Sunday, November 1, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Ghana 2010 - The Unfolding of a Mission Strategy
From our Ghanaian team leader and national pastor:
As God Called me to become a local or home missionary in the North,and as go before Him in prayers,He has started revealing to me new plans and strategies which i would like to share with you on this net.
To begin my ministry as a missionary, i have planned to take the following into consideration:
1.LAYING OF PRAYER FOUNDATION: Jesus Christ started with prayer, therefore i will not underestimate the power of prayer and dependence on the work of the Holy Spirit.I will form a Prayer Force Team specificaally for missions,evangelism,church planting and other missions needs.These will be people who have the burden on their hearts and compassion for the lost souls,so that they can weep and pray for them.
2.A SURVEY TEAM: I have started enlisting all the villages in the Savelugu West Corridor and beyond where the gospel have not been preached or where there no churches.The Survey Team will be commited to the following:
A. The Team shall study the Dagomba culture,traditions, customs,taboos,and practices.
B. Study the historical events and festivisties.
C, Religious background such as African traditional worship, believes as well as Islamic blieves and practices.
The reason for this is to link up these form of worship, beliefs and practices to the scripture and help the people to find through means of worship and believe in the true God.
D. The Team will also assess the situation in the communities and approachable way to taking the Gospel to them.
E The Team will report the challenges,difficulties and satanic presence in the communities to the prayer force team for intensive prayer campain and engagement in spiritual warfare.
3. FORMATION OF ADVANCE TEAM: After surveying each community,i will have advance team put in place which will stand in the gap between the preparation period. The team responsiblities shall include:
A. Developping cordial relationship with the people of the community,especially winning favor of the opinion leaders in the communities.
B. Embark on one on one evangelism in the village
C, Start Good News Club in the communities,this club is a child evangelism or children ministry which i started two years ago as child mobilization plan when i was in the Seminary in Tamale.The team will organize children Fun Games, litttrature studies and Bible story telling.These and many more evangelistic activities will prepare the ground for the seed to be sown.
4. FOLLOW UP OR MINISTRY TEAM: I am strongly convinced that evangelism cannever be complete and effective without follow up, therefore this team shall be responsible for the follow up where ever we start a new church,so they can visit the new converts and encourage them to be strong and grow in the Lord, they will also visit those who make decisions and still thinks so they can help them make the right decisions.
5. DISCIPLESHIP: I will be commited to discipleship training programme every week ends to ensure that quality lay leaders are been sent to take care of the newly planted churches untill a trained pastor is sent to take over from him.
6. Besdes descipleship training, i will also try to iddentify the Spiritual gifted and called church members into the ministry so that i can help develop their leadership potentials and encourage them to responds to the called of God.This is what i intend to do interms of providing pastor-leaders to our mission churches..
7. HUMANITRIAN SUPPORT: Finally, we all agreed that Northern Region is regarded to the higheist povert zone in Ghana, i will therefore proposed to have an intervention policy which will support the vunerable, widows and orphans especially around the farming season where it becomes very difficult for most of the people to afford even one square meal in a day.
To be able to do this i will need to engage in farming of maize so that during the hard season we can at least support the starving members and the vulnerable with some food to save them from starving to death.
To summarize this, just take a look into the scripture to see whether this is biblically or not.
Didn't Jesus pray forty days before starting His ministry?What about Nehemiah when he received the report about the Jerusalem walls,did he not pray before going to the king? Moses also sent the people to survey the land of Canaan.Paul said to Barnabas, let us go back to where we preached the gospel to see how they are doing, that was follow up.Jesus sent the disciples two by two to the villages where he will be going,that was an advance team,Jesus selected 12 men and trained them for the task, that was discipleship,He also set Peter,James and John aside for leadership role.Finally, Jesus could not do away with the poor and needy, he provided care and relief services to them. So with these examples from the biblically missionaries, how can we do effective missions without it? As you read this strategic plan i want you to join me in prayer, because this is what God has place on my heart as i pray about my calling and ministry in the North in a few months to come, pray that he who unfold this to me will also provide guidance, wisdom,strength, grace,favor and resources to to implement them.
This is coming from your co-laborer in Christ vineyard,
pastor Mohammed.
Posted by Cheryl Read at 7:52 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ghana Mission, Ghana West Africa
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Worship - African Style
Posted by Cheryl Read at 7:47 PM 1 comments
Labels: African Worship, Ghana, Ghana West Africa
Monday, August 3, 2009
Snow in Africa
One day in the village of Wayamba, while Beverly, Fiona and Judith were engaging the secondary school children in storytelling and song, I visited the primary (elementary) classrooms.
I had brought some artificial snow that a friend had given me after hearing my story about trying to explain snow to a group of village children a couple of years ago. It was a comical event with the children being horrified that huge blocks of ice actually fell from the sky onto our houses. This misunderstanding was due to miscommunication with the translator.
Anyway, showing "snow" to the children and talking about God's creation was so much fun! To make snow, we just had to add water and watch it grow.
Cheryl and Priscilla, Headmistress of Wayamba School
Posted by Cheryl Read at 10:01 AM 0 comments
Labels: Ghana, Ghana West Africa, Northern Region
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The Children of Wayamba
On our last day in the village, the children sang for us.
Posted by Cheryl Read at 3:23 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ghana, Wayamba, West Africa
Fresh Water for the Children
While on mission in Ghana, The FBC Team had the privilege of joining IMB missionaries, Pat and Peggy Ozment, in bringing fresh water to the school children of Wayamba.
We thank God for providing the funds, the workers, and THE WATER!
Click here to see pictures and read about how God brought water to Wayamba.
Posted by Cheryl Read at 7:51 AM 0 comments
Labels: Ghana, Ghana West Africa, Wayamba
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Women of Wayamba
On Tuesday during our trip to Wayamba, there were enough translators that we were able to split up and go visit huts individually with our own translator. As we walked through the village, my translator and I came upon the mill where there was a group of women busily working. I visited with them for a few minutes and then asked if they had time to hear a story. One of them turned over a big pot for me to sit on and several of them stopped working and gathered around on the ground.
As I finished the panorama story one of them said, "We are going to become followers of Jesus when he comes back again." I told her that Jesus was coming again but that we needed to be ready when he returned. Several women shook their heads in understanding. I asked if they knew how to become Jesus followers and they said "no". I asked if they would like to know and they said they would.
I went through the plan of salvation and asked if they would like to become Jesus Followers to which they replied yes. I told them how to pray and asked if they would like me to lead them in praying.
There on the ground three women prayed out loud in their native language asking Jesus into their lives. It was an amazing divine appointment.
Please pray that these women will grow to really understand the prayer they said and that a church and leaders will rise up in this village to disciple them.
Written by Beverly
Posted by Cheryl Read at 7:38 AM 0 comments
Labels: Ghana West Africa, Wayamba