A FIRST


When I decided to come to Ghana, I could feel that I was moving into the next level of my life. The reasons for this are numerous, but I can see I could just feel it.

With that said, I have a story to share with you all.

Sunday morning was a first for me.

I was invited by John for Winning Life Chapel to minister at a church that he is pasturing. I knew very little outside of it being at a school in Tamale and that I was to be ready at 7:30am, when he would pick me up on motorbike.

Earlier in the week, when thinking about what I would speak about on Sunday, the word that came to me was “Love Yourself”. Over the past few months, I have been making notes about different message ideas; some the messages titles are “Time”, “What is this Life?”, “Revisiting the Prosperity Message”, and “Parents”. One that has been on my heart lately is “Love Yourself”.

Within the week, the passing of Denis has been on my mind and heart a lot. The tragic situation in my old neighbourhood of Andrea Johnson has also been on my mind.

With that said, I was up early to the warm and bright setting of Sunday morning, where I waited at the roadside where the majority of people were not going to church. People were passing back and forth in regular morning routines; carrying firewood, taking porridge, going to work, and visiting friends. I sat there on a stone at the roadside, Bible and notebook in hand, reading from Matthew. After a few minutes, John approached and we headed on our way.

The dryness of the air was intensified on the back of the motorbike with no helmet; my nostrils felt like sand, almost immediately. The ride was about 20 minutes, and took us a ways out of town, to a rural area, mostly grassland with very few buildings.

The school grounds were still under construction, and it was difficult to tell where the classes actually took place. Outside were many teenage girls doing their laundry, some of whom greeted John saying “Good Morning Pastor”. We parked the bike and headed through what looked like a construction site, into a partially constructed building. There were walls, floors, and a roof over the structure, but no windows and no doors. We passed through one room, down a hallway that was partially outdoors, and into another room. There were two young women and a number of wooden benches. There was also a desk at the front of the room with two chairs behind it.

It was great. It was wonderful. It was a beautiful morning. In my mind, I just thought, “as long as there is three of us believing: me, John, and someone else”. A light breeze came through the room, and I sat behind the desk, setting my Bible and notepad on the table, feeling so grateful.

Within a short time, a few more young girls came. The actual location was beside a girls school and the church that John was pasturing was for the students of the school. I would estimate that the ages of the students was from about 15-21. With about seven young ladies in the room, we began service.

No microphones, no speakers, no band, no banners or decorations – we had nothing fancy. Just our voices, the fellowship of each other, and the presence of God.

One of the more senior students began to lead us in song. The singing continued for the next thirty minutes or so, beginning with some slower worship songs, to some high-energy, hand-clapping praise anthems. More and more students continued to file into the room, until every bench was full (and many were being shared) and there was just under thirty students in the room.

After some time, the singing turned to prayer. John then took some time to introduce me, and his words were flattering.

As I began to speak, I really felt drawn to share with them the significance of the previous week and that very moment to me. On my mind and heart, and in my prayers was Denis, his family, and all my friends from that time. I told them that his life had been taken that week. I also told them that ten years earlier, he had taken a life. Standing their as a minister (they did not know yet that they were a part of the first time I had been given such an honour), a university graduate and as Canadian human rights journalist in Northern Ghana working on a wonderful opportunity, I told them that I did not feel so different from Denis. I conceded, that looking at our lives you would see the huge contrasts, but that I had wanted to go the same route. I stood there as a testimony of God’s grace, of His protection and His wonderful blessings. Grateful is the word, as I could have been a lot of other places.

I then introduced the topic: “Love Yourself”. I shared with them a question that Christ was asked, about how to have eternal life. His response to the man listed a summary of the commandments. I then showed them so many instances where we are shown that we are to ‘love God with all of our hearts, and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves’. This is fairly commonly known: love God and treat others as you want to be treated. Christ and other involved in the revelation of the scriptures show us that to love God with all of your heart and your neighbour as you love yourself fufills all of the commandments, and brings us to a life leading to salvation.

My question at that point was this: do you love yourself? Can you look in the mirror and say “I love you”. Could you stand before the world and say ‘I love me!’?

The response in the room confirmed that, for most people, this is not their reality. I asserted that in order to really fulfill that “highest commandment”, to love our neighbours as we love ourselves, we must love ourselves. Given, all kinds of people have differing ideas about what love is, we must love ourselves the way that God loves us.

I shared with them a word that says that “the thoughts He has towards us are of good and not of evil”. So if God has good thoughts towards you, where do the bad thoughts come from? I insisted that we each take the time in prayer to really seek out what God’s thoughts towards us are.

To smiles and laughter I asked them what they thought God’s response to that question would be: would God say ‘you’re kind of ugly’ or ‘you’re pretty dumb’. It’s absurd to think such would be the case. We went through words through a number of scriptures: you are fearfully and wonderfully made, that God spoke the whole creation into being and then formed humankind with His hands and gave us life with His breath, that His will is that we are all saved, that He knew in our Mother’s womb and even before the foundation of the Heaven’s and earth being laid, that – like Joshua – he encourages us to be strong and courageous to be prosperous and have good success, and that even evil men can be good to their children, so how great is God – a good father – to us?

I did not use most of the notes that I had made, which were many, but taking the time to look through the word and study put it in my heart so that it could be shared in a real, living way.

After speaking, we prayed with many of the girls and closed. One highlight was when, a John’s urging that they be a family to eachother, a girl who had refused to even talk to another girl went over to her and gave her a hug. Even as we left they were still jubilant about the rekindled friendship.

As we drove along the rural roadside to Winning Life Chapel, and then after service concluded at that second church for the morning, heading to my house, I felt very humbled. I thought about many pastors and ministers that I know and have come across with a new found respect. I was also acutely aware how God’s grace, guidance and mercy make such endeavors meaningful, and how empty the same practice can be without Him.

When I got home, I went to take a nap. While sleeping I had a dream about Rhema that was showing me a lesson about people receiving the word, guidance and instruction that they need and that makes a difference in their lives.

When I awoke, I continued to think about it all. Ministering, pasturing and all of those areas are quite serious. It is really only something that I would want to do as God’s call and design for my life. To even have that one chance on a Sunday morning in a half-built school house to share God’s word with that group of young ladies is a wonderful gift that has is humbling.