Ghana

Africa

Year opened: 1987

The Mission Society's work in Ghana began with an invitation in 1986 from the Methodist Church Ghana to provide personnel for ministries of evangelism and pastoral training. Since that time, a partnership between these two ministries has grown to also include church planting, medical outreach, nutrition, and children’s and literacy ministries. More than 20 years later, missionaries and their children continue to serve in cities and villages to carry on the vision for ministry.

In 1990, J.K. Manu, a Ghanaian from the village of Ankaase, decided to provide a hospital in his hometown that was in dire need of medical care. He asked the Methodist Church Ghana for help, along with The Mission Society. Today, the Ankaase Methodist Faith-Healing Hospital is a model facility and provides medical care for the more than 10,000 residents in the immediate area and for those in surrounding towns and villages. It serves as a catalyst for the transformation of lives through ministry to the physical and spiritual needs of patients. Another clinic was recently established in the rural area surrounding Lake Bosomtwi to provide Ghanaians with access to medical care.

Community Health Evangelism (CHE) has taken root in Ghana and provides rural communities with basic education about health care as a foundation for explicit Christian witness. Begun by Mission Society missionaries, the CHE program is now largely conducted by Ghanaian workers. Of Ghana’s more than 22 million residents, 3.1% are currently living with the HIV/AIDS virus, and missionaries are working to educate the people to prevent this statistic from climbing. More than 31% live below the poverty line and have little to no access to any type of medical treatment.

Many people from the dry, desolate north of Ghana have moved into the Ashanti region. A literacy program has enabled many to learn how to read, and their lives are transformed as they delight in reading the New Testament, which has been presented to them as a gift for graduating from the program.

Mission Society workers also live in the remote and sometimes dangerous areas in the North, where Islam and animism are prevalent. Working with national Ghanaian leadership, these workers participate in evangelism and Christian leadership training. Christianity is spreading. Sixty-three percent of the population claims Christianity as their religion, although many are still heavily involved in Voodoo practices and indigenous religions as well. Twenty-one percent strictly adhere to indigenous beliefs and 16% are Muslim.

 

Prayer Requests

• Pray for continued nurture of our relationship with our the Methodist Church Ghana.
• Pray for continued infrastructure and economic development in the country.
• Pray for the continued growth of discipleship in the Ghanaian church.
• Pray for the continued momentum of Kingdom-centered ministries.