Ghana (MNN) — Every Child
Ministries is taking an experimental approach to their outreach this year in
Ghana.
ECM's John Rouster says
phenomenal church growth gave them pause because the evangelism and discipleship
teams were getting spread too thin. He
explains, "We are putting more intense work into one given area rather
than traveling around to several different schools. We combined the teams and brought them
together and put them in one area and intensified our approach to this
particular area."
The approach gives the teams time
to build relationship. On their most-recent trip in June, villagers in the Volta region were amazed at the time the
American team from Every Child Ministries spent in their area.
One of them shook his head as he
said over and over, "You spent a full two weeks in my village." The team of eight Americans and four
Ghanaians taught character-building lessons in the schools of the area, visited
local homes to make friends and share the Gospel as opportunity arose, and
shared the Gospel with the local authorities and traditional priests of the
area.
On two successive Friday nights
they showed the Jesus Film in villages, with a follow up class the next
day. Many came to Christ, received
follow up visits and were steered toward local churches. Team members split up on Sunday to visit and
encourage all the churches of the area.
Rouster says they found
enthusiastic response from the people, which emphasized the need to continue
with the combined discipleship approach. "In Ghana, the church is very wide, but the depth of knowledge of
the Scriptures and the depth of people in their Christian lives is quite
shallow. What we're hoping to do is give more people more depth in their
knowledge and in their love of the Lord."
The new program was a
modification of ECM's very successful school ministry which is now in its
eighth year. It combines large group
teaching in the schools and mass evangelism using the Jesus Film with intensive
personal interaction in the community.
ECM's Lorella Rouster says, "What we are aiming for is a deeper faith more
solidly rooted in God's Word. Deep faith
takes time to grow, but we think our new approach is a step in the right
direction."
