Church and community: Cedar Mountain Chapel raises leaders for impact
In recent times, the Church has found innovative ways to affect society positively beyond imparting the word of God and raising godly people.
The Cedar Mountain Chapel (CMC) at East Legon in Accra is using a leadership incubator system to raise leaders for political offices.
Daily Graphic (DG) reporter, Maclean Kwofi, had a chat with the Lead Pastor, Reverend Stephen Yenusom Wengam (SYW), on how the church is leveraging Christianity to make impact in society.
Rev. Stephen Yenusom Wengam (left), Lead Pastor, Cedar Mountain Chapel, speaking to our reporter
DG: Rev Wengam, thank you for the opportunity. Most of us know you as ‘the Prisons Pastor’, given the work you did and continue to do with the prisons. Beyond that who are you?
SYW: I am a Ghanaian from Bunkpurugu Paknatik in the North East Region and was born at Tema. I started my basic school education at Nungua Primary School in the early 1980s but later in search of quality education my parents moved me to a private school, Teshie Preparatory School, that was where my path crossed with the Executive Chairman of Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong.
I was born into a Christian family, my parents are born and bred Assemblies of God members. From school the desire to become a pastor was very strong and to the glory of God today, I am the Lead and Founding Pastor of Cedar Mountain Chapel, East Legon, Assemblies of God.
We see ourselves as the church of God on the move, believing God for hard things. I got into Pastoral Ministry in the late 1990s. I became a Senior Pastor between 1999 and 2002 at the New Life Outreach Ministry before joining the Glory Assemblies of God as an Associate Pastor from 2002 to 2004. When I moved there, many felt it was a demotion but to me, it was time for God to prepare me for the tasks ahead.
Fast-forward to between 2004 and 2010, I served as the Associate Pastor at the Ringway Gospel Centre, Assemblies of God, and doubled as the Director of Administration, Assemblies of God Ghana headquarters from 2004 till 2012.
Currently, I am the Resident Radio Pastor of Citi 97.3FM and former Board Chairman of the Fifth Ghana Prisons Council, during which my Love Ministry and supporting the prisons blew up.
As the chairman, the council launched a 10-year strategic plan and a self-help project christened “Project Efiase”, a project that sought to transform Ghana Prisons into centres of excellence.
I am also the West Africa Executive Coordinator of Global Leadership Training USA, from 2006 till date and I am a spiritual mentor and coach to many in diverse industries.
I have taken the Word of God to many parts of the world, including Europe, USA, Asia, Middle East and Africa.
I am married to my Lady Monica Wengam and we are blessed with two children; Ithra and Mathew King.
DG: What is the focus of CMC?
SYW: Cedar Mountain Chapel International is a 21st century cutting-edge New Testament model church under the Assemblies of God Ghana. Our aim is to excel in worship, raise leaders and provide leadership in all things.
The church uses every excellent and innovative means to win souls, thereby equipping the individual to live a fulfilling life on earth, to become relevant in society, and qualify them to live in eternity.
The 11-year-old church which started at East Legon from humble beginnings currently has an active membership of about 1,600 congregants.
In 2020, during the pandemic, the church built and dedicated its state-of-the-art 1,300-seater auditorium known as the Cedar First Chapel at Shiashie, where we currently worship.
I am the Lead Pastor and ably supported by three associate pastors, a church board, and members who are passionate about the things of God.
Our mission is to disciple the nations, international community in Ghana, primarily, and extend our influence globally. And so, we are to disciple the nation through every excellent and innovative means, thereby equipping the individual to lead, live a fruitful life on earth, become relevant in societal development and qualify to live in eternity, Heaven.
DG: How can the church support the national development agenda?
SYW: Churches need to be intentional at raising Christians to go into politics, public and private sector with a clear agenda to transform society. In the 2020 General Election, we wanted to send four of our members to Parliament but we got one.
We believe that the only way we can affect societal development is to develop full-time functional Christians who will go into politics, the public and private sectors to help fight against corruption and ensure that leadership is focused on the interest of the nation.
The church has initiated processes to start a political incubator programme that is aimed at nurturing members to contest political positions for the purposes of governing the country. Our vision, therefore, is to raise more Christians to Parliament to change the narrative.
DG: What have been the results of this project so far?
SYW: It is a strategic initiative by the church to affect the leadership of society. Our vision is to raise more members to go to Parliament and I am happy to note that it is going on well.
Currently, we have one Member of Parliament (MP), Mr Akwasi Darko Boateng, representing the people of Bosome Freho in the Ashanti Region.
In the 2020 elections, we said we wanted to send four people to Parliament but we got one person, Mr Boateng.
Beyond that we have a couple of government officials in this church because we believe that the way we can affect societal development is to develop full-time functional Christians who will go into politics, the public and private sectors to help fight corruption and to ensure that leadership is focused on the interest of the nation.
DG: That sounds interesting but how is that related to winning souls for Christ as we know it to be the mandate of churches?
SYW: Well, we believe that the Church is a critical agent of society and as a force for good, we should position ourselves in ways that impact society positively. We believe that there is a leadership challenge in Africa because the Church has not been intentional at raising Christians to go into politics with a clear agenda to transform our society.
So in our 10-year strategic plan, we want to create something like an incubator that will nurture Christian politicians, driving on the back of the MP we have been able to send to Parliament.
DG: How do you fish the members out and how are they groomed?
SYW: The idea is a political incubator that produces leaders for political offices and other positions in society. With the political incubator, we give our members a clear agenda to enter into politics and represent Christ and make a difference and not to go and join the current system and become ordinary.
It is a deliberate and conscious effort to spot talents, harvest and nurture them through one-on-one discussions, mentorship and seminars.
On Sunday, for instance, I had a meeting with our MP ahead of our upcoming seminar. We are going to bring two parliamentarians from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to speak to our members on politics.
Interestingly, the attention appears to be on politics but is not limited to politics alone. We are also planning on how to also develop people into business and chieftaincy, among others.
DG: What is next for this project?
SYW: We want to make the Church and the gospel relevant in societal and human development. We are tired preaching gospel which is above the heads of people. We want to make the gospel relevant in social, economic, political and educational development, and Cedar Mountain wants to lead that.
For us, the Church should also show integrity and be accountable, and one of the best ways to do this is to infect the leadership of society with members.
So going forward, you should see more products of the leadership incubator in Parliament and other political offices, businesses and even in chieftaincy. The vision is to empower members to lead everywhere they find themselves.
DG: I understand your drive to raise godly leaders earned you an award in the United States of America (USA) recently. Congratulations, but what is it about?
SYW: The award came as a big surprise because of the personality behind the institution that presented the award, the General Superintendent of Assemblies of God, United States, Rev. Doug Clay, who is also the Chairman of the World Fellowship Assemblies of God.
The fellowship is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination.
Ceder Mounting Chapel recently received a global award and citation for excellence
The Assemblies of God is the largest Pentecostal body in the world with 65 million members and has presence in every country across the globe. In Africa, the record shows that we have 19 million members.
The Church of Excellence is an award given once a year, often to Assemblies of God churches in the United States. This is the first time the award has been given to a church outside the United States and this makes it very significant and shocking to us as a church.
DG: What did the CMC do differently to merit this award?
SYW: The award emphasised excellence – using innovative means to make a global impact. For this reason, a background check was done on the church in the preceding year, so that the award is conferred on the beneficiary church in the ensuing year. What it means is that our impact as a church has gone beyond the borders of the country.
An example was in 2017, when I traveled with about 37 of our choristers to Kenya for foreign mission. We were there twice where they paid their own ticket and we had a huge impact in East Africa. We have sponsored missionaries to Spain, the United States and other parts of the world. In this church, we have nine different nationals who worship here. The church has also built a solid social media presence to reach our global audience.
And so, the award is given based on activities of the church in 2021 and this will help spur the CMC for excellence going forward.
DG: How does the church intend to leverage the honour to grow?
SYW: This honour has come to strengthen us because this is not a local award. It is an international award and for us, defending a title is more important. The church has started to strategise to ensure that anyone who visits the church attests to the fact that indeed the CMC deserves the award and more.
DG: What strategy is being put in place to grow CMC and institutionalise its impact in society?
SYW: Last year, the church started implementing its 10-year strategic development plan to build up for the next decade. Covering various thematic areas, the church seeks to leverage the strategic plan to build a 6,000-seater cathedral to grow the congregation from the current 1,300 members to 6,000 members.
We have also launched a new evangelism project this year dubbed; ‘build and fill’, in order to win more people for Christ. With this, we do not want to build an auditorium which we cannot fill and so, while we are building a new temple, we have launched an aggressive evangelism project this year to win more souls to Christ and we are targeting 5,000 new members by the time we are done with the 6,000-seater cathedral.
In addition to the cathedral, the strategic plan would also birth an eight-storey office complex, children’s block and a ground car park for members.
DG: What are your final words to Ghanaians and your congregants?
SYW: 2022 is our year of glory, and that is the word God gave us. So even though it is a year of glory, it won’t come on a silver platter, we need to pay a high price for the glory to manifest.
To my congregants and Christian’s in general, things will be tough this year but those who position themselves well, will see God’s glory in the cleft of the rock.
I also want to urge Ghanaians to put Ghana first in everything they do, because those who are often remembered are those who put their personal interest aside.
Profile
Rev Stephen Wengam holds a Diploma in Theology from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Ghana and another diploma in Christian Clinical Counselling from the International Theological Seminary, USA.
He also holds a Master’s degree in Theology from the International Theological Seminary, USA and another Master of Theology (Candid) from the Global University, USA.
Rev Wengam earned his undergraduate certificate in BSc Administration, Management option, from the University of Ghana Business School, Legon.
With a Certificate in Corporate Governance from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), he is able to relate in the boardroom as he does on religious assignments.