The just-ended 46th session of the General Council Meetings of The Church of Pentecost has left memorable events worth recounting. If there had ever been a time the Children’s Ministry has been given prominence, it was at that meeting. Aside from the many children who were recognised by the Chairman for excelling in their various fields of endeavour, our indefatigable Director, Pastor Professor William Otoo Ellis, was recognised for putting up and donating a state-of-the-art Children’s Resource Centre to the church and for introducing various flagship initiatives and activities in the ministry. Again, our affable Patron, Prophet David Kankam Beditor, also successfully ended his five-year meritorious service as an Executive Council Member of the church.
And oh, the bombshell that shattered and continues to reverberate in the minds of many is that the children membership of 1,120,524 at the end of 2022 makes up 31.1% of the total church membership. This gave rise to a call by leadership to pay closer attention to this critical mass. And lest I forget, God performed a miracle of raising the dead through a child.
As I sat through the proceedings and watched the elections of our principal officers, the Holy Spirit struck a chord in my heart. I could clearly draw a line of semblance that tied all the three Principal Officers-the Chairman-elect, the General Secretary-elect and the International Missions Director-into one bundle. That is the fact that they have all had a taste of the Children’s Ministry!
During the closing session of the Maiden Foundation Builders Conference held by the Children’s Ministry at the Pentecost Convention Centre, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, the Chairman of the church, testified of his conversion and early Christian nurturing through the Community Good News Club, which is currently an appendage of the Children’s Ministry.
Again, a cursory search of the background of Apostle Samuel Gyau Obuobi, the General Secretary-elect, reveals that he was born after 12 years of no issue after marriage to Pastor Fred T. Obuobi, the oldest surviving retired Minister of The Church of Pentecost. History has it that a 12-year-old girl who had just received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at a prayer meeting at Adeiso gave a prophetic word that his parents would give birth to a son and that they should name him Samuel. A year later, the prophetic word came true at their new station, Shama, and they named him Samuel Kwabena Nyamekye Gyau Obuobi. As a son of a Pastor, he no doubt immersed him in the Children’s Ministry.
From the grave vine, our current International Missions Director, Apostle Emmanuel Agyemang Bekoe, is also a son of a Deaconess in the church. There is, therefore, a high percentage chance of being introduced to the activities of the Children’s Ministry at a tender age.
One peculiar thing about the wives of these revered principal officers of the church, too, is that they all had had a taste of the Children’s Ministry. Oh, is it not heartwarming, too, that most ministerial candidates are young people who have gone through the mill of the Children’s Ministry?
God chose Abraham as his confidant, and He will not hide anything from him because He says concerning him in Genesis 18:18 that “… Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him” just as The Church of Pentecost is today.
The strategy he knew Abraham would employ, as recorded in Genesis 18:19, was “… he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”
God’s choice of Abraham bore great fruit when he went out to deliver Lot and his family and others with men trained from his household, just as the church is raising great men and women born and breed from her fold to champion the “possessing the nations” agenda. Genesis 14:14-16 states that:
“14 When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 Then he brought back all the possessions and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions, and the women and the people.”
In the church today, where getting the adult members to embark on evangelism and other activities is becoming increasingly complex, our surest bet in getting the engine of growth running is paying more attention to the Children’s Ministry. Their young hearts are ready fertile grounds that can hold and nurture the seeds of the future of the church. Again, their hearts are malleable; for that matter, any change we hope to effect in the nations could start with them (Proverbs 22:6).
What should we do then? More investments should be made in human resource and capacity building, financial, infrastructural and material into the ministry. Again, appointing people with the heart of children at all levels to man CM activities and programs should be taken seriously. Furthermore, more accountability should be sought from leadership at all levels concerning how issues concerning children are handled. Supervisors at all levels must demand the same accountability from leadership in winning and retaining children, Holy Spirit Baptism, children’s attendance to Sunday School, and teens baptised and transferred to the youth ministry, among others. This should be done with the same alacrity as the adult membership. Finally, mentorship opportunities should be given to the children. With the introduction of the Jethro Initiative, more is being done in this direction. Still, can leadership at all levels intentionally visit the children and share their life experiences? Can we intentionally identify and bring together the alumni of the Ministry in all fields to inspire these little ones?
Can we start Children-Only Assemblies, where it is becoming difficult to get the adults? Nurture them well, and soon our membership will be skyrocketing. Can we encourage our children’s workers to give their best in training the children? Can we supply the needed resources to make their training smooth? Can we give the same attention, if not more, to the children just as we give to the adult? indeed, the future of the church will be secured, and we will continue to possess the nations from generation to generation. I believe these will help leave indelible marks in the hearts of our children as they seek to find their feet in our ever-changing world in all fields of endeavour.
In conclusion, for The Church of Pentecost to continue to exist and expand its frontiers in the Possessing the Nations Agenda, the Children’s Ministry must be seen as one of the surest conduits. Their young hearts are ready for the fire of the Holy Ghost. They must be built now rather than wait and embark on the arduous task of repairing them in their old age. After all, Frederick Douglas says, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men”. Such post-destruction recovery ventures could only be termed AMBULANCE MINISTRY.
May the Lord continue to bless his church! May he raise men and women through the Children’s Ministry, who will take the nations by storm!
Written by Pastor Samuel Avornyo.