A teeming crowd of over 1500 Ghanaian Seventh-day Adventist and non-Ghanaians in North America gathered together at the world headquarters of the Seventh –day Adventist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland to take part in Ghana’s 50th. Independence day celebration. Displaying their Ghanaian cultural dress of all colors, Ghanaian Adventist church members, pastors and elders came in big buses from several states to offer thanks to God for the blessings he has given the nation Ghana the past 50 years.
By early Saturday morning the auditorium was packed with Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians from all walks of life. Former ambassadors accredited to Ghana and some African countries were present. Also various Ghanaian Adventist choirs and singing groups came in all sorts of rich Kente designs to sing and to entertain the audience.
The occasion began with the audience praying and singing some patriotic Ghanaian spiritual songs. This was followed by a power point slide show by the New Jersey Ghana SDA Church pastor, Dr. Anane Amofah Asamoah on the people, places and developments in Ghana the past 50 years. Through a question-and-answer session which Dr. S.K. Twumasi, the Executive Secretary of the North American Ghanaian Adventist organization had with Mr. Rashid Inusah, the Counselor General, several questions dealing with dual citizenship, business opportunities and investments in Ghana, visa acquisition, religious liberty and other related issues were clarified by the counselor general to the delight of the congregation.
The Adventist young people’s organization headed by Nana Yaw Asiedu Baffour mounted a beautiful marching parade with marching band. This was inspected by Ghana’s Ambassador to the USA, His Excellency Dr Edusei Bawuah and his staff from the Ghana Embassy, Pastor M.A. Bediako, the Executive Secretary of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church and Pastor Enoch Affum, the president of the North American Ghanaian Adventist churches organization.
Waving the traditional red, gold, green and black colors of Ghana national flag, the entire congregation sang somber hymns, Ghanaian patriotic and national songs and recited the national pledge. The audience roared and applauded the short speeches and admonitions by various speakers. In his address to the delightful flag-frenzied audience, the ambassador brought greetings from the president of Ghana, President John Agyekum Kufour and challenged all Ghanaians in the Diaspora to “positively change our attitude to work harder, be disciplined, and have good maintenance culture and excellence customer service”
Pastor Alvin M. Kibble, the Vice President of the North American Division of SDA Church preached a powerful sermon from Deuteronomy 8:1-11. He challenged the audience to remember from whence Ghana emerged from colonialism and emulate the selfless spirit of Dr Nkrumah and others who sought to bring unity to the people of Ghana and Africa as a whole.
As part of the highlights for the day, the audience gave huge offering to buy medical equipments and supplies to ship to Ghana to assist some struggling hospitals and clinics. This is part of the Ghanaian Adventist Church “operation give-back” initiative. In an interview with Pastor Matthew Bediako and Pastor Enoch Affum who co-hosted the function, they expressed satisfaction for the spirit of coming together as one nation which the people exhibited on that day and said the church and the state must always work together.
