Newsletter of April 1, 2000 

 
Greetings From Ghana

    It has been some time since we have written a newsletter.  Part of the reason for this is the fact that we have been keeping many
posted on the happenings here in Ghana via the emails that I have sent out every week.  It is our hope that the message of these
emails have been getting to the people of our churches.

    However, it is good for us to write again to you by this means.  We send you greetings from Ghana, and we have had a rich measure of God’s blessing upon us as we have labored here in this land.  Our prayer is that you likewise have been blessed over these past few months.  John and Judy and Jan and myself have enjoyed a good measure of health, and have been busy and enjoying the labor here in the land of Ghana.

    Above all we believe God has blessed the work here.  We base this on two major factors.  The first is that we have seen a growth in the understanding of the Reformed Faith by those in our fellowship.  We have members of the fellowship that have been with us since only a few weeks after we began to have our worship services.  There are several that have hardly missed a worship service.  Two of them a man of 52 and a man of 24, have been at both services as a rule for all of these months.  But we also have many others that have been worshipping with us for many months.  The result is that there is a certain stability in the group that is becoming ever more evident.

    Now the result of this continual worship and study with us, in that we find that there is a real growth in the knowledge of the Scripture’s teaching concerning salvation.  Especially is this true in the desire for the Reformed preaching of that word.  The expression is often that “here”, that is in the Ghana Mission of the PRCA, we hear the truth of God’s Word.  We are thankful to God for this  testimony of the members  of our fellowship.

    To emphasize this, it  would be a joy for you to come to one of our Bible Studies and hear many of the fellowship defending the doctrine of the sovereign grace of God unto salvation. This as they defend the faith over against the various heresies that are so prevalent in the church world, especially the church world here in Ghana.  They are able to turn to many of the Scriptures to do this also.  But also we find there is a growing understanding of how this truth must also regulate their lives.   This is not to say that there is not much growth left for these children of God. There is indeed.  It will take much time before the saints here will be able to fully understand and embrace the truth of the Word for their faith and walk.  But we surely see a growth in these things.  Again we must express thankfulness to the faithful God Who gives the increase also in knowledge.

    We are now entering into the third part of the Heidelberg Catechism in our preaching on Sundays.  And the catechism preaching is  still enjoyed by those coming to worship with us.  In fact there are those that would hate to miss even one of the sermons on the catechism, and if they do because of sickness or travel and they have a tape recorder they ask for a copy so that they can hear it.
Another thing that is indication of the spiritual growth of our fellowship is the enjoyment of the singing of the Psalter numbers.  We often sing for about a half-hour before worship services, and during this time we sing Psalters by the request of those coming to church early.  We do not sing the same number twice and there is always another favorite to be sung.  I believe that the fellowship of believers here can sing well at least fifty of the Psalter numbers and know and are working on the next fifty.   Judy does a good job playing our keyboard and in this way leading us.  We also sing about two or three of the Ghanaian choruses during this time, choruses that are taken also from the Psalms.  Of course the people enjoy these as well.

    The second sign of God’s blessing of the work here on the field is the numerical growth of our fellowship.  From our very small
beginning we now have a rather large gathering every week.  The past month our morning services have numbered over 60 present,
the last two weeks over 70 in the morning services have come together to worship God.  The evening services also have remained
constant and recently are increasing in numbers attending.  The past few weeks we have numbered in the thirties and this past week
near forty were present to worship in the evening.  The idea that the whole of Sunday should be used in special sanctification is slowly being understood, and is the reason I believe that we see some growth in attendance in the evening worship services.  The result of course of the increase in numbers in our fellowship leads us to look forward to the day when we shall go to the property we are presently preparing for our use.  We have had a few delays in this, but hopefully soon we shall be able to worship there.  The people of the fellowship are looking forward to this.
 

The Fellowship and The Work

    There are those that have asked the background of those that have come to our fellowship.  In the first place there is about one fourth that come from the so-called traditional churches of Ghana.  These are Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists and Roman Catholics.  There are about a fourth that come from Pentecostal backgrounds, about a fourth that come from charismatic backgrounds, and a fourth that come from other sects or from the fetish religion.  Almost all have come to us with a free-will understanding of salvation, also those from the more orthodox churches.  Also almost all have come to us with a leaning to the charismatic type of worship.  This goes hand in hand with the fact that many are not far removed from the native fetish religion that is still strongly held to, especially in the villages.  We have a few with Seventh Day Adventist background or leanings.  We have about five or six that are newly come to Christianity directly out of the native, fetish religion.

    For the large part many of the old ways cleave unto our people, but the wonder is the way in which the truth of the Word of God sets them free from the soul damaging beliefs that they had formally held.  And also the measure with which they now begin to see many of the errors of these past beliefs.   There are some that have come to the fellowship basically seeking to improve their earthly place.  They come hoping that there will be financial or earthly help for them to cope with their daily life.  These are shown that this is not our work in Ghana, like the Lord Himself who had to teach the people His was not an earthly kingdom, so we must teach the people that the truth we bring will not bring to them the earthly kingdom. This type of gospel of material blessings is one very often set before them by the church world here in Ghana.  When such come to our fellowship and realize that we are bringing principally spiritual things and setting before the people spiritual hopes, they often depart for greener pastures.  Our prayer is however, that even if they have come for wrong reasons, and if it is in harmony with the Lord’s will we would that they begin to embrace the truths they hear.  Then they shall be comforted and strengthened for the life unto which God does lead them.  But if they leave it is because they were never of us says the apostle.
 

The Labors

    Most of you are aware of the type of work we are doing on the field here.  However, I will include what is done on a normal week here in Ghana.

    On Sunday we gather for worship, 9:00 in the morning is the time of the first service.  We have been awake for several hours by this time.  We have prepared for the day, this includes above all sermon preparation, but also John heads out to an area to the East of Madina to pick up people with the pickup to bring to church.  He leaves at about 8:00.  Jan and Judy finish getting the room ready for the preaching of the Word there.  They make sure the chairs and benches, the fans, and the pulpit is prepared for worship.  The tape recorder must be set up, the speakers and amplifier made ready, etc.  Judy usually begins practicing the numbers for the worship service.  At about 8:45 we beginning sing the Psalms and the people begin coming, at about 9:20. We finish with our Psalter Numbers and begin the worship service, typically by now we have a room full of people, probably around fifty five of the sixty or seventy that will be here by the time of the sermon.   We sing the praise song “Praise God Whom all blessings flow, “ and then follows our regular order of worship which is the same as in our churches in the states.
    After the worship service John and I take home many of those that live at some distance away.  And then we relax for a little while and talk with those that have stayed for the day.  We often have four to six extras at our dinner table on Sundays.  These spend the day with us and visit about the Word and relax, and sing more of the Psalters, etc.  In the afternoon John heads into an area of Accra called Cantonments and picks up a pickup load of people to worship with us in the evening.  And later I may drive to the area east of Madina to pick up several to worship with us in the evening.  We do this driving, because many of the people are quite poor and cannot afford to pay for tro-tros especially twice on the Lord’s Day to come to church.  After this worship service that starts usually by six we take home some of the worshippers and then return to relax, and maybe speak a little to some of our children on Yahoo and then to bed.

    Mondays are a day when we do a lot of the work that requires us to go to Accra or Madina.  Grocery shopping, work with government, getting things for the property or for the study and worship.  And then try to take a little time to meet some of the contacts we have in this land.

    Tuesday is usually a regular work day in the Study, it also is a day when I average two to four visitors in the study.  Also it often is the case that I make a visit or two to some of the people.  In the afternoon it is time for preparation for Bible Study.  The women ready the room for the Bible Study, setting up chairs, etc.  The minister in preparing to lead the study, and John leaves in the latter afternoon to pickup some people that live out away from our area for the Bible Study.  This is something he enjoys and enables him to get to know these people very well, including their families.  Also it has been an occasion for him to talk to others about coming to worship with us.  We study the Scripture for an hour and a half with usually about twenty there although lately it has run above the mid twenties for this study.  We are studying the Essentials of Reformed Doctrine.  This has been a very blessed study for us all.

    Wednesday is another day to spend in the study, visiting with those coming to spend some time for pastoral care, and visiting the
people of our fellowship.  The women often use this day for some extra cleaning, they wash on Tuesdays and Thursdays.   In the evening we often go out to eat on Wednesdays.  The late evenings are used to talk to children on Yahoo, write email, etc.

    Thursday is a day in the study and more normal work, also for preparation for our Radio Program that airs over Radio Universe which is the University of Ghana’s radio station.  This is a live broadcast with opportunity in the last fifteen minutes for listeners to call in.  We average about two calls an evening.  We have had many people come to the worship services or Bible Study as a result of this program.

    On Wednesday or Saturday on the average of once a month we have a speech for some Bible fellowship group.  These have usually around fifty or above in attendance, and we usually bring strongly the doctrine of Sovereign grace as the gospel that alone can bring comfort and peace to God’s children.  The ages of these groups are usually late teens to early twenties in schools and from late teens to early forties in college hostels.  We enjoy these opportunities very much, and believe God will also use this witness for His purpose.

    Fridays we have a Bible Study for young adults besides the regular activities, and Saturdays we have Bible Study for children.  Both of these are not of a large size but in both we have students that have not missed more than once or twice in a whole season of catechism studies.  We know that God will use this according to His will to glorify His Name.
 
     Well this is a brief summary of some of the things that take place in a normal week here.  It will give you a small flavor of the labor.  John of course has been quite busy with working at the property and other things for me with respect to the labors here.  The women keep busy entertaining the people who come to speak with the missionary, and with the keeping up the house.  It is very dusty here in our country so this makes extra work for them.

    Finally we enjoy the emails, the letters, the many expressions of support and your prayers for us here on the field.  We believe God hears these prayers and is using this labor for the glory of His Name and the saving of His Children.  Continue to remember us in your prayers.

In Christian Love,
    Rev. Richard Moore