The Home and Urban Missions (HUM) of The Church of Pentecost, with financial support from the Pentecost International Worship Centre (PIWC), SSNIT in the Dansoman Area, is constructing a church building for the Gurumbelle Assembly in Bulenga District in the Wa Area.
The farming community is inhabited by the Chakali people, a neglected minority tribe in the Upper West Region.
Demonstrating their joy and appreciation to the Church over the project, the people defied a heavy downpour on Tuesday, June 9, 2020, to participate in the sod-cutting ceremony, which was performed by the Wa Area Head, Apostle Dan Nii Tetteh Tackie, assisted by the Bulenga District Minister, Pastor Gabriel Owusu Akyaw, and the Area Estate Committee Chairman, Pastor Nathaniel Adjei Okpoti.
So far, the financiers of the project, PIWC-SSNIT in Dansoman, has released an initial amount of GH¢ 36,000.00 to start with.
Speaking to Pentecost News, the District Minister revealed that he was approached by an elderly man from Gurumbelle in the later part of 2018 to evangelise the Chakali people. He said that the Church then organised rallies in the community where 25 adults and 12 children were won.
According to him, the new assembly which has currently increased to 58 members, has since been fellowshipping under a tree.
The Area Head, on his part, revealed that the Chakali language is only spoken by the people in the community.
“In a community of about 500 people and about 1hour 30minutes drive on a poor feeder road from the Bulenga township, the people have access to only two boreholes, with no health facility, no security post and no teacher to man their only basic school,” he bemoaned,” adding, “Their market day which is determined by traders from Wa and the Bulenga starts from 7 pm to about 1 am.”
Apostle Tetteh Tackie thanked the HUM National Coordinator, Pastor Emmanuel Agyei Kwafo, whose visit to the community in January 2020 paved the way for the project. He was also grateful to the Dansoman Area Head, Prophet Ebenezer K. Appiah, and the PIWC-SSNIT Resident Minister, Pastor Ebenezer Amartey Ahuakese and his officers and members for their kind gesture to fully fund the project.
Report by Pastor Nathaniel Adjei Okpoti.