Congregations seek reconciliation with Ghana Mennonite Church

Pimpimso, Ghana – The Ghana Mennonite Church (GMC) experienced an act of reconciliation at its 49th annual conference, held 10-11 October 2014 at the Pimpimso congregation, a new church plant of the GMC’s Somanya district.

The reconciliation occurred between the northern Ghana churches and the rest of GMC. The northern churches had withdrawn from GMC a few years ago, and recently expressed interested in rejoining the main body.

The act itself occurred on 11 October, as the executive of the GMC sat down with representatives from the northern churches. Since the northern churches wished to rejoin GMC and GMC wished to have them, the meeting was brief and most of the discussion focused on procedure. It was agreed that the northern churches would write a letter requesting reunion with GMC. Once this letter is received, another meeting will be held to formalize the new situation.

One of the remaining difficulties is clarifying the number of churches currently connected to the northern group. When the northern group split off some years ago, there were roughly nine churches in that area. But some recently split off from the Mennonite church, due to the influence of a prophet in the area. The current estimate places the number of northern churches between 4-6.

Currently, GMC consists of 28 congregations with a baptized membership of around 5,000. GMC is a Mennonite World Conference member church.

Based on a report by Wes Bergen

 

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