Thank God we are back to church!
For 11 weeks, the government of Ghana allowed no public gatherings (but people still gathered many different places, just not at school or church). Although our team families met for church services during the lockdown, we are so thankful to meet with our converts and fellow church members once again.
Meeting with Restrictions
Like many churches in the U.S., we are now allowed to meet, but with restrictions.
• Strangely, we are only allowed to meet for one hour. So, at least for the month of June, we are meeting from 9 – 10 a.m., and then we return home to listen to Pastor Speer preach on the radio or over Facebook Live.
• We are limited to 100 people per service, so there is no way for our entire church to meet together. For this reason, we have chosen to have Sunday school during the allotted hour. We are meeting on Sunday and Wednesday evenings; the first 100 people meet in our auditorium and the rest in an overflow room.
• Temperatures are taken at our front and back gates, handwashing stations are set up, sanitizers are provided, chairs are separated by one meter, and masks are required.
• No children’s services or nurseries are allowed, so children and babies must attend their parents’ class.
On Our First Sunday Back . . .
We had 86 adults in our Sunday school class and 29 children. As I went through my roster, I counted about 20 adults who would normally come, but did not. We praise the Lord for those who did attend and for 3 visitors. We pulled these visitors aside and shared the Gospel with them during the class.
Prayer Requests
We are praying much for America. Thank you for remaining strong and faithful to our Lord. Please pray for the Ghanaian government to remove the restrictions it has placed upon churches, as described above.
Your servants and His,
Mike, Maria, John, Joy, Faith, and Ben Sarver