Accra, Sept 18, GNA-A total of seven thousand and twenty-nine (7029) people were reached with the Gospel of Christ at this year’s One week Evangelisation Programme hosted by St Joseph the Worker Parish, Vume, in the Ada-Battor Deanery of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra.
St Joseph the Worker Parish, was led by Rev. Fr. Joseph Egblewogbe with Rev. Fr. John Ametefe as the Assistant Priest.
Mr Sylvester Bagooro a member of the Evangelisation team told the Ghana News Agency in Accra that the week-long evangelisation Programme was an annual activity in the Archdiocese of Accra led by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal- Network of prayer Groups.
He said it was aimed at spreading the Good News to unreached areas within the Archdiocese.
Mr Bagooro said over the years, it had gained tremendous support from many Catholics, both lay and priests who were enthusiastic about evangelisation.
“It normally seeks to share the Gospel of Christ with an identified host community and surrounding communities. Through engagements the programme identifies possible areas where outstation(s) can be started and takes the initiative with the support of the parish to start at least one by the end of the programme.
“Since 2011, a team of Catholic evangelizers are always mobilized from various parishes in the Archdiocese to stay in a much rural community within a particular Deanery of the Archdiocese for a whole week to evangelize and share the Catholic faith. Different approaches are normally used namely Rosary Prayer walk, Eucharistic procession, house-to-house evangelisation, market evangelisation, cinema evangelisation, sports evangelisation which targets the youth, crusades, institutional evangelisation, medical outreach and boutique”.
Mr Bagooro said for this year’s programme at Vume, a total of two hundred and forty-nine (249) Catholic evangelisers, both young and old, experienced and new, were moblised and prepared for the mission.
“The evangelisers lodged in the classrooms of the Vume Catholic Primary school as their base and from there reached out to the people of Vume and the surrounding communities such as Tefle, Sokpoe, Kasie, Agave and Dzabetato and institutions such as the police station, Sogakope Hospital and Richard Novati Hospital.
“To the glory of God, by the end of the one-week evanglisation a total of seven thousand and twenty-nine (7,029) people were reached with the Gospel of Christ”.
He said out of the number, seventy-two were lapsed Catholics- Catholics, who were non-practising and remained Catholics according to Catholic Canon Law-were ministered to and exhorted to pick up the faith again.
“Other Catholics were exhorted to hold onto the faith and live it daily.”
He told the GNA that there was a three-day Crusade held from August 28-30, 2025 at Vume.
Speaking on the first day of the Crusade, Very Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Obeng Cudjoe, the Parish Priest of St James Catholic Church, Osu, exhorted the multitudes who gathered to leave behind everything and accept Christ, the Hope of the World.
“There were altar calls during the 3 days which saw some people giving their lives to Christ. The second and third days had healing ministrations where the power of God was seen at work bringing liberation to captives and restoration to people”.
He said the outreach programme had a medical dimension, thus screening and services were rendered to the communities.
“ A total of four hundred and thirty-eight (438) adults in Vume and its environs were screened. Over 50 Catholic health professionals were present to attend to the needs of the communities. This year’s was greatly boosted by the support of the health professionals from Accra and the Comboni hospital.”
Mr Bagooro said results from the week programme also threw up two main challenges that demanded the attention of every Catholic, both lay and priests.
“ These bother on opening of more outstations to attend to the needs of migrant Catholics in new settlements/areas, and the need for innovative financing of evangelisation in the Archdiocese particularly how to get support from well-established parishes and individuals/groups/societies to support young and struggling churches within the Archdiocese.
“Firstly, There is the urgent need to set up or support efforts for outstations in the following towns: Tefle, Sokpoe, Kasie, Agave and Dzabetato. These are large communities with many yearning for places of worship but no Catholic Churches. For instance, a church in Sokpoe can serve Tefle too due to the proximity. The reality is that other sects are opening up places of worship and the Catholic Church, by the grace of God, can also do so and even more.”
He said Strengthening the Catholic presence in the Dzabetato community was a low hanging fruit in the sense that there already exists a spot within the community where they gather for worship.
“What the community needs is a church building. A pavilion type to begin with will be helpful. After the one-week programme the leadership of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal will firm up plans on how to help them. But the doors of the St Joseph the Worker parish, which overseas those areas, are open for support to help establish churches in those areas. In terms of distance, it is over an hour bumpy and dusty drive from Vume during the dry session. In the rainy season that might take longer due to the nature of the road”.
“Secondly, finding a sustainable financing for this programme is crucial. With an estimated budget of Two hundred and forty-five thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 245,000.00) the Planning Committee started planning for this year’s programme with almost zero funds. The headache of feeding over 250 people for a whole week is always an annual challenge. But thanks be to God, through launching and fundraising in some parishes and outstations, enough funds were raised to do this. The generosity of Catholics in the Archdiocese is highly commendable”.
He commended the Archbishop of Accra, Most Rev. John Bonaventure Kwofie, CSSp, his Auxiliaries, Most Rev. John Kobina Loius and Most Rev. Anthony Narh Asare, Spiritual Director of the Renewal, Very Rev. Fr. Samuel Filton Mensah, Chaplains, Deans, the priests and lay who played various roles for this to be a success.
“A special gratitude to the Madina Deanery, led by Very Rev. Fr. Benard Kyei who together with the Renewal Chaplain, Rev. Fr. Jean De Dieu Arhorloo, SMA, the Deanery fathers and the Renewal leadership helped raise over One hundred thousand cedis (GHS100,000.00) to support the programme. Some parishes waived their second collections to allow the Team to raise enough funds for the programme in addition to donating items to support”.
GNA
Edited by George-Ramsey Benamba
Sept 18, 2025
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