At the end of a long,
steep, deeply rutted two-track lane lies the hilltop town of
Gbadzeme (ba-jem-ay). There, members of a Presbyterian congregation
are building their church literally one block at a time. They
are hoping that this year they will receive a gift sufficient
to put a roof on the building. Roofing sheets are prohibitively
expensive for rural congregations in Ghana, and a roofed church
is an evangelistic tool announcing God’s presence in the
community.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana (EPCG), is hoping
to roof more than one hundred chapels in Ghana. These chapels
will seat from 200 to 3,000 people. A program has been set up
so that once a congregation has its foundation and walls in
place, on their own, it can apply to become a part of the Chapel
Roofing project.
Having a PC(USA) mission co-worker in Ghana is a special help
in providing the communication necessary to keep this project
going. On a four-day visit to the Volta Region, PC(USA) mission
co-worker Glen Hallead and EPCG Presbyter Executive Mr. Prosper
Attakey visited with fifteen congregations to hear building
committee reports and to examine the work being done. Out of
this visit, a report and a prioritization list were developed
to help the EPCG determine which churches would be roofed as
the money becomes available. In less than a year, generous Presbyterian
congregations and individuals have given over $75,000 through
The Outreach Foundation toward this work. Those donations will
roof thirty chapels, giving a sense of permanency to the congregation,
a dry place to worship during the rainy season, a physical sense
of God’s blessing, and an improved means of evangelism.
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