Former Chairman of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Dr. Michael Kwabena Ntumy, has acknowledged the overwhelming love and support he has received from leaders and members of the Church over the years.
The revered minister of God, who retires from active ministry in September this year, expressed profound gratitude to the Church for the prayers, visitations and words of encouragement to him and his family when he addressed participants of the 2023 Global Ministers and Wives’ Conference (GMWC’23) today via Zoom.
“The Church has shown us great love and compassion. I am also very grateful to you, the Chairman, who is the face of the Church, for the love and prayers, and we look forward to seeing you in Hamburg God-willing 24th September [for the retirement service],” he said.
Remarking on the 2023 Theme of the Church: “Repositioning the Local Church For Maximum Impact In The Nations,” which he described as “Fantastic,” the former Chairman stressed the need for ministers to first reposition themselves to able to effectively reposition the local church.
Drawing lessons from the story of Balak and Balaam in Genesis 22, Apostle Dr. Ntumy explained that Balak, the king of Moab, who was exceedingly afraid of the people of Israel, hired Balaam a prophet to curse them so that he would be able to defeat them in battle. However, Balaam did the opposite and blessed them instead. In an attempt to remedy this, Balak sought to “reposition” the prophet at various locations to have a different view of the Israelites so that he (the prophet) would appreciate the threat posed by the multitude of Israelites camping in Moab.
“From the various positions, Balaam saw a different side of the Israelites and God gave him a corresponding Word. Likewise, as ministers, when we reposition ourselves, we would see the Local Church from God’s perspective,” he said.
Expounding further, he said that when ministers are repositioned, they would see the divinity of the Church as people called out by God and not just a mere gathering of people. “In this way, we will love and cherish them,” he added.
He further noted that when repositioned, ministers would appreciate the invincibility of the Church as a powerful institution and know that of a truth, no power, witches and devil can rise against the Church.
Apostle Dr. Ntumy also noted that when repositioned, ministers would also see the humanity of the local church.
“As we reposition ourselves, we see that, the local church, although a gathering of God’s people, is also made up of human beings, and in her humanity, we will see the weakness, the poor, the suffering and imperfect so that we will be able to minister to their needs by the power of the Holy Spirit,” he said.
As part of the repositioning process, he advised ministers to take an introspective view of their lives and ministry and realign themselves to the will of God.
“As ministers who have been repositioned, we would not do things because we have to do them, but we will do them from God’s perspectives,” he said.
Apostle Dr. Ntumy was called into the full-time ministry of The Church of Pentecost in 1984 at age 26, called to the office of an Apostle at age 34 and was elected the fourth Chairman of the Church six years later. After serving for two terms (10 years), he handed over to Apostle Professor Opoku Onyinah, the immediate-past Chairman of the Church. Apostle Dr. Ntumy also served as President of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC) for two terms (10 years)
He currently serves as the Director of Literary Works of the Church and has since overseen the production of over 15 church publications, such as God’s Power at Work (Volumes 1&2), God’s Faithfulness to The Church of Pentecost, among others.
Apostle Dr. Ntumy is set to retire from active ministry this year after having served God and the Church meritoriously for close to four decades.
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