A Consultant Urologist and member of the Evangelism Ministry’s National Executive Council Elder Dr. Ken Aboah has challenged the church to take missions to the Fulbe (Fulani) communities living in the Northern parts of the country and in other African countries.
“The Fulbe communities remain an unreached territory that we need to evangelize. They are a marginalized and stereotyped group in Ghana and predominantly Muslims who we need to reach out to with the power of the gospel,” he said.
According to him, the basis of their stigmatization and marginalization is premised on false information. Elder Dr. Aboah stated that a medical outreach by the OM Group, a Christian medical outreach team, over the past five years have revealed that the Fulbes are one of the peace loving people in the country.
“They love right from the depths of their heart and are one of the peaceful people in Ghana contrary to earlier views held by the team. They have not killed us,” he stated.
He indicated that there were over 800,000 Fulbes in Ghana making them the highest number of foreigners currently living in the country. This figure, he added, accounts for about one third of the population of the total membership of The Church of Pentecost. He also noted that the Fulbes have higher population in some West African Nations, majority of whom are not saved.
Elder Dr. Aboah, who worships with the Pentecost International Worship Centre, Asokwa (PIWC- Asokwa), also explained that the tenets of the Fulbes, which encourages acts of compassion, reinforces close and peaceful relationship among themselves and that understanding their way of life and orientation would be key to evangelizing them.
He also noted that the time to take the Gospel to the Fulbes is ripe as the outreach by the OM Group has yielded positive results with the establishment of three community churches in Goreba, Sapeba and Gbedembilisi in the Northern part of the country.
He observed that the active commitment of the Church to reach out to this neglected mission field with the power of the gospel and other social intervention programs – medical outreaches, agricultural support, among others – should not be overlooked if the church is really bent on possessing the nations.
Elder Dr. Aboah noted that it will take about 5 to 10 years for a minister to fully adjust and integrate into their settler communities so as to make the desired impact because of their nomadic lifestyles, language barriers, and their suspiciousness of outsiders.
He, therefore, challenged leadership to carefully consider the concept of “incantational gospel” where selected ministers could be trained to minister fully to the Fulbe Communities by sponsoring them to undertake studies on the Fulbes and also provide the needed support to serve as a conduit for Muslim conversion.
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