “Aids: Origin of Pandemic ‘was 1920s Kinshasa’”. BBC.

Global information and education on HIV and AIDS. 2020. Global HIV and AIDS Statistics.

https://www.avert.org/global-hiv-and-aids-statistics#footnote1_ot3mcne, 2022-03-01.

Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) College of Humanities,

University of Ghana. 2020. Current HIV/AIDS Status, Access to Antiretroviral

Treatment, and HIV-Related Stigma in Ghana. Accessed from

https://isser.ug.edu.gh/sites/isser.ug.edu.gh/files/Current%20HIV.AIDS%20Status%20- %20Adobea%20Owusum%20%26%20Kofi%20Asante.pdf, 2022-03-01.

Magnani RJ, Wirawan DN, Sawitri AAS et al 2022. The short-term effects of COVID-19 on

HIV and AIDS control efforts among female sex workers in Indonesia. BMC Women’s

Health. https://bmcwomenshealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12905-021-01583-z, 2022-03-01.

Max R and Hannah R 2019. HIV/AIDS. Accessed from https://ourworldindata.org/hiv-aids,

2022-02-27.

UNAIDS. 2022. The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic. Accessed from https://www.hiv.gov/hiv- basics/overview/data-and-trends/global-statistics, 2022-02-28.

UNAIDS. 2021. Global HIV & AIDS statistics — Fact sheet. Accessed from

https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet, 2022-03-05.

WHO. 2019. HIV/AIDS. https://www.who.int/health-topics/hiv-aids#tab=tab_1.

WHO. 2021. HIV/AIDS. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids

WHO. 2021. HIV Data and Statistics. https://www.who.int/teams/global-hiv-hepatitis-and-stis-programmes/hiv/strategic-information/hiv-data-and-statistics, 2020-03-06.

WHO. 2021. Update on COVID-19/HIV Service Disruptions, December 2021. Accessed from

https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/hq-hiv-hepatitis-and-stis-library/2021_hiv_covid_web_1.pdf?sfvrsn=1fc01c6_5.

WHO. 2021. World Health Statistic 2021. Monitoring Health for the SDGs. Accessed from

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/342703/9789240027053-eng.pdf,

2022-03-06.

Vincent Anane Denteh (Rev.)

Email: vadentcop@gmail.com

© 2022

Untitled-2

President of Ghana Praises The Church of Pentecost

by with No Comment Church NewsTop Stories

The President of Ghana, Nana Akuffo Addo, has praised the leadership of The Church of Pentecost for its outstanding work in combating the Covid -19 Pandemic.

“I hope I am forgiven for singling out The Church of Pentecost in the fight against the Covid-19 Pandemic. The church has demonstrated exceptional love for the country, and this has helped us get this far,” President Akuffo Addo said yesterday during his 28th televised address on measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

PentecostNews brings you some of the efforts made by The Church of Pentecost’s leadership in the fight against the pandemic.

Vans For NCCE to Support Coronavirus Public Education.

It would be recalled that the Church of Pentecost, during the peak of COVID-19 in Ghana, rendered an unprecedented support to the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE).

The Commission during the time received 12 Cinema Vans from the Church to aid in public sensitisation.

This the Commission has revealed really helped its staff in discharging their duties to the betterment of the country.

The leadership of the NCCE led by the Chairperson, Ms. Josephine Nkrumah, was on Tuesday, April 6, 2021, at the General Headquarters of The Church of Pentecost at La, Accra, to convey their utmost appreciation to the Church for the support.

The cinema vans really augmented the government and the Commission’s efforts towards intensifying public awareness creation when the pandemic broke out.

The vehicles were at the time also fueled by the Church throughout the period.

In appreciation, the Commission therefore presented a citation to the Church for its commitment to aiding in the fight against Coronavirus in Ghana.

The citation read: “For God and country, The Church of Pentecost lived these Christian values and supported the NCCE to reach out to the many citizens who were uninformed about the realities of COVID-19”.

Facility as isolation center for COVID-19 treatment.

The Church of Pentecost also handed over its multi-purpose facility, the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), to the Government of Ghana to be used as an isolation centre for persons infected with the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) undergoing treatment free of charge.

This follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on Thursday, April 23, 2020, between the church and the Ministry of National Security on behalf of the Government of Ghana.

The move was part of the church’s efforts in assisting the government to contain, curb the spread and eradicate the Coronavirus as well as promote the recovery of persons who have tested positive for the viral disease.

The church provided 1,300 beds at some selected blocks of the convention centre, where the infected persons were housed.

In addition, the facility accommodated over 300 health personnel who attended to the patients.

The Pentecost Convention Centre is a Christian conference centre situated on a 250-acre land at Gomoa Fetteh near Kasoa in the Central Region of Ghana.

The ultra-modern edifice with residential facilities offers sufficient auditoriums, conference centres, accommodation and a floor area to accommodate several thousands of guests at a time.

The venue is suitable for major camp meetings, church general meetings and trade exhibition. PCC has four auditoriums with 5,000, 3,000, 500 and 200 seating capacities respectively.

PENTECOST NEWS.

Atimatim District Collaborates With Muslims, Other Churches To Clean Community

Atimatim District Collaborates With Muslims, Other Churches To Clean Community

by with No Comment Church NewsTop Stories

The Atimatim District in the New Tafo Area of The Church of Pentecost has joined members of the Muslim Community and some churches to clean up the Atimatim community in the Ashanti Region.

The exercise, which took place last Saturday as part of the Environmental Care Campaign of the church, was highly patronized by the members of the community.

Nana Adubofour Kwaw II, Otumfuo Gyaasehene, donated rakes, brooms, and shovels to support the exercise. He also provided 50 boxes of bottled water to the church.

Speaking to the participants before the exercise, Pastor Manasseh Mintah, Atimatim District Minister of The Church of Pentecost, expressed his utmost gratitude to the Muslim community, sister churches, and the community members for participating in the clean-up exercise.

According to him, the Environmental Care Campaign as part of Vision 2023 of The Church of Pentecost, has led to the district organising monthly clean-up exercises in the community. This, he believed, will help curb the illegal disposal of waste and bring a long-lasting solution to the sanitation issues in the area.

Pastor Mintah commended Apostle Eric Nyamekye, Chairman of The Church of Pentecost, and the Executive Council for the great initiative.

“As you know, cleanliness is next to godliness. All believers should ensure that they play a key role in hygiene in order to win unbelievers over, hence possessing their spheres for Christ,” he said.

He further called on all and sundry to be concerned citizens and not just spectators, especially with the development of the Atimatim community.

He added: “The commitment has been high from the ministries, particularly the Women’s Ministry. Together, the leaders have shown true leadership and must be commended.”

Abdul Majeed, Imam of the Atimatim Central Mosque and representative of the Muslim community, thanked The Church of Pentecost for pursuing the Environmental Care Campaign agenda, and added that “its implementation every month will help in the eradication of filth in the community and protect the society from needless diseases.”

He urged members of the Muslim community to fully involve themselves in communal labour, since it ends up benefitting them.

Deaconess Cynthia Serwaa Agyemang, Atimatim D|istrict Women’s Ministry Leader of The Church of Pentecost, on her part, stated: “In the home, we [women] are in charge of the chores and sanitary conditions. Therefore, we must own the community and keep it clean always.”

She advised all females to participate in the monthly clean-up exercises in the town to help ensure a safe environment. 

Report by Owusu Dennis.