It has been great to be part of the development of leaders in the great movement of God in Ghana.  During our visit to Ghana this past February, Pastor Joe Vogel and Idiscussed with Prince Paul the value of healthy doctrinal teaching and recommended that he visit the “Children Desiring God” conference held at Bethlehem Baptist Church.  Funds were made available for him to attend he came to the USA and attended the conference.

Because of the doctrinally sound emphasis that is seen in John Piper’s church we wanted Prince Paul to see how he could use this sort of training in Ghana.  We recommended the children’s conference because of the nature of the educational levels of the third world.  He agreed with us and after spending time at the conference was very encouraged by what he learned that could be done in the area of teaching sound doctrine.

Though the idea of using children’s ministry programing might sound a bit juvenile, you must investigate “Children Desiring God” before jumping to a hasty conclusion.  From our experience with most childrens’ Sunday School material it is hard to imagine how it would not be an insult to adults to use such simple material with them.  That is why it is important to examine both the culture that we are working in and the source of materials that we plan to use. 

1.  The national language of Ghana is English but the primary language spoken by most people will be their tribal language of which few of these have a written form.  The Bible that is most commonly used in Ghana is a very simple English version.  With this in mind it is important to have discipleship and doctrinal material that is very easily understood in the form of English that the Ghanaians possess.

2. “Children Desiring God” is not your run of the mill SS material.  This material teaches “the doctrine of the Apostles” and points all who use it to a high view of the doctrine of God.  Where there is a high view of the doctrine of God there is a high view of God.  The movement of God in Ghana is notably one that is God centered rather than man centered and we would like to guard this and keep it that way.  In the Americas we all can see that a man centered gospel has replaced a God centered Gospel.  How often have we all heard, “the church doesn’t meet my needs!”  Yet the same people who ask this question can’t quite explain what they need. 

What is our greatest need?  Many are “trying to find themselves”, but are not looking hard enough.  We define the idea of finding ourselves as finding some purpose that defines me in terms that bolster my sense of importance.  But the Scripture describes “self” as a hindrance to knowing God’s will and good pleasure.  From the Biblical perspective it would be good if we truly “found ourselves”.  What do I mean by that?  If I became fully aware of what my “self” was like I would be appalled.  Self is at odds with God.  The big “I” wants to “be like God”, or put in modern terms “be the god of my own universe”.  Finding myself is elusive as long as I am looking for something high quality, grandiose or special.  Truly “finding myself” will lead me to Calvary.  Knowing what my heart is like will reveal the utter depravity of my soul, the ugliness of my absolute self centeredness and all the barriers that I have carefullyconstructed  and  maintained to protect my enormous ego.  Simply put, “I should be broken before God and sorrowful to the point of death” at a true knowledge of myself.  Sounds terrible but… it is the best thing that could ever happen to us.  This won’t happen without God’s involvement.  Because we are so self protective we wont’, or better put can’t, let this happen.  It takes a work of a sovereign God to reveal our hearts to us.  This is an act of love on the part of God.  We need to see our awfulness and when we do it is a work of God drawing us to HIM.  God doesn’t reveal our awfulness to put us in our place.  He reveals our awfulness to make us aware of our desperate need for grace and in the following moments pours out His marvelous grace upon us.  It is after He has let us see our sinfulness that he reveals His mercy and grace and forgiveness and pours His Spirit into our spirits to redeem us for all eternity and make us His own.

Once we have understood our sinfulness and His wonderfulness why would want to return to living for ourselves?  From that day forward we want His life to be manifest in us.  When a person truly seeks God it is because God has opened his heart.  We are too stubborn, too proud , to self centered, and too self protective to be able to overcome these characteristics and become seekers of God.  We “Desire God” because, in His mercy He overshadows our sinfulness with His power to draw us to Him.

Remember to continue to pray for Ghana, Prince Paul and the next series of letters on marriage that are being formulated for the leadership there.

What a Way To Live

Pastor Dave