PCG launches 200th anniversary December

The Presbyterian Church of Ghana is gearing up to launch a comprehensive programme to mark its bi-centennial anniversary. 

The first four missionaries from the Evangelical Basel Missionary Society Missionaries of the church first landed on the Gold Coast in December 1828. December of 2028 would thus be the PCG’s 200th year in Ghana. 

The Clerk of the General Assembly, Rev. Dr. Godwin Nii Noi Odonkor, in his 2024 General Assembly report explained that the church had decided to celebrate the occasion in a grand style. “We intend to use this celebration to thank God, to reflect on our heritage and seek the face of God for our collective future,” he said. 

He informed the general assembly that the anniversary planning committee had been working feverishly to ensure a fit-for-purpose celebration for all courts of the church. 

Plan

The committee would roll out a programme that would run for the next four years with the climax in December 2028 at the Black Star Square, Accra. 

“The General Assembly Council has accepted that events marking this anniversary should begin in earnest from this year. The first in a series of anniversary lectures will be held on Wednesday, October 30 of this year, at the Cedi Hall, University of Ghana, and will explore the theme of the anniversary” Rev. Dr. Godwin Nii Noi Odonkor stated. 

“To set the events rolling, Sunday, December 22, 2024, will see the grand national launch at the Osu Castle, where the very first four missionaries from the Evangelical Basel Missionary Society were received and at which place they preached their very first sermon and offered prayers to God in the then Gold Coast,” the General Assembly Clerk stated. 

A major part of the bi-centennial celebration by the church is the construction of a massive conference centre at Kutunse, a project that he said was dear to the heart of all Presbyterians not least the Moderator, Rt. Rev. Dr. Abraham Nana Opare Kwakye. 

Growth, impact

On the PCG’s growth, the Clerk of the General Assembly indicated that the various Presbyteries under the church continued to grow and expand in all vital church ministry statistics.

Rev. Dr Odonkor said the Presbyteries recorded growth ranging between 6.5 per cent and 15.7 per cent, with Europe recording the highest (15.7 per cent). He added that all the seven departments of the PCG along with their committees had as well been working efficiently. 

He praised the church for adopting a generic election procedure. He said the document would ensure more fairness and orderliness in national group elections. He appealed to the various church groups to embrace and implement its dictates to forestall the tension often associated with the election of national officers. 

The Clerk of the General Assembly further lauded the PCG’s response to the victims of the Akosombo spillage saying that under the aegis of the Presbyterian Relief Services, major relief efforts such as cooked meals, drinking water, clothing, toiletries, school uniforms, exercise books, farm inputs and cash were sent to the victims at various locations.