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A protest erupted at the Assemblies of God Church, Jesus Power parish, Ashanti-West Region, Ghana over the dismissal of seven leaders of the local assembly. It was revealed by the Regional Superintendent, Stephen Yaw Manu, that the crisis began over the appointment of a new presiding pastor for the parish.
The dismissed members are Charles Addai, Godfred Kwarkye, Bismark Agyemang Siaw, and Peter Owusu. Other affected members are Baffour Akoto, Collins Kwarteng, and Andrew Sarpong.
In an official statement by the Regional Superintendent of the church, Stephen Yaw Manu stated that ” This has
become necessary due to the gross insubordination and indiscipline towards the leadership of Kwadoso District and the Ashanti West Region in spite of several attempts to reason with them. They are ineligible to worship with any local assembly of the church until further notice.”
The Regional Superintendent has also directed that all official documents and missionary properties in their custody be returned immediately.
one of the dismissed members, Deacon Collins Fosu Kwarteng, told Akoma FM that he and other members were being persecuted for rejecting the appointment of a new resident pastor. He asserted that they preferred a different clergyman against the one imposed on them.
“They are imposing a new resident pastor on us and we as the local members, who will be footing bills and
paying salaries of the new pastor prefer a different person from the one they imposed on us, so they have tagged us as disrespectful hence our dismissal,” (sic)
The Regional Superintendent, Stephen Yaw Manu, explained in a telephone conversation with The Punch, that the issue of appointing a parish pastor for the parish had been on the front burner since March 2021. He said that the former parish pastor relocated to the United States of America. He claimed that after due consultations with the outgoing pastor, the parish, and the regional executives, he appointed the new pastor. He said that the parish had complained that they had owed the former pastor money and were unwilling to fund the salaries and needs of the newly appointed pastor.
“The former resident pastor informed us of his permanent departure for the US, as well as his resignation from the church. We asked him to recommend one of his parish associates but he refused to do so. So we wrote to the General Council of the church, and the council asked me to put somebody there. The parish leadership said that they are not ready to receive any pastor because they owe the former pastor. We are saying that they should take the new pastor so that the church can pay. We went to the church to explain to them that it is the policy of the church to appoint a new pastor in the absence of the presiding pastor. After much deliberations, they refused to agree to our proposals and began to engage in sidetalks, this eventually led to the protest. We had requested the parish members to come to the regional office to engage the board on the appointment of the new pastor.” (sic)
The regional pastor said that he is empowered under the church constitution to appoint a parish pastor for the church and that he has done his due diligence by involving the district pastors and the regional executives
in the appointment of one.
