KUTUNSE, GHANA CONGREGATION IS ONE YEAR OLD

by Emmanuel Sogbo & Emmanuel Okai

A year ago, on June 1^st 2002, twenty members (including children) of the Accra congregation became the foundation for a new congregation at the church camp site, 20 km north of Accra. Before the church plant, a lot of effort went into sensitizing the old members about their responsibility to the community and new members that God will bring into their fold. Several meetings were held with the Gospel Workers’ Ministry (a group in the church devoted to supporting evangelism). We printed pamphlets and distributed them to the Kutunse community. We visited homes and invited people to come to our little community church. A youth soccer club in the neighbourhood adopted our sports field for their training and a couple of the young men and their sisters now worship with us.

Anniversary cake cut by members.

 Some of the old members were interested in maintaining Saturday as the meeting day. However since many of the new people preferred Sundays as meeting days, we had two services – one on Saturday for the old members and the other on Sunday for the new-comers. To the Jew we became Jews and to the Gentiles we became Gentiles literally. This duplication continued for six months till December 2002 when the old members suggested that we consolidate services on Sundays in order to take care of our zealous new-comers, especially the many children God has given us. That act of love and consideration has borne much fruit as the congregation began to see growth.

A year has gone by and on Sunday June 1^st 2003, the Kutunse congregation, pastored by Emmanuel and Monica Sogbo, celebrated its first anniversary with 130 in attendance. The church now has an average weekly attendance of 70 and a membership of nearly 100, about 60 of them being new-comers. One interesting fact is that nearly 75% of the new-comers are young children below 10 years of age who attend the Church’s newly established basic school. These children regard the Church as their own and they come to our services with permission from their parents who attend different denominations.

Emmanuel and Monica Sogbo

The anniversary service was attended by all ministers in Ghana and their wives, who just ended a conference at the camp site on the 31^st May 2003. Solomon Ayitey a pastor from Accra encouraged the congregation to emulate “ten characteristics of a God-led congregation” that he shared with them. Emmanuel Okai, Chairman of the Ecclesiastical Council, invited the more than 50 new-comers in attendance to the front of the congregation and he committed them to the care of God through prayer. An anniversary cake donated by a member from Accra was later cut and shared as part of refreshment. Finally, the youth in this vibrant congregation entertained the members with music and dancing.

Young girl singing praises

One interesting quality of the Kutunse congregation is punctuality. In a nation (or continent) where “30 minutes late” is considered normal, Kutunse is positively different. Services always start on time at 10.00 am. We solicit prayers from our worldwide family for growth  and unity for this young fellowship.

Newcomers with pastors on extreme right

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