Dayton United Methodist Church Ghana 2015 Church Planting Mission: July 2015

Welcome to our adventure! There will be lots of posts and pictures... we will try to update as often as time and internet connectivity allow. Feel free to leave us feedback as well. Look for the icon after each post.

The right side of this blog includes static information about our mission. The left side includes daily posts, or 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, July 22, 2015

The blessing of water!

Cam introducing the team and the history of the need at this hospital.

Much pomp and circumstance around the gift of clean, life-giving water!

The first dedication of new water wells provided by the Dayton United Methodist Church this year. This is an electrically powered well, complete with a water tower, that will serve not just the Methodist Faith Teaching Hospital but all the people of Apagya. Mr. Joseph Attah-Amankwaa, the CEO of the Ankasse Hospital made the request for this well during our visit there last July. The people of Dayton UMC responded with this huge blessing!

The Very Rev. Bishop of the Kumasi Diocese opening the well.

Atwima Mim... Sunday worship

Glenn bringing the message at Atwima Mim with Elvis translating

Worship at Atwima Min. Grace introducing herself to some children

The humble pavilion we built in 2008 is now a nearly complete church. Gods is truly at work here.

What a blessing it is to visit Atwima Mim from time to time. This was the church for which we built the first pavilion directly back in 2008, and our third overall. The congregation continues to grow, the pavilion is now a beautiful church and the friends we have there are sweet, kind and full of the Holy Spirit. We were able to share a message of hope and grace, Holy Communion, and vibrant worship.

After church, we got to see the Sunday School classroom they have added and the toilets under construction. Thank you Lord, the people of Mim and their mighty and growing church! Blessings! -Glenn

The visit to Kumi

Julie preaching at Kumi with Isaac interpreting

Oh how awesome is our God!!!

I/We can’t thank you enough for all the prayers. God has been on the move and I am here to tell you it has been amazing.

I felt such a peace about preaching (I prefer to call it sharing or speaking) God took any/all anxiety away and He filled me with His spirit. I am excited to say that God used me…yes, little’ol Julie. I was just the vessel, He was the one in control from beginning to end.

Before the service I prayed with my spirit filled interpreter, asking the Lord to fill us and this place with His Holy Spirit, as I prayed, a gentle breeze came up. Then often throughout the service I would notice that breeze, sometimes stronger than other times. I then would take note of what was happening in the service and realized the Holy Spirit was even stronger when needed.

I chose to speak about training up your child in the way of the Lord so when they are old they will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6) When we arrived for the service, one of the first things in this service that was not a normal routine for them, is that they had their children recite memory verses. Young children quoting these from memory with many being multiple verses in a row was just the beginning. Then the children sang, and then a group came up and did a need dance. It was a confirmation of my…God’s choice of what to preach on. God used my stories to minister to others. I am so grateful!

I would enjoy sharing more details about this awesome experience so please feel free to ask me when I return. God bless you for the prayers. Keep them coming! -Julie

Vibrant worship at Kumi! The church at one year old is growing!

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Challenges

As you might imagine, our schedule is pretty demanding. Then, when we have a little time to post on the blog, we have power or communications issues. Our apologies for the spotty posting... it is a challenge. Your prayers on the topic are appreciated! We'll do the best we can. Right now there are additional posts to upload but our technology has not been available to complete the process.

The church at Nkakom

Church at Nkakum... Bob brought the message. Eight were added to the Kingdom today!

Rebecca and Ruthie had the opportunity to work with the children in Sunday School.

All dressed up for church!

Here we are, ready to visit Kumi, Atwima Mim and Nkakom. Kumi was one of the churches we planted last year. Pavilions were built for the very small churches at Mim in 2008 and Nkakom in 2013. Our group divided into three teams to present at all three villages today.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Strong in Spirit!

What a trip so far! This team is ready for some important work this year, that is obvious. The very first thing we did upon arrival was to anoint one another for the activity ahead. Organized into three teams, we proceeded through each floor of the mission house, anointing every doorpost and lentle. After a great dinner, we had our first team devotion to fortify ourselves for the mission. These devotions are very special times of study, reflection and sharing.

Saturday morning, a number of us were up very early on the veranda for some quiet time with the Lord, and our first few pots of coffee. Again, this time is precious to all engaged. As the remainder of the team shuffled in, we moved into morning prayers before breakfast. Let me just say that breakfast was delayed by a half hour this day because of the work being done through the Holy Spirit in the hearts and minds of the group. Special, special time indeed. Work to be done... for sure. Powerful things afoot this year and I can't wait to see what is in store for the faithful! Thanks for your prayers. -Glenn

First Days...

What a joy to play with the neighborhood children around the mission house. We threw Frisbee rings, sang silly songs and taught them John 3:16.

Sorry... gotta go now. There are more children outside the front gates calling for me! -Rebecca

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Formal preparations complete!

Sunday was notable as it was the last the day of our preparation meetings. We began with Romans chapter 12, to remember who we are as a team and to gather strength in understanding the mission before us. We are one team, one body in Christ, set out to bring light to villages that need to hear the message of the Gospel. We pray that along with our many Ghanaian friends and partners, we will indeed make a difference!

Next our focus turned once again to communicating clearly when presenting witness or messages. We are thankful we have such good Christian family as translators in Ghana, that can fix our mistakes and cultural faux pas!

I am humbled by the mission ahead and the great team God has formed to do His work. Everyone has different and special gifts to bring as an offering of service before the Lord. He prepares the way and then prepares each individual on the team for their special part. I can't wait to see how each and every one of us are used this year. Oh the stories we will be able to tell! -Glenn

The team after commissioning Sunday

Most of our team... all dressed in Ghanaian. We were missing Grace (already in Ghana for a summer internship) and Cam (In Kentucky for spiritual retreat and 2016 planning). Left to right are Sue, Rebecca, Peggy, Julie, Ruthie, Tom and Tommy, Cathy, Bob and Renee, Kevin, Lynnette, Glenn, Betty

Comissining Sunday

It's commissioning Sunday at Dayton United Methodist Church. Blessings and prayers poured out for the team and the journey ahead. May we be steadfast in purpose and be exemplary in demonstrating the Lord's grace and love to all we encounter in the villages of Asampanaye and Kawmeata, Ghana.

The 2015 Mission

For the eighth 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 Assempanaye, in the Ashanti Region and then to Kwameata, in the Cape Coast 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’s Global Resource Team. 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, Ghana, and India. 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 Assempanaye and Kwameata

A favorite area of ministry of the Dayton teams is that of outreach specifically directed to children. Over the years, hundreds of children in Ghanaian villages have heard stories, sang songs, watched skits, and played games that are all meant as avenues for them to meet Jesus for themselves. This year’s team includes a number of “kid people” to carry the Gospel to children.

Beginning with the 2012 mission, the teams from Dayton UMC have added the ministry of clean water in villages where none is available. We fund the drilling of bore holes and establishing wells is areas where the current water supply might be as little as a muddy stream shared with their livestock. These wells are sufficient to support the immediate area and dramatically improve overall health of the entire village. During the 2015 mission, we will dedicate three more wells for a total of fifteen.

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 last 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)

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Our previous missions in Ghana you might like to review: