Monday in Ghana began with an early start and the traditional overpacked van ride down a dusty road. We were headed to the village of Dimia, but when we arrived they were not ready for us…..so we let them know we would be back later in the day and moved on to the village of Tinkaya. Once we arrived in Tinkaya we noticed that some of the people whose homes we had visited and shared the Gospel with on Saturday afternoon had made their way to Tinkaya to hear more about Jesus. One man in particular whose entire family accepted Christ was very happy to see us again and thanked me several times for “bringing Jesus to his house”.
After about 1 hour of waiting for people to gather under the chief’s resting place, we were set to begin. In case you’re wondering, in each village there is something that looks something like a gazebo. It has wooden posts in all four corners and a thatch roof covering the open aired area. At the center of that area is the chief’s resting bench, a very comfortable looking long bench that usually has some dried animal skins or fur coats over the seats. Surrounding that center bench are benches on all four sides. The chief spends most of his day there greeting and spending time with the villagers. In most villages, we greet the chief there and then he allows us to go find a mango tree for our meeting, but in this village the chief invited us to stay at his resting area and share the story there…..which means he would be listening as well.
We sang a few songs and then Janet shared the Creation to Christ story. I followed up by sharing the stories of Nicodemus who came to Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler who rejected Jesus. We told the people there that now that they had heard the story of Jesus, just like Nicodemus and the Rich Young Ruler, they had a decision to make too. After that the pastors who were traveling with us started the invitation, but someone spoke up and asked a question. After that question, for about the next 20 minutes there was much discussion that was not translated for us, but we could all get the gist of the discussion……the villagers were saying that the story we told was different than the ones that the Muslims had been bringing to them and they were confused as to which was truth. As they were conversing, the Holy Spirit just grabbed hold of me in a way that rarely happens (but i wish would more often) and He put a word in my heart to share. I read the parable about the man who found a great pearl and then went out and sold everything he owned so he could have it. I shared with them that Jesus, not Mohammed was the great pearl and that while some think his teachings are good…..there is only one Son of God.
After a few more minutes of discussion, the invitation was given again and about 40 people including the village chief gave their hearts to Christ. It was an amazing moment! the chief thanked us for coming and before we left we explained what a church was. We stressed that it was a regular gathering of those who love Jesus. They meet together to sing, worship, testify, and wait for His return. The chief asked us if we could help them build a building for the church to meet in, and i assured him that if they were faithful, God would provide everything they needed in His perfect timing. After some hugs, handshakes, and a tear or two…..we left.
Our other stop for the day was back to the village of Dimia. In the center of the village was a tree stump that had some carvings on it…..and we found out it was the village god. The people of the villag bow down to it, pray to it, and never, ever look directly at it. We met under a shade tree about 100 feet from the stump and as we met i could see the people listening to our story and every now and then they would glance over in the direction of the stump. As Tres told the story……i could see them begin to sense that there was so much more truth in the world than what an old tree stump had to offer. At the conclusion of our time together, about 15 asked Jesus into their hearts, and others said they would consider what we said and asked us to pray for them. They very specifically asked for one of the women in our group to say a prayer for their village, which was a bit out of the ordinary. But, Jessica stood up and offered a beautiful prayer for the people of their village. While they had their heads bowed in prayer…..i have to confess that i snuck over and took a picture of the sacred tree stump. Thankfully i was not consumed by fire (just kidding). As we left, Pastor Salifu promised that he would return to the village later in the week to check on them and to anwer any questions they might have.
Monday night ended with a shared Bible study time at Central Baptist Church. The four of us gathered together with about 12 from Central Baptist and sat in a circle, holding flashlights in front of our Bibles to read scripture. We talked about the difference in being faithful and successful, and the central character of that study was Moses. It was the best Bible study time i think i’ve ever been a part of. We had such wonderful discussion, and for about 2 hours we just enjoyed diving into scripture together and being discipled by one another. There were about 5 teenagers at the study from Central Baptist, so Jessica and Tres presented them with a soccer ball and encouraged them to continue coming to Bible Study. They were very thankful and the night ended with that.
Again, it was a good day in Ghana and we were just overwhelmed to be a part of what God was doing there.
