Bliss Heaven's Dew Ministries

1. People prefer associating themselves with already existing big churches rather than new upcoming ones. Their mindset is that these small churches won’t make it and will not survive the waves. It becomes a discussion among folks that discourages people from coming to church and being fully committed. This has a direct impact on the church’s numerical growth. 2. Others would like to know where the headquarters of the church is located, how many branches it has, and who the founder is. It’s something some people would ask before deciding to honor an invitation to church. In this way, they don’t want a local church. The name of a church or denomination has made for itself is a condition some people would consider before honoring an invitation to church. 3. Others are accustomed to traditional festival celebrations and just traveling for funerals. The dead are highly celebrated in Ghana and great funerals are held in their honor, mostly beginning from Friday to Sunday. And this equally affects church attendance as most travel often for funerals and other traditional or community activities. 4. Some also feel their problems are bigger than the power available to the church, with the mindset that the church is not in a position to help them in any way. This is particular for those who think their problems are more spiritual, and think those evil spirits behind their problems are powerful and nothing can be done about it by anyone. Hence coming to church is just a waste of time, according to such people. 5. The high illiteracy rate is another major challenge the church is battling with. Due to the fact that many of the inhabitants of the town are uneducated, it makes it challenging to explain basic Christian doctrines and ideologies to them. Most of them, because they are not able to read and understand the Bible themselves, hear the word of God and regard it as stories or things that happened some time ago, which does not matter to their lives and situations currently, but they just enjoy being part of an assembly where they call church. This makes them not really grounded in God’s word and easily get blown down by any passing wave. This has a great impact on the growth of the church, both spiritual and numerical. In so doing, the church has taken practical steps to ensure members can read and understand the scriptures with the help of the Holy Spirit who resides in us. The church in implementing this has asked the pastor’s wife who is a teacher to organize adult education for our members to help achieve this purpose which in the long run will help each member to know God as they read His word personally. 6. Unemployment: The great economic crisis in the nation has resulted in massive unemployment which is affecting the church a great deal. Due to the instability of the economy, most of the women in the church are unemployed, making it difficult for them to meet basic necessities like food, shelter, and education for their children and families. Most of them are also single mothers who have children with different men they did not get married to, and now these children have been abandoned by their fathers, leaving the responsibilities to the women to single-handedly take care of. These individuals with their mothers intend to seek help from the church which has put a lot of financial burden on myself and my wife since the church as of now is not financially in that position to help. In most instances, we strive hard to help in any one way possible that we can to make lives comfortable for them. We do pay school fees, buy food, books, dresses, shoes, and even pay rent for some families just to help out. There have been instances where there were lots of financial burdens on us so much that it made it difficult for us to help out. This resulted in some members feeling bad and wouldn’t show up for church for a while. Some would come to church again, while others wouldn’t, even after several visitations and talks with them by leadership. Even those who have the support of their husbands do fall on the church from time to time for financial help since their husbands’ jobs can not sustain their families. Especially in cases of eventualities or unexpected expenses like paying for hospital bills. All these things have challenged the church’s growth and development, especially in cases where we cannot step in, they get offended and stop the church. 7. The financial standing of the church is very low. The major way the church raises funds is through our offering. Most church members don’t pay tithe and even the offering is something meagre. And of this, we have to be ready to give out to someone who comes up with a problem or with a need. In so doing, the major financial obligations of the church are being borne by us personally, (my wife and I). And because of this, we are not able to do much due to limited financial strength. 8. Our place of worship is in a rented property. Renewing the rent, coupled with paying off bills such as electricity bills is much of a challenge, but God is faithful and seeing us through, though it’s not easy. We are trusting God to help us get a land of our own and put up a building. We have frequent light outs (power outages) here in Fetteh Kakraba, and this affects our evening service. People take it as an excuse and wouldn’t turn up. We wish to have a generator to help us cope with the lighting system. We also trust God to bless us with good musical instruments with correct sounds so that our outreaches and crusades will be more vibrant and effective to the glory of God. We need a bus or van to transport those from nearby towns and villages to church. All these are kingdom investments that will surely attract Heaven’s response and blessings.