Apostle Opoku-Oninyah

A couple of years ago, I was in a meeting of the Ghana Evangelism Committee. Most of those present were representing Ghanaian churches. As the name of the committee suggests, it was discussing evangelism. But at the end of the meeting one of those present raised a hot button moral, social and political issue. He wanted to see action taken so he asked that the committee discuss what that might be. The man leading the meeting responded, “Just preach the gospel.”

He had full confidence the gospel was enough to solve the problem. I know the man and I know his church. It is one of the largest churches in Ghana but it was founded by a lone missionary who espoused an unusual mission strategy – that as a missionary would only preach the gospel. That is, he would not undertake any social endeavors such as medical work. He believed that if he founded a solid the church that church would develop social ministries. And that is exactly what happened. Today, the church he founded, The Church of Pentecost, has schools clinics, programs to reduce poverty, and more.

So the man’s confidence that the social and political issue could be solved by just preaching the gospel has deep roots in the history and experience of his church, not to mention in his faith in the power of God.

In Romans 1:16, the Apostle Paul wrote that he was not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God. I have always heard that this means that the Apostle was not embarrassed to speak the Gospel. But there is another way to be ashamed of the Gospel. That is by not having confidence in its power to solve real problems in this world.

Political and social action have their place but they should not displace our trust in the Gospel as the power of God to save eternally and from all kinds of problems here on earth. So, there are two ways to be ashamed of the Gospel:

• Bring embarrassed to witness
• Having lost confidence in its real power of the Gospel

I would go so far as to say that if you have a political view on how to solve a problem but not a parallel Gospel view, you might be ashamed of the Gospel. So if you have a political opinion about terrorism, but don’t have equally ardent desire to support Christian ministry to the places from which terrorists come, then maybe you are ashamed of the Gospel.

Last month in Ghana, I heard a leading pastor say that he was asked how the church can contribute to national development. His answer? Through obeying the Great Commission. He went on to talk about how evangelism transforms.

It seems that confidence in the power of the Gospel can be found throughout Ghana.

It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else! God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: “The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.” – Romans 1:16 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans1:16&version=MSG