Former Chief Justice urges Christian professionals to use their skills for God's kingdom

Former Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood has asked Christian professionals not to be content with merely excelling in their respective fields of endeavour, but to commit themselves to using their skills, influence, and resources to advance the Kingdom of God.

According to her, “the successes and achievements of Christian professionals, whether in the field of medicine, law, engineering, entrepreneurship, or any other domain, are not meant to be mere feathers” in their caps; rather, they are divine instruments, entrusted by the Almighty, to be wielded for the advancement of God’s kingdom on earth.

Justice Theodora Wood was speaking in Accra at the re-launch of the Assemblies of God Professionals Network (AGPN).

The Assemblies of God Professionals Network is the central platform within the church for connecting the wealth of professional experiences for the work of the Kingdom of God.

 Challenges along the way could not enable the network to fulfil its objectives of fully mobilising professionals from various backgrounds for the work of the Kingdom of God.

The re-launch of the network is to enable it to achieve its objective of building a network of professionals in the church, mobilise members to contribute skills, funding and other resources for missions and ministry, and coordinate church and humanitarian projects that uplift underserved communities.

It is also to create a pool of resource persons in career guidance and counselling, contribute technical and financial resources for investment to revamp existing projects and offer advisory services to the Executive Presbytery on issues and interventions that may require specialised competences.

The former Chief Justice spoke extensively on mentorship and discipleship, kingdom-minded investments, ethical leadership, economic empowerment and development, community outreach and evangelism as key areas the Christian Professional should focus attention on. She entreated Christian professionals to rise up and fulfil their calling.

The Chairman of the Governing Council of the Assemblies of God Professionals Network, Mr. Kwabena Adu-Boahene, traced the history of the work of Christian missionaries who gave impetus to the establishment of Assemblies of God in Ghana at a time when Christian missionaries were faced with huge socio-economic challenges among the populace in their quest to spread the gospel.

He said, “To give practical meaning to the Biblical teaching of caring for the needy and alleviating the suffering of the people, …Christian professionals organised literacy classes for the indigenous people and taught them various arts of block-making, door and window frame fabrication, roof truss construction and enhanced agriculture.”. 

He recalled how “the missionaries, in 1948, built the first Assemblies of God Clinic in Saboba in the Northern Region. A second clinic was built in 1950 in Nakpanduri, also in the Northern Region, and later a third one, a maternity clinic, was established in Walewale.”.

He stressed that these professionals did not only preach the message but also backed it with the work of their hands.

The contribution of Christian professionals to the spread of the gospel, therefore, cannot be underestimated.

Mr. Kwabena Adu-Boahene paid tribute to the Executive Presbytery of Assemblies of God Ghana, led by the General Superintendent, Rev. Stephen Wengam for reviving the Professionals Network to identify and unify the pool of gifted individuals to serve, using the skills and expertise God has given them.

 He called on all professionals in the church to join hands to walk in the footsteps of the trailblazers of the church to honour the Lord, as they organise regional seminars, sign up members for mentorship programmes and more.

The General Superintendent of Assemblies of God, Ghana, Rev. Stephen Wengam, expressed his appreciation to all those who worked hard to revive the Assemblies of God Professionals Network.  

He said, “Assemblies of God recognize the presence of professionals and the absolute need to mobilise them for missions while providing the platform for their networking to create a pool for accessing such expertise and talents for effective administration of the church”.  

He said the leadership of the church is poised to bring professionals on board to help provide expertise in its administration. It was for this reason that, at his induction, he announced the relaunch of this important wing of the church to play a key role in the realisation of the aspirations of his vision for the church, called the Transformation Agenda. Rev. Wengam said, “All professionals in Assemblies of God have their lives stamped with divine purpose to make a world of difference in every area of church operations." The re-launch of the network surely comes with vistas of opportunities for professionals all over the country to write their names in the history of Assemblies of God, Ghana, forever.

Rev. Stephen Wengam was also inducted into office members of the Governing Council of the Assemblies of God Professionals Network. They are Mr. Kwabena Adu-Boahene, Director General of the National Signals Bureau (Chairman), Mr. Isaac Abanga, Consultant and Petroleum Economist (Secretary), Justice Priscilla Dapaah Mireku, High Court Judge (Member), Mr. Fred Darko, MD, E-volution International (member) and Mr. George Smith Graham, International Human Capital Development Consultant (member). Rev. Wengam charged them to remain steadfast in their pursuit of excellence, knowing that God has called them for this purpose.

The relaunch event was attended by professionals with various backgrounds within the Assemblies of God, including politicians from all sides of the political divide.

The event saw a pure display of unity in political diversity, with the MP for Krowor, Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, Deputy Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, and the NPP MP for Kwabre East, as well as the NPP MP for Oforikrom, all members of Assemblies of God, mounting the stage to address the gathering.

A panel discussion on how the Christian professional can use his or her God-given talents and material resources to excellently serve the Lord in church administration, in the Great Commission and in mentoring the next generation of Christian professionals saw the sharing of great insights by the panellists.

The Professionals Network demonstrated its commitment to contribute to the work of the church by donating a brand new Nissan X-TERRA to the national office of the Youth Ministry Department of Assemblies of God, Ghana.

As part of the re-launch, an ultra-modern office space was also dedicated for the Assemblies of God Professionals Network. Similar offices are expected to be opened in the regions of the church.