As part of a four-day working visit to the Sawla Area, the National Coordinator for the Ministry to Persons with Disabilities (MPWDs) of The Church of Pentecost, Pastor Alexander Nyame, led a capacity-building programme for ministers and other MPWDs coordinators in the Tingar Zone of the Sawla Area yesterday.
In his presentation, Pastor Nyame intimated that Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) form a sizeble part of the world’s population and should not be sidelined in the Church’s quest to “possess the nations” for Christ.
“In Ghana alone, about five million people live with some form of disability, that is about 12% of the country’s population,” he said.
Pastor Nyame further noted that the MPWDs was, therefore, birthed in 2019 under the Church ‘s Vision 2023 (Possessing the Nations Agenda) in order to reach out to PWDs with the gospel message of Christ and ensure their full integration in the Church and society.
He, therefore, called on Church leaders to take particular interest and be actively involved in the work of MPWDs and also ensure that the MPWDs committees are resourced and adequately equipped to fulfil their mandate.
The Gbongbouduori District Minister, Pastor Prince Kwasi Mensah, who doubles as the Sawla Area MPWDs Coordinator, exhorted the participants on the topic: “Repositioning the Local Church to Accept Persons with Disabilities.”
Using Mephibosheth as a case study with 2 Samuel 9:1-13 as scripture reference, he said that Mephibosheth, King Saul’s grandson and Prince Jonathan’s son, suffered paralysis as a child when he fell from the hands of his caretaker to the ground.
He explained that although Mephibosheth was not born crippled, but he became paralysed due to life circumstances, hence anyone could potentially become disabled in one way or the other.
Pastor Mensah further noted that despite being a former King’s grandson (a royal), Mephibosheth’s situation caused him to think less of himself.
“He referred to himself as a dead dog, that is a person of no relevance, who is not worthy to enter the palace, not to talk of share the same table with the King.
“King David, however, accepted Mephibosheth with open arms and dined with him,” he said.
The Gbongbouduori District Minister, therefore, urged Church leaders and Christians, in general, to also express the love of Jesus Christ to PWDs by reaching out to them with the Gospel, saying: “They also count when it comes to our ultimate goal of making it to heaven.”
Present at the training programme were Pastor Kwaku Amponsah (Sawla Area Evangelism Ministry Leader and Bole Customs District Minister), Overseer Kennedy Offe (Zonal Chairman and Maluwe District Minister), Probationary Overseers Philip Agbeko (Tinga District Minister), Jeremiah Atta Dogbe (Banda Nkwanta District Minister), Seth Frimpong (Jama District Minister) and their wives.
Report by Sawla Area Media Team