Ghana Youth Purchase Musical Instruments
By Emmanuel Okai
On July 1st 2002 Brazil won the
football world cup for a fifth time. On the same day, the youth in
Ghana were also concluding a major tournament in which both adults and
youth were deliberating on ways in which the church in Ghana could
grow and thereby win souls for Christ. One of the main desires of the
youth was more lively worship in Church using more modern musical
instruments.
 After
the three days conference that focused on youth development, a
challenge was thrown to the youth to get involved realizing the
objectives identified.
I did not anticipate how quickly the youth would
respond. I forgot how active, lively and creative they were until a
couple of weeks after the conference when the leaders brought ideas
for raising funds to purchase musical instruments.
On Saturday August 31st 2002 a musical
concert that involved children, teenagers and young adults took place
at the Social Advance Institute auditorium, Accra’s regular meeting
place. Between 10 am and 2 pm, more than five million cedis (about
$650) was raised. Between songs, messages, dances and hymns, offerings
were taken, baked goods and fresh farm produce was sold, and donations
were freely given by the nearly 300 people who attended. It was a
revival for the adults and a re-union for some youth who had been away
for some time and re-discovery for the participating youth who kept
the congregation dancing, clapping, singing and praising the Lord.
„The Church is going to fly!“ The youth
promised. And fly we did, because on the first day of the 2002
festival, we unveiled and dedicated a set of modern drums and a bass
guitar purchased through funds raised by the youth.
The lesson to me is clear: when we encourage the
youth and provide them with some guidelines, the sky is the limit to
what Christ can do through them. The question is, will we give them
the opportunity? I do hope that the answer in your area is going to be
„yes“. |
