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First Baptist Church in Ghana
Reflections Day Three
Co-written by Angela Alexander Knight and Ronald Painson
Its Thursday morning 9am and we are off (with police escort as always, couldn’t
get through the traffic without it) for the 9:30am meeting with the Executives
of The Christian Council of Ghana. We learned from this experience
that the council is comprised of 17 denominations of Christian churches
in Ghana, including the Ghanian National Baptist Church. The King’s
chief of staff, Ahenenanahene, impressively dressed in traditional attire,
introduced Pastor Soaries and his delegates to the council. Pastor’s
address to the council described our church, its mission, motto and the
institutions which have been created to carry out the mission. He then explained
why we came to Ghana. The Chairman of the council expressed his happiness
that “Reverend Asante did not keep your visit here a secret from us”.
The meeting ended on a positive note, with an eagerness and excitement about
working together towards the common goals of spiritual, educational and
economic empowerment of our people here and at home.
It’s now 10:45am and our next stop is The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Fevers Unit. This turned out to be a very moving and educational experience for us all. Pastor was once again asked to state the purpose of our visit after all introductions were made. This hospital, which has evolved primarily to service clients infected with HIV, was specifically selected by the King for us to visit. The hospital is totally government funded and serves the needy, and has very limited resources. On a short tour of the hospital we noted that the facilities were very basic and that there are many areas where we can help. Pastor was able to fulfill an immediate need for a glucometer…their’s was broken for over a week and they had no money to purchase another!!! This gives you an idea of how basic the needs are. Pastor asked that the doctor create a needs list which we at First Baptist will be directly involved in addressing upon our return. We all left the hospital with the feeling that “Here is a place where we can surely make a significant difference.
11:50am Return to the hotel where we relaxed a little, while pastor and the first lady visited with the Ghana National Baptist Convention. In pastor’s words “The meeting was GREAT…..ALL BAPTISTS!!! They discussed ways in which the Ghana Baptist Convention can connect with African American Baptist Organizations in the US using our church as a conduit. Pastor presented them with a monetary donation of $5000.
At 5:35pm we once again headed out to The University of Ghana at Legon for our last planned activity of the day. What an experience!! In a desperate effort to avoid traffic, and reach our destination on time, we were driven down a one way street James Bond style!!!. You would have had to be here to understand that this could only happen in Ghana!! but…thankfully we made it there in one piece. That was scary!!! However, what started out with a fright ended in an evening of powerful and inspirational messages delivered by pastor and the king to the students. The King, dressed in full royal regalia along with his entourage, made a dramatic appearance at the event. The gist of the messages was that Ghanian students, with their passion for education, high literacy rate, and strong sense of identity, are uniquely positioned at this time to lead African people around the world in realizing God’s mission for us here on earth.
The evening ended with a stop at the Marquis Tante Marie African restaurant
in Accra for a relaxing outdoor buffet dinner and reflection on the very
rewarding day we had.
As the Ghanians say,
Nyame nhyira mo
God bless you all…and stay tuned for tomorrow’s reflection.