15 Souls Added In Ghana Campaign...

15 Souls Added ...

Gradually but steadily, the first batch of student preachers will be graduating on the 25th June, 2011. This is a day the Board of Directors of the Institute have planned to observe with all dignitaries  and stake holders present. So we do welcome all who have the desire to visit Tamale-Ghana and to support the Lord's work.

The last quarter started on the 3rd January, 2011 and would have ended on the 13th March 2011. The Institute however was closed on the 8th March, 2011. The closure was due to an acute shortage of water in the Tamale Metropolitan area.  The Institute resumed on the 17th April, 2011. 

ONE DAY STUDY TOUR TO KINTAMPO

On resumption, the student body, together with the Director, Baah Joseph Okyere and the Dean of Student Affairs, Daniel Adjei – Mensah, made a one day trip to Kintampo to study a Mango Plantation. Mango Plantation is one of the activities earmarked to be pursued by students after graduating. It has been observed that the congregations are not able to support the preachers in the rural areas where almost all of the students will be working due to the prevailing economic situation. It has therefore been part of the Institute's plans to help graduates find alternative means of supporting themselves as they preach in these areas.

During the day, Mr. Banasko taught the students how mangos are developed from a seedling into becoming a tree and even how to care for the mango trees in order to have a bumper harvest.  

DAMANKO GOSPEL CAMPAIGN

On the 23 day of April, 2011 the Institute embarked on a one-week gospel campaign at Damanko. Damanko is about 130 miles from Tamale and located in the Volta Region of Ghana. The campaign is one of the four which students are to embark on as part of the program of study. For this, Damanko was chosen because one of the students has plans of staying there after graduation. Therefore, the Institute decided to assist in establishing a congregation there.

 The team that embarked on the trip included 15 Student Preachers, 2 Instructors, 2 Brothers of Church of Christ Campus Ministry ( COCSU,Tamale Branch) and 4 Sisters and a Brother from Tamale West Church of Christ. Other persons who joined the campaign were 6 Members of Sibi Church of Christ and Preacher Johnson Ibrahim who rode a distance of 15 miles each day from Kpassah to assist in the gospel campaign.

During the 5 days, all members went from house to house preaching the gospel to the people of Damanko and in the evenings, films on the life of Christ, and the lives of Moses, Lot and Abraham were shown.

Each  evening, after a two hour film was shown, the crowd of usually between two hundred and three hundred were preached to. The topics which were preached during the 5 days campaign were. 

1. Sin
2. God's plan of salvation.
3. The  Importance of the Church
4. Why the Church of Christ
5. Judgement of God

Students and church members were stranded when a public transport bus headed for Damanko developed a  fault (broke down).  

Since the Institute does not have a vehicle, the entire team had to board a public transport to embark on the trip. The public transport which was sending us developed a fault and for over five hours, we were stranded in the middle of the journey. Instead of reaching Damanko at about 5:00 pm,we finally arrived there at 10:30 pm. Since it was late and most people had slept we had to employ the services of a donkey to help convey our baggages and the equipment we sent for the campaign to the house we  stayed during the 5 days stay at Damanko. 

We wish to express our sincere gratitude to the Sibi Church of Christ and specifically to our landlord, Mr. Nojah, and his wife for their hospitality. One singular fellow whose presence was a motivating factor was Preacher Ibrahim Johnson who rode a motor-bike each day from Kpassah to Damanko to assist in the campaign, we are most grateful for his encouragement and contribution to the work at Damanko.

The people of Damanko are very friendly and very interested in hearing about Christ. Apart from a few who candidly told us they could not stop worshipping their gods, all of the other people who were approached with the gospel welcomed and listened to us.

The Institute therefore wishes to recommend the Preacher to work there, to any individual, congregation or organization interested and willing to support the Lord's work. We envision the Damanko Church to be one of the big congregations in Ghana and therefore call for support to enable the Preacher to pursue this godly agenda.    

DAILY MORNING DEVOTION

Each morning members of the team conducted a devotion in which several prayers were said and members were admonished as to how to conduct themselves during and after the gospel campaign. After that we shared experiences of the previous day evangelistic work. Challenges encountered are discussed and solutions were sought to further explain issues to prospects.

The activities continued into the late evening.

With the greatest enthusiasm and the joy of winning souls for Christ all members of the team were willing to stay and participate in all activities even into late evening. 

FIFTEEN SOULS BEING SAVED AT DAMANKO 

 At the end of the 5 day gospel campaign, (15) fifteen souls were baptized at Damanko.

These personalities are as follows:

1. Bajinda Nicholas
2. Ama Rose
3. Afua Badu
4. Wumbei Oliver
5. Wisdom Mpriho
6. N-yilmor Isaac
7. Comfort Kwabena
8. Balimi Akos
9. Yama Kwabena
10. Baako Richmond Kwame
11. Kwabena Jonas
12. Tagbe N-yebi
13. Mmorpul Moses
14. Mmorpul Happy
15. Mmorpul Stephen

Apart from these newly baptized members, four other members showed up and expressed their willingness to continue to worship and would be part of the Damanko congregation.

The team has since returned to Tamale with the greatest joy of being part of God's saving medium. The Tamale Institute of Biblical Studies hopes and prays that the Damanko Church of Christ will grow and seek to expand the boundaries of the Lord's Kingdom.

On the left is a picture of preacher Johnson Ibrahim at the extreme left and brother Waja at the extreme right together with three new converts baptized during the Damankoe campaign.

Below and right is a picture of brother Ajei Mensah (Dean at TIBS) with some new converts during the campaign at Damanko.

Brother Joseph Baah

Director, Tamale Institute of Biblical Studies