Dayton United Methodist Church Ghana 2016 Church Planting Mission: A Divine Appointment on a Plane

Welcome to our latest adventure! Last year updating our blog was a challenge with unreliable power and internet connectivity. Hopefully this year will be better. We will try to update with lots of posts and pictures as often as time and networks allow. Feel free to leave us feedback as well, by clicking on the icon after each post.

The right side of this blog includes static information about our mission. The left side includes pictures and comments on the day to day activity, posted as often as possible. The the newest will be on top. As we fill the pages, the early posts will scroll off. You can still get to them by selecting "older posts" which is found at the end of each "page". You can also select additional posts from the archive on the bottom right.

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Saturday, February 20, 2016

A Divine Appointment on a Plane

You should not be surprised! God answers prayers that coincide with His will. The more unselfish prayers He receives from His children, the more likely He will be motivated into action on the subject matter. One of my prayers before we started our 2016 journey to Ghana, was that God would soften the hearts of those He has chosen for His kingdom, wherever His bride, (the people of the church) should meet them, and to prepare opportunities to minister to them. God's timing is perfect. On the 6 1/2 hour flight from Amsterdam to Ghana, He placed a 17 year old High School junior from the Netherlands (a Dutch girl) next to me. Over the 6 hour flight, our conversation turned to Jesus. Brit had heard the name Jesus, but she said she didn't know much about Him. God had placed us both on a flight for 6 hours, where He ministered to her with the Gospel, from Genesis to Revelation, using me as a vessel of His Word. As a result of prayers, God claimed another one for His kingdom. Will you offer yourself to be used by God and pray, "Here I am, Lord. Use me how You will."? Be careful, though, because He will.

Giving Glory to our Great and Gracious God!

I am Bob Hartley, a child of God

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THE 2016 MISSION

For the ninth year in a row, a team from Dayton United Methodist Church joins with two of our strategic missionary partners for outreach in Ghana, West Africa. The team partners with The Methodist Church Ghana, as we work with evangelists Joseph and Stella Otsin, and medical missionary Dr. Cameron Gongwer. This year’s team travels first to Sabin Akrofrom, in the Ashanti Region and then to Gomoa-Bescadze, in the Central Region. You can follow the team’s progress as we add stories, comments and photographs to this blog. Please keep in touch with us. You are invited to respond to the blog, and above all, please support the team and the work being done with your prayers.

OUR ONGOING MISSION

The primary goal of our mission is to introduce the people in the villages to Jesus, and offer them the opportunity to receive salvation. Each year Joseph works with the leadership of the Methodist Church of Ghana to identify rural villages and growing city suburbs that seem ready to receive the Gospel. Joseph then goes to these communities where he gets to know the local people and talks to them about Jesus. Joseph works with people from within these communities and begins organizing them into fledgling Methodist congregations. From within these tiny new churches, Joseph identifies a few potential leaders. One or two leaders from each of the congregations receive intensive training that qualifies them to serve the churches as lay pastors. Eventually, one of these people is chosen to serve each of the new churches as its “Caretaker”.

As the second step in establishing a new church, Joseph partners with evangelists and local churches from the United States and with Methodist congregations that are geographically close to the fledgling church. Together, these groups work to facilitate revival style meetings in the communities where the Gospel is presented. New believers who receive Christ as Savior at these meetings are immediately introduced to their lay pastor, and are invited to worship on Sunday. Then, on Sunday morning, the new church is dedicated at its inaugural worship service, with their local Methodist Superintendent and often the regional Bishop. This new church becomes a part of the local circuit and a member church of the local diocese of the Methodist Church Ghana. Besides Bibles and study material, the Caretaker pastor is presented with a bicycle so that he can more easily get around to visit his flock.

Hopefully right away, or perhaps at a later time, a third goal is to help the young churches with the construction of a simple worship pavilion. A pavilion consists of a roof on steel posts. It provides protection from the blazing sun and monsoon rain. Little by little, the growing congregation can complete their church building on their own, by pouring a floor and building walls.

Dr. Gongwer serves the Lord as a medical missionary with the Mission Society as part of CoServe, a group of resource consultants. Cam is a family physician that promotes physical and spiritual health in individuals and communities. He coordinates mobile health clinics in Ghana, trains workers in international medicine and public health, and networks with Christian health professionals in America and Ghana. Dayton UMC has a rich tradition of partnering with Dr. Cam in medical outreach in Ghana. Physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals from America’s heartland have had the chance to help bring physical healing into remote villages through Cam’s ministry. This year’s team will continue that tradition as we take medical clinics into the communities of Sabin Akrofrom, in the Ashanti Region and Gomoa-Bescadze, in the Central Region.

THE HISTORY OF DAYTON UMC MISSIONS IN GHANA

The first mission team from the Dayton United Methodist Church to visit West Africa, went there in 2006 to help Dr. Cameron Gongwer and his wife Anne with their medical and literacy ministries in Ankaase, Ghana. The team was led by Pastor John Walls. Before departing for Africa, Pastor John asked the DUMC congregation to pray that the Lord would enable John to meet someone who could become a partner in Ghana for spreading the Gospel. The congregation did pray, and God was faithful. Through Dr. Cam’s connections, John was able to meet Joseph Otsin, an ordained evangelist and church planter working through the Methodist Church Ghana. From that initial meeting, a ministry partnership developed. Joseph and his wife Stella, an ordained elder and evangelist, began facilitating a partnership between the Methodist Church Ghana and Dayton United Methodist Church that continues to this day.

In 2008, Glenn and Sue Meiser, serving as vanguards for Dayton UMC, joined a team of evangelists heading to Ghana and lead by Cecil Williamson. During that trip, eleven new churches were planted and thousands of people came to faith in Christ. The Meisers watched and learned as much as they could and began planning to return to Ghana with teams from the church in Dayton. They remained after the Williamson Crusades concluded to help construct a worship Pavilion for the church at Atwima Mim.

The Meisers returned to Ghana in 2009 with one Spirit-led couple joining them. During that trip, two churches were planted and hundreds of people came to faith in Christ. That year, we began to include outreach to children as part of the daytime activities. We held medical clinics with the help of Ghanaian nurses, and helped to put a roof over a Methodist congregation. We also worshiped with our friends in Atwima Mim and with the two newly planted churches. (See our blog at dumcghana2009.blogspot.com)

We returned in 2010 with a team of nine that included our new senior Pastor, Mike Dominick. The 2010 team was able to expand our ministry and outreach in every area. We participated in evangelistic events, medical missions, children’s ministry, and pavilion construction. Pastor Mike also preached at an interdenominational prayer meeting and at a camp meeting attended by all of the Methodist congregations in the Kumasi area. Members of the team worshiped with the newly planted churches as well as with those with whom we worked during the two previous years. (See our blog at dumcghana2010.blogspot.com)

During the 2011 outreach, our team helped two small congregations reach their neighbors for Christ by providing extensive medical clinics, children’s ministry, children’s ministry training, pavilion construction, Gospel presentations during the daytime medical clinics, and during evening evangelism events in the two villages. Team members were able to attend worship services with our friends who comprise six different Methodist congregations in the rural areas of the Kumasi Diocese. (See our blog at dumcghana2011.blogspot.com)

In 2012 The Dayton team returned to plant two new churches, attend to the medical needs of nearly a thousand people, continue our ministry with children and build two new church pavilions. A busy time indeed! New in 2012 was the addition of the water well ministry, where six new wells were established in rural villages without a source of good clean water. We had the pleasure of dedicating one of those wells before departing. (See our 2012 blog at dumcghana2012.blogspot.com)

The 2013 mission was particularly eventful, and proved to us that our work was indeed making a difference in Ghana. We again were blessed to be able to plant two new churches in Wenniso 3 and Korko in the Ashanti Region, build each a worship pavilion, and put down three more wells in areas of need. We provided medical treatment to over six hundred people while sharing the Gospel at the same time. It was a blessing to visit the churches we planted that year and see how they had grown and thrived! (See our 2013 blog at dumcghana2013.blogspot.com)

During our 2014 mission we worked in two very different areas, planting one new church at Kumi in the Ashanti Region and another at the edge of Anopasu in the Western Region near the coast. We saw the Lord do amazing things with healing in 2014 so the team is excited to visit those villages again to see how our friends are doing and how the new churches are growing. Three more wells were completed in 2014, completely changing the potential for improved health of all those nearby. (See our 2014 blog at dumcghana2014.blogspot.com)

The 2015 return to Ghana found the team with little connectivity to provide regular updates…. but the the work continued this year as it has in the past. Asampanaye in the Ashanti Region and Kwameata in the Central Region were our target villages for the summer of 2015. As always, the medical clinics were very busy, children learned about the love of Jesus Christ and two new churches opened with their first service. It has been a blessing the past few years to have the resources to build each of new churches a pavilion in which to meet. We were able make return visits to Atwima Mim, Kumi, Ayensua Fufuo and Anopasu. Three new water wells were constructed this year, including one for Apaga, an annex clinic to the Methodist Faith Healing Hospital - Ankaase. New this year was the addition of some agricultural study, soil testing and then providing guidance for improved farming outcomes in the areas we worked. Greatest of all though, was to see all the new believers in each village, and the huge number baptized at Kwameata! (See our 2015 blog at dumcghana2015.blogspot.com)

Dayton United Methodist Church Ghana 2016 Church Planting Mission

Saturday, February 20, 2016

A Divine Appointment on a Plane

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