GHANA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
CHRIST NTI YƐYƐ ADEHYIE
SOME MEMBERS OF THE MEN'S FELLOWSHIP IN UNIFORM
SOME MEMBERS OF THE MEN'S FELLOWSHIP IN UNIFORM
THE MENS FELLOWSHIP
The Men's Fellowship is one of the many organizations formed within the Ghana United Methodist Church (GUMC) for furtherance of its development and the spiritual growth of the congregants. Men's as the members simply call the organization is recognized as the head of the GUMC family.
The GUMC Men's Fellowship has set itself a lofty goal of acknowledging the Lordship of Jesus Christ and following His life by discussing His works and teachings at the meetings of the Fellowship.
Meetings are held on the second and last Tuesdays of every month for bible reading, health, financial and cultural educations and many other activities that the executives deem beneficial to the members.
Membership is open strictly to all male registered full members of the Ghana United Methodist Church, Bronx NY, who have attained the age of 30 years and are of sound mind.
A new member shall be invited by an active full member of the fellowship or can apply by his own recognizance. He shall then complete a membership form.
THE MEN’S FELLOWSHIP - HISTORY
The idea to organize the Men’s Fellowship in the Ghana United Methodist Church was initiated by brothers Joseph Arhin and Joe Essien in the late 1994 when the church activities were held at the Broadway Temple in Manhattan. The first meeting was held on December 18, 1994 after Sunday church service, which was attended by brothers Joseph Arhin, Rev. J. O Sarfo, James Kusi, Samuel Addo, Seckey –Armah, Albert Osei Owusu, Joe Essien, Dr. Samuel Amoakoh, Dr. Frank Essien, Aboagye Agyemang, Felix Kusi – Gyabaah, Nana Osei, Akwaboah, Kobina Woode and France. At the first meeting Brother Joseph Arhin was elected the President and Brother Joe Essien the Vice President.
The idea for the formation of the Men’s fellowship was to promote God’s work and other social activities in the church through building strong faith in Ghanaians Methodists’ worship in line with that of the Women’s Fellowship which was then functioning in the church.
Evidently, the early stage of the fellowship was not easy as the men were not much interested in fellowshipping and never had time to attend meetings. The active membership was 16. This membership dropped drastically when the church service was moved from Broadway to the Bronx. Brother Arhin gave up his leadership position and Brother Joe Essien was elected the President and Brother Kobina Woode the Vice President. Brother Kobina Woode also gave up his position within a short period so brother Quartey was elected the Vice President. Brother Quartey served for some few months and left the church. Brother Addo Arkins took up the Vice President position, but eventually left the Ghana United Methodist Church and joined the Presbyterian Church. Brother Kwesi Bedford became the de facto Vice President.
In an effort to boost morale and to uplift the spirit of the men in the church, Mame Charity Dede Campbell joined the Men’s fellowship. She was the only ‘’Mr. Campbell” among the men. Interestingly, the fellowship stated to pick up with an increase in membership as it embarked on some activities such as Breakfast meetings, Dinners, Talks, Travels and other social gathering with the Women’s Fellowship. As a major incentive for boosting membership, during Brother Joe Essien’s tenure as president, his wife, Sister Felicia Essien, used to provide meat pies and pancakes at meetings. “Joe Essien, if you do not let your wife to send to us meat pies and pancakes we are not attending any fellowship meetings” some members used to say. We all enjoyed eating meat pies and pancakes.
In October 1998, the following brothers : Joe Essien, Edward Kwesi Bedford, Daniel Asibuoh-Sarpong, Late Eshun, Kusi-Gyabaah, Gilbert Asare, Ike Donkor, Nana Oppong attended an inaugural ceremony of Brooklyn Ghana Wesley United Methodist Men’s Fellowship. After that ceremony the said men held a short meeting and promised to work hard to form the strong backbone of the Ghana United Methodist Men’s fellowship, Bronx. General election was held later on and Joe Essien was re-elected the President, and brother Edward Kwesi Bedford elected the Vice President. Fortunately, Rev. Dr. Ghartey the resident pastor at that time also showed great interest in the fellowship and therefore the membership started to increase. After 4 years when the membership had grown to about 35, the fellowship decided to have a written constitution. Through the great work of the following brothers Andrew Amankwah, David Dadson, Joe Essien, Dr. Samuel Amoakoh, Kwesi Bedford, Albert Kusi and Samuel Afful the fellowship had it first constitution. Election was held, Brother Joe Essien was again elected President and Brother Albert Kusi the Vice President.
The Men’s Fellowship is now the bedrock of the Ghana United Methodist Church, Bronx with the coordination and partnership work with the Women’s fellowship. The membership is now 65 men and a lady, “Brother Love Owusu”.
The greatest achievement of the Men’s Fellowship is that through the hard work and motivation of these gentlemen Joe Essien, Albert Kusi, James Kusi and Kofi E. Appram we have an offspring of the fellowship, the Young Men’s fellowship now the Young Adult Fellowship.