New Aplaku Circuit marks fifth anniversary

The New Aplaku Circuit of the Methodist Church, Ghana, has celebrated its fifth anniversary with a call on the members not to allow their differences, be it gender, economic status, or age, to divide them.

Rather, they should work in unity to promote the work of God.

The General Director for Lay Ministries of the church, Very Rev. Emmanuel Kobina Aryee, who gave the advice in a homily to mark the anniversary, explained that where there was unity among a group, it was a sign of growth and also a sign that God was with them.

“Let us not allow our differences to divide us. Let us allow our differences to enhance our performance.

We are one with one Lord, one faith, one baptism. We belong to one Lord,” he said.

He said they could only be strong in the Lord if they worked together, adding that their ability to work together, regardless of their differences, was also a sign of growth.

He added that their knowledge of Christ was also a sign of growth, explaining that, when people were grown in the Lord, they loved to hear the Word of God and their spiritual life was above board.

Touching on the theme for the celebration, “Five years of God’s goodness and faithfulness.

Christian maturity in perspective,” Very Rev. Aryee expressed the hope that in the next five years, the church would increase in numbers, stay united and put into practice the Word of God.

The immediate past Circuit Steward of the church, Stephen Kwadwo Ntiri, said the circuit, which started with 14 societies, had now grown to 24 societies.

Achievements

Very Rev. Aryee mentioned some of the achievements of the circuit to include spiritual and numerical growth, sponsoring the ministerial training of two members of the church, sponsoring the training of two brothers to become evangelists, and a number of their lay members serving the church at various levels, including diocese and connexion and successfully hosting the commissioning of ministers in the Methodist Connexion.

On challenges, Mr Ntiri said the biggest problem had been the establishment of chapels for the societies they had created.

Unfortunately, he said, land acquisition in Accra costs so much, pointing out that all six societies they had established since they became a circuit required land.

He said that although the Accra Diocese of the church had been of great help in that regard, it had not been able to provide all the required funding; therefore, the circuit had to rely on benevolent members and sometimes on loans to finance land acquisition in the circuit.
 

New Aplaku Circuit

The New Aplaku Circuit was carved out from the Dansoman Circuit, following a tremendous growth of the Dansoman Circuit due to a deep passion for evangelism, which led to the establishment of several nursery Societies and Preaching posts in the New Aplaku and Dansoman South catchment areas.

The 2017 Expanded General Purpose Council (GPC) of the Methodist Church of Ghana, which met in Obuasi, approved the creation of the New Aplaku Section per S.O. 602a of the church.

Subsequently, the Expanded GPC of the church held in the Kumasi Diocese in August 2019 finally approved the New Aplaku Section as a Circuit with Very Rev. Emmanuel Evans Essien as its first Superintendent Minister.