Trip Report Aug 2007
- On Sunday, 29 July 2007, 22 folks from the Presbytery
of Lake Michigan returned home rejoicing for a very successful Worship
and Study Mission Trip to Ghana. Leaders for this trip were Rev. Karen
Haak, Interim Presbytery Executive, Rev. Doug Petersen, pastor, Benton
Harbor First, and Laurie Hartzell, seminarian, Benton Harbor First.
- The only travelers who had been to Ghana before were
John Petro, Joyce Petro, and Laurie Tupper, all from Kalamazoo First.
Other travelers were Gabrielle Baur, Nathanial Baur, DaNay Edgar, Kaylin
Edgar, Nora Edgar, Nate Gargano, Veronica Harmon, Ted Hartzell, Jeanette
Holton, Jewel Jones, Anne Petersen, Michelle Stone, Gloria Winn, Bob
Ziebart, Evan Ziebart from Benton Harbor First; and Marnie Stein from
Grand Rapids Westminster. This includes six youths under age 20, who
were traveling with parents.
- Travelers attended worship services in Accra (Teshie
and Bubiashie), Tema (Kekeli and Sakumono), Ho (Bankoe, Fiave, and SSNIT
Flats), Sokode (Bagble and Etoe), and Peki (Wudome). The service in Peki
celebrated the commissioning of 20 new pastors.
- A Durbar celebration with special music, colorful
dancing, and speeches by local leaders was held at Sokode Bagble for the
dedication of a new primary school building. Recognition was given to
Kalamazoo First for helping to purchase building materials. Chrisotoph
Bansa, Sokode District Chief and our visitor from the Ho-East Presbytery
in June 2006, was one of the speakers. Karen Haak responded on behalf of
our presbytery.
- A meeting was held with the Ho-East Partnership
Committee to discuss our presbytery level partnership. Meetings were
also held with several congregations in the Ho-East Presbytery to
discuss existing and emerging congregational level partnerships.
- The group met with the Moderator of the Evangelical
Presbyterian Church to discuss our common goal of reaching out to each
other as brothers and sisters in Christ.
- Visits were made to historic sites in Ghana,
including slave castles at Cape Coast and Elmina and the Canopy Walkway
in the rainforest at the Kakum National Park.
- Karen Haak, Doug and Anne Petersen, John and Joyce
Petro, Marnie Stein, and Veronica Harmond traveled to Ghana one week
earlier than the rest of the group for a Ghana Mission Network meeting
at the Accra Women’s Centre in Abokobi. Sixty delegates total from the
Presbyterian Church (USA), the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, and the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, met together for worship and
conversations about the meaning of partnership in the context of being
faithful disciples of Christ.
- Partners in Ghana reached out to their visitors from
Michigan with compassion and hospitality in a way that gives new meaning
to mission partnerships. The important things are not about how much
stuff one has or gives away, but about the quality of the relationships
that one builds. This mission trip was about building these enduring
relationships with each other. This trip was a life changing experience
for everyone.
- Congregations in our presbytery are encouraged to
participate in this partnership.
Report on Ghana -Spring 2007
Ghana celebrated the Golden Jubilee of its independence on Wednesday, 6
March 2007. The former Crown Colony of the Gold Coast was the first British
colony in Africa to achieve self-government, and the second sub-Saharan
nation to do so. (Sudan achieved its independence in 1956.). Dr. Kwame
Nkrumah, Ghana’s first Prime Minister, chose the name of Ghana for the
fledging country. On 1 July 1960, Ghana became a republic with Kwame Nkrumah
as its first President. The intervening years have had some very difficult
times, but for over ten years now, the country has matured under a
democratically elected government with a stable economy and improving
educational and health systems. It is a very bright light in the developing
countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Nevertheless, a long road still lies ahead
for the country, as it strives to enter the Twenty-First Century global
economy.
Several churches within our presbytery have developed partnerships with
churches in the Volta Region of Ghana. Grand Haven First established its
partnership with the Ho-Kpodzi congregation in 1980 when Jim and Ruth
Wierenga traveled to Ghana in response to an earlier visit to its
congregation by Rev. Samuel Mensah from the Ho-Kpodzi congregation.
Kalamazoo First Presbyterian Church has had a partnership with the village
of Sokode Bagble since 1991 in response to an invitation to visit his home
congregation by Frank Abror, a graduate student in Blind Rehabilitation at
Western Michigan University. Through the years, there have been several
mission trips to and from Ghana.
The partnership was expanded to be a partnership between the Presbytery
of Lake Michigan and the Ho-East Presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian
Church, Ghana, when a delegation from our presbytery traveled to Ghana in
spring 2005. Currently, five churches in the Presbytery of Lake Michigan are
linked in congregational partnerships with five churches in the Ho-East
Presbytery. In June 2006, Christoph Bansa traveled to Michigan from Ghana to
visit nine congregations in our presbytery.
Twenty-three people from our presbytery will participate in a Worship and
Study Mission Trip to Ghana from 13 to 29 July 2007. Included in this group
will be Rev. Karen Haak, our presbytery’s interim executive presbyter, and
Rev. Doug Petersen, pastor of Benton Harbor First. In addition, 17 others
from Benton Harbor First, one from Grand Rapids Westminster, and three from
Kalamazoo First will be traveling on this trip. Seven of these folks will
travel to Ghana one week earlier to attend a meeting of the Ghana Mission
Network at the Accra Women’s Centre. A major focus of this meeting will be
women’s issues in Ghana and in the United States.
Please pray for our Ghanaian brothers and sisters as they celebrate their
country's Fiftieth Anniversary. Please pray for those who travel from our
presbytery to Ghana this summer and for their partners in the Ho-East
Presbytery. May this trip be a blessing for all of us here in the Presbytery
of Lake Michigan and for all of our partners in the Ho-East Presbytery.
Joyce Petro,
john.petro@wmich.edu
Update Fall 2006
The Presbytery of Lake Michigan has had a
partnership with the Ho-East Presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian
Church, Ghana since April 2005. Christoph Bansa, from the village of Sokode
Bagble in the Volta Region of Ghana, traveled to Michigan in June 2006.
During his time in Michigan, he spoke at a presbytery meeting and visited
nine different congregations in our presbytery. He was an articulate
spokesperson for our presbytery's partnership with the Ho-East Presbytery.
Because of renewed enthusiasm for this partnership, the Ghana Partnership
Committee now involves Benton Harbor First, Grand Haven First, Marshall
First, Kalamazoo First, and Paw Paw First.
Six members of our presbytery's
Ghana Partnership Committee attended the Ghana Mission Network meeting that
was held on 22-23 September 2006 at Stony Point Center, a Presbyterian
conference and retreat center in Stony Island, New York. Our presbytery's
Ghana partnership is one the more active partnerships of the roughly 10 or
12 similar partnerships between PC(USA) presbyteries and partner
Presbyterian presbyteries in Ghana. Ghana is country in West Africa with
over 20 million people that is slightly smaller in size than Oregon.
A Worship and Study Mission Trip to Ghana is planned for 13 through 29
July 2007. Besides visiting partners in Ghana for about one week, the trip
will include visits to Accra, Kumasi, the slave dungeons at Cape Coast and
Elmina along the Guinea Coast of Ghana, and a canopy walk in the rain
forest. For more information about this trip, please contact Laurie Hartzell
from Benton Harbor First, phone ( 269.473.2941), e-mail
laurieted2001@sbcglobal.net
, or John Petro from Kalamazoo First, phone ( 269.342.6817), e-mail
john.petro@wmich.edu
2005 Ghana Mission trip was completely successful!
Twelve people from the Presbytery returned home full of joy and praise on 12
May 2005 after having had many fantastic experiences on their 16 day trip to
Ghana. The highlights of the trip included the signing of the new presbytery
level partnership agreement with the Ho-East Presbytery of the Evangelical
Presbyterian Church, Ghana, and wonderful meetings with people from at least
eight different churches in the Ho-East Presbytery. The group assisted with two
work projects, one was related to a new primary school building and the other
was making cement blocks for the new headquarters building of the Ho-East
Presbytery. The group also enjoyed touring southern Ghana, with visits to Accra
and Kumasi, as well as to the slave castles in Cape Coast and Elmina.
Rev. Dave Van Arsdale, Kalamazoo First, was the leader of the group. The group
consisted of seven people from Kalamazoo First, three from Marshall First, and
two from Paw Paw First.
Plans are to bring a small contingent of leaders from the Ho-East Presbytery to
Michigan in May or June 2006. The next trip from the Presbytery to Ghana is
tentatively planned for November 2006.
Contact John & Joyce Petro for more info on the
Partnership, john.petro@wmich.edu
Ghana Partnership History
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Intentional
Mission
