Introducing ourselves and our ministry
Ghana has over 60 different languages and people groups. Abukari is a Dagomba, a people group from northern Ghana who number approx 1,000,000 and speak the Dagbani language. He is a Pastor with the ‘Good News Bible Church - Ghana' (formerly the 'Bible Church of Africa’) and he oversees about 24 churches in the area around Yendi, training leaders as well as church members. Abukari also heads a Bible Correspondence Course with the organisation "Call of Hope", which is based in Tamale. Joke is from the Netherlands and came to Ghana in 1995 to work with Wycliffe Bible Translators in the Dagbani Literacy Project. It was through Joke’s work in literacy with the small Dagomba churches in the Yendi area that we met and married in June 2000. Having lived in a small village in the Yendi area for over 15 years, we currently live in Tamale (the capital city of northern Ghana).
In the area we work, less than 5% of the people are Christian and most adhere to another religion. Many Christians are first generation believers and are often under enormous pressure to give up their faith. Also, only a very few of the church members have received any formal education. Discipleship and leadership training is therefore an important aspect of Abukari’s work, in order to strengthen the churches and make them sustainable by rooting them in the knowledge of God’s Word.
Also in our area, the illiteracy rate amongst adults is about 80%. There is a proverb in Dagbani which says, ‘Zilinsi ngmani yung, bangsim nye neesim’. This means, ‘ignorance is like the night, wisdom is like the light.’ Through literacy work the Word of God becomes accessible to the Dagomba and light shines in their darkness. Literacy also leads to acquiring other important knowledge about health, agriculture, trade, culture, hygiene, etc. All this knowledge is important to the Dagomba people to help them develop themselves and improve upon their living standards. Word and deed also go hand in hand in the literacy programme. Helping literacy students to set up small scale development projects such as soya bean farming or shea butter production helps address some of their financial burdens. Through this work a bridge is also being built to tell them about God.
We are always encouraged to see how, without a lot of theological knowledge, the young Dagomba Christians testify of God's strength and presence in their lives, His protection, help, healing and deliverance. The essence of the work is not in the fact that we (Abukari and Joke) have been sent out, but that God is gracious and His steadfast love never ceases and knows no bounds. God is the God of the entire earth and the real missionary is God Himself.
