Introduction
Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Elders, Colleague Ministers and Workers, Institutional Heads, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am privileged to present to you a brief report on Publishing Ministry as a departmental director for the period of March – December 2019.
Mr. Chairman, as a Church with the gift of the Spirit of Prophecy, we should always be mindful of the fact that literature evangelism or Canvassing to be precise, should be our passion and needs be pushed on to the fore with much earnestness and effectively, as Ellen White urges, because it the work of God which is profusely blessing bearing to those that take it on.- Colporteur Mins. p17.
Therefore, as a Conference it is our serious charge to lift the Story of Calvary aloft for people to have the best glimpse of the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the hope He has for those that believe in Him through the spread of literature.
Mr. Chairman, I took up the task as a Publishing Ministry director of the Conference with the above responsibility as a focal point.
PLANS AND STRATEGIES
My main focus of the duty was on sales and sharing of Adventist literature, through which witnessing of the gospel be accomplished; the need to recruit personnel for the Conference as Literature Evangelists was first.
- Recruitment of Literature Evangelists
• Train, equip and empower LEs through workshops seminars.
• Replenish ABC with the necessary books and stuff
• Nurture Church members on how to best promote or sell Adventist literature.
• Form Publishing Ministry Council to plan for the ministry
• Visit and supervise Churches, sites, and stands of promotion and sales.
• Recruit Local or Regular LEs, Student LEs and Part-time LEs - Map up strategies to distribute free Adventist literature
a) Deposit free books at Hospitals, Banks, Shops etc. for people who are not Adventists and cannot either have time to attend Adventist evangelistic programs.
b) Identify donors to fund the cost of the books in order that it could be freely distributed.
c) Take inventory of old stock and ascertain the quantity available in order to make out where exactly to begin.
d) Provide or ensure accommodation for Student LEs for their temporal stay of work.
Provide Cupboards at vantage Church premises thus Bantama, Maakro and Bohyen Churches to showcase available literature at the ABC. This will communicate to members and non-members to patronize them at ease.
STATISTICAL REPORT ON LITERATURE EVANGELISTS FOR THE PERIOD
I. Regular LEs –
a. Full Time: 25
b. Active LE: 15
II. Part-Time LEs – 9
Total sales – GH?14,002.80
Workshops
Sunday 10th March 2019, was scheduled for a workshop and recruitment of LEs. After letters of notification had circulated through Churches and districts as well as text messages on the various platforms of the Conference, the workshop was carried out at Bantama Church premises with only a hand full of participants.
It was a gross disappointment since that was the first time of dealing with that department and also no recruitment of literature evangelists was made, for none yielded. Unfortunate situation was that though, I was not discouraged.
Recruitments
On this aspect of mobilizing personnel for the department, the Union director, Pastor Richard Armah Tandor joined hands with me moving from Churches and to districts, promoting and trying to recruit LEs at the expense of his own resource. Among others are: Sunday, 9th February, the Publishing director, Pr. SK Adusei attended a workshop in Offinso for Publishing, promotion, recruitment and training.
On Sarturday, 16th March, 2019, Pr. Armar Tandor the NOGH Publishing director assisted the conference director at a visit to the Old Tafo Mile3 district for promotion and recruitment of Literature evangelists.
Additionally, on Sunday 14th July, 2019 another Publishing workshop was scheduled for promotion, recruitment and training of LEs at Bremang Central Church. As a matter of fact, all those workshops could not yield the results aimed at having a band of literature evangelists the Publishing Ministry needed.
It is still our earnest prayer of enlisting LEs for the Publishing Ministry of the Mid- Central Ghana Conference.
Student Literature Evangelists
The Publishing Director for the Northern Ghana Union Mission, in the month of May 2019, after a NOGH publishing advisory committee meeting notified the office of the publishing director, MICG of taking charge of all four ladies student literature evangelists who had come from Babcock University in Nigeria for a period of four month from then.
These student LEs were welcome and resided at the Nkontwima Church guest house for their period of stay till they finally left for Babcock University in Nigeria where they came from.
On behalf of the leaders of the administration, I would like to use this platform to express profound appreciation to the Nkontwima district Pastor and his elders for the generosity exhibited towards our student literature evangelists during their period of work. May the Lord replenish whatever you expended on their behalf.
After they had left, the ABC – Mid-Central Ghana Conference had disposed off a greater quantity of books which heather to had been a bottleneck of the Publishing Department of the Conference.
BANTAMA CHURCH AS ABC ANNEX
As part of the plan or vision of carrying out literature evangelism, Bantama was cited as a point of ABC annex for the conference. After submission and acceptance of proposals to the Administrative Committee meeting, Bantama Church premises was accepted as an Adventist Books Center Extension for the Mid – Central Ghana Conference.
Currently, the Northern Ghana Union Mission has offered a metal Container of 12′ long for display and sales of Adventist literature. However, sales and display have not as yet begun, due to some little work that needs to be done, couple with the problem of the actual positioning of the container at the Church compound. It is hoped that by the close of the first quarter, things might have been straightened for operation to begin.
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE / BOARD
On Friday 23rd August, after it had been accepted by the Administrative Committee, to set a committee or board responsible for editing materials that are written from the conference and those from our Churches to the public domain, the MICG Editorial Committee/ Board was given birth to. It was since announced to Churches about the birth of this board.
It was also announced that the board had come out with a News Letter which all matters of interest in the Church, within the domain of our Conference are warmly invited for edit and publication. Interested and completed works could access this E-mail address: micgeditorial@gmail.com. The committee or board still waits patiently for completed articles to work on.
Challenges
- Church members lack commitment and willingness to yield to be recruited, for fear of being dispossessed of their livelihood.
- Members believe that price of Adventists books are so costly, and that depending exclusively on it might render them out of business.
Gratitude
We really appreciate how far the Lord has led us. It is our prayer that as we have set the pace in the new year, may He guide us through His will in order to accomplish our set goals.
Submitted by,
Pastor Stephen Kwadwo Adusei
Director, Publishing Ministry
