Posts in category: Top Stories

The Ashanti Regional Ministers and Wives’ Conference of The Church of Pentecost began in earnest on Tuesday, January 26, 2021, at the Pentecost International Worship Centre (PIWC), Asokwa. It brought together ministers and their wives from Mampong, Ejisu, Konongo, Ashanti Bekwai, Obuasi, Abuakwa, Suame, Bompata, Kwadaso, Asokwa, New Tafo, and Offinso Areas.

Giving the rationale behind the conference, which is being held at the regional level, Prophet James Osei Amaniampong, the Asokwa Area Head who also doubles as the Chairman of the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC), recounted that the global Coronavirus pandemic necessitated the need to reduce the number of participants by holding the conference at the regional level.

Apostle John Appiah Aidoo, the Area Head for Abuakwa, in the opening sermon spoke on the theme: “A Glorious Church Revived to Possess the Nations.” He cited Ephesians 3:1-21 and Exodus 33: 1-23 and defined revival as activation.

He called on ministers of the gospel not to be too concerned about their duty stations and transfers but seek to grow in intimacy with God which, he said, will bring an impact in ministry. “You have no right to minister to the people of God until you have ministered to God,” he stated.

He outlined the need for spiritual hunger, consecration (holiness), applying the principle of selflessness, giving honour to whom honour is due, and giving glory to God as the ingredients for bringing down the glory.

Apostle Appiah Aidoo encouraged ministers and their wives to desist from seeking personal glory. He interspersed his message with spiritual songs and prayers that charged the atmosphere to exude the presence of God.

Views sampled from participants after the meeting indicated high optimism of a fresh revival from the conference.

Report by Conference Media Team.

The Sunyani Area Head of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Mark Obeng Andoh, has called on Christians to manifest and reflect the glory and beauty of God in every sphere of their lives.

“As Christians, we must be conscious of the fact that the paramount desire of God is that there may be glory in His church,” he stated.

Apostle Obeng Andoh, a former Executive Council Member of the church, said this on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, during the Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Regional session of the ongoing Ministers and Wives’ Conference at the Pastoral Center in Sunyani.

The conference brought together ministers and their wives from the three regions in the enclave.

Apostle Andoh stated: “The Church can not possess the nations if it fails to carry the glory of God.”

In defining the word ‘glory,’ he said that it was derived from the Hebrew word “Kabowd” which means ‘weight’ or ‘heaviness,’ but used figuratively in the sense of splendour, abundance, honour, or glory. He added that the opposite is ‘Ichabod,’ which means the glory has departed.

Using 1 Samuel 4:1-10, Ephesians 4:1 as his key texts, he explained that what makes a church stands out is its spiritual weight, which is seen in the manifestation of the attributes of God. He mentioned that these attributes come in two ways, that is, communicable and incommunicable attributes. 

According to him, communicable attributes are what God shares with human beings, like His goodness, kindness, faithfulness, patience, self-control amongst others, whereas the incommunicable attributes are that which are essential and exclusive to Him alone. For example, His omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, immutability amongst others.

He, therefore, challenged all believers to refuse to accept to be ordinary believers and ensure that the glory of God stays in His church.

He mentioned that when the glory of God is in His church, worship and sacrifices are made spontaneously without compulsion, people respond easily to the gospel and the Church also experiences the supernatural and transformation.

Apostle Mark Obeng Andoh advised ministers of the gospel and wives to cultivate the habit of developing their own gifts and avoid copying other people’s ministry for everyone shall give an account of what God has entrusted into their care.

In attendance are Apostle Isaac Nii Kotey Djani (Techiman Area Head and Chairman for Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regional Coordinating Committee), Apostle William Edzohoho (Goaso Area Head), Apostle Samuel Berko (Berekum Area Head), and Pastor Daniel Frimpong Manso (Tepa Area Head), among others.

Report by Overseer Prince Augustine Ababio.

“God is love and commands us to love Him. However, we cannot say we love God, yet we hate one another. It is, therefore, expedient that we harness brotherly love and fellowship in our Christian journey.”

These were the words of Prophet David Kankam Beditor, the Ashaiman Area Head of The Church of Pentecost and Chairman of the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC) of the church, in a presentation on “The Power and the Beauty of Christian Fellowship” at the Ministers and Wives Conference (MWC’21 – Greater Accra Region) on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at the Pentecost Convention Centre, Gomoa Fetteh.

Prophet Kankam Beditor, who is also an Executive Council Member of the church, urged all believers to ensure that they develop and maintain brotherly love and good Christian fellowship among themselves.

Taking his key scriptures from Psalm 133:2 and Genesis 2:18, Prophet Beditor noted that “God Himself acknowledged the power of fellowship when He said, ‘Let us make man.’”

He indicated that “since man was made in the image and likeness of God, man is also a social being and therefore cannot live in isolation, as God said ‘It is not good for man to live alone.’ This means that as Christians, the glory of God can only be revealed in our lives in its full measure if we live in harmony with one another and with all people.”

He posited that “Christian fellowship can be defined as any gathering of saints who come together to glorify God and to edify one another. It is also a state where believers share with God and with one another in life, work, pleasure, and sufferings. It is a lifelong relationship that should occur between us physically and spiritually at all times.”

He, however, bemoaned that several hindrances mitigate against the fruitful nurture and growth of Christian fellowship, saying, “If we want to build strong bonds of brotherly love and Christian fellowship, we must do away with sin, self-seeking acts, unhealthy competition, jealousy, anger, bitterness, pride, gossip, tribalism and discrimination.”

Prophet Beditor reiterated that “if we yearn for the glory of God to be seen in the church and in our lives, we must love God and transcend that love to one another.

“We can do so by making conscious efforts to live in harmony with people who may not even want to have a peaceful relationship with us. We must also make sacrifices for one another and prioritize invitations and visitations.”

Prophet David Kankam Beditor further expounded that Christian fellowship has enormous blessings and benefits that have a great impact on the church and society as a whole. He said that “any church that harnesses good Christian fellowship witnesses great anointing and revival. It also experiences spiritual growth and maturity. The world sees that church and identifies it with the oddity of Jesus Christ.”

“Finally, the church that harnesses good Christian fellowship and brotherly love invokes the manifest presence of God and gains favour in the sight of God and men,” he added.

PENTECOST NEWS.

The Dansoman Area Head of The Church of Pentecost, Prophet Ebenezer Kofi Appiah, has called on Christians to strive to live holy life in their walk with God.

Prophet Appiah said this while speaking on Day-2 of the 2021 Ministers’ and Wives Conference (Greater Accra Regional Session) underway at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa Fetteh, near Kasoa.

Delivering the sermon on the topic, “A Church Called To A Holy Living,” based on Ephesians 2:12-13, Prophet Appiah noted that the word ‘Church’ signifies a people who are called out to belong to God. This, he said, means that the church (Christians) must separate themselves from the mundane things of the world and present themselves as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to the Lord.

Prophet Appiah explained that God is holy, therefore, when God calls a person, He expects the person to separate himself from his old life and walk in holiness.

“Throughout the Bible, whoever God chose to use were people who separated themselves and set themselves apart for Him; Abraham, Noah, Moses, Esther, and Job, were all people who walked in holiness. Since God is holy, He can only have a relationship with holy people,” he stressed.

Reading from 1 Peter 2:9, he revealed that “God has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of Light. The kingdom of darkness is a place of sin and death, where man is depraved and walks in destruction, not knowing that what they are doing is sinful and detrimental to their soul.”

He added: “When a person lives in darkness he doesn’t know the difference between what is right and wrong, that is why many people who are living ungodly lives defend themselves and fight against anyone who tries to tell them otherwise. This is because their minds have been corrupted and hindered from knowing the truth.”

Prophet Appiah further expounded that believers have no choice than to live in holiness. “Therefore, if you do not tell a lie or commit adultery alone doesn’t make you holy, rather it is a complete lifestyle of doing what is pleasing to God,” he stated.

He, however, indicated that some people believe that they become holy at conversion, thus at the time they accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. “This is erroneous because holiness is a constant effort to make a daily walk in purity,” he said.

Prophet Ebenezer Kofi Appiah concluded by saying that “holiness is the core of Christianity. The God we serve is holy and if we are to have a relationship with Him, we must walk in holiness.”

PENTECOST NEWS.

The Achimota Area Head of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle David Tettey Tekper, has indicated that God’s goal for instituting the church is to prepare a special kind of people for Himself, holy and unblemished, who will serve as His ambassadors on earth to manifest/reflect His glory among the nations.

The former Executive Council Member of the Church made this assertion during a presentation on Tuesday, January 26, 2021, at the Greater-Accra Regional session of the ongoing Ministers and Wives’ Conference at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa Fetteh.

Speaking on the topic, “The Goal of the Church,” with Ephesians 5:22-27, 2 Corinthians 11:2 & 4, Ephesians 1:4 and Exodus 19, as scripture references, among others, Apostle Tekper stressed that the Lord is a God of purpose because there is always a reason for everything He does.

According to him, right from the beginning of creation, God gave a clear indication that His goal for creating humankind was to have a deeper relationship with them. This, Apostle Tekper said, has always been God’s desire and it is evident throughout His interventions and dealings with humankind.

In his presentation, the Achimota Area Head defined a goal as “an end towards which efforts are directed.” He explained that the efforts and activities directed toward the goal serve as the groundwork (preparation) for its attainment. In this sense, God chose Christians to prepare them to be holy and blameless so that through them His glory would be manifested in the world, thereby leading many to be reconciled with Him.

Expounding further on the goal of the church, Apostle Tekper revealed that the Church of God (the Church Universal) is meant to be a Militant Church – that is, one that is always at warfare with the enemy of God (devil) and his cohorts, who are determined to stall the realisation of God’s intended goal for the church.

“We are at warfare as victorious people because Jesus, our captain, has already won the battle. So, we are not fighting a ‘lose-battle,’ but a victorious one,” he said, stressing that, “We must, therefore, fight with the mindset that we are already victorious.”

Apostle Tekper further noted that believers, who form the Church of God, need to be constantly revived to meet the goal for which it was instituted by God. He said that through revival, the church would not only be rekindled to work towards becoming a glorious one but be equipped to prevail against the “Gates of Hell.”

Apostle Tekper, therefore, urged believers to avail themselves for the continuous touch of God (revival) through a consistent prayer life, the study of the Bible and obedience to God’s word, bearing in mind that they are a special kind of people called to bring honour and glory to the Lord in the world.

PENTECOST NEWS

The former Winneba Area Head of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Professor Peter Ohene-Kyei (Rtd) has admonished believers to make conscious effort to ensure that the glory of God does not depart from the Church.

Apostle Ohene-Kyei said this at the 2021 Ministers and Wives’ Conference (Greater Accra Region) which is currently underway at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa Fetteh, near Kasoa.

Delivering a sermon on Tuesday, January 26, 2021, on the theme, “That There May Be Glory in the Church,” based on Ephesians 5:20-21, Apostle Ohene-Kyei noted that “God desires to constantly reveal His glory in the lives of His people. However, we must make conscious effort to maintain the glory by walking in holiness and the light of the word of God so that the glory will not depart.”

Apostle Peter Ohene-Kyei, who is also a former Rector of the Pentecost University, revealed that the word ‘glory’ which is translated from the original Hebrew word “Kabowd” connotes splendour, honour, beauty, magnificence, strength, and greatness. He, therefore, indicated that “if a person carries the glory of God, that person is excellent, beautiful, magnificent and has splendour.

Reading from Genesis 45:13, he explained that “because Joseph carried the glory of God, Pharaoh did not want Joseph to leave Egypt but insisted that Joseph invites his father and his entire family to come and live with him in Egypt.”

“The glory of God made Joseph an excellent man, loved by Pharaoh and all the Egyptians. So if we carry the glory of God, we will be unique in all our endeavours and the world will behold the glory of God in our lives and seek to know God,” he stressed.

Apostle Ohene-Kyei added that the glory of God in a church is not seen in the beauty of its edifice, or the vastness of its auditorium. He, however, said that “the early believers did not worship in magnificent auditoriums, but people came from far and near to witness the spectacle of God’s glory and the power of His might at work in them.”

He further expounded that “the glory of God in the church is marked by holiness and purity. It is also a place where worship and sacrifice flow spontaneously without compulsion. The glory of God in a church is also marked by the constant communication of the gospel and vibrant evangelism. When the glory of God is present in the church, there is the experience of the supernatural power and manifest presence of God.”

He, however, cautioned that “Paul’s prayer in Ephesians denotes that the glory of God can depart from the church, therefore, let us all as believers ensure with all steadfastness that the glory does not depart from the church.”

“The believer who wants to maintain the glory of God in their lives must cross the lines of comfort and worldly pleasure into a place of holiness and purity, and strive to be revived constantly,” he concluded.

PENTECOST NEWS.