Dayton United Methodist Church Ghana 2017 Church Planting Mission

Follow along with our 2017 adventure! Every few days we will attempt to update this site with posts and pictures - power and network permitting! 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.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Sharing the message of the Gospel

Morning, noon and night, we have the opportunity to share about the love of Christ. Different team members from time to time throughout the day witness to those waiting to be seen in the medical clinic.

Then, in the evening, we have church! Music, prayer and the presentation of the Gospel. Each night we show one third of the film "Son of God" so the villagers not familiar with Bible stories can get to understand who Jesus is. The first night always draws a crowd, but then it just grows and grows on subsequent nights. So many are added to the Kingdom during these meetings. The pictures here are from the town of Mpasatia, larger than some of the villages we have visited in the past. Praise the Lord for His Holy Spirit that saves! Thank you for your prayers that oil the machinery of this process.

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Then there are the children!

Wherever we go, we are always surrounded by a multitude of children! Here Ruthie is providing the obligatory entertainment for a handful of young ones.

Riddle: How many children can one person manage at once in Ghana?

Answer: Ten - as long as you still have ten fingers and thumbs!

It does make it hard to walk with ten little hands all holding yours at once!

When school was out, the estimate on the time it took to be mobbed by the children was 2.7 seconds. 8-)

Mobile Medical Refrigerators!


Elizabeth Roemer and Glenn, presenting the two refrigerators to Apaga Clinic.

A new thing this year... Solar powered refrigerators for remote medical clinics that are without reliable power! Partnering with friends with a heart for missions, we were able to deliver four refrigerators, two each in two separate locations.

Roemer Industries builds mobile refrigerators that can work for years completely without commercial power sources. Instead, these rely upon special high capacity portable solar panels to charge an internal battery that can last for days.

The small folding solar panel can be mounted or just laid out in the sun.

Larger units were presented to two clinics, to hold all manner of medical supplies that require refrigeration. Unreliable power can limit the options for daily medical care in remote villages.

Then, very small units were provided that can be carried on the back of a motorbike to the very remote, almost inaccessible areas that are equally in need of care. Vaccinations can now be safely carried out in some of the most difficult parts of Ghana!

Monday, February 27, 2017

New wells in the Ashanti Region!

We have dedicated two boreholes/water wells so far, Patasi and Pramso Lake road. The picture on the left was taken at Patasi, requiring a 300' deep borehole! This system included an electric well pump with a huge water tank. According to the villagers, the clean water now available to them has been an ongoing prayer for fifty years! Now they can prosper with greater health and the readily available water.

Church at Sabin Akorfrom

The other half of our team went to Sabin Akorfrom, the church last year. WOW! What a difference! We have never seen such progress in transforming the pavilion into a finished church in such a short time. The floor is down, the walls are up, doors and windows! Amazing.

Dean presented the message for the day, a modern version of the presentation of the Gospel. Joseph translated into Twi.

This church, in one short year, has expanded the building on either side, added a nice front entrance canopy on the outside. On the inside, they have already started to complete the ceiling and generally just pressed forward to complete their house of worship.

The Return to Nyinawusu

Sunday church at Nyinawusu with Penny bringing the message.

Sunday School at Nyinawusu, under a mango tree.

Each year upon our return, we first visit a few of the churches we planted on past trips. This year, part of our group went to Nyinawusu, a church we planted in 2010. A growing, vibrant group of worshipers! Our new friend, Penny from a church in South Bend, IN preached alongside of Ernest, a passionate young man for the Lord whom we met maybe seven years ago. It was good to greet old friends and see the church is still going strong!

The towns and countrysides have changed quite a bit since we made out initial visits - and they all seem to be for the better. Even the roads seem to be in better repair!

We're here!

So, we made it! It's been a wonderful few days here in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Internet connectivity has been a bit of a challenge, but we are getting by. As always, posts might be a bit irregular. We'll see if we can get a few out here while things are working!

We have settled in to the Mission House in Kumasi where Joseph and Stella have been taking good care of us. We are so thankful for good friends to look after us! We will probably gain weight with her cooking...

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 Mpasatia, in the Ashanti Region and Anlo Beach, in the Western 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)

The 2016 adventure took place at Sabin Akrofrom in the Ashanti Region and Gomua-Beseadze in the Central Region. This trip was in February as it had been a few years ago. Much warmer this time of year in Ghana as compared to July trips the past two years. Still we managed to go about the business of the Lord, planting two new churches, caring for the sick, teaching the children about the love of Jesus and building church buildings. New designs for the church pavilions this year will create more beautiful buildings when completed over time. Three wells were drilled in Sabin Akrofrom, Nyameahyeraso and Nfawaninto. The clean, safe water flowing from these wells will enhance the health of the entire village for years to come. Also consider the availability of water and the impact it has on growth and opportunity in the surrounding area. (See our 2016 blog at dumcghana2016.blogspot.com)