Happenings Around the World AFRICAN BAPTISTS PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

Delegates from countries across Africa gathered in Accra, Ghana, from August 24-27, for the Assembly of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship (AABF), one of six regional fellowships of the Baptist World Alliance. Participants included BWA President Paul Msiza and General Secretary Neville Callam. Callam, who brought greetings several times during the assembly, emphasized the meaning of membership within the global Baptist family. “Any convention or union that joins the BWA needs to be

at a place where that particular group affirms their belonging in the wide sweep, not only of Baptist history, but the Baptist movement currently,” Callam said of what he emphasized in his presentations. “I made the point that membership is sharing the vision, mission and priorities of the BWA, and how conventions and unions display seriousness about BWA membership, such as praying for the organization and practicing the values enshrined in the vision statement.”

Callam encouraged the several hundred delegates to make full use of BWA resources available through its website and to draw from the magazine, newsletter and press releases, “sharing them and discussing them within each convention, keeping up to date with what’s happening in the BWA.” He emphasized the importance of observing and celebrating BWA Day, held the second Sunday of February each year, “not only among the leaders of the convention but among the rank and file members of the churches.” This, he said, “would help create an awareness of the wider participation

GHANA TAKES RADICAL ROUTE

The Ghana Baptist Convention instituted radical changes to its administration in 2013 when it elected Ernest Adu-Gyamfi as its first executive president, abolishing the office of general secretary and disbanding the Executive Committee. Adu-Gyamfi, who is one of 12 vice presidents of the Baptist World Alliance, explained the reasons behind the radical move in an interview with the BWA.

The Ghana Baptist Convention has been in existence for 54 years. Prior to that, we existed as the Gold Coast Convention. The Baptist faith came into Ghana from around 1925, brought by Nigerians who were trading along the West African coast and who gathered in homes and garages to have fellowship on weekends. Gradually, they got Ghanaians integrated into the Baptist faith. Since 1963, Ghanaians have been in control of Baptist work in Ghana. Currently we have 2,008 churches across the country, divided into four sectors. The northern sector comprises three regions – the northern region, the upper western and upper east. The mid-Ghana sector takes care of the Brong-Ahafo region and the Ashanti region. East sector takes care of the Volta region, the eastern region and the Greater Accra area. The southwest sector takes care of the central region and the western region. Within these four sectors there are 30 associations across the country.

Administrative Changes In the old system of administration and practice we had the

Executive Committee, the general secretary and the various boards and committees. The general secretary acted on behalf of our annual sessions and the Executive Committee. Decisions taken at the annual session were implemented by the Executive Committee through the general secretary. By that process we noticed over a given period that the general secretary was not an initiator of any policy or direction. The president who chaired the Executive Committee was

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not full time but held an honorary position. He just chaired the meeting; he was not a direct policy maker. Anything that came to either the general secretary or to the Executive Committee were issues that filtered from the annual session or a board or committee that made some recommendation. We practiced this for several years and realized it was not very helpful, especially in the African context. The African by nature is used to a tribal head, a head of a family, a chief and a king. When you set up an African system without that leader you create chaos. The president chaired our meetings and after that he goes back to his church. The general secretary saw himself as just doing what the Executive Committee and the annual session anointed him to do. In between there was literally nothing. After studying this for awhile we noticed that that process was not helpful. Rev. Kojo Osei-Wusuh, when his term as president came to an end in 2006, made the observation, after having served for a period of six years, that this was the weakness of the convention and proposed the new changes. After two years the issue came up again at one of our convention sessions. It was very clear we needed to go that way. By this new arrangement the Executive Committee is

abolished; the general secretary’s office is abolished. Everything is fused into the office of executive president. He is the leader of the convention, he’s the voice of the convention; he’s everything.

Recruiting and Succession

The recruiting process is totally different from the previous arrangement. In the previous arrangement the Nominating Committee just went and looked at the people, selected somebody, brought it, we voted. In the new arrangement, it is almost like recruiting the CEO of an organization. There is an application process. The application form alone is an 11-page document. I remember when I did mine, the whole thing came up to a 16-page document because of the information that is required. Besides that you are supposed to state clearly the vision you seek to run with when you come into office. What do you seek to achieve at the