VSM Team Ghana
June 15-28, 2009
by Fran Erickson

Team Ghana consisted of Whitney Caldwell, Devin DiGuilio, Rebekah Layfield, Aubrie Walker, Fran Erickson, and Bro. Jerry Kidd, the Director of Operations for Europe/Asia/Africa/Australia from the BMA of America Department of Missions. We worked with Bro. John Lindsey and his wife, Margaret. We were assisted by two translators, Adusei and Jackson Hayford. Adusei is a pastor, a church planter trainer, and a teacher at the Bible Institute in Ghana. Jackson Hayford is a pastor, a church planter trainer, and the president of the BMA of Africa.

Every VSM trip is done in the context of the missionary’s ministry. In Ghana, Africa, Bro. John Lindsey works with church planter trainers and church planters. Over a 12 day period, our team worked with eight church planters in eight different villages.

Our team’s ministry was focused on evangelism. When the team arrived in a village, we were met by the church planter trainer for that region, the church planter in that village, and if there was already a mission church, some of his church members. We divided our team into groups of two teens, and an American adult or two, a translator, and someone from that village. Each group would head out in a different direction and look for people outside so we could talk with them.

 The people were always interested in why white people were visiting their village which gave us an opportunity to share the gospel with them. We used Evange-Cubes to share the gospel because Africans are very drawn to things with pictures. God blessed and many of the people were very receptive to the gospel and prayed to accept Christ.  If a person was interested in attending Bible studies led by the church planter, the church planter would write down the person’s name and where they lived. In the first two weeks after the VSM team left Ghana, Bible studies were started by church planters in three villages that did not have a Baptist church. The Bible studies were started with people we had contacted and shared the Gospel.

 If the VSM team was in a village on a school day, we also went to a local school to do a program. Most of these were schools run by the Methodists or the Presbyterians. Classes are taught in English but their accent is very different from ours. The translators always translated what we said into Twi, the local language. We stated the program by singing a song in Twi with the students. Each VSM team member had prepared a Bible story to share. At each school, one team member told their Bible story, one shared their testimony, and one presented the gospel. We also sang songs for the students. Big, Big House was a favorite because it was new to the Africans. After we had presented our program, the Ghanaian students would sing us some songs as a thank you for our program.

The main part of the team left Dallas early on the morning of June 15. Bro. Kidd joined us in New York for an overnight flight to Accra, the capital of Ghana. The Lindseys met us at the airport and took us to a local hotel to rest for the remainder of the day. The next morning we flew on a small plane to Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana. There we were met by the BMA of Africa van for the hour drive to the Lindsey’s home in the BMA of Africa compound in Offinso. We visited the Bible Institute which is also in the compound. We met with Adu Bohene, the missions director for the BMA of Africa to talk about the mission work in many countries of west Africa. That afternoon, we met with our translators to get used to each other’s accents. The next day we began our active ministry.

Much of the time the team stayed at the Lindsey’s home and worked in villages within an hour’s drive of their house.  We spent three days in Konongo about two hours from the Lindsey’s home working in villages in that area. We stayed at the nicest hotel in Knongo which meant it had flush toilets and air conditioning when the electricity was on. Some rooms had water heaters and those lucky people got to take hot showers.

The electric power was off frequently.  Some days it was off all day. The evenings when the power was off were some of the most special times we had as a team. The Lindsey’s have a propane lantern in the living room, so the entire team sat in there. We sang hymns and worship songs for an hour or two and shared what Christ was doing in our lives. Bro. Kidd shared experiences from his days as a missionary in Bolivia flying a plane into the jungle.

In the evenings, Bro. Lindsey taught the team about the local religions. Many of the people attend some type of Christian church but have never heard how they can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  They frequently also follow the native religion and have just added Christ to the list of gods that they worship. Others follow only the native animistic religion led by the local witch doctor. There are also many Muslims in Ghana. We did not go to the Muslim part of the villages but God gave us opportunities to witness to Muslims when they approached us.

The one Sunday we were in Ghana, we attended one of the churches in Kumasi. The only instrument to accompany the singing was a drum. The people almost always clap when singing and may dance to express their joy about what God has done for them. Bro. Does, the pastor, is an English teacher and preached in English just for us.

 At the end of our ministry, we flew back to Accra. We spent the afternoon at the craft market buying souvenirs. Early the next morning we caught a flight back to New York. We landed back in Dallas late in the evening.

Ghana is a third world country where the average family income is $30/month.  They do not have many of the things that we take for granted. The average home only has rooms for sleeping. Mom, Dad, and all unmarried children share one bedroom. Other bedrooms in the house are for other families. They spend the day outside in a courtyard or on a porch.  They take baths outside in a small enclosure using a bucket to take a sponge bath. There were no toilets in public places.

The team going to Ghana next year will do a similar ministry in different villages.