The west African nation of Ghana has four major faith sectors: The Christian Council that consists of the Lutheran or Orthodox churches, mainline churches, independent charismatic, and the Ghana Pentecostal and charismatic churches. Together, they constitute nearly 10 million in a total population of 27 million people.
In February 2016, Bishop Samuel Mensah, President of Full Gospel Church International in Ghana, led a team to attend the All-African Pastors’ Conference in Rwanda. It was then that he clearly heard Pastor Rick’s message about the power of the church to help build and improve communities, and that the government could not do it alone. Greater accomplishments could be made by uniting the private sector, the public sector, and the faith sector.
“Unfortunately, for us in Ghana,” says Bishop Mensah, “the faith sector, which is the church, often believes we can drive something alone. We sometimes think the difficulty of partnering with government is too challenging, or the government thinks the church is not willing to partner. So everyone drives their own policies and programs. That conference really showed me that the church must play its important role.”
Bishop Mensah says decades of division have negatively impacted the local church and pastors. To combat this mindset, church leaders are introducing the PEACE Plan and bringing people together through PD strategies. While attending the conference in Rwanda, Mensah recognized the unity of those local churches, coming together to build healthy churches. He also noticed the solid national infrastructure, from clean streets and generosity, to low crime and improved education.
“That unity is one key that we lack,” says the Bishop. “We need to pursue a common agenda, as Rwanda has done. All these things have been possible because it’s a nation driven by purpose.”
The success stories of Purpose Driven nations have given him hope for his own country. Bishop Mensah strongly believes that Africa’s problems can be solved by the local people if they are given the right tools. Ultimately he envisions a domino effect, of helping the people, to help the leader, to help society, and eventually the community and nation as a whole.
He credits Purpose Driven workshops, conferences, and events around the world for giving church leaders an opportunity to get healthy, and take those tools back home to empower nations.
Bishop Mensah adds: “I thank Pastor Rick and the Saddleback team for the great investment in giving tools that will be used to transform our communities and our nation. I believe in time, we will see Africa rise up.”
