By Solomon Gumah, GNA
Tamale, May 24, GNA – Bible Bridge Ghana has organised a capacity-building and consultative meeting for Sunday School teachers, teen ministry workers, and pastors from four regions in Northern Ghana to strengthen children’s ministry and improve access to age-appropriate Bible materials.
The initiative, held in Tamale, brought together participants from the Northern, Upper East, North East and Savannah Regions to equip teachers with practical skills and introduce child-focused Bible resources under the organisation’s Every Child, Every Bible, Every Format project.
Mr Emmanuel Kofi of Bible Bridge Ghana, during the event, said it was informed by a critical gap identified in Bible distribution and translation efforts, which traditionally focused largely on adults.
He explained that Bible Bridge Ghana, which began operations less than a year ago, observed that children often received limited attention in Bible engagement initiatives despite their critical role in sustaining faith formation.
He said, “Mostly when people receive Bibles, the focus has always been on adults. We realised that if Bible work continues to centre only on adults, children may be left out of the process.”
Mr Kofi said the organisation had developed specialised Bible resources tailored to different age groups to ensure effective engagement among children.
He said children aged zero to five years would receive My First-Hand Bible, designed in pictorial and dramatised formats to support understanding and stimulate early learning while children aged six to 12 years would receive The Lion First Bible.
He added that young people aged 13 years and above would receive the New International Version (NIV) Bible.
Mr Kofi, who touched on the rationale behind the training, said it sought to familiarise teachers with the materials and to build their capacity to effectively use them during Sunday school activities.
He noted that many churches lacked structured children’s ministry programmes and effective teaching methods making the intervention timely.
He said, “As part of this capacity building, teachers have been equipped with how to prepare lesson notes and engage children effectively. We expect them to return to their churches with improved skills and resources for their ministries.”
Mr Kofi announced that Bible Bridge Ghana would launch a Children’s Bible Awareness Day initiative following the engagement to promote Bible reading and engagement among children.
He said the programme, to be organised in collaboration with the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, would mobilise children across Tamale to participate in the launch activities.
He assured Churches that Bible Bridge Ghana operated as a Bible distribution organisation and not a commercial entity.
Reverend Emmanuel Foster Asamoah, Acting Academic Planning and Quality Assurance Director at Pentecost University, and Coordinator of the Pentecost Centre for Unreached Groups in Africa, said the institution was invited by Bible Bridge Ghana to review and contextualise the teaching materials from academic and theological perspectives.
He said the review process revealed that the materials were well designed and responsive to the development needs of children.
He said the resources consisted of four learning tiers, adding that the first category targeted children aged zero to five years and used pictures and storytelling methods, while the second category focused on children aged six to nine years with emphasis on questioning and interactive learning.
He said the third category targeted children aged 10 to 12 years and encouraged reasoning and critical thinking.
The fourth component, he said, was dedicated to teachers and handlers of the materials, referred to as “shepherds,” and focused on mentoring approaches, pedagogy, and methods of demonstrating biblical teachings to children.
Reverend Asamoah said the materials had been contextualised to reflect Ghana’s religious, cultural, and social realities.
He said, “We have reviewed the documents and added academic and theological perspectives to ensure they suit our religio-cultural context and are meaningful to users.”
He explained that the pictorial approach for younger children was deliberate since children within that age category could not yet engage extensively with written content.
Pastor Asupa Skipa Ahumbik, Northern Regional Secretary of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, and Pastor with The Apostolic Church Ghana, commended the initiative and described it as a transformative intervention for children’s ministry.
Pastor Ahumbik said the training had equipped the teachers with new techniques and skills that would improve children’s spiritual and holistic development and appealed to church leaders to create enabling environments for trained teachers to implement what they had learnt.
He encouraged participants to replicate the training in their churches by organising seminars for teachers who could not attend.
GNA
Edited by Eric K. Amoh/Linda Asante Agyei