About My Hosts.....

Today I preached at Prince of Peace Presbyterian Church in Tema and we also visited Tema Presbyterian Church where the Greenwich Meridian passes through. 

I have been well looked after here in Ghana and thought I'd write a little about my hosts here in Ghana.

The Presbyterian Church of Ghana is the oldest continually existing church in Ghana. With over 1,000 churches it has a membership of nearly 1.5million people and continues to grow year on year.

Rather than have Synods the PCG has Presbyteries and rather than Moderators it has Chairmen. The PCG has a Moderator who is the equivalent of the URC General Secretary.

The PCG places significant emphasis on education and runs 487 nursery schools, 984 primary, 399 junior secondary and 27 secondary schools, 40 private schools, six vocational institutions, five training colleges, a research center and a university college. 

After the Government and the Catholic Church the PCG is the third largest provider of healthcare in Ghana with with four hospitals, 11 primary health care programs, eight health centers, 13 clinics, two nurses' training colleges and a technical unit. 

The church also has microfinance programs to facilitate loans and agricultural services are offered in nine areas throughout the country.

Finally, there is work amongst drug addicts, prison ministry, mens work, women's ministry and significant church work with children and young people.

Obviously this denomination operates on a very different level to my own denomination but at the heart of the work is discipleship, that is the desire to see people come to faith and live lives that reflect their faith and dependence on God.

Seeing the church so entwined in mission is heart warming and makes me wonder what we can learn from this denomination in our own context?