PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF GHANA – AKYEM ABUAKWA PRESBYTERY
SUPERINTENDENT’S ADDRESS DELIVERED TO THE YPG ANNUAL DELEGATES’ CONFERENCE HELD
AT ANUM ASAMANKESE FROM 1ST TO 3RD MAY, 2015
Mr.
Chairman, Rev. Ministers, Catechists, Distinguished Guests, Fellow Executive Members,
Delegates, Ladies And Gentlemen, all other protocols duly observed, Y. P. G. ……………………
A charge to
keep I have, a God to glorify, a never dying soul to save and fit it for the
sky. (PH. 451)
GRATITUDE
I
thank the Almighty God for his protection and guidance in this ministry. It is
by his grace that we have come this far. In fact no one succeeds alone in life
and this has been very evident in the life of this administration. I therefore
express my profound gratitude to my active executive members for their commitment
and great contributions. As a matter of fact, if I had worked without them I
would have been a failure. God bless them all.
An
Akan adage says “s] wonni [panyin a due”.
The guidance and support of my coordinator is worthy of commendation and I
appreciate it. I am also fortunate to have a predecessor who has worked with me
as if he is now in office. I owe Mr. D. K. Opoku a great debt of gratitude for
his support and guidance. God bless him so much. I also acknowledge the support
and guidance of the administration of the Presbytery towards the success of the
youth ministry. To all Rev. Ministers and Catechists, I say God bless you all
for your love for God’s work.
PURPOSE
OF GATHERING
Mr. Chairman, I don’t think anyone here is
ignorant of the purpose of our gathering here but I just want to remind all of
us that we have come once again to review our activities for the past year and
to make new plans for the year ahead. I want to bring to the notice of the
whole house that, our purpose does not end at the end of conference but
continues throughout the year. This is because the implementation of decisions
made here is very paramount. It is however very sad that when decisions are
made, the implementation becomes difficult especially when it calls for our
commitment. I therefore admonish all to be vigilant and have the Presbytery at
heart when we are making decisions that will help the progress of the Presbytery.
Let us all think of going forward but not backwards. As Dr. Kwame Nkrumah said
“forward ever, backwards never”.
THEME
FOR CONFERENCE: “BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT” {EPH. 5: 18}
A
lady went to a jeweler to get her watch fixed. The jeweler disappeared and came
back quickly with the watch running perfectly. She asked him, “How could you
fix it in such a short time?” He told her that it only needed a small battery.
All this time the lady had been trying to wind the watch. She didn’t know she
only needed a battery to keep it running. Brethren, this is so much like the
Christian life. Many times we do not realize the inner power that we have in
the Holy Spirit. He can run everything in our life, but so often we think we
have to take matters into our own hands. So we live a powerless life. The lack
of reality, godliness, power, and fruit in our lives is due to unbelief and our
lack of fellowship with the Holy Spirit. We need to go deeper in partnership
with the Holy Spirit if we want to live powerful lives. Many of us are living
lives with dead batteries. We feel dead inside. We must begin fellowshipping
with the Holy Spirit. He will bring life to our hearts! He will show us the way
to really live and find fulfilment.
How then do we fellowship with the Holy
Spirit? Fellowship with the Holy Spirit is not complicated. It’s all about a
two-way dialogue. We learn to share our hearts freely with the Spirit. We start
the conversation, and He speaks back to us. But we must stay engaged. He wants
our heart connection. For out of our abiding connection with the Holy Spirit
will flow all the issues of life (love, joy, peace, etc. Proverbs 4:23, John
7:38). One way to enhance your fellowship with the Holy Spirit is by using these
5 practical words acrostic as; T-R-U-S-T.
T
- Thank you -Thank the Holy Spirit for His indwelling presence. We approach God
through thanksgiving (Psalm 100:1-5). Pray as, “Thank you Holy Spirit for your
presence in me and for your guidance, etc. I love your leadership…”
R
- Release revelation - Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you His heart and open
your eyes to the realm of His glory. Ephesians 1:17-19 is a great prayer to
pray. Pray as, “Holy Spirit, open my eyes to see the realm of God’s glory. Open
the eyes of my understanding, give me the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
etc.”
U
- Use me - Ask the Holy Spirit to use you more and more. Put your sails up and
expect Him to use you every day. Pray as; “Thank you Holy Spirit for releasing
your power and gifts through my life. Use me fully for your glory…”
S - Strengthen me - Ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen your mind, will,
and emotions with His divine might so that you may contain more of His wisdom,
fruit, and gifts. See Ephesians 3:16. Pray as, “Thank you Holy Spirit for your
love, patience, joy, etc. Increase my capacity to contain more of your wisdom,
gifts, and fruit…”
T
- Teach me - Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you about God’s Word and ways. Ask
Him to manifest His leadership in every area of your life. He will order your
steps and give you new and creative ideas. See John 14:26 and 16:13. Pray as,
“Holy Spirit let me see what you see and feel. Release it with power into my
life…”
EVANGELISM
Evangelism has been on the heart of the
youth of this Presbytery as it is on the heart of God. We are therefore
committed to winning the world around us for the Lord through any available
evangelistic activity. It is for this reason that it was decided last year that
we purchase a Public Address system to aid P-Yice and other activities. I want
to inform the house that this decision has partially been implemented resulting
in the purchase of a pair of full range speakers. This, as we all know is
useful for nothing if other items are not there. It is therefore my humble
appeal to all districts to settle all their debts by the close of this program
for us to continue with the task ahead.
Beloved in Christ, we are very passionate
about reviving weak guilds and establishing new ones. This is one of the
reasons why a survey was carried out in the Presbytery to know the strength of
all locals. I therefore want to throw the challenge to all of us to come on
board to make sure that by the end of the year YPG is established in at least
80% of the locals without YPG. Colleagues, Evangelism should not be limited to
the Presbytery but it should be a routine activity for every individual and the
local. As we experience the Holy Spirit in us, let us individually witness the
risen Christ to at least one person every day. Brethren, if in the near future
you are asked by the owner of the vineyard to give account of your contribution
to the development of God’s kingdom, what will you say? Whatever position you
are holding, or even if you are not in position, you are tasked to contribute to
the building of the church. Therefore you must ask yourself what name are you
making and what mark are you leaving behind?
To help the locals fulfil this task we want
to introduce revivals for locals. On this we entreat branch executive members
to look for dates and inform the Presbytery through their District Presidents
for us to come with a team to help them reach out to the world around them. I
look forward to receive report on this next year.
Mr. Chairman, P-Yice has been in existence
in the presbytery for 5 years. We are therefore celebrating the 5th
anniversary of this program to look at the achievements, challenges and plan
the way forward. The evangelism secretary will throw more light on this to
conference. Furthermore, I charging all Districts to embark on evangelism and
give on it report annually to Presbytery.
EDUCATION
Without education, the community ceases to
exist. The Y. P. G. and the church as a whole will be in a rut if the future
generation is not well educated. Again for us to catch up with and surpass the
advancing world, educating the young ones cannot be left out. It is therefore
very prudent for us as an institution to be concerned about the education of
our younger siblings. Though education is expensive, we cannot accept to be
ignorant. It is against this background that last year it was decided that a
scholarship scheme be set up to assist the youth of the Presbytery. Mr. D. K. Opoku
committee has done a marvelous job by coming out with a document that has been
discussed by council and has been corrected and approved by the Presbytery.
What is left is our commitment to whatever is in the document. I want to
comment on two things in the document.
(i)
Education fund dues of
2cedis and 1cedi per year from YPG and JY members respectively. As the Akan adage
goes “s] [dehye anko a akoa guan”.
Therefore if we being the youth do not rise up to help ourselves no one can
help us. For that matter, I entreat all of us to be very committed to this
contribution to show our seriousness.
(ii)
That each Local, each District
and the Presbytery contribute an amount of 5% of their share of the youth week
proceeds into the account. On this I want to plead with all local and district
executive to be truthful and committed. This fund is not going anywhere but to
our own selves so let us all see to it that it is done and done well. The policy
will be presented to the confab in detail by the committee chairperson.
Let me use this platform to admonish all and
sundry to take their studies and whatever venture in which they find themselves
serious since education is an essential tool for a successful life. As much as
we have time let us utilize it judiciously.
YOUTH
WEEK
Mr. Chairman, my personal observation of
the youth week celebration for some years past and the program outline in the
youth guide gives me two major necessities of the program. The first one is
that, it serves as a period for us to mobilize ourselves and revive the guild.
The second is an opportunity for us to raise funds to aid the activities of the
guild. It is however unfortunate to note that, the latter has been given much
attention to the detriment of the former. It is my plea that we give equal
attention to all our activities. I therefore commend those who were able to organize
the week long program effectively. On the distribution of the proceeds, last
year I spoke of the Ananias and Sapphira issue and hope that this year we have
all been faithful to God. But I still hear of locals hiding some money all in
the name of expenses. Please the distribution is based on the gross
outcome of the whole program and any
attempt to hide even a pesewa amounts to disobedience to God. Spare me some
time to give a little education into this.
Beloved in Christ, youth week of prayer and fasting
begins on Monday 4th May, 2015 and ends on Saturday 9th
may, 2015. Someone once said “one week without prayer makes one weak. For that
matter I entreat all locals and districts to take this program serious because
prayer is the wheel on which we run. I urge the evangelism committee and PEC
members to monitor this program very well.
BASEL
MISSION ESSAY COMPETITION
Mr. chairman, as part of the celebration of
the Basel mission 200 years anniversary, the youth and students were given the
platform to partake in the celebration by way of competing in an essay on the
topic; “FROM
BASEL MISSION TO P SICE / P YICE, MISSION THEN, MISSION NOW AND MISSION
TOMORROW”.
Only three people from Akyem Abuakwa wrote this essay. They are Harrison Osei
from Kyebi, Alfred Kwarteng from Kade and Clement Sam-Dadzie from Kwabeng.
Their efforts are worthy of commendation. I am happy to further inform the
house that two of them progressed to the next stage of the competition and
performed very well at the interview. Again Clement went through and has been
selected to join the celebration in either Germany or Switzerland in June. Let
us all give thanks to God and take part in such activities whenever they come.
A
PROJECTION
Mr. Chairman, I have been thinking of
bringing all youth groups under one umbrella one day to fellowship together and
learn from each other and plan together to strengthen the youth of the church.
I therefore want this house to think of having the first ever Presbytery PREYSA
in Akyem Abuakwa next year.
CONCLUSION
To serve the
present age, my calling to fulfil: O may it all my powers engage to do my
Master’s will. (PH 451).
It
is my prayer that we are all filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit as we
journey through our proceedings to save the world for Christ. Amen
…………………………………………
Richard
Kwame Agyei Odame
(Youth
Superintendent)
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