The 2021 Evangelism Conference (EVACON 2021) organised by the Evangelism Ministry of The Church of Pentecost was formally opened yesterday with a clarion call on Christians to aggressively preach the gospel and intercede for lost souls in prayer.
Hundreds of patrons clad in EVACON’21 branded T-shirts from selected areas of the church in the Greater-Accra region thronged the auditorium of Pentecost International Worship Centre at Atomic in Accra for the much-anticipated event, whilst others joined in via Zoom at the various satellite centres situated across the nation.
The three-day event, which is under the theme: “A Revived Church in an Aggressive Evangelism and Informed Intercession” (Ezekiel 37:1-10), was opened by the Chairman of the Church, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, with assistance from the General Secretary, Apostle ANY Kumi-Larbi, the International Missions Director (IMD), Apostle Emmanuel Agyemang Bekoe, and the Evangelism Ministry Director, Apostle Dr. Amos Jimmy Markin.
Apostle Dr. Jimmy Markin, in an opening address, said the season presents a good opportunity for contemporary Christians who have a desire for greater effectiveness and fruitfulness in ministry.
According to him, it is an opportunity for believers to rise for two basic activities – reaping (positioning) and weeping (petitioning).
“That is, making petitions through informed intercession to the God of the harvest to make ready committed labourers and grant access to reach people and places with the gospel,” he explained.
Apostle Dr. Markin said the urgent call for action is illustrated through the book of Ezekiel 37, where prophet Ezekiel is shown in a vision a state of people, who are non-responsive and completely dead, as dried bones in a valley. The people, he noted, were in a state of death, decay, lifelessness, and complete hopelessness – a physical state very impossible for any human intervention.
“When asked whether the dried bones could come back to life, the prophet’s answer was very human and expected. He responded that the answer is with God, but God in turn responded that the answer was instead with him (Ezekiel),” he said.
Putting this into context, Dr. Markin said that the whole world today is languishing in a valley of despondency because of sin and evil. It has become a postmodern society driven by secular human ideologies and other forms of human-centred philosophy, he added.
“The nations and their people have posited themselves away from God and godliness and are dwelling in all forms of unrighteousness and ungodliness. Due to this, the world today is abiding in a state of sin craze, untimely death, decay, corruption, lifelessness, and absolute hopelessness. They are like a valley of dry bones without hope and life. Can this awful situation be changed,” he quizzed.
The Evangelism Director continued that, just like God’s response to Ezekiel, the remedy lies in the Christian’s willingness to rise to the challenge as the mouthpiece of God and proclaim life (the gospel) to the dying world.
The Chairman, on his part, reiterated the call for aggressive evangelism and intercession for the salvation of lost souls by charging Christians, who possess the Spirit of God, not to look on unconcerned as people perish.
He encouraged church members to actively participate in the evangelistic efforts of the church especially in November, which has been declared an ‘Aggressive Evangelism Month’ by the church.
“We should not just pay lip service to the ‘One Member, One Discipled Soul’ initiative. Rather, every member must make it a point to win a soul and disciple him or her for the Lord. This is our duty as Christians,” he urged.
Apostle Nyamekye, therefore, charged participants to go back to their various local assemblies and districts to teach members and rekindle their passion towards aggressive evangelism and informed intercession.
The Evangelism Conference, which also marked the official launch of the ‘One Member, One Discipled Soul’ project of the church for this year, is being held at various centres from Wednesday, November 27 to Friday, October 29, 2021, and would be climaxed on Sunday, October 31, with a Gospel Sunday Service at the various local assemblies of the church.
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