Bethany Hunter Shares What God Is Doing in Ghana
We drove for hours. Some of the roads were paved, but most of our journey was on a washed-out dirt road. We almost got stuck in the mud that is so prevalent during the rainy season. At one point, I said, “Well, this looks like the end of the road.” But it wasn’t. We just drove through that village and kept on going. Jeneé and I looked at each other and raised our eyebrows, unsure how much farther this adventure would take us. No GPS and no cell service to speak of, we just followed the motorcyclist in front of us who had agreed to guide us to the village we sought.
Eventually, we arrived at our destination. The four of us ladies, two from HerMission and two from Ghana WMU, waited in the truck while Pastor Francis spoke with the elders about gathering the community. It was not difficult to bring everyone together quickly once they heard there were Americans visiting.
We were there to plant a church. There are thousands of remote villages in Ghana where people worship their native gods or don’t worship at all. Ghana Baptists, Ghana WMU, and the Global Missions Resource Center are working together to plant Baptist churches all over this small country to ensure everyone has access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This was the first of two villages we planned to attend today, and I volunteered to speak first.
Nervously, I spoke about my God, the one God who created Heaven and Earth. I shared about God’s love for us that came in the form of His son, Jesus, who lived for us and died for our sins so that we might live eternally in Heaven. After translating for me, Pastor Francis continued to speak in the native language. Community members were listening, raising their hands, wanting to pray to be saved. Then, the village agreed to have a church and provide leaders to be trained in that church. It was very moving to see so many give their lives not just to Christ, but to service in the church.
In his excitement, Pastor Francis turned to me and said, “Do you have a name?” I said, “Bethany”…and because of a significant language barrier and my complete misunderstanding of the question, Bethany Baptist Church was established.
Of course, I was mortified. I would never want to name a church after myself, but I consider it this way: I will never forget to pray for Bethany Baptist Church in Yendi, Ghana. I will think of them often and hope that, just as Jesus returned so frequently to his friends in Bethany, I will also get to return to my friends in that village, to encourage them, to learn from them, to worship and pray with them.
This was just one afternoon of our two-week adventure in Ghana. We traveled hundreds of miles, planted churches, spoke with WMU groups, toured schools, evangelized in the streets, and prayed over the sick. At the 63rd Annual Ghana WMU Conference, we worshiped, learned, and spoke with the 1700 Ghanaian women who had traveled from all over the country. We met many people with extraordinary faith in God, as well as those highly interested in getting to know a man called Jesus.
Your Adult Mission Strategist, Jeneé Shearin, and I are eager to share more about our trip. Please reach out to us if you are interested in having one of us to come to your church to tell you all about the amazing work that is happening there.
