A FATHER'S VISIT

Prophet E. Appiah-Agyekum

Only few people have played as many pivotal roles in my christian life and upbringing as Prophet Ebenezer Appiah-Agyekum. Called into the COP Pastoral Ministry in 1972, he was first posted toWenchi in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana. In 1980 he was transferred to Yendi in the Northern Region where I had also been serving as a School Teacher and had been converted and joined COP the previous year.

It was during his time as District Pastor of Yendi that I was ordained Deacon of the Church in 1980, and Elder in 1981. He officiated at our wedding in 1982 and was the one who recommended my candidature into the Pastoral Ministry in 1984. He officiated at my Farewell Service and released me into full-time pastoral ministry.

Isn't it amazing? A real spiritual father, isn't he

 He tells of his delight when I joined him in the Pastoral Ministry and as he saw the hand of God upon me, lifting me through the ranks to the high office of Chairman of COP after only fourteen years of pastoral service. He has followed my progress at every stage with keen spiritual binoculars and alacrity. Our battles were his battles and our victories, his.

Rev Agyekum with our family in Hambu

When he heard of my indisposition, he joined other concerned people across the globe to pray for me. In addition he has endeavored to visit me every year from Ghana. On this particular visit he arrived on 20th June and has continued to intercede on our behalf.

Prophet Appiah-Agyekum preaching in Hamburg Central Assembly.

Prophet Ebenezer Appiah-Agyekum, COP Area Head of Kwadaso, Kumasi, now aged 64, will retire from active service next year with many laurels in God's Kingdom. In COP, his enviable record of having one of his spiritual sons joining him in the Pastoral Ministry and rising to become Chairman of his church while he himself remains in the ministry, will remain unbeaten for many more years to come.

L-R: Prophet Appiah-Agyekum, myself and Apostle Sampson Yiadom

 Like many others however, his greatest desire is to see me on my feet again, doing Kingdom Business.
O LORD, let this happen---soon.
 

Delivering an address about four years ago in Ghana

   

FROM ENGLAND WITH EAGERNESS

A family walk in our nearby forest.

We are amazed at how after three years in my present condition, many congregations and individual believers have sustained their passionate intercessory prayers for me. During special prayer conferences, All-night prayer meetings, regular church services and other church gatherings, prayers are offered for me. Individuals spend various amounts of time fasting and praying for us. Besides, very many people frequently telephone or email us to find out how we are faring and to encourage us.

 

We are eternally grateful. In fact we do not take these expressions of love for granted. Rather we reckon them as part of God’s manifold gifts to us as we travel this phase of our life.

Besides, the LORD continues to bless us through the visits of brethren from across the world. They come with one mission: “We have been praying for you with all our hearts but, in addition, we have desired to pay you a visit to see how you are faring”

Bro. Emmanuel Ansah and his children, Aseda (left) and Kweku (right) flanking me.

The latest to visit us were Bro. Emmanuel Ansah and his two children from Manchester (7th June, 2012) and Deaconess Joana Kofi-Sikah from London (11th-14th June, 2012). 

Bro. Ansah is part of a group of members who regularly meet for intercessory prayers in the Manchester local assembly. They have been praying very intensively for me and, taking advantage of a visit to Continental Europe, he decided to visit me with his two children, Adjoa Aseda and Kweku Kumi, on behalf of his colleagues. 

Dns Joana Kofi-Sikah with me in the standing machine

Dn Emmanuel Ntumy, Dns Kofi-Sikah, and Elder Moses Atuahene Dofuor, my cousin who is on a short visit from Ghana, standing around me.

Deaconess Joana Kofi-Sikah from Croydon Assembly on the other hand is a retired banker and certificated Fund-raiser. She has been a member of The Church of Pentecost for 55 years now. She is a passionate intercessor whose prayers reach out to many. She came in the company of Deacon Emmanuel Ntumy, our eldest son.

Dn. Emmanuel Ntumy, our eldest son

Their prayer passion was very contagious as we spent quality time together in prayer late into the night. We prayed and prayed. They interceded; we supplicated for my healing, trusting God to bring about my recovery, sooner or later.

Martha and I beside a pool in a nearby forest. The LORD stills our souls in the tempests of life.

 One observation which keeps striking me in the face is this: Though, humanly speaking, I bear the pains and traumas of paralysis alone in my body, hundreds of thousands of beloved brothers and sisters in Christ across the globe, bear me up in their hearts and minds before the Throne of Grace---everyday---making my road less hard to travel. To such, we are eternally grateful. 

  

 

FROM FRANCE WITH DEEP NOSTALGIA

   

L-R: Pastor Andrews and Mrs Faustina Gyamfi. Mrs Ntumy. Mrs Victoria and Pastor Asante

FROM FRANCE WITH DEEP NOSTALGIA

They came from France;

A delegation of four;

Two Pastors and their wives--

Andrews and Faustina Gyamfi of Paris District,

Obeng and Victoria Asante of Mantes-La-Jolie District.

The Church of Pentecost, France, occupies a special place of affection in my heart. 

In July 1995 while serving as National Head of our church in Cote d'Ivoire, the leadership of our church asked me to be temporarily responsible for our church in France. This meant that I would need to pay short-term missionary visits to that country to nurture the young church.

Martha and I during one of our visits to France

My first visit to the church in France was in September of that year. That was when our churches in Europe were reeling in the wake of church splits arising from the doctrinal errors of ancestral curses and post-conversion deliverance. My first strategy was to stabilize the churches through sound doctrinal teaching and prayer meetings to meet the various needs of the saints.

Pastor Andrews Gyamfi and his wife Faustina. Andrews was one of my Elders when we ministered in France. Faustina is a Musician with many albums to her credit.

By early December when I returned to Cote d'Ivoire, only a handful of our members in Paris had left the church. My wife and I returned the following year after which we were asked to take up residency as National Head in May 1996. We had churches in Paris, Marseilles, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Mulhouse and Mantes-La-Jolie. Surely, such growth and expansion of the church without a full-time minister was a real testament to the lay leaders who shepherded the church from its infancy coordinated by Elder Emmanuel Apea (now, Rev. Dr. Apea), then UNESCO Director for Science Education.

With my wife and our two youngest children, Mike and Joanna, we eventually arrived in May 1997. We went straight into action, establishing and equipping the members and reaching out in evangelism and church planting. By the turn of the year we had, through the grace of God, planted three new churches in Lyon, Avignon and Troas.

Martha and I in our backyard garden in Hamburg. Spring is here; the flowers blossom after the terrible winter. Surely when weeping comes in the night joy follows at the break of day.

There was great excitement in the church as all indicators promised a very fruitful missionary assignment. The leadership of our church at the international headquarters was happy because being young (I was then 39),  they knew I could spend many years there as resident missionary for the benefit of the church. This was, however, not meant to be. Exactly one year later (May 1998), at our General Council Meeting in Koforidua, I was elected Chairman of the church.

We eventually left France in August 1998 for Ghana to assume office as 4th Chairman of COP, then operating in 44 countries.

Apostle Dr Emmanuel Owusu and his wife Pat. Dr Owusu is currently the National Head of COP, USA.

After a couple of ministers had played acting roles in the church in France, Apostle Dr. Emmanuel Owusu was posted from Canada as National Head from 2003 to 2009. He was succeeded in the same year by Apostle Osei Owusu Afriyie (the incumbent) from United Kingdom.

Apostle Osei Owusu Afriyie, current National Head, COP France

 Now you can understand why the visit of these precious brethren aroused so much nostalgia in us. And even more, it was during my apostolic oversight that both Pastors were ordained Elders in the church. You see the relationship?

Pastor Obeng Asante and his wife Victoria

Their heart-cry, like that of the millions of others, is one--- that the LORD would lift me up to my feet again.  

"IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO ACT, LORD" (Psa. 119:126 NIV)

DID YOU KNOW THAT A SCHOOL HAS BEEN NAMED AFTER ME?

A couple of weeks ago, one of our apostles called me from Ghana. As we shared reminiscences over many things, he expressed many wishes for me, including that somebody somewhere would name a school after me.


I told him that was not a big deal to me because God honors His faithful servants in different ways. If he had that as a desire for me, I was glad to inform him that his prayer had already been answered.
Now please read on.

Between 1961 and 1965, the Ghana Government, through the Volta River Authority (V.R.A), undertook
the construction of the Akosombo Dam to generate hydro-electric power for the nation. The construction of the dam resulted in the flooding of some upper parts of the Volta River, creating the Volta Lake, the world's largest man-made lake. It covers an area of 3,502 square kilometers. The flooding affected about 700 villages and a total of about 80,000 people. Re-settlement towns, 52 in number, were built for the affected communities who were evacuated to these townships before the dam was completed.

Apostle Ntumy Junior High School block.

Osramani is one of these 52 towns. It is an agglomeration of 15 villages which were settled there in August, 1964. The V.R.A which managed the town had built two Primary Schools and one Middle School for the new community. This Middle School (which later metamorphosed into Junior High School) served the ever-increasing population until September 2010 when the Government of Ghana, with some communal support, established this second Junior High School for the community.

Apostle Dr Opoku Onyinah, Chairman of COP (with microphone), offering the Inaugural / Dedication Prayer before the Pillar of Plaques.

The school was formally inaugurated by Apostle Dr Opoku Onyinah, Chairman of The Church of Pentecost in October 2010. He was assisted by Mr. Akara, District Director of Education, Apostle David Tekper, COP Area Head, Kete-Krachi and Pastor Maclean Arthur-Gyan.

The Chiefs, Elders and the Youth of the town decided to name the school after me, "in recognition of (my) numerous contributions to the development of the town."

Apostle Dr Michael Ntumy and his wife Martha.

LESSONS I LEARNT FROM THIS.

When the COP Area Head for Kete-Krachi called and broke to me the news of naming the school after me, I was overwhelmed. I wondered how and why. First, it was a public school ("government school") which, may normally bear the name of the town or community. Secondly, I was not aware that a new school was being built for them, let alone to have contributed anything to its construction.

I immediately contacted the leadership of our church to discuss it with them and they gladly consented to it.  I thereafter requested our Chairman who happened to be traveling to the Kete-Krachi Area around that time to inaugurate and dedicate the school for the community, which he graciously obliged.

In deep gratitude to God and the community, I learnt many lessons from this great act of grace done me:

1. It is God who honors people. Nobody should go round seeking to be honored.
2. We should not grow weary in doing good. Sometimes though the beneficiaries may not know how to express their gratitude, they are grateful. When they have the opportunity of opening up to you one day, you would be overwhelmed by what they say or do.
3. Our good deeds for the LORD will never go unrewarded. If human beings (the people of my town), who are prone to forget, remembered my personal contributions to the town over a long period of time, how much more will God not remember to reward us for our various good works.
4. When God blesses you, remember to bless others, your "Jerusalem"---your hometown, your church, humanity as a whole.

PS. I have responded appropriately to the kind gesture of the community. We want to make the school an "A" school. Somebody is putting up a computer lab and library block for the school. If there is any way you want to help achieve my dream for the school---library books, computers, etc, you may contact me through this email address: ntumybooks@yahoo.com.
God bless you.