Our team of four was up way before the sun and at the Accra airport by 5AM, ready for the next leg of our adventure and excited about reaching our final destination after almost 48 hours of travel. We boarded the plane and received our traditional Ghana in-flight snack which consists of some sort of juice and some kind of mystery meat sandwich. Tres, the youngest member of our team was brave enough to try the sandwich that looked a little like chicken salad. After one bite he said “this is delicious” but after a few more bites he finally tasted the crunch of a beak or claw….and the great sandwich taste test was officially over.
We arrived at the airport in Tamale and as we got off the plane we could see about 10 members of the church we were working with jumping up and down waiving their hands. What a great way to be greeted! A quick one hour drive to the village of Wale Wale and finally we had reached our destination. It was good to be there, and we could sense that something really exciting was in store for us. The people were so happy to see us and they had gone out of their way to make sure everything was perfect for us, which was nice.
Our first official order of business was to have a meeting with the pastors from several churches in the West Mamprusi District. For those of you who may not know, the Mamprusi people of Northern Ghana are classified as an unreached people group, with anywhere from 300,000 to 800,000 people depending on which statistic you believe. Of those people, less than 1% are Christians……and many of their hundreds of villages have never even heard the name of Jesus. They have been locked in a culture of darkness for centuries, worshipping everything from witch doctors to wood carvings in the center of villages and lots of other things in between. The only official form of religion seems to be a very strong Muslim influence. The Muslims have been visiting villages and recruiting for their faith since the 1600′s…….but what has mostly happened among the Mamprusi people is just a blending of every kind of faith they have been exposed to.
So far in our partnership, we have been able to identify 5 existing churches and we have had the privilege of starting two more. So, this initial meeting with the pastors of those village churches was more like a “state of the church” address in which each pastor told us of their joys, struggles, wants, and needs. The most exciting thing we heard was that the church we started last year, now called “The Tower Of Glory” is still going strong and has about 45 members who attend worship every week in the schoolhouse for the village. The most disturbing thing we heard is that there is a great degree of jealousy between the churches and each time our church sends financial or any other tangible support to any church, the other churches become envious. It let me know we have much work to do in creating a sense of unity among the body of Christ in the Mamprusi culture. We also discussed the need for leadership training in the local churches, specifically the need for training teachers, prayer leaders, missions workers, and just about every other job in the church. They know how to worship, they just don’t know how to manage and grow the church. It is definitely an opportunity for us to continue helping them grow in the future.
After our meeting we went out to visit two villages that we have been to before. The purpose was to go and pray with the people of these churches and to encourage them. One of the great struggles in these village churches is simply not giving up. The Christians in these villages are not physically persecuted, but they are sort of cast aside from the normal village life. They are made fun of and definitely left to fend for themselves because of their faith……so knowing that people would travel from across the ocean just to come and pray with them is an incredible encouragement in itself. When the villagers who mock their faith see a van full of white skinned people rolling up and offering hugs, smiles, and prayers……it is a powerful testimony. We visited the village of Timpella where brother Thomas is pastor and then the village of Gogubula where brother Salifu is pastor. Timpella is struggling because their small church building is falling apart and they have no money to repair or rebuild. They have 60 or so members, and their weekly offering is about 10 cedi’s, which is the equivalent of about $7 in american money. It would take approximately $1,000 american dollars to build them an entirely new church, but a thousand to you and i feels like a million to them. Gogubula is doing extremely well on the other hand. Their membership has grown in recent years from 7 members to almost 60 and they are very slowly working toward purchasing a new set of drums (no pianos or organs……just bongo drums for typical worship, but it sounds awesome!). It is good to see them working so hard.
As we finished the day, i had a conversation with our primary contact, Pastor Barnabas, who has an incredible story and who has faced many trials both in his faith and ministry. I’ll share more of his story later in the week, but for know i’ll just say that unless you’ve ever been deprived of food for weeks at a time by your own family in an effort to make you renounce your faith……you have no idea the price Barnabas has paid to be faithful to the cause of Christ.
Day two was a very good day. We were thankful for safe travel, reunions with good friends, and reports from churches that are growing stronger and stronger. Tomorrow we go to villages that have never heard the name of Jesus before……and we went to bed not really knowing what was to come in just a few short hours.
