GESAM-UHAS REACH OUT TO THE "MOTHER CHURCH"

The Global Evangelical Students and Associates Ministry of the University of Health and Allied Sciences have extended their expertise in health delivery to the main church; Global Evangelical Church (KABHILL ZION TEMPLE).

This, as believed by the students, is a step in the right direction; as a way of appreciating the people who have mentored them into what they are now.
"We believe that this is one way to evangelize to people out there and also impact into their lives what we are being taught as students of a university", , Chinedu Chidi Emmanuel, GESAM president.

The exercise which saw a number of participants going through the various screening processes as; the Blood Pressure (BP), Hepatitis B test and the Counseling, was very much successful and carefully coordinated. The church was also lectured on ways of good living with the choices of food.

Mr Dennis, a member of the congregation, was very much enthused about the program. He thanked the leadership of the UHAS-GESAM and pray that more of such is organized. He confirmed that most of them find it very difficult to go to the hospital and if such services are brought closer to them, it will be very good to take part in it. He added that the program should be extended to other branches of the Global Church in the municipality.
"I am one person who doesn't like going to the hospital regularly as supposed. In fact I hate being in long queues. And I believe the story is same for almost everyone here. So it's a good initiative and if this program is brought to us, we have to try as much as possible to go through the exercise".

Rev. Ganyo, the Pastor of the main church was very much happy about the exercise and wishes it comes off as often as possible.
"Am much delighted to have you students in our mist. Its a very good initiative to impact into society what you have being taught. If I have my way, this program should be conducted timely."

The leadership of GESAM promise to, in another convenient time organise this program.

By: 
Mawunyo (GESAM - Protocol)

HISTORY OF THE GLOBAL EVANGELICAL CHURCH LET'S KNOW WHO WE ARE PART III

Mission Work At Keta

After the collapse of the mission work at Peki, Dauble, Plessing and Brutschin lived in Accra to plan thier next strategy, namely, to restart their work from the coast of eweland. Specifically, they decided on Keta, because of the port or landing facilities at neighboring Dzelukorpe, from where they could easily receive supplies from Europe.

They set sail from Accra sometime in August 1853. The boat in which they travelled from Accra to Dzelukorpe had the inscription, "Mawu nye lorlor" (God is love). Brutschin was sick, so had to be left behind. Time was not on thier side to wait for the recovery of their colleague.

They arrived at Dzelukorpe on September 2, 1853 in a heavy rainfall. But far from considering this as a hindrance, the missionaries considered this as "showers of blessing". Dzelukorpe was a flourishing market town with quite populous villages within walking distance. On the contrary, Keta was a very small place consisting of Fort Prizenstein with a garrison of not more than thirty men, a factory or warehouse belonging to the commandant of the Fort, and few African huts not more than five in number. Since they had come to evangelize people and there were very few people at that place it was doubtful if they made a good choice by picking on Keta. They were received by the authorities of the Fort who have them accommodation. The commandant of the Fort promised that he was going to build keta into a big township.
As soon as they settled down, the missionaries started building a huge mission house on a plot of land given by the local government. The building was different from other buildings at Keta. Its walls were 18 inches thick. It became necessary for the Missionaries to do many things for themselves, because the natives knew pretty little about the building of modern houses. However, the Missionaries received great helps from the few faithful Africans who were "aliens" at Keta. Peter Papo and Ababio were from Peki; Quao was a very competent carpenter who had been baptized at Cape coast and John Wright, their chief interpreter and greatest African helper.
Apart from those people, a few men were hired as labourers on the huge mission house project.
Wilhelm Dauble did not last long at Keta. On December 7, 1853, he had a splitting headache, which confined him to bed. The pains were so unbearable that his friends expected the worst. At midnight, he was given Holy Communion, and at dawn, he died. Before his death, he said, "I am willing to die if that is the will of the Lord." He was buried in the "hot and of Keta" on December 26, 1853 (Boxing day). In fact, he was the first of the over twenty missionaries who lost their lives in the service of the Lord at Keta, and whose bones still lie buried there.
Grief for Dauble made the lonely Plessing seriously sick, and he also prepared himself for death. He put his keys on his table with the instructions that as soon as he breathed his last, they should be given to the commandant of the Fort. As soon as gave these instructions, messengers came with the good news that his colleague, Brutschin, whom he had left in Accra because of sickness, had just arrived. Plessing's joy on hearing the news was more than medicine for him and he recovered miraculously. Therefore work at the mission station received a new lease of life.

.................to be continued

From:
Protocol Department - GESAM-UHAS
Bible Studies Department - GESAM - UHAS

HISTORY OF THE GLOBAL EVANGELICAL CHURCH

LET'S KNOW WHO WE ARE!! PART II

............... continued from last week.

Mission Work At Peki

A son of the Paramount Chief of Peki, Prince Nyangamagu who was the attending the Basel Mission School at Christiansburg assured then Bremen Missionaries that his father will give them a rousing welcome.
While at Christiansburg, the Missionaries wished they could start their works along the coast either at Keta or Atorkor, both in the Anlo territory. But this wish could not be fulfilled. The Anlos and the Danes were at war at that time, and the missionaries would have been caught in cross-fires if they dared go there. So the safer alternative left for them was Peki.

After a five-day trip, Wolf, making a bold, solo attempt, arrived at Peki on November 14, 1847. Significantly, he arrived on a Sunday. The arrival message to the Chief and people of Peki was his first sermon. His text was Psalm 22:22 (verse 23 in ewe). "I will tell people what you have done, I will praise you in the assembly".

Wolf spoke through an interpreter and was at pain to let the people know that he was not a trader or a slave dealer. He had come to proclaim the good news concerning Jesus Christ who came to the world to rescue mankind from perishing.
Togbui Kwadzo Dei Tutu V, the Paramount Chief, and his people warmly received the missionary and promised to help him in any way. Wolf therefore sent words to his companion Graff in Accra to proceed immediately with their belongings. But he was greeted with a shock news that Graff had died. Four of them had been in Africa for only six months. Three of them were now dead, leaving him alone. They had not made a single convert. What an ill-fated quartet! Now he was left alone among people whose language he did not understand and the people did not understand his either. Worst of all, he did not even have a place of his own to lay his head. It was painful but Wolf had faith in God.

After recovering from the shock, Wolf started building a big, six-room house. He combined his work with evangelism, which he did through his interpreter. But it was no easy task. The interpreter knew very little English Language and next to nothing about heavenly or spiritual matters.
On February 8, 1848, Wolf opened a school with 14 children. But this was a difficult task he set for himself, because he did not understand the language of the children and the children did not understand his either. But Wolf did not lose hope.

At that time, the Chief of Peki-Wudome, Tim Klu had a sore on one leg. Wolf gave him medication and daily dressing of the wound. By God's grace, the sore was healed. The Chief was so happy that he decided to be a Christian. He successfully completed baptism lessons and Wolf certified that he was ready for baptism. One day, Wolf made a short journey outside his station and when he returned, he was greeted with the shocking news that the chief was dead. His death was suspicious and shrouded in mystery. Wolf could only suspect that the die-hard traditionalist might have poisoned him because of his close association with him. The traditionalist had come to regard Wolf with hatred and suspicion. One of the pagan priest had decreed that the people who frequented the mission house for the dressing of their wounds would die. So the good work wolf was doing to relieve pain and suffering from among fellow human beings was considered a sin by the people whose minds were full of darkness.
Even Togbui Dei Tutu, the Paramount Chief and protector of Wolf was not spared this hatred. His own life was in danger, because he was accused of not caring for the gods as he used to do before Wolf came. This is the usual persecution if a Chief deserts the heathen gods and clings to Christianity.
To compound Wolf's problems, there was a long drought in the land. This was attributed to the anger of the gods. Instead of clinging to thier time-tested gods, the people had allowed a "Whiteman" to establish a strange way of worship among them. But God's word continued in spite of these problems.

On March 3, 1849, two new missionaries Groth and Quinius arrived at Peki, from Germany. The arrival on April 5, 1850, of Karoline Deist, Wolf's wife, brought him new life and hope and the work revived vigorously. Unfortunately, Wolf's began to deteriorate, he therefore decided to go home on January 1851 to seek medical advice. The new comers, Groth and Quinius said they could not do anything without Wolf. So they decided to return with him to Germany. Thus the missionaries left peki in sorry hoping to return to continue with the work. Wolf's condition worsened during the journey. On arrival at Hamburg harbour on April 9, 1851, Wolf died and was buried in the churchyard of St. George in Hamburg.

This is the difficult beginning of missionary activity in eweland. Four precious lives had already been lost without making a single convert but the Bremen mission did not give up. Hey believed in the scripture which states, "I am telling you the truth; a grain of wheat remains no more than a single grain unless it is dropped into the ground and dies. If it dies, then it produces many grains." (John 12:24).

On October 12, 1851, Quinius and his wife, and two other missionaries, Wilhelm Dauble and Johannes Menge, set sail for Africa. They arrived in Accra on December 23, 1851. Quinius fell sick on their arrival. So, only the two new comers went to Peki in January 1852. On thier arrival, they were overjoyed to learn that two unconverted servants of Wolf were attending Sunday service regularly and praying for the early return of the Missionaries.

Sometime later, Quinius and his wife also arrived from Accra. On March 7, 1852, his wife gave birth to a baby boy who died on the same day. Seven weeks later, the Missionaries had to dig another grave; that of Johannes Menge who died on April 22, 1852. Menge had deep and amazing love for God and Africans. On the day he was born, his father prophesied about him thus: " as for you, I will rear you for the Lord Jesus. If he agrees to take you, then you must be an evangelist". The wishes of his father had been fulfilled. Perhaps his only regret would be that he was not given sufficient time to work in the Lord's vineyard.

Not long after that, Quinius and his wife also fell sick. It became necessary that they sought permission from Germany to leave the station on health grounds. So Dauble was left alone. But he was also not in good health. To make matters worse, there was a rumour that war will soon break out between the Pekis and the Akwamus. Dauble petitioned the Bremen mission headquarters to permit him to return home but they encouraged him to soldier on in other to salvage the gains made at Peki. Two more more missionaries, Plessing and Brutschin were sent to assist him. They stayed for only two months and were forced to leave because war had broken out between the Pekis and the Akwamus. The atrocities being committed during the war were indescribable. So it was foolhardiness for the Missionaries to remain at Peki. The colonial Governor in Accra had to personally intervened and insist on thier leaving Peki. Therefore, Peki was abandoned for the third time.

...............to be continued.

From:
Protocol Department - GESAM-UHAS
Bible Studies Department -GESAM-UHAS

THE PARADOX OF CHEDDAR

Money on my mind...

I smile but my heart breaks for the past. Fifteen years past and I still contemplate on how my life would’ve been because of the master I found; the root of all evil*. I still remember a ten-year old boy who tasted the sweetness of wealth and got addicted. How is this possible you say? How can a young boy fall in love with money before his first crush?
I discovered the power money exuded over the needy; naming them ‘the poor’, because without him, money, they would have nothing but the gnawing lust for what they can never have. My eyes feasted on the charm of the wealthy and the freedom of the spendthrift1. In my mind, money broke the chains of social sequestration2 diminishing that foul stench of inferiority and intense insatiable3 envy of the poor. I saw other children my age working hard on people’s farms to make money and for some reason, I saw this as an avenue to start acquiring wealth because my vision for the future was to be rich at all cost.
Consequently, I left school at the age of twelve and started toiling on people’s farms to make money. I can recall the echoes of my mother’s admonishment as they bounced of the surface of my heart; I grew up without a father so what could possibly scare me? Was it her threats to toil even harder to make my younger siblings more prosperous than I? Or was it her fatigued voice and calloused palms that begged for rest? As young as I was, my head didn’t seem to be buried in the right purpose but then, a miracle happened that changed my life for the better.
The father I never had returned one day when I was fifteen years of age. I can’t say whether I was happy or sad but the presence of his authority in the house tamed my wild spirit and what shame it was when he got to know that his eldest son, to whom his inheritance was going to be passed on to could not read even a class four textbook. It was then that I saw the disappointment my life had caused everyone; my love for money and wealth. However, throughout all the shame and disgrace, my father still endeavoured to make me a literate. He enrolled me in a private school and having repented of my sinful ways, I worked hard to atone for all the lost years. There are the times I feel like breaking out into praises and exultation to God for delivering me from the path of destruction.
By God’s grace I was able to pass my BECE and WASSCE exams with wonderful results which granted me admission into University of Health and Allied Sciences, UHAS. Even though I was delivered from the domination of money, I can’t ignore how it has kept the poor oppressed and hopeless. It is therefore my dream to go back to my community after school and help those who have been bound by the chains of financial constraints. I still dream of the day that God will bless me with enough wealth to help as many people as possible in the community.
Indeed, this is the doing of the Lord and it is marvellous in my sight!
This is my testimony to inspire the broken hearted; in all situations, Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever, Psalm 118:1.
Hebrews 13:5
“Keep your life from love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never fail you nor forsake you’”

Glossary
*1Timothy 6:10
“For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs”
1 – Spendthrift: Someone who spends money wastefully.
2 – Sequestration: The process of separating from external influence.
3 – Insatiable: Incapable of being satisfied or appeased.
4 – Cheddar: Money.

HISTORY OF THE GLOBAL EVANGELICAL CHURCH

LET'S KNOW WHO WE ARE!! PART I

Contrary to what the perception is, we have a rooted and a firm believe in Christ Jesus.
Our name is GLOBAL EVANGELICAL CHURCH. This name was chosen at the EXTA-ORDINARY SYNOD held on the 3rd of May, 2003 at Adonai Chapel in Madina, Accra. The church through her constitutional process, adopted and affirmed the new name GLOBAL EVANGELICAL CHURCH to replace the old name, Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ghana.
The logo of the church, very symbolic, is a globe on an open Bible.
The components are;
a) the Globe depicts the world
b) the cross depicts salvation through CHRIST'S DEATH.
c) the Bible depicts the WORD OF GOD.
*Meaning of the components.*
a) The world was created through the WORD OF GOD, hence the placement of the globe on the opened Bible. (Gen. 1:1-25)
b) salvation through CHRIST JESUS came to the world by his death on the CROSS OF CALVARY, hence the placement of the cross on the globe. (Luke 23:46, Peter 2:24)
c) Blue: two tones of blue have been used. The light blue for sea and the deep blue for land. They have the same meaning of Peace, Love and coolness. The church presents a cool, lovely and a peaceful atmosphere for worship. These are the attributes of the fruits of the spirit. (Gal. 5:22, Col 1:20).
d) White: signifies Purity, Victory and Joy. The use of white by the church is in line with the teaching and practice of holiness, victory achieved through the death of Christ on the Cross and the Joy afterwards.
e) Red: signifies close blood relations. This is in respect to the blood covenant between the Church and Christ.

THE ROOTS OF THE CHURCH
The Missionary Era (1836-1918)

In the 19th century, there was a religious wind blowing in Germany known as *pietism*. It's emphasis was on personal holy living. Consequently, it was incumbent on each person who subscribed to pietism to lead other people to live holy lives. It thus became a responsibility of every Christian to be a missionary. Pietism therefore led Germany Protestantism to form missionary societies.
On April 11, 1836, four different churches in northern Germany - The Evangelical Church of Bremen, The Lippe Church, The Lutheran Church of Oldenburg and The North West Reformed Church of Leer, came together and formed the North German Missionary Society in Hamburg to send missionaries to "heathen lands" with these aims;

a. The proclamation of Jesus Christ to heathens and care of new Christians.
b. Mastery of the language of the people
c. Study of their customs and culture
d. Establishment, worship and conduct of new congregations
e. Establishment of schools
f. Peaceful relationship with local authorities.

Later, the headquarters was moved to Bremen, leading to its popular designation as "Bremen mission". The first leader was Rev. Johan Hartwig Brauer. To facilitate their work they established a school for the training of missionaries in Hamburg on October 10, 1837. Only four students started the school, but by 1842, the number had increased to ten. Most of them were from North German and they were all tradesmen; carpenters, shoemakers and others such as farmers and those who manufactured goods with leather. The Missionary Society decided on New Zealand and India as their first mission fields and in 1842 and 1843, missionaries were sent out to these places. The missionaries were very selective about mission fields. They wanted places where there were no wars and where the weather was conducive to good health. Later on, Gabon and West Africa was adopted as thier third mission field.
The pioneer missionaries who came to Africa were 32 year old James Graff of Jutland in Denmark, 28 year Luer Bultman of Vahr near Bremen, 26 year old Lorenz Wolf of Bingen on the Rhine and 25 year old Carl Flato Horn near Bremen. They were all young men in their prime of life, with youthful vitality who decided to serve the Lord in unknown heathen lands.

*The Arrival of the Missionaries on the Gold Coast.*

The German missionaries set sail from Germany on March 17, 1847 and arrived at Cape Coast on May 5, 1847. They were well received by the Wesleyan missionaries who had arrived earlier, led by the famous Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman of the Methodist Church.
Two of the Missionaries travelled along the coast in search of a mission field but they realized, to thier disappointment, that slave traders had occupied all the places and they were likely to be mistaken as slave traders. Eventually, they arrived in Gabon and decided to work there, although Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries were already there.
But the expedition to Gabon ended in disaster. Within a very short time, Bultman was taken ill and he died. Wolf was also forced to abandon the place of work and go back to Cape Coast, because the French government, which was pro-Catholic, did not want any rivalry with Protestant missionaries from Martin Luther's country. On arrival, his companion Flato was also dead. Wolf and Graff travelled to Christiansburg in Accra to seek advice from the Basel missionaries from Switzerland who had settled there since 1826. They wanted to start their work among any tribe not yet touched by the earlier Missionaries. The Basel missionaries therefore advised them to make eweland thier mission field because no Missionary had as at yet gone there.

..........to be continued

From:
Protocol Department- UHAS
Bible Studies Department- UHAS