What University of Cape Coast looks like:
- 3 main dorms with about 800 people in each
- Several hostels on campus that house the Seniors
- Each dorm has hair salons, cafeteria, lounge
areas, internet café - 3 banks on campus where we can pull out money
from team account for meals - Garden/prayer area
- Church on campus
- ·
Complete freedom to do whatever ministry we can
think of!!!
Can you think of a better place to spread the Truth of Jesus
Christ!!! Oh and I forgot to mention the fact that this culture is surrounded
by Christianity! It’s not new to them at all, they have stores with names like;
His Holiness Barbershop, Holy Spirit fashion trends, etc. It’s also part of their culture to be very
hospital to any all guests in their homes or guests to their country. It’s been
said that the Christian population is around 65-70 percent. But just like in
the states, that percentage represents those who confess Christianity and not
those who are living out their faith. I’ve heard the real number is around
25-28 percent of the population are true reborn believers.
Our first day on campus was a little nerve wrecking to say
the least. Our original plans was to spilt into 4 group’s one guy with every
3-4 girls and go to each dorm room and try to build relationships with the
students. We scratched that idea when some of us felt uncomfortable being in
the opposite sexes dorm rooms. So we decided that girls would take the girls
dorms and guys would take the guys dorms for at least this week to see how it
goes. I teamed up with Michael Sanders
and we took on the Qwame Nkrumah dorm building which houses both men and women
students. Josh Woodmanse and Weston Belkot teamed up and also decided to do
their ministry in the Qwame dorm. Each dorm building is broken into sections
called Blocks and the blocks are in alphabetical order. Before Mike and I began
we stopped and prayed for God to give us direction and an increase of boldness
for what we were about to do. God told us to go to G-Block and begin our
ministry there. We knocked on the first door and were greeted by 4 male
students who immediately said to us “Hello, What are you doing here?” (Africans don’t beat around the bush). Our
response was “we are American missionaries and we have come to share Christ with
you” to our surprise we were immediately welcomed in and given two chairs to
sit in. Instead of barraging them with statements of hellfire and brimstone if
they don’t confess Christ as Lord (this culture tends to take that route) we
spent the first hour or so just getting to know them. We got to know their:
names, majors, family, hobbies, struggles on campus etc. Then we shared our
lives with them: our families, the life we gave up to be here, our hobbies, our
testimonies, even our current struggles. When we did that it was like God opened
up the flood gates! Those 4 guys began asking real question about serious
matters that we all face at one point in life. They asked questions about: sex
before marriage, dating, forgiveness, drugs, alcohol, etc. The coolest thing
about it was they wanted to know what the bible had to say about it and where
we personally stood on these subjects.
So on the very first day we got to bring biblical true to
those who haven’t placed their faith in Christ and be a living breathing
example of Christ to them. I believe one of the guys is a Christian and I
believe the Holy Spirit brought about real conviction to Him in a lot of these
areas. It was truly an amazing experience. They told us stories of how people
have come to share the gospel with them before, but the way they went about it
brought about shame and guilt instead of hope and the freedom that is in
Christ. So my challenge to my readers is to really sit down and examine
yourselves… Examine what you’re portraying when sharing the Gospel with someone;
are you bringing freedom or chains? By no means am I saying to water down the
Gospel!! Christ didn’t water down anything about the Gospel but He brought it
in a way that portrayed Love for the people He spoke to. He spoke truth and
brought Hope. You can bring the Truth of God but in a way that it is received, in a way that brings Hope! So go and
bring the Truth and the Hope that is in Christ!!
