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History of the church work in and around Yendi
By Jerry O. Reynolds
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All
photos' provided by Jerry Reynolds - taken December 2000 |
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After the great
famine relief program in Ghana (1983-1984) there existed a great need for
medical help. In 1985, we set up a primary health program in Kumasi to
minister to the sick and to train Ghanian Christians in basic health care. It
soon became obvious that any real health care program must begin with pure
water. From this the water well program was started. The Nsawam Road church in Accra took the lead in this, as they
had in the food relief project, and they eventually turned it over to the Tema
church. Christian Nsoah, one of the evangelists at Tema, had chosen
Northern Ghana as his area of work. (He was also one of Tema's first elders.)
Drilling water wells seemed like a good door opener for evangelism. That part
of Ghana has many Muslims and pagans, with very little "christian"
activity of any kind. Water wells and health care did indeed open the door for
Bible teaching in many places in North Ghana. Around 1993, just as this worked looked so promising, a terrible
war broke out. Thousands were killed over a senseless dispute over the sale of
a Guinea fowl. (Actually, there has been long standing tribal hatred and
dispute over land areas.) When this carnage ended our workers went back in to
find great reception to their efforts. In the first 30 years we had started
only 29 churches in North Ghana. In less than a decade now around 300 have
been started. This means that preachers must be trained as quickly as possible
to start new churches and to nourish these "old" ones less than ten
years old. Also, since most in this area have never seen or heard a
"church" before, they have to be taught everything - to sing, to
worship, to pray, etc. They hear gladly, and this keeps us busy. Today, working in Yendi, we have several Ghanian preachers, the well
drillers, DanMcVey, a resident American missionary and currently three
American families working with the Yendi clinic. The clinic wives do the
clinic work and the husbands work with this expanding church program. And
there are several of us who go "short-term" each year to teach and
help.
Sunday Services in Yendi
The Village of Lumpusi
bicycles that many of the preachers use to travel throughout the countryside
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