Assemblies Of God Begins Legacy Temple Projects

A sod-cutting ceremony has taken place at Adansi Asokwa in the Ashanti Region for the construction of Legacy Temples for the Assemblies of God, Ghana.

The 500-seater auditorium has an office, an upper terrace and children’s chapel. It is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Dubbed “The transformation agenda", the Legacy Temple Project is an initiative within the vision of the General Superintendent of Assemblies of God, Ghana, Rev. Dr Stephen Yenusom Wengam.

The initiative is aimed at championing the construction of church buildings in newly planted churches, especially in rural communities. The plan is for individuals, groups of persons and agencies within the church to put up the buildings in places of their choice. 

Sod cutting
Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony for the project, Rev. Wengam recounted the genesis of Assemblies of God in Yendi in 1931, which was then within a rural area of the Northern Region.

He said most Assemblies of God churches in rural areas were not blessed with decent places of worship, hence his vision to encourage members of the church to build temples in rural areas.  

Rev. Wengam expressed the hope that people would respond to build thousands of church buildings for Assemblies of God churches in Ghana. He cited the example of the Centurion in Luke Chapter 7 who built a synagogue for the Jews and King David who had purposed in his heart to build a temple for God, saying, such persons had a special place in the heart of God.

Rev. Wengam said there was no such time as the perfect time and called on members to commence to exercise faith and take the step to do it. He stated that church members who took the initiative to build temples for churches would be honoured at General Council meetings.

They shall receive special awards, and have their names immortalised on the walls of the church buildings. The General Superintendent and his wife showed the way for the construction of legacy temples, when they sponsored the construction of a 300-seater Chapel at Goaso in the Ahafo Region.

They are currently sponsoring the completion of the temple of the first Assemblies of God, Ghana church in Yendi, where missionaries first set up the church in 1931. Rev. Wengam paid special tribute to the Adansi Asokwahene, Nana Ofori Kusi Ampofo II, for releasing land for the purpose of building the temple. 
 
Response
Nana Ampofo II, for his part, said the land belonged to God and that he could not refuse to give it back to him for the building of the temple. The lead sponsor of the project, Deacon Kwabena Adu-Boahene, said the decision to build the temple came from an observation made by his mother during the funeral of his late father.  

He said upon realising that the temple was in a bad shape, his mother pledged to find sponsors to build a new one. Deacon Adu-Boahene said the vision of the General Superintendent gave further impetus to the plan to put up a decent place of worship for the people of his native land.

On why he would not rather invest his money in ventures that would result in direct financial returns, Deacon Kwabena Adu-Boahene said he had some challenging times in his life which took the miraculous hand of God to intervene.

“These have taught me that it is better to put my interests and investments in the things of God as well,” the deacon stated.