January 19, 2001
Dear Hull Congregation and FMC and other Churches:
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are already in another new year and it is time to get
out another newsletter so that you all are kept informed
of the blessings that we have received of the Lord. We are very much mindful that
the Lord is with us, and that we do not
and cannot labor in our strength. It is the Lord of the Church, Our Lord Jesus
Christ that sustains us every day, and leads
us in this work in Ghana. Without which all the labor would mean nothing.
The holiday period was a time of blessing and a
time of loneliness. It was a blessing because of the fellowship
we could have with the saints here in Ghana. On the Sunday before Christmas and on
Christmas day we had tents set up
in the front yard of our house; and, we had a very good turnout of people to worship with
us: over a hundred both days.
On Christmas Day we were blessed with a program of singing and the reading of the
Advent accounts of the
Scripture. This was prepared by Momma Jan and Richard Huddor, and it was presented
to us by the children and young
people as led by Forester (another young man of longstanding in our
fellowship). Richard Tetteh had planned to do most
of the work of preparation and running the practices, but he became very sick with
Malaria. He was down in bed for the
most of two weeks. He is now doing fine and we thank the Lord for that. The
children and young people did a fine job
of singing and reading. So this was a rich blessing.
The loneliness comes from being away from family, this
was true for Jan and myself, and also very much the case
with John as he was also separated from his wife who had stayed behind in Grand Rapids, to
be with the children and
grand children over the holidays. However, the busyness of the days kept us from
becoming too lonely and the blessings
of the gathering with the saints under the Word filled us back up with hope and the
blessings of the promise of our God in
Christ.
I continued to pursue the building permit from the Tema
Municipal Assembly, and we obtained the permit in the
month of December. Again, according to Ghanaian standards, this was accomplished in
near record time, but, according
to our standards, it seemed to take almost forever. Anyway, all is accomplished, and
the building project in December
really moved ahead. Now in the middle of January the walls of the building are in
place, the roof is being framed with
the trusses. Next week the sheeting will go on the roof; the fence wall or security
wall is going up around the property;
and, soon the finish work will begin. Plastering of walls, electrical, plumbing,
windows, etc. is all included in this
finishing. So, it will be still some time before we are worshipping in the building,
but it is a reality coming to pass. We
are grateful to God that we have been able to proceed to this point.
In the last month and a half our fellowship has had
several deaths of parents of those that are worshipping with
us. This has meant extra pastoral calls and benevolent labors. The latter
because most of the people are quite poor with
whom we labor, and they need some assistance in properly caring for the funerals’ of
their loved ones. We are blessed in
these instances as we can use the occasions to show the true comfort of the Word of God
for God’s people, as well as,
have the opportunity to speak of the mercy of God in Christ in our care at these times.
Also, ever since the first of the year I have seen an increase
in pastoral calls: either out in the homes or in the
study. This is a good sign because it means that the people of our fellowship are
looking to the missionary – pastor to
help them in their trials and difficulties. It does consume more time, and is a
reason that we were very glad to see John
return to our midst to do much of the more routine chasing around besides his work on the
building.
I also make evangelistic visits during every
week. This means that we go out to the homes to talk to the people
and to encourage them in their faithfulness to serve God also in worship and Bible
Study. Not only do we do this with
those that come to the mission, but also a certain time is spent with those that have not
yet come to worship with us.
These contacts have led some to come and worship with us. I do believe that,
once we are located in Ashaley, we shall
be able to see even more fruit of this type of labor, if the Lord wills.
This past month and a half the missionary has made
visits to a village (Adamlobe) to the north of Accra about 20
km away. These are informal visits where we sit down with eight to twenty people and
talk about the Scriptures and have
prayer together. From this village over the past six weeks we have had an average of
about five people come to Sunday
morning worship services, and the high, I believe, was about twelve to fifteen on
Christmas morning. I am not sure what
the Lord has planned for this group, but it does show you that there are many other areas
in which we possibly could
labor. It would be good for a second missionary to be called soon to help in some of
this labor. Beside this we have to
decide how we are going to provide men for labors in other areas of Ghana. All in
its time according to God’s will.
Jan and I also went up to Kumasi to visit with some contacts in this area. One
is a man that spent about a year
with us as he attempted unsuccessfully to establish a business in Accra whereby he could
support his family. Yekye has
now returned to his home village and has returned to farming and carpenter work
there. We desire to keep contact with
him, and he is busy teaching others about the Reformed Faith which he learned about while
in Accra. This is another
village in which we now have contacts with whom we could possibly labor. We also
visited with Rev. Daniel Banahene,
who is a contact with whom we became acquainted in 1994. He continues to
follow with interest our labors, and he does
read the Standard Bearer on a regular basis.
The next morning we spent with a young man Isaac
Afoakwa, who calls himself a pastor and has a church group
in Kumasi. He has been in contact with a CRC church in Zeeland, MI, and the minister
of this church told him he should
get in contact with Rev. Moore. So we took the time to meet the young man, encourage
him to study the Protestant
Reformed literature which he has, and to write or call with questions. We may want
to cultivate this contact some, and
perhaps we could go speak for his church group sometime in the future on the doctrines of
salvation.
After making these visits, Jan and I took a back
country road to see some of the bush of Ghana. We enjoyed it
tremendously, but we got stuck in sand. We spent the night in the car sleeping
there and then getting help in the morning
to get on our way back to Accra. A great half day in the back woods of Ghana!
Some may have heard the story already,
but there is not space enough to repeat it entirely here.
The worship services continue to be well attended
in the mornings. We are still averaging close to 100 present
every Sunday morning. The evening services have been a little less well attended
this past month or so, averaging around
the mid to upper thirties. There are several reasons that might be given for this,
but mainly it is just plain difficult for the
people to get ready to be back at church by six o’clock. There is also a need
to grow yet in the understanding of the need
to be here for both services. We also believe that this will improve when we are
able to get to Ashaley Botwe to worship.
The Bible Studies continue to be well
attended. The members are very active in the discussion, and it is very
much a time of instruction in the things of God’s kingdom. We are studying
Galatians on Tuesday evening at the Mission
house, and right now we are on the topic of “the Church” on Wednesday in
Ashaley. These studies average in the
twenties from week to week.
That number is also about the average attendance
at our Young People’s catechism, which is studying Essentials.
It is about the same in attendance for the Saturday catechism which is studying the OT
History for Juniors.
About a week ago now Judy returned, and we
rejoiced. It is good to have her back to help keep things cheerful
and active! John sure is enjoying having her back, and he is much happier as he goes
to work each day. Jan enjoys the
extra company because I am not too much company for her with all the labors.
The radio program continues, and we still have
response from time to time. We believe it is a great way to be a
testimony in this country of the wondrous grace of God revealed to His people.
Finally, we are doing well. This past week
Jan and I have been treated for malaria. I thought a couple of weeks
ago that I must have had it again. I was tested for it, and I found out that I was
right. Then, we decided Jan should be
tested. She also has malaria, but in a milder measure. So, we started medicine
to treat it, and we should be over most of
it by next week. Actually, the cure, at least for a day, is almost harder than
the malaria. But, it works. Soon by the grace
of God we will be fully restored, and then we will have more strength for the
labors.
We have been looking for housing in Ashaley Botwe,
and now believe that we may have found it. More about
this later.
Well I must close this letter for this
month. Many other things I suppose we could have included, but it will have
to wait.
May God bless you all. May He give you the
confidence of salvation through the finished work of Christ.
Let us all praise His Name always.
In Christ’s Service,,
Rev. Richard Moore and the Mission
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