Rev-examine your lives--E.P Moderator tells Ghanaians (Mirror, April 2, 2015) Front
Ghanaians have been urged to use the
Easter season to do a self-appraisal and re-examination of their lives to
assess where they have fallen short and pray vehemently for forgiveness.
“ Easter serves as a period for us
to rededicate our lives to God. As humans, we often fall prey to evil deeds
because we rarely submit to the Holy Spirit to guide us. Our lives have
been corrupted with greed, hatred, fraud, falsehood and many other acts of
misconduct that are not worthy of the children of God,” the newly inducted Moderator
of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Rt Rev. Dr Seth S. Agidi, told The
Mirror in an interview in Accra.
The Moderator, who has been mounting
the pulpit for the last 28 years, also took issues with what he described as a
high level of indiscipline and disloyalty in the fabric of Ghanaian society.
“Our society is increasingly
adulterated with disregard for laws. Regrettably, people who engage in such
conduct belong to one faith, institution or the other. These are people who
should rather demonstrate a high sense of discipline as faithful stewards.”
“The rising trend of hate speech and
insults on some media airwaves and public places, reckless misconduct and
reported cases of fraudulent acts in some instances involving high profile
personalities, pose a threat to the stability and peaceful coexistence that we
desire and yearn for as a state’’, he said.
“Let us use the available platforms
at our disposal to denounce the social canker that is ruining our society.”
Profile
Rt Rev. Dr Agidi replaced the Very
Rev. Francis Amenu who has finished serving the church in the highest office
for six years as the13th Moderator of the General Assembly of the church.
The Moderator also served as the
Director of Programmes, Ecumenical and Social Relations of the E.P. Church from
2010 to 2014 and also the Principal of the E.P. Seminary in Peki from 2003 to
2010.
According to him, his election as
the Moderator came with “mixed feelings. I appreciate the fact that I was
recognised for the role I have been playing in the church. However, the
enormity of the work and the responsibility frightens me sometimes, but I count
on the good Lord who kept me going through all these years.”
“I also realise that if God did not
think I will be able to stand the responsibilities, I will not be the
choice. This gives me hope and courage.”
According to him, doubling the
church membership through a focus on discipleship would be key among his agenda
during his tenure of office.
Education
Rt Rev. Dr Agidi holds a Master of
Theology and a Doctor of Ministry from the Eden Theological Seminary, St Louis,
Missouri in the United States.
A teacher by profession, the E.P
Moderator attended the Jasikan Teacher Training College where he graduated in
1976.
Before then his middle school days
were at Have and Ve-Kolenu all in the Volta Region, which he completed in 1970
before he enrolled at the Ho Technical Institute (now the Ho Polytechnic) where
he obtained a Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Stage II.
His first teaching experience took
him to Woe in the Keta Municipality at the local Salvation Army Primary School
where within three years he rose to become a Zonal Sports Organiser.
Woe brings to the Moderator many
memories—it was that small Coastal town now in the Keta Municipality that he
met and married his wife, Margaret, the mother of his four children, in 1983.
He also received his calling to work in the vineyard at Woe.
Raised by a single mother, Rt Rev.
Dr Agidi had some fond recollections of his childhood which he said made it
easy alongside the encouragement of one Rev. Acolatse, his mentor, to answer
God’s call.
“My single mother was like a
battalion. She lived up to expectation and brought us up in the church. She was
a choir member herself. I was literally brought up in the church. I was
12 years old when she enrolled me in the church choir.”
According to Rt Rev. Dr Agidi, his
first experience on the pulpit came in the mid 1980s.
“One day, Rev Acolatse was
travelling and asked me to preach on Sunday. He encouraged me to prepare.
It was really a nervous moment but the response was very positive after
the service.”
That response from the congregation
cemented a yearning to join the priesthood and the young Seth took the bold
step and entered the Trinity Theological Seminary in 1985 which he completed in
1987, and was posted to the Peki Blengo E.P. Church. That church incidentally
happened to be the first E.P Church established by the Bremen
Missionaries.
Here, the first obstacle was his
acceptance by the people as father of the congregation because of his
relatively young age—32 –especially at a time when the church had in the past
been in the hands of seasoned pastors.
However, with his hard work showing
all over the church, Rt Rev. Dr Agidi said it became a tug of war when the
leadership of the church decided to transfer him to Sekondi-Takoradi in 1995
where he supervised 23 congregations and helped in planting four churches in
Cote d’Ivoire but lost two of those churches to the Ivorian civil war in 2011.
Clash
with culture
Pastors have their share of clashes
with culture. It was at Peki Blengo that he had his brush up with tradition in
1993.
“There was a tradition that within a
certain period, there should be no light in the town at night to enable the
traditional authorities perform a certain ritual. I was not at home at the
time, but when I returned and was entering the house, some youth of the town
attacked me but some well-meaning people held them back.”
Eventually, he was summoned before
the Togbega Kwadzo Dei XI, the Paramount Chief of Peki, for arbitration where
he spent 8 hours but it took the late paramount chief to intervene, saying, “it
would not be his time that a priest would be brought and charged for any
offence. Osofo, you can go to your house. You have done nothing wrong.”
“That decision was very good for the
church and community. Since then we lived peacefully. I would have willingly
put off the light anyway. I had nothing to lose,” he said, with a smile.
Split
of the E.P. Church
Rt Rev. Dr Agidi was also at Peki
Blengo when the church differences over some of its members over doctrinal and
constitutional differences resulted in some members of the E.P Church leaving
to form the Global Evangelical Church after a full-blown legal tussle.
He admitted that the issue could
have been handled in a different way.
“There could have been compromises.
Some of the issues were about leadership. Other issues were about mode of
worship. As a church, we had Presbyterian way of doing things, but then
the charismatic influence had come into the church and had caught up with the
people.”
“It looks like we did not open up
very much to accept the new form of worship. The Catholic Church did quite well
in accepting them. We could have handled it in a different way to prevent what
happened.”
He, however, said a lot had gone on
over the years to settle the differences and give due recognition but said some
of the cases were still in court because of fight over property on both sides.
A
case for the aged
Apart from his passion for
evangelism, the Moderator is also a strong advocate for social interventions
for the aged; Rt Rev. Dr Agidi founded the Shepherd Centre of Ageing with 108
centres in the Volta Region and one centre in the Eastern Region.
Ghanaians
have been urged to use the Easter season to do a self-appraisal and
re-examination of their lives to assess where they have fallen short and
pray vehemently for forgiveness.
“ Easter serves as a period for us to rededicate our lives to God. As
humans, we often fall prey to evil deeds because we rarely submit to
the Holy Spirit to guide us. Our lives have been corrupted with greed,
hatred, fraud, falsehood and many other acts of misconduct that are not
worthy of the children of God,” the newly inducted Moderator of the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Rt Rev. Dr Seth S. Agidi, told The
Mirror in an interview in Accra.
The Moderator, who has been mounting the pulpit for the last 28 years, also took issues with what he described as a high level of indiscipline and disloyalty in the fabric of Ghanaian society.
“Our society is increasingly adulterated with disregard for laws. Regrettably, people who engage in such conduct belong to one faith, institution or the other. These are people who should rather demonstrate a high sense of discipline as faithful stewards.”
“The rising trend of hate speech and insults on some media airwaves and public places, reckless misconduct and reported cases of fraudulent acts in some instances involving high profile personalities, pose a threat to the stability and peaceful coexistence that we desire and yearn for as a state’’, he said.
“Let us use the available platforms at our disposal to denounce the social canker that is ruining our society.”
The Moderator also served as the Director of Programmes, Ecumenical and Social Relations of the E.P. Church from 2010 to 2014 and also the Principal of the E.P. Seminary in Peki from 2003 to 2010.
According to him, his election as the Moderator came with “mixed feelings. I appreciate the fact that I was recognised for the role I have been playing in the church. However, the enormity of the work and the responsibility frightens me sometimes, but I count on the good Lord who kept me going through all these years.”
“I also realise that if God did not think I will be able to stand the responsibilities, I will not be the choice. This gives me hope and courage.”
According to him, doubling the church membership through a focus on discipleship would be key among his agenda during his tenure of office.
A teacher by profession, the E.P Moderator attended the Jasikan Teacher Training College where he graduated in 1976.
Before then his middle school days were at Have and Ve-Kolenu all in the Volta Region, which he completed in 1970 before he enrolled at the Ho Technical Institute (now the Ho Polytechnic) where he obtained a Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Stage II.
His first teaching experience took him to Woe in the Keta Municipality at the local Salvation Army Primary School where within three years he rose to become a Zonal Sports Organiser.
Woe brings to the Moderator many memories—it was that small Coastal town now in the Keta Municipality that he met and married his wife, Margaret, the mother of his four children, in 1983. He also received his calling to work in the vineyard at Woe.
Raised by a single mother, Rt Rev. Dr Agidi had some fond recollections of his childhood which he said made it easy alongside the encouragement of one Rev. Acolatse, his mentor, to answer God’s call.
“My single mother was like a battalion. She lived up to expectation and brought us up in the church. She was a choir member herself. I was literally brought up in the church. I was 12 years old when she enrolled me in the church choir.”
According to Rt Rev. Dr Agidi, his first experience on the pulpit came in the mid 1980s.
“One day, Rev Acolatse was travelling and asked me to preach on Sunday. He encouraged me to prepare. It was really a nervous moment but the response was very positive after the service.”
That response from the congregation cemented a yearning to join the priesthood and the young Seth took the bold step and entered the Trinity Theological Seminary in 1985 which he completed in 1987, and was posted to the Peki Blengo E.P. Church. That church incidentally happened to be the first E.P Church established by the Bremen Missionaries.
Here, the first obstacle was his acceptance by the people as father of the congregation because of his relatively young age—32 –especially at a time when the church had in the past been in the hands of seasoned pastors.
However, with his hard work showing all over the church, Rt Rev. Dr Agidi said it became a tug of war when the leadership of the church decided to transfer him to Sekondi-Takoradi in 1995 where he supervised 23 congregations and helped in planting four churches in Cote d’Ivoire but lost two of those churches to the Ivorian civil war in 2011.
“There was a tradition that within a certain period, there should be no light in the town at night to enable the traditional authorities perform a certain ritual. I was not at home at the time, but when I returned and was entering the house, some youth of the town attacked me but some well-meaning people held them back.”
Eventually, he was summoned before the Togbega Kwadzo Dei XI, the Paramount Chief of Peki, for arbitration where he spent 8 hours but it took the late paramount chief to intervene, saying, “it would not be his time that a priest would be brought and charged for any offence. Osofo, you can go to your house. You have done nothing wrong.”
“That decision was very good for the church and community. Since then we lived peacefully. I would have willingly put off the light anyway. I had nothing to lose,” he said, with a smile.
He admitted that the issue could have been handled in a different way.
“There could have been compromises. Some of the issues were about leadership. Other issues were about mode of worship. As a church, we had Presbyterian way of doing things, but then the charismatic influence had come into the church and had caught up with the people.”
“It looks like we did not open up very much to accept the new form of worship. The Catholic Church did quite well in accepting them. We could have handled it in a different way to prevent what happened.”
He, however, said a lot had gone on over the years to settle the differences and give due recognition but said some of the cases were still in court because of fight over property on both sides.
- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/41087-re-examine-your-lives-rt-rev-dr-agidi.html#sthash.zxZ626Nx.dpufThe Moderator, who has been mounting the pulpit for the last 28 years, also took issues with what he described as a high level of indiscipline and disloyalty in the fabric of Ghanaian society.
“Our society is increasingly adulterated with disregard for laws. Regrettably, people who engage in such conduct belong to one faith, institution or the other. These are people who should rather demonstrate a high sense of discipline as faithful stewards.”
“The rising trend of hate speech and insults on some media airwaves and public places, reckless misconduct and reported cases of fraudulent acts in some instances involving high profile personalities, pose a threat to the stability and peaceful coexistence that we desire and yearn for as a state’’, he said.
“Let us use the available platforms at our disposal to denounce the social canker that is ruining our society.”
Profile
Rt Rev. Dr Agidi replaced the Very Rev. Francis Amenu who has finished serving the church in the highest office for six years as the13th Moderator of the General Assembly of the church.The Moderator also served as the Director of Programmes, Ecumenical and Social Relations of the E.P. Church from 2010 to 2014 and also the Principal of the E.P. Seminary in Peki from 2003 to 2010.
According to him, his election as the Moderator came with “mixed feelings. I appreciate the fact that I was recognised for the role I have been playing in the church. However, the enormity of the work and the responsibility frightens me sometimes, but I count on the good Lord who kept me going through all these years.”
“I also realise that if God did not think I will be able to stand the responsibilities, I will not be the choice. This gives me hope and courage.”
According to him, doubling the church membership through a focus on discipleship would be key among his agenda during his tenure of office.
Education
Rt Rev. Dr Agidi holds a Master of Theology and a Doctor of Ministry from the Eden Theological Seminary, St Louis, Missouri in the United States.A teacher by profession, the E.P Moderator attended the Jasikan Teacher Training College where he graduated in 1976.
Before then his middle school days were at Have and Ve-Kolenu all in the Volta Region, which he completed in 1970 before he enrolled at the Ho Technical Institute (now the Ho Polytechnic) where he obtained a Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Stage II.
His first teaching experience took him to Woe in the Keta Municipality at the local Salvation Army Primary School where within three years he rose to become a Zonal Sports Organiser.
Woe brings to the Moderator many memories—it was that small Coastal town now in the Keta Municipality that he met and married his wife, Margaret, the mother of his four children, in 1983. He also received his calling to work in the vineyard at Woe.
Raised by a single mother, Rt Rev. Dr Agidi had some fond recollections of his childhood which he said made it easy alongside the encouragement of one Rev. Acolatse, his mentor, to answer God’s call.
“My single mother was like a battalion. She lived up to expectation and brought us up in the church. She was a choir member herself. I was literally brought up in the church. I was 12 years old when she enrolled me in the church choir.”
According to Rt Rev. Dr Agidi, his first experience on the pulpit came in the mid 1980s.
“One day, Rev Acolatse was travelling and asked me to preach on Sunday. He encouraged me to prepare. It was really a nervous moment but the response was very positive after the service.”
That response from the congregation cemented a yearning to join the priesthood and the young Seth took the bold step and entered the Trinity Theological Seminary in 1985 which he completed in 1987, and was posted to the Peki Blengo E.P. Church. That church incidentally happened to be the first E.P Church established by the Bremen Missionaries.
Here, the first obstacle was his acceptance by the people as father of the congregation because of his relatively young age—32 –especially at a time when the church had in the past been in the hands of seasoned pastors.
However, with his hard work showing all over the church, Rt Rev. Dr Agidi said it became a tug of war when the leadership of the church decided to transfer him to Sekondi-Takoradi in 1995 where he supervised 23 congregations and helped in planting four churches in Cote d’Ivoire but lost two of those churches to the Ivorian civil war in 2011.
Clash with culture
Pastors have their share of clashes with culture. It was at Peki Blengo that he had his brush up with tradition in 1993.“There was a tradition that within a certain period, there should be no light in the town at night to enable the traditional authorities perform a certain ritual. I was not at home at the time, but when I returned and was entering the house, some youth of the town attacked me but some well-meaning people held them back.”
Eventually, he was summoned before the Togbega Kwadzo Dei XI, the Paramount Chief of Peki, for arbitration where he spent 8 hours but it took the late paramount chief to intervene, saying, “it would not be his time that a priest would be brought and charged for any offence. Osofo, you can go to your house. You have done nothing wrong.”
“That decision was very good for the church and community. Since then we lived peacefully. I would have willingly put off the light anyway. I had nothing to lose,” he said, with a smile.
Split of the E.P. Church
Rt Rev. Dr Agidi was also at Peki Blengo when the church differences over some of its members over doctrinal and constitutional differences resulted in some members of the E.P Church leaving to form the Global Evangelical Church after a full-blown legal tussle.He admitted that the issue could have been handled in a different way.
“There could have been compromises. Some of the issues were about leadership. Other issues were about mode of worship. As a church, we had Presbyterian way of doing things, but then the charismatic influence had come into the church and had caught up with the people.”
“It looks like we did not open up very much to accept the new form of worship. The Catholic Church did quite well in accepting them. We could have handled it in a different way to prevent what happened.”
He, however, said a lot had gone on over the years to settle the differences and give due recognition but said some of the cases were still in court because of fight over property on both sides.
A case for the aged
Apart from his passion for evangelism, the Moderator is also a strong advocate for social interventions for the aged; Rt Rev. Dr Agidi founded the Shepherd Centre of Ageing with 108 centres in the Volta Region and one centre in the Eastern Region.
Ghanaians
have been urged to use the Easter season to do a self-appraisal and
re-examination of their lives to assess where they have fallen short and
pray vehemently for forgiveness.
“ Easter serves as a period for us to rededicate our lives to God. As
humans, we often fall prey to evil deeds because we rarely submit to
the Holy Spirit to guide us. Our lives have been corrupted with greed,
hatred, fraud, falsehood and many other acts of misconduct that are not
worthy of the children of God,” the newly inducted Moderator of the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Rt Rev. Dr Seth S. Agidi, told The
Mirror in an interview in Accra.
The Moderator, who has been mounting the pulpit for the last 28 years, also took issues with what he described as a high level of indiscipline and disloyalty in the fabric of Ghanaian society.
“Our society is increasingly adulterated with disregard for laws. Regrettably, people who engage in such conduct belong to one faith, institution or the other. These are people who should rather demonstrate a high sense of discipline as faithful stewards.”
“The rising trend of hate speech and insults on some media airwaves and public places, reckless misconduct and reported cases of fraudulent acts in some instances involving high profile personalities, pose a threat to the stability and peaceful coexistence that we desire and yearn for as a state’’, he said.
“Let us use the available platforms at our disposal to denounce the social canker that is ruining our society.”
The Moderator also served as the Director of Programmes, Ecumenical and Social Relations of the E.P. Church from 2010 to 2014 and also the Principal of the E.P. Seminary in Peki from 2003 to 2010.
According to him, his election as the Moderator came with “mixed feelings. I appreciate the fact that I was recognised for the role I have been playing in the church. However, the enormity of the work and the responsibility frightens me sometimes, but I count on the good Lord who kept me going through all these years.”
“I also realise that if God did not think I will be able to stand the responsibilities, I will not be the choice. This gives me hope and courage.”
According to him, doubling the church membership through a focus on discipleship would be key among his agenda during his tenure of office.
A teacher by profession, the E.P Moderator attended the Jasikan Teacher Training College where he graduated in 1976.
Before then his middle school days were at Have and Ve-Kolenu all in the Volta Region, which he completed in 1970 before he enrolled at the Ho Technical Institute (now the Ho Polytechnic) where he obtained a Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Stage II.
His first teaching experience took him to Woe in the Keta Municipality at the local Salvation Army Primary School where within three years he rose to become a Zonal Sports Organiser.
Woe brings to the Moderator many memories—it was that small Coastal town now in the Keta Municipality that he met and married his wife, Margaret, the mother of his four children, in 1983. He also received his calling to work in the vineyard at Woe.
Raised by a single mother, Rt Rev. Dr Agidi had some fond recollections of his childhood which he said made it easy alongside the encouragement of one Rev. Acolatse, his mentor, to answer God’s call.
“My single mother was like a battalion. She lived up to expectation and brought us up in the church. She was a choir member herself. I was literally brought up in the church. I was 12 years old when she enrolled me in the church choir.”
According to Rt Rev. Dr Agidi, his first experience on the pulpit came in the mid 1980s.
“One day, Rev Acolatse was travelling and asked me to preach on Sunday. He encouraged me to prepare. It was really a nervous moment but the response was very positive after the service.”
That response from the congregation cemented a yearning to join the priesthood and the young Seth took the bold step and entered the Trinity Theological Seminary in 1985 which he completed in 1987, and was posted to the Peki Blengo E.P. Church. That church incidentally happened to be the first E.P Church established by the Bremen Missionaries.
Here, the first obstacle was his acceptance by the people as father of the congregation because of his relatively young age—32 –especially at a time when the church had in the past been in the hands of seasoned pastors.
However, with his hard work showing all over the church, Rt Rev. Dr Agidi said it became a tug of war when the leadership of the church decided to transfer him to Sekondi-Takoradi in 1995 where he supervised 23 congregations and helped in planting four churches in Cote d’Ivoire but lost two of those churches to the Ivorian civil war in 2011.
“There was a tradition that within a certain period, there should be no light in the town at night to enable the traditional authorities perform a certain ritual. I was not at home at the time, but when I returned and was entering the house, some youth of the town attacked me but some well-meaning people held them back.”
Eventually, he was summoned before the Togbega Kwadzo Dei XI, the Paramount Chief of Peki, for arbitration where he spent 8 hours but it took the late paramount chief to intervene, saying, “it would not be his time that a priest would be brought and charged for any offence. Osofo, you can go to your house. You have done nothing wrong.”
“That decision was very good for the church and community. Since then we lived peacefully. I would have willingly put off the light anyway. I had nothing to lose,” he said, with a smile.
He admitted that the issue could have been handled in a different way.
“There could have been compromises. Some of the issues were about leadership. Other issues were about mode of worship. As a church, we had Presbyterian way of doing things, but then the charismatic influence had come into the church and had caught up with the people.”
“It looks like we did not open up very much to accept the new form of worship. The Catholic Church did quite well in accepting them. We could have handled it in a different way to prevent what happened.”
He, however, said a lot had gone on over the years to settle the differences and give due recognition but said some of the cases were still in court because of fight over property on both sides.
- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/41087-re-examine-your-lives-rt-rev-dr-agidi.html#sthash.zxZ626Nx.dpufThe Moderator, who has been mounting the pulpit for the last 28 years, also took issues with what he described as a high level of indiscipline and disloyalty in the fabric of Ghanaian society.
“Our society is increasingly adulterated with disregard for laws. Regrettably, people who engage in such conduct belong to one faith, institution or the other. These are people who should rather demonstrate a high sense of discipline as faithful stewards.”
“The rising trend of hate speech and insults on some media airwaves and public places, reckless misconduct and reported cases of fraudulent acts in some instances involving high profile personalities, pose a threat to the stability and peaceful coexistence that we desire and yearn for as a state’’, he said.
“Let us use the available platforms at our disposal to denounce the social canker that is ruining our society.”
Profile
Rt Rev. Dr Agidi replaced the Very Rev. Francis Amenu who has finished serving the church in the highest office for six years as the13th Moderator of the General Assembly of the church.The Moderator also served as the Director of Programmes, Ecumenical and Social Relations of the E.P. Church from 2010 to 2014 and also the Principal of the E.P. Seminary in Peki from 2003 to 2010.
According to him, his election as the Moderator came with “mixed feelings. I appreciate the fact that I was recognised for the role I have been playing in the church. However, the enormity of the work and the responsibility frightens me sometimes, but I count on the good Lord who kept me going through all these years.”
“I also realise that if God did not think I will be able to stand the responsibilities, I will not be the choice. This gives me hope and courage.”
According to him, doubling the church membership through a focus on discipleship would be key among his agenda during his tenure of office.
Education
Rt Rev. Dr Agidi holds a Master of Theology and a Doctor of Ministry from the Eden Theological Seminary, St Louis, Missouri in the United States.A teacher by profession, the E.P Moderator attended the Jasikan Teacher Training College where he graduated in 1976.
Before then his middle school days were at Have and Ve-Kolenu all in the Volta Region, which he completed in 1970 before he enrolled at the Ho Technical Institute (now the Ho Polytechnic) where he obtained a Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Stage II.
His first teaching experience took him to Woe in the Keta Municipality at the local Salvation Army Primary School where within three years he rose to become a Zonal Sports Organiser.
Woe brings to the Moderator many memories—it was that small Coastal town now in the Keta Municipality that he met and married his wife, Margaret, the mother of his four children, in 1983. He also received his calling to work in the vineyard at Woe.
Raised by a single mother, Rt Rev. Dr Agidi had some fond recollections of his childhood which he said made it easy alongside the encouragement of one Rev. Acolatse, his mentor, to answer God’s call.
“My single mother was like a battalion. She lived up to expectation and brought us up in the church. She was a choir member herself. I was literally brought up in the church. I was 12 years old when she enrolled me in the church choir.”
According to Rt Rev. Dr Agidi, his first experience on the pulpit came in the mid 1980s.
“One day, Rev Acolatse was travelling and asked me to preach on Sunday. He encouraged me to prepare. It was really a nervous moment but the response was very positive after the service.”
That response from the congregation cemented a yearning to join the priesthood and the young Seth took the bold step and entered the Trinity Theological Seminary in 1985 which he completed in 1987, and was posted to the Peki Blengo E.P. Church. That church incidentally happened to be the first E.P Church established by the Bremen Missionaries.
Here, the first obstacle was his acceptance by the people as father of the congregation because of his relatively young age—32 –especially at a time when the church had in the past been in the hands of seasoned pastors.
However, with his hard work showing all over the church, Rt Rev. Dr Agidi said it became a tug of war when the leadership of the church decided to transfer him to Sekondi-Takoradi in 1995 where he supervised 23 congregations and helped in planting four churches in Cote d’Ivoire but lost two of those churches to the Ivorian civil war in 2011.
Clash with culture
Pastors have their share of clashes with culture. It was at Peki Blengo that he had his brush up with tradition in 1993.“There was a tradition that within a certain period, there should be no light in the town at night to enable the traditional authorities perform a certain ritual. I was not at home at the time, but when I returned and was entering the house, some youth of the town attacked me but some well-meaning people held them back.”
Eventually, he was summoned before the Togbega Kwadzo Dei XI, the Paramount Chief of Peki, for arbitration where he spent 8 hours but it took the late paramount chief to intervene, saying, “it would not be his time that a priest would be brought and charged for any offence. Osofo, you can go to your house. You have done nothing wrong.”
“That decision was very good for the church and community. Since then we lived peacefully. I would have willingly put off the light anyway. I had nothing to lose,” he said, with a smile.
Split of the E.P. Church
Rt Rev. Dr Agidi was also at Peki Blengo when the church differences over some of its members over doctrinal and constitutional differences resulted in some members of the E.P Church leaving to form the Global Evangelical Church after a full-blown legal tussle.He admitted that the issue could have been handled in a different way.
“There could have been compromises. Some of the issues were about leadership. Other issues were about mode of worship. As a church, we had Presbyterian way of doing things, but then the charismatic influence had come into the church and had caught up with the people.”
“It looks like we did not open up very much to accept the new form of worship. The Catholic Church did quite well in accepting them. We could have handled it in a different way to prevent what happened.”
He, however, said a lot had gone on over the years to settle the differences and give due recognition but said some of the cases were still in court because of fight over property on both sides.
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