[Sonlifeafrica-newsletter] Ministry Update November 2002

["Mark Tittley" <info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear friend

As I arrived in Ghana for the third time in two years, I realised that Ghana
will always have a special place in my heart. It was the first country that
I traveled to in Africa - outside of South Africa and also the country that
I have been privileged to be a part of ministry from the beginning. Unlike
some of the other countries for which I inherited oversight of existing
ministry, Ghana and Nigeria are in a sense my two babies.

Returning to a country is always an easier experience as one knows what to
expect and have already gained some experience of the process of dealing
with customs and other aspects of arriving in a country. So my journey
through the airport was a rather relaxed affair and one filled with great
expectation of the upcoming two weeks of ministry in Ghana.

At 10:30pm on Monday night I exited the airport and Amos was waiting at the
collection area and we were transported to Tema (about a twenty minute drive
from Accra) by Humphrey a member of Amos' church. I was delighted to hear
that I would be staying with Amos and Evelyn for the duration of my stay in
Ghana and remarked how that I felt like I had just been upgraded to first
class from economy class. It has always been a joy to host Amos in our home
and I had looked forward to being able to share the same joy in Ghana with
Amos, Evelyn and Mame Ama (their one year old daughter).

The first speaking engagement took place on the Wednesday night at The
Church of Pentecost where I gave a one-hour presentation on discipleship - a
condensed version of the Strategy seminar. The use of the Visual Bible
continues to be a big hit wherever we train in Africa as it portrays a Jesus
who is human in that he touches people and is a warm and humorous person.

The second opportunity to share came on the Thursday night where we made our
way to the Miracle Life Church in Community 5 in Tema where around 75 young
people had gathered to hear me speak on discipleship. I presented the same
multimedia presentation as I had the previous night and found that it fitted
really well into the churches new direction for ministry that was about to
be unveiled on the coming weekend.

So far the days have been left clear as the Sonlife seminars only start
during the second week - where we will be presenting the Foundations seminar
to people who completed the Strategy seminar in April this year; the Vision
seminar for those who have completed both Strategy and Foundations and a new
Strategy seminar for a new group of leaders - mostly based in the Accra
area - a very significant launch of ministry training for people in the
capital city.

On Saturday we took a taxi drive and four long hours later we arrived in
Cape Coast to visit the slave castle. It was a chilling experience as we
joined a tour group with a guide and being the only White person in the
group it was hard not to feel somewhat guilty on behalf of the atrocities
that were committed so many years ago on Black Africans. Standing in
dungeons where men and women had been kept before being transported to the
Americas and other destinations gave one an overwhelming sense of the
horrors that people must have endured.

A plaque on the wall reads as follows: In Everlasting memory of the anguish
of our ancestors, may those who died rest in peace; may those who return
find their roots; may humanity never again perpetrate such injustice against
humanity; we the living vow to uphold this! And I could not help but draw a
parallel with the words spoken by Nelson Mandela after his release from
prison and on his inauguration as State President - never again must we
allow one group to dominate another!

The journey back was equally as long and with an extra hour delay at the
airport while Amos checked in on some Swedish youth workers I had plenty of
time to stay with the deep experience of the day!!!

Read my full report of the visit to the slave castle, with pictures, at
http://www.sonlifeafrica.com under the Newsletter section of our website.

Sunday was devoted to church at the Church of Pentecost in Tema and included
an infant dedication and naming ceremony. The family gathered in the front
of the church and the babies name was announced to the congregation and a
special prayer was said to ensure that any negative connotations with the
name would be negated. An offering was then taken to help start a bank
account for the new child.

On Wednesday the first seminar on this trip, Vision, was held. Twelve key
leaders who had completed the Strategy and Foundations seminars during the
past eighteen months arrived for the two-day seminar. The seminar started
with prayer and worship and we launched right into an exploration of
spiritual growth in our personal lives. By the time 4:30pm arrived we were
well on track to complete the seminar in the two days that we have at our
disposal. The seminar was filled with valuable interaction among the key
leaders in areas like developing a vision in a church where the leadership
is unsupportive; the issue of spiritual gifts and issues around time
management. It was exciting to hear each leader share the spiritual passion
statement that they had created during one of the exercises and also the
results of the Bible studies on vision in the life of Moses, Caleb, David,
Jesus and Paul. The day ended with worship and prayer including much prayer
that as facilitator God would restore me for another day of teaching. Most
encouraging!!!

Friday saw twelve key leaders, who had taken the Strategy seminar in April
this year, gather for the Foundations seminar. The application times were
taken very seriously and the following comments capture something of the
positive response that was expressed:
* Every worker in the vineyard of God needs to have some knowledge of the
things contained in this material. It is very good and revelational.
(Seanete Samuel McDonald)
* I have enjoyed every bit of this seminar. The material will help me train
more facilitators for our teens programme. As long as it becomes possible I
will not be missing in any of such seminars to be organized in future. God
bless the organizers, facilitator and Sonlife ministries Africa and Ghana.
(Simons George Amoah)
* In all, the seminar was a great achievement. On my part, I have learnt a
lot and would surely go back to share with other leaders in the ministry.
Personally, I heave learnt to be alert to my prayer life and to read the
Bible consistently. (Pearl Ackumey)

On Saturday we traveled to Accra, the capital city of Ghana to present the
Strategy seminar. Sonlife in Ghana started in Tema, the town where Amos
lives and he had often shared how almost impossible it is for a ministry to
start in Tema and then take root in Accra. However, he had met with some key
leaders in recent months and a committee had been organized to prepare for
the seminar. We were overwhelmed when over 90 youth leaders arrived for the
seminar. The seminar was held in the Accra Trade Fair conference room with
air-conditioning. The response of the delegates was to plead with Sonlife to
return to Accra and present further levels of training in 2003. The
seriousness with which the leaders approached the training - including
attentively listening to the presentation and enthusiastically interacting
in the application times in small groups - was a real highlight of the day.

The following suggestions were received from delegates on the Strategy
Seminar evaluation forms: hold the seminars more often in the year; have the
seminar spread over two or three days; make the seminar available on
cassette or video tape; advertise the seminar on radio and television; have
training in a local language (ie. Twi and Ga); and follow up to check on the
implementation of the strategies learned.

The following comments were made by delegates on their evaluation forms:
* I want you to organize more seminars for us so that we will be able to
learn more and teach and train the youth of the future world.
* I am more than willing to train my youth m embers for the task ahead of us
before Christ comes.
* I rededicate my life to evangelism and will not belittle lost souls!
* I enjoyed every moment of this seminar and I want to say God richly bless
you all.
* I will work harder than ever before to help build a healthy youth ministry
in Ghana and the world as a whole.
* A good presentation. There was ample time for discussion and participation
by participants. Well organized training session.
* I will intentionally seek to coach/mentor potential leaders so I can
multiply the efforts of my ministry.

On Sunday we attended church at the Pentecost International Worship center
and I presented two seminars on the Sunday night to key leaders in the
church - on a strategy for Disciplemaking in the local church and also
principles for developing a healthy environment in which to make
discipleship - in effect, these two presentation are introductions to the
Strategy and Foundations seminars. The church has enthusiastically embraced
the principles for their church wide ministry.

How is it possible for two weeks to fly by so quickly? Well in the Vision
seminar where the delegates do an exercise to identify their spiritual
passion one of the questions they have to answer is: "What activities do you
engage in where you lose track of time and time flies by?" Such activities
are ones that relate closely to one's passion! I can only conclude given the
way in which time has flown by while I have been here in Ghana, that I am
living my passion!!!

Truly God is good. The movement of Sonlife in Ghana is well established and
a solid foundation has been laid for the growth of the movement in coming
years under the oversight of Amos Kevin-Annan.

Thanks to all of you who prayed during this trip - you were indeed a part of
this awesome opportunity of ministry development in West Africa.

By Mark Tittley
Director, Sonlife Africa