TRIBUTE TO THE LATE CECILIA AFRAH ACHEAMPONG (NATIONAL ASSISTANT GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE YPG)
“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the evil days come when you’ll say, ‘I had no pleasure in them.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1)
I’ve had to contemplate whether to write this tribute or not. You’re reading this because I decided to write it for the Good of the Guild.
On Friday, 10th May, 2019 while I was preparing to depart for the 2019 Ga Presbytery Session, I got a call from the National President informing me our sister’s transfer from the Cape Coast Regional Hospital to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the fact that she needed blood transfusion. My initial thought was to get someone from the Presbytery Excom or council to do it since I was now going to prepare for departure to the Session but upon second thought, I decided to donate myself since I’m already a registered donor and the process might be easier with me.
It all started about a week or so ago when the National Executive Committee (NEC) started impressing on the National Executive Council of the Young People’s Guild of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana to remember our sister, Cecilia Afrah Acheampong (now late) in our prayer.
I saw Cecilia at the Emergency Centre of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, obviously sick but not dying, at least from what I saw. The hitherto outspoken lioness had been tamed by the claws of sickness, but she was alive; eating, talking, and living…
The National President, Alfred Appiah and I went to do the blood transfusion and returned to the Emergency Ward where our sister was.
“Was it (the blood transfusion) painful?” she enquired of me.
“Oh naaa, I’m a blood donor so don’t worry,” I assured.
“God bless you,” she prayed.
“You’ll be fine!” I said.
We were then asked to take her to the Medical Ward on a stretcher. Upon arrival, we realized it was logistically impossible to leave her at the Medical Ward because there was no space for her. We therefore had to take her back to the Emergency Ward.
Upon arrival at the Emergency Ward, she looked at me and said, “So now I don’t even have a place to sleep?” I was heartbroken and speechless because she sounded very emotional.
We held hands and prayed together and I left.
On Saturday, 11th May, the call for prayers intensified and we responded in such manner. On Sunday, the Council drew a prayer timetable and we prayed.
On Monday, our sister left us into eternity.
Since the news of her death, I’ve tried so much not to picture her motionless body but to live in the last moments I had with her but it is her words, “So now I don’t even have a place to sleep?” that keep coming back to me. I don’t know why! But I think it has something to do with making the most of our strength and opportunities now cos as the Preacher says, “….the evil days are coming when we shall say, ‘we had no pleasure in them.”
Gladly, Cee remembered her Creator in the days of her youth and I’m confident she’ll not have any regrets in not serving the Lord enough. She served all the way into eternity. Her life mattered!!!
What about you??? How are you serving the Lord while you have breath???
I’m heartbroken beyond description but I’m also hopeful and I know our sorrow will be turned to joy.
On behalf of the Executive Committee and Council of the Ga Presbytery YPG, I express our sincerest condolences to the family of our sister and the entire YPG fraternity.
May the Holy Spirit comfort us. Amen!!!
Rest in Peace, Cee. We will surely meet again!!!
Written by: Bro. Stanley Toddison (14th May, 2019)
MESSAGE TO THE 47TH ANNUAL DELEGATES’ CONFERENCE HELD FROM 5TH – 7TH APRIL, 2019 AT THE PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN’S CENTRE, ABOKOBI
“You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others”. 2 Tim 2:1-2
The Presbyterian Church of Ghana after about six years of dealing
with the personality and work of the Holy Spirit, moved into mission minded
themes from last year. The church in its mission mood started with “Let the
Earth hear” and now “Go and make disciple of all nations” Matt. 28:19-20. This
year’s theme for me is a spiritual and logical theme to follow with respect to
last year’s theme. The YPG theme “Discipling the Youth to Disciple other”
2 Tim. 2:1-2, I must say is also in line with the focus of the main Church.
Timothy was Paul’s spiritual son whom he had left at Ephesus to
care for the growing Christian community in that great city. Like most of the
churches in Asia Minor in the apostolic era, the community of Ephesus was being
challenged by false teachings. We in the 21st century Church today
are faces with almost the same or even worse situation of false teachings all
around us, but it at this same time that the church is been called into the
action of making disciples for Christ.
According to Bill Hull, discipleship can be said to be 3 D in nature, that is, Deliver, Develop and Deploy.
This means that Every Christian is called to win a soul, disciple that soul and send out that soul to win other lost souls for Christ and this cycle must continue till Christ returns.
Timothy was discipled by the grand-mother and
his mother from childhood and the Apostle Paul took over the mantle of
discipling Timothy. Paul developed Timothy who matured graciously to become a
“pastor” in his youthful stage of one of the churches established by his
spiritual father the Apostle Paul. Timothy matured, and also became a spiritual
father by the art of making disciples out of others as he won many souls into
the vineyard of Christ Jesus. For, the
Apostle Paul admonished him to commit the
Gospel Good News to others who must in turn commit to others (2Timothy 2:2).
This is the mandated cycle of the church of Christ, if we are to make-disciples
all nations.
My brothers and Sisters in Christ, take note
that; “We are won for Christ, to win for Christ”. As YPG members, it is
a must for you to at least disciple a soul each year. As leader of the Guild at
the Districts and Branches we must seek to see growth both quantitate and
qualitatively at all times. If Timothy at about the age of 16 years can
disciple others and even lead a church as a pastor, than a YPG member can even
do batter. Understand that the future of the PCG is now to a very large extend
in the hands of the YPG and we cannot fail God and the Church.
Leadership is also an act of
discipleship, that is why statements such as; “A leader is a persons who is
able to train others to take over from them”, also a “leader without
follower(s) is a person taking a walk”. The two statements above indicates
that, the challenge of YPG members not willing to become executives is because
we as a guild have not pay much importance to discipleship. Permit me to make
some practical suggestion in discipling members to become leaders;
Current executives of the Guild
must always make leadership attractive to member, by not speaking badly about
each other and always just talking about the difficulties of leadership.
Always seek to promote and speak
about the good side of leadership while be hide the seen you work on the
weakness of the guild, if you speak about the weakness of the guild don’t end
on that note but a positive note.
Current executive must always
locate and give opportunities to members by putting them on programmes and encouraging
them to do it.
Make use of the small groups
system at the branches; set leaders to oversee those small groups which will be
a learning platform for other member to become leaders.
Let me conclude by pointing out
that we cannot disciple others until we ourselves are Disciples of Christ.
Being a disciple will require you to give your heart, time, ideas, service,
money, in fact you must give your all to promote the growth of the family of
Christ. Please the command to make disciple of all nations is for every
Christian and not for a specific group in the church. The time to make
disciples in now.
As we have met to review the plans
of last year and also set goals for this year, I encourage you to do this with
the mind set of growth. Again seek solutions to weakness that you may observe
from the reports so as to gain progress in all that we do here. I wish you the
very best at this year’s conference. The time to start is Now!
YPG …………………………. Service all the
way
You ………………………….. Practice
Godliness
Long live the Presbyterian Church
of Ghana International!!!
FATHERS ARE FAITHFUL FIGHTERS: FATHER’S DAY MESSAGE FROM THE GA PRESBYTERY YPG SUPERINTENDENT
Our Fathers, Who art on earth, Hallowed be your names. Your freedom come, Your advice be done in your own lives as you expect from us, Give us this day our daily toasted bread with Milo; And forgive us our sins of omission and commission, As we also forgive you when you judge us wrongly. And lead us not into streetism nor orphanages, But deliver us from the preys of happiness and childhood joy, For thine is the kingdom, The power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen!!!
Dear Fathers in the YPG, the above poem is my prayer for you on this special day when we celebrate all fathers in the world for the love and responsibility they paint our lives with.
Like our loving, heavenly Father who made the ultimate sacrifice of love for humanity, I admonish you to love your family and be a God figure in their lives.
In these times when parenthood, especially fatherhood, has been marred with so much irresponsibility, I want to charge you to go and be the light of godly fatherhood.
Fatherhood is a battle; full of responsibility. You must stand and fight it to be successful. Yes, the economy is hard but once you agree to have a child, you must be ready to stay faithful and responsible.
There are far too many children walking the pathway of dejection due to parental irresponsibility and I do not want you, such honourable men in the YPG, to add to the numbers. Be a father; be a fighter; be responsible!!!
Finally, I want to advise that as fathers and potential Christian fathers, we take it as a mandate to change the story of Father’s Day in our generation. So that, our children will celebrate us with the excitement they celebrate their mothers.
On this note, I wish you all a Happy Father’s Day. May God, the perfect example of a Father, reflect Himself in us. Amen
Bro. Stanley Toddison (Superintendent, Ga Presbytery YPG)
The Ga Presbytery YPG is set to embark on a month-long training on Evangelism and Discipleship which is expected to equip young people with the requisite tools to win souls for the Lord.
The project, dubbed, OneMoreSoul is an evangelism outreach programme which require every guilder in the Presbytery to win and disciple at least one soul.
Here is a framework of the project developed by the Executive Committee to guide its implementation.
PROJECT NAME: ONE MORE SOUL EVANGELISM PROGRAMME
OBJECTIVE: To equip young people in the Ga Presbytery to engage in Bible-based and result-oriented discipleship.
BACKGROUND
At the 47th Annual Delegates’ Conference of the Ga Presbytery YPG, a decision was taken to adopt the proposal captured in the Superintendent’s Address to launch a “One More Soul” Evangelism Project targeted at ensuring that each YPG member in the Presbytery wins and disciples at least one person a year.
In lieu of this, the whole month of July has been dedicated as a “Shepherding Month” to train guilders on evangelism and discipleship after which they will be expected to put the lessons from the training to action by meeting the objective of the programme.
Districts and Branches will be expected to report on the number of souls won through the project.
STRATEGY Guilds are expected to devise strategies suitable to the demographic of their branch/district.
Also, a support system to cater for the physical, spiritual and social needs of the new converts must be put in place to ensure that the new souls are comfortable in their new family.
RESPONSIBILITY
The Presbytery Organizing Secretary, together with the Evangelism Committee shall be responsible for the effective implementation of the project. They shall design a monitoring system, training support system for Guilds and also provide general guidelines for the effective implementation of the programme.
District Evangelism Secretaries and Branch Evangelism Secretaries will be directly responsible at their respective courts.
REPORTING
Districts will be expected to report to the Presbytery the cumulative number of souls won and discipled by the Branch Guilds.
The current statistical table will be modified to reflect this.
***
There will also be a Shepherd’s Summit on July 20, 2019 at PCG, Immanuel Congregation, Madina, to beef up the leadership capacity of leaders and members in the Guild.
All Guilders and Executives are expected to actively participate in this project which is the heartbeat of God.
The Executive Committee of the Ga Presbytery Young People’s Guild has honoured the immediate past District Presidents’ Representative on the Presbytery Executive Committee, Bro. Rene Boateng for his service in the Presbytery Guild.
Brother Rene Boateng was appointed in 2017 and served two administrations before handing over after his successful term of office as the Madina District YPG President.
The award ceremony was done on Saturday, 8th June, 2019 at the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Shalom Congregation, Osu after the Presbytery Bible Quiz.
READ ALSO: SUPERINTENDENT’S ADDRESS TO THE 47TH DELEGATES’ CONFERENCE: http://bit.ly/2KjhsPu
The Superintendent, Bro. Stanley Toddison, read out the Citation before presenting it, and expressed the gratitude of the Guild to Bro. Rene for his selfless service to the YPG.
The Youth and Campus Ministry Coordinator, Rev. Joseph Yaw Asan-Ntow, also acknowledged Rene’s hardwork and admonished all Guilders to emulate it.
Bro. Rene Boateng shared his experience as a Presbytery Executive Committee Members. “As a DPs Rep, I became more privy to the daily running of the Presbytery; something I didn’t really know of. I learned to relate more and better different districts and branches as guilders approached me with [their issues] during General Meetings and Conferences,” he said.
He also encouraged members to overcome their fears and be willing to take up leadership positions at all courts of the Guild. “No one assumed a position of leadership as a perfect person. Don’t be afraid to take up the challenge to serve [as a leader]. Make mistakes [and learn from them] but most importantly, don’t repeat them. As3m baa, to wo bo (Be patient in times of challenges),” he added.
Bro. Rene Boateng was succeeded by Bro. Peter Narh-Sewu, the Ashaiman District President.
SUPERINTENDENT’S ADDRESS PRESENTED TO THE
47TH ANNUAL DELEGATES’ CONFERENCE OF THE GA PRESBYTERY YPG HOSTED BY
THE SAKUMONO DISTRICT AT THE PWC, ABOKOBI FROM 5TH – 7TH
APRIL, 2019
PREAMBLE
“Hark, the voice of Jesus calling,
Who will go and work today?
Fields are white and harvests waiting,
Who will bear the sheaves away?”
Loud and long the master calls you;
Rich reward he offers free.
Who will answer, gladly saying,
“Here am I. Send me, send me”?–Joseph
Barnby
INTRODUCTION
Papa Chairperson of the Ga Presbytery, Members of the Ga Presbytery Council, Members of the Clergy, Members of the Ga Presbytery YPG Executive Committee and Council, Delegates and Observers to Conference, Special Guests, Dearly Beloved in Christ, the Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. YPG…. Service all the Way!
I stand before you in all humility,
reflecting on the events that have occurred in our noble Guild since our last
conference in April last year. As you may be aware, we were unable to elect a
Superintendent, which meant we had to convene an emergency conference in May
last year to elect one. It was at that emergency conference that delegates
voted me as the Superintendent, a gesture that I have been grateful for and
have made a commitment to work hard in this position to advance youth work in
the Presbytery.
THEME
FOR THE YEAR
Mr. Chairman, I strongly believe that the
young people in the Church are very cardinal in the effective implementation of
our theme for the ecclesiastical year, which is, “Go and make disciples of all
nations.” The Youth sub-theme, “Discipling the Youth to Disciple others” calls
on all stakeholders in the Church to channel resources in developing the youth
potential in the church for effective growth.
I belong to the faction of the Church that
believes that our previous theme, “Let the Earth Hear” was not fully manifested
in our Church life. That notwithstanding, I see the follow-up theme as a
remedial for us to rise up to the divine commission of effective evangelism and
disciple-making. As a Presbytery Guild, I propose an evangelism project dubbed,
“One
More Soul” which will ensure that every YPG member disciples at least
one soul. This project will hang on effective training on evangelism and
discipleship, and proper reporting and monitoring.
I entreat us all to put in the needed resources
to make this theme practical and relevant to our youth work.
CHURCH
LIFE AND NURTURE
Mr. chairman, Fellow Guilders, Ladies and
Gentlemen. The YPG does not run in isolation! We are part of a bigger family,
which has a unique identity and heritage. Our constitution and manual of order
spell out clearly who a Presbyterian is and what he or she must do to keep his
or her membership. I want to use this opportunity to appeal to all Guilders to
uphold their identity as Presbyterians. We should be custodians of the elements
of our Presbyterian culture such as Registration for Participation in the Holy
Communion, Going for Speaking, Payment of tithe. We must also learn and know
our history and sing our hymns.
RENEWAL
OF MEMBERSHIP
Article 6 (2), which talks about the
annual renewal of members, is perhaps, one of the most talked about clauses in
the YPG currently. I have personally mentioned it in almost all the District
Conferences I have visited and the impression I get is that our members do not
appreciate the provision. In addition to this, remittances are not forthcoming.
A case in scenario is when a district records a total renewed membership of
say, 100 but claims it has not received the fee for the said number. This
situation creates a financial inconvenience I want to appeal to conference to
look at this pressing issue and take a decision or make recommendations to
solve it.
GA
PRESBYTERY YPG STRATEGIC PLAN
Bro. Chairperson, the Executive Committee,
in consultation with the Council has designed a three-year Strategic Plan,
which is not different from the mother Presbytery’s in terms of objectives.
What we seek to do is to provide Branches and Districts with a guide for the
year, which will be the tool for evaluation of Guild in the Presbytery.
A workshop group will be tasked to look at
the plan and make recommendations for its successful implementation.
BRIDGING
THE LEADERSHIP GAP
One of the challenges the YPG is facing is
attracting quality leaders for positions at all levels of the Guild. The
lamentation of most Executives in the Branches and Districts has been the
inability to find successors. Indeed,
this is a challenge even at the Presbytery level as our last two Presbytery
elections have had the Superintendent positions gone unopposed. The National is
not left out in this. It will interest you to know that the issue of
unattractiveness and unwillingness to take up leadership positions in the YPG
came up at the 79th Annual National Delegates’ Conference held last
August in the Kwahu Presbytery and the Conference took a decision to set-up a
committee to draft a National Orientation Manual for Leadership to help solve
the leadership crisis.
As a Presbytery, I am glad to announce
that we are in talks with the Ga Presbytery School of Ministry to formalize our
Shepherds’ Summit and come up with a certified leadership-training module for
members in the Guild. It has come up that, we may have to look at a
well-structured residential programme that will be run as a two-year course to
raise well-equipped leaders for the Church.
In addition to the above, I want to
encourage all Executives to have a succession plan in place at least six months
before their next elections. This plan should seek to educate members on the
Constitutional requirements, responsibilities of the various positions. They
should also make a conscious effort to mentor younger people for positions.
YOUTH
DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
The Youth Development Centre project has
been on our table for the past five years. Last year, we took a decision to
co-opt some members to the committee to help with fundraising to fast track the
implementation of the Project. The Executive committee has received the
greenlight from the Council to reconsider the proposal and seek partnership with
the mother Presbytery to see how best we can work together to complete the
project.
GA
PRESBYTERY GUILDHANDBOOK
In my eight months as Superintendent, one
of the challenges has been accessibility to documents for use; policies on
P-YICE and YDF, terms of reference for, and reports from committees, decisions
and recommendations of conferences, history and chronicle for the Guild. I
propose to conference that we task the secretariat committee to compile all our
important documents in a single booklet for easy reference.
RESEARCH
AND DEVELOPMENT
Last year, we had a Guilder share his
finding on how Branches can liaise with their Congregations to increase
membership. I found that presentation very insightful and I believe we can
capitalize on the expertise of some Guilders who are researchers to help us
find practical and empirical solutions to the problems facing the YPG in our
Presbytery. I propose that, a Presbytery YPG Research Team be formed and given
a task to research topic to research on every year and their findings presented
to conference for approval and implementation.
PARTNERSHIP
FOR SOCIETAL IMPACT
Since the demonstrations by students in
KNUST and residents of Adentan last year, I have been reflecting on the impact
over 22,000 young Christians can have on the socio-political life of our
country, Ghana, especially within the geographical jurisdiction of this
Presbytery. Our city is plagued with social challenges such as uncleanliness
and poor sanitation, lateness, apathy, indiscipline in all facets of our
national life especially on our roads and media space, bribery and corruption,
sexual immorality, and the list of vices goes on.
I am proposing to conference to legislate
that every Guild year should be targeted at solving a societal menace and I
want us to start with sanitation by launching the Clean Ga Presbytery Campaign
which will see young people in all Branches and Districts in the Presbytery
embarking on campaigns and cleanup exercises to ensure some sanity in our towns
and cities. Let me stress, that there are 22,000 young Presbyterians in the Ga
Presbytery. Just imagine the impact we can make if we rise up for change!
RAPGA
2020
I am excited to announce to conference
that, next year is RAPGA year and we are already looking forward to a
transformational assembly of all young people in the Presbytery. The Presbytery
Guild Council will work at forming a Planning Committee to start preparations
for the programme next year.
END
OF YEAR AWARDS
I am proposing to conference to take a
decision to make our last general meeting of every year an award ceremony where
individuals and Guilds that have worked hard at helping us achieve our objectives
will be recognized. If agreed, an awards committee will be set up to draw a
proposal for the award scheme.
THE
OUTLOOK OF THE RAINBOW GUILDER
I have heard many ‘old guilders’ say,
“This is not the YPG I know!” and I have asked myself, “What did the YPG of old
look like?” A few checks I did have revealed that the YPG of old was noted for
commitment to service and respect for the YPG brand, which in my estimation are
lacking in the current Guild.
We claim to be the rainbow Presbytery
Guild and I humbly suggest to you all that we must build a brand befitting of
the rainbow, which symbolizes the beauty of God’s work, diversity in thoughts,
creativity and progress. We must add service with integrity, knowledge
acquisition, and more importantly to us, knowing God’s will and doing it.
I therefore charge all Guilders,
Presbytery Executives and Council Members, District and Branch Executives and
all Guilders in this noble Presbytery to rise and let’s build a Guild befitting
the Rainbow tag in all regards.
APPRECIATION
Together with my Executives, we want to
thank the almighty God for counting us worthy of this task at such a time as
this. We also thank the Presbytery Chairperson, Clerk, CLAN Director,
Presbytery Council Members and all employees at the Ga Presbytery Office for
their support to the youth work. To my Executives and Council members, I thank
you for being faithful stewards of the work.
My final and most heartfelt appreciation
goes to all YPG members in the Presbytery who are working tirelessly to build a
better Guild, I say, may the good Lord who sees our work in secret reward us
all.
CONCLUSION
Let
none hear you idly saying,
“There is nothing I can do,”
While the multitudes are dying
And the master calls for you.
Take the task he gives you gladly;
Let his work your pleasure be.
Answer quickly when he calls you,
“Here am I. Send me, send me!”
With these words of Joseph Barnby, I
charge you all, brothers and sisters, with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit,
to go and make disciples of all nations, the Lord being our Helper. Make a
difference this year in your Branch Guild. Be that one Guilder who will stand
for God and reflect Christ in all you do. Have a rippling effect on your YPG,
not a crippling effect. Be a change agent, be a disciple-maker!
The Haatso District YPG has emerged winners of the 2019 Ga Presbytery YPG Quiz held over the weekend at the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Shalom Congregation, Osu.
The competition saw all twenty-four districts and one Mission Field in the Ga Presbytery compete for the slot to represent the Ga Presbytery in the National Zonal Quiz scheduled for Saturday, 6th July, 2019 at Tema.
This year’s championship was in two rounds; round one which was the preliminary (elimination) stage and round which was dubbed Champions-of-Champions. All 25 teams battled it out in nine scintillating rounds of questions from the PCG History and Constitution, YPG History and Constitution, the Exposition on the Theme and Character Study of Barnabas (both in Volume 20 of the Youth Guide) and 1st and 2nd Timothy.
After the first round, La, Ashaiman, Accra Newtown, Oyibi, Osu and Haatso qualified to the final round, which presented ten rounds of questions to each of the finalists.
Contestants were presented with riddles, true or false questions, quotes and general questions from the quiz materials.
At the end of the second round, Osu, who are the defending champions, Ashaiman and Haatso were by all tied at 27 points meaning there was a need for a tiebreaker session.
Bernard Torgbe and Emmanuel Owusu, from the Haatso District aced through and emerged winners after a tensed climax to the competition. Osu District, represented by Bridgette Baah and Prince Badger came second and Enoch Kwesi Sain and Ishmael Bonsu-Nyame from Ashaiman came third.
All contestants received certificates of participation and Christian literature. The six finalists received yards of the YPG Cloth in addition. The top three districts received a cash price of GHS 400, GHS 300 and GHS 200 respectively in addition to certificates of honour.
In an interview with the Presbytery Superintendent, Bernard Torgbe, expressed appreciation to all district executives and guilders of the Haatso District YPG for their support and called on guilders to take the word of God serious. “Ga Presbytery YPG members must wake up from their slumber and study to show ourselves approved of God,” he said.
The next stop for the Champions is in Tema where they will battle for the two slots for the National Championship available for Zone 2 which comprises Ga, Ga West, Dangme Tongu and Volta Presbytery.
Ga Presbytery YPG 