The Impact of a Small Village

In a recent article, Pastor George Korah in Ghana considered how God works in sometimes surprising ways. “Where do great leaders come from?” he wrote. “Small towns (in Ghana) are not generally known for producing great leaders. Small towns lack opportunities, they are not centers of power or influence, and there is limited support to develop leaders.”

On Christmas Day, Pastor George was in one such small village, Sing, about 8 kilometers outside the town of Wa. “Sing is a village fully dominated by Muslims with numerous mosques built there,” he explained. “No church ever thrived there because of the influence of Islam on the folks. . . . But the church Jere and Ruth Ann Gowin established there during their work in Ghana has been the difference. It was the first church they planted and is the only church in the village. Other churches tried but were not successful in evangelizing there.”

In fact, Pastor George writes that “most people there opposed the idea of giving out land for a church. But the irony of it,” he continued, “was that it took one devoted Muslim man named Alhaji Yoruba who gave land to the church. The man passed away two years ago, but some villagers still treat his family with contempt for releasing their land to Christians for a church building.”

Yet it was from this small village church and its accompanying challenges that Pastor George’s vision of training healthy leaders evolved. Was this even possible? The answer is, with God’s help, yes. “The Sing church has been small yet outstanding in producing young healthy emerging leaders for the ministry,” Pastor George said. He wrote of Pastor Isaac Salia who leads our two churches in the Chakali area, Daniel Danaa who is a university student, and four others who work to help the churches and make evangelism possible.

Pastor George concluded, “We see that when it comes to the workings of God, He never operates within man’s predefined criteria.

“Jesus asked his followers to pray for workers who would preach the Gospel to the dying world (Matt 9:38). This has been my prayer for members in the ministry. Just as at the appointed time Jesus came into the world from a small village to save us, so has He done it in the Church of God (Holiness) Ghana Mission. He has raised leaders from this small village church called Sing. In fact, these young men are rulers and shepherds indeed.

“With God, even what is small can be used to make something wonderful.”