Heart to Heart

The ICHA Blog

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The Church Council by Lyza Hiltner on October 7, 2009 | 0 comments

The church and Christianity is paramount in Elmina and Ghana.  In fact, even the names of all the shops are after a religious phrase like, “Blessed Be Beauty Supply”, “Jesus Loves Cameras”, “King of Kings Chop Shop”, and my favorite, “It Is Not My Strength Auto Repair”. Everyone we have spent time with goes to church at least once a week and services are held almost every evening. One of the most common questions we get is, “Do you go to church?” In the public schools, the most popular and active clubs are the religious ones. Obviously church is an extremely important part of the lives of the people here, so it makes sense for us to include the church communities in our projects.

 

 

Tim and I (community outreach team) met with a local pastor who was interested in what ICHA is doing. He invited us to the Church Council meeting, which happens to meet on the first Monday of every month. The Council is made up of about 50 churches in Elmina.  The meeting was held at the Methodist Church, one of the biggest, whose adult congregation is about 600.

We had prepared a brief introduction and explanation of ICHA and our outreach in Elmina, expressing our desire to work with the community. We gave a survey of potential activities they may be interested in for their church communities the next time ICHA is here, including a walking group, cooking classes, a fitness competition, and lecture event. We also left them with a basic CVD fact sheet for take-home. The reception was great. There were about 30 pastors or church leaders present, both men and women. They seemed genuinely pleased to have us there. From the feedback we got, ICHA is the first NGO that they have worked with.  I feel excited and privileged to have taken part in their fellowship. It will be exciting to develop a program that involves such a large and active population of Elmina. I look forward to partnering with them in the future.