Ghana (MNN) — Oasis International's Ambrose Brennan says their Institute staff lives by the motto: "Living to train, training to live."
In this case, it's ministry come full circle. Some of their teachers that graduated from their leadership class are now teaching the leadership class. "Many of them had some Bible training, but we feel kind of like Priscilla and Aquila when they met Apollos and said, 'We are going to explain the Word of the Lord to them more perfectly.' We see this happening, and we're very excited now as we're giving the students opportunity to teach in the leadership class."
This is where the region's drought conditions interfere. Thirty-five percent of Ghana's landmass is desert, while desertification is dangerously creeping at an estimated 20,000 hectares per year, with the attendant destruction of farmlands.
Brennan shares a unique ministry challenge that short-circuits mobile evangelism. "There is an electricity shortage in Ghana due to a lack of rain, and the hydro-electric dam is not producing at full capacity." Fuel prices are rising, and for many evangelists, the distractions of unreliable electrical connections at home interrupt sermon preparation, and the gas expense inhibits travel. Disruptive? Brennan explains, "To go out and evangelize takes money, takes fuel to take an automobile someplace. So, just the whole economic situation is a real pinch on pastors in many areas."
The future is a hopeful one for the people who will receive instruction at the Oasis International Training Centre in Prampram, but they need help to continue to make this dream a reality.
