Lay Movement Achievements

Achievements of the Lay Movement

• The contributions from the Lay people have been diverse dating back to when Methodism was first planted
• Rev. Joseph Rhodes Dunwell, the first Methodist Missionary, arrived in Cape Coast in January 1835
• Dunwell met and worked with two Lay groups known as "The Meeting"
• These groups met twice a week for prayers
• One group had 13 members, with a similar group of 30 members in Anomabo, 8 miles away
• The Lay members evangelized the coastal regions and hinterlands
• For 134 years the Lay have been taking the Good News
• They would form prayer cells and Christian communities
• They would support the building of manses, praying for ministers to be stationed through Synods
• The Clergy recognize the Lay as partners in building God's Kingdom
• The Lay helped establish Sunday Schools, Youth Fellowship, Boy and Girls Brigades, the Guild, the Girls' Fellowship, and GHAMSU to develop children and youth
• The Lay Movement established 6 Adult Organizations Fellowships like Christ's Little Band and Susanna Wesley Mission Auxiliary
• The Lay constitute 65% of the total Church membership
• The Lay organize mini and annual harvests, camp meetings, and outreaches with the Clergy
• The Lay provide substantial membership for various meetings like the Methodist Conference, General Directorates, and Synods
• The Lay also provide a large percentage of the administrative staff.
• The Lay offer their contributions because they outnumber the Ministers, with roughly 999 Lay to 1 Minister
• In 2003, the church had 627,863 members with 628 ministers

Modest Achievements of the Lay Movement

• The Lay Movement has impacted the Church
• The Lay Movement supported the Headquarters, leading to the establishment of the Donewell Insurance Company, the initial provision of offices, the Endowment Fund, and the rehabilitation of Church's Headquarters
• Small and medium scale projects like Manses, Chapels, and Schools across the Connexion have been established
• Organizations of the Church can send representatives to the Methodist Conference with the Conference's approval
• The Lay Movement proposed this idea
• The Lay Movement suggested that both Ministerial and Lay Representatives of Synod and conference should arrive at the same time
• Proposals and Recommendations are sent to the Representative session for discussion
• The decision to extend tenure of office of the Lay President (Vice President) from two (2) to three (3) years gained support
• Conference was asked to permit the Past Lay Presidents to attend Conference as ex-officio members
• The creation of the Office of the Diocesan Lay Chairmen in all the Dioceses to assist the Bishops was influenced by the Lay Movement

AlphaRoyal Hostel

• The Hostel is a three-story building on the Dansoman campus of the Methodist University College Ghana
• The Lay Movement Council constructed it in 2004 to provide accommodation for students
• The Hostel was opened on October 30, 2004, by His Excellency Alhaji A Mahama, the then Vice President of the Republic of Ghana
• It was dedicated by the Most Rev. Dr. Robert Aboagye-Mensah, the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, assisted by Hon. Prof. Ato Essuman and the Rt. Rev. Kow Bosomefi Egyir
• Operation began in 2005 and has a capacity of 300 students
• The hostel is managed by a warden, an assistant, four cleaners, and four security officers who double as porters

AlphaRoyal Publications Limited

• Bro. John E. K. Pratt envisioned a printing press in October 2011 to meet the needs of the Connexiona! Lay Movement Council
• The printing press would also be for the Methodist Church Ghana, the general public and to compete with other printing houses
• The Connexional Lay Movement Council approved the idea
• Plans were put in place to establish AlphaRoyal Publications Limited
• Mrs. Agatha Osei helped by identifying Mr. Emmanuel K. E Dennis to offer his expertise full-time
• AlphaRoyal Publications Limited was born on 2 July, 2012 with support from the Connexional Lay Movement Council
• It began operations with photocopy and secretarial services
• Operations began in an office at the Methodist Church Ghana's Head Office, Accra
• The Company was formally launched with its Management Board by the Most Rev. Emmanuel K. Asante on Sunday, July 6, 2014, at the Calvary Society, Adabraka, Accra
• The Foundation Management Board members included Mr. John E. K. Pratt, Mrs. Araba Ata Sam, The Very Rev. Emmanuel Aryee, Mr. Albert Sam, Mrs. Agatha Nana Ama Ennin Osei, Mr. Emmanuel Addo Odametey, Mr. Samuel Nii Ardey Ankrah and Mr. Emmanuel Effah-Dennis
• On October 15, 2018, the Company was registered as a Private Company Limited by Shares
• The Registrar-General's Department registered it with the Methodist Church Ghana as a 100% Shareholder
• Alpha Royal Publications Company Limited has been producing affordable printing work and is growing

Synopsis of the name "ALPHAROYAL"

• The name AlphaRoyal was adopted at the 2004 Annual General Meeting of the Connexional Lay Movement in Tarkwa
• The movement would commence business life with the Hostel on Dansoman Campus of the Methodist University College, Ghana
• In 2004, the Lay Movement Council focused on doing things right and adopting a professional approach to the business of the Church
• The council aimed to lay a foundation for financial independence and growth
• The completion of the 400-capacity hostel project, which was dedicated and opened on October 30, 2004, exemplifies this
• Alpha represents concepts in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics
• Alpha is used to refer to the first or most significant occurrence of something
• The dream of hostel accommodation built on all campuses of the MUCG began with the Dansoman Campus was.
• The word Royal was chosen from 1 Peter 2:9, meaning a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation
• Joining Alpha and Royal emphasizes the concept the appropriation of royalty of the Kingdom and its privileges
• It serves as inspiration to continue with the dream
• The Conference acknowledged the Lay Movement's contribution and saw the need for its celebration
• The Church's ministry will be difficult without the Lay

Lay Movement: The Challenges

• There are genuine problems such as poor attendance at Lay meetings and the feeling that the Movement is another Organization in the Church
• Members state that they cannot be a member of another organization and the Lay Movement at the same time
• The Lay Movement is an umbrella body for all the lay members of the Church.
• Other challenges include the lack of commitment, indifference to Lay Movement issues, the lack of interest in the celebration of Lay Movement Week, and poor coordination of activities leading to clashes of activities of different Organizations

Statistical returns on the Lay Movement

• The Methodist Church has 4,775 Societies, but only 1,900 had Lay Movement Councils, according to the 2017 Methodist Conference at Sekondi
• Of these, 860 had meetings every quarter
• 1,056 Societies held General meetings in 2017, and 2,136 Societies celebrated Lay Movement Week
• Mobilizing Lay persons for decision implementation and coordinating Organization programmes is difficult
• Raising funds to carry projects and pay assessment to the Connexion through the Dioceses and Circuits is impossible

Growth of the Church

• The 2017 statistical returns showed 1,007 Ministers with population of 827,353. 318,986 are males, 508,367 are females and 304,524 are members of 15 years and below
• The ratio of Ministers to Lay members is 1:667 which places a burden on Ministers which should be greatly supported by the Lay through pastoral care
• The Lay Movement can encourage members to take up leadership positions trained to also train the rank and file of the Church membership
• The Supernumeraries in the system can assist with this situation
• The Society work of Minister is 4.7
• Empowering the Lay to take over administrative functions will allow for concentration on direction and pastoral care
• Syphonization of the work-load of our Church policy "Priesthood of all Believers" should be completed

The Lay and the Youth

• The statistics of the young people of the Church:
  • Sunday School: 288,335
  • Boys' Brigade: 14,265
  • Girls' Brigade: 13,845
  • Girls' Fellowship: 26,099
  • Youth Fellowship: 57,895
• The Lay Movement should give major attention to the Youth Department of the Church
• The lay should help the Sunday School, the Girls' Fellowship, the Youth and the Boys' and Girls' Brigades
• Young people should join the Leaders' Meeting and become Class Book holders and other responsibilities in the Church
• This will ensure the future of the Church.

Other Critical Challenges

• The local Lay Movement cannot progress without the Minister's cooperation
• The Lay Movement was founded to assist the Ministers
• The Lay should consciously encourage the Ministers to be involved in the activities of the lay
• The Church faces various issues such as large numbers of unemployed and unskilled youth, teenage pregnancies, single parenthood, and poverty
• These issues should be a challenge to the Movement
• The Lay Movement should encourage and coordinate activities of the Organizations to provide answers to these challenges
• The Christs' Little Band and the Women's Fellowship can pick up the issue of teenage pregnancies and single parenthood
• The Men's Fellowship should address poverty among the widows and the aged
• The Lay Movement can eventually take up the construction of Vocational Institutes

Lay Movement: The way forward -70 years and beyond

• The Lay Movement members should brace up to tackle future difficulties.
• The Ministry needs to consider the 'way for' in two main areas: spiritual or religious, physical or social
• The main business of the Methodist Church Ghana is to win souls for the Kingdom of God.
• The Lay Movement needs to pay attention to the religious issues.

Religious Prospects: Five critical areas of concern

• In the mid 1990's the Methodist Church grew by 32,500 persons per year
• In 1997, the highest recorded increase in region membership was 47,780
• In the early 2000, figures increased from 32,500 to 35,000, an increase of 3,000 people
• Evangelism has not taken root
• commitment to the traditional strategies of the 1930 1940's must be revisited
• Sunday schools and literacy classes and active teaching on Evangelism are still important.
• The Lay can offer effective support and encouragement to the Clergy.
• Many souls can be saved through the electronic media
• The Lay should be encouraged to provide budgetary cover to Ministers and give regular messages.
• Salvation should be sought through the Methodist Church Ghana, both in and outside the nation
• The Lay should support WESLYAN TELEVISION financially, to share the word of God with the people
• Recent constant drop in Church's membership will be controlled using this strategy
• Tapping into strengths of the youth and adults in the Mission Areas will benefithe Church.
• The Office of the Circuit Lay Chairman must be properly institutionalized
• Improving and empowering the existing structures help the Church
• The Lay Movement and the Circuit Lay Chairman should effectively assist the superintendent minister and the Circuit Ministers and help the Superintendent Ministers offer effective administration to the Circuits and Societies
• Representatives of all Organizations of the Church should attend the Conference
• The Organizations contribute over 65% of the total membership
• The Organizations should be given the voting right so that they have a say in the decisions affecting the Church
• The Lay must support the dioceses and synods
• Methodists should be thinking about what they can offer
• The Lay Movement can undertake Connexional projects
• Monthly lay movement activities can help address this issue.

Physical Prospects: Four major areas of concern

• The Methodist Church Ghana cannot boast of one decent sizable Hostel
• The Lay Movement should work together with the Organizations to put up a Hostel complex with a Conference Hall, Chapel, Lecture Rooms, Residential Accommodation, Dining Hall and Restaurant
• It can be used by the Church's foreign visitors, as well as non-church members and tourists for a fee
• The Organizations can come together to construct the complex
• This project can be executed on commercial basis and Donewell Insurance Company can be talked into it
• The Organizations can construct a Christian Village with a Retreat Centre of Prayer Centre
• The Organizations can assist to complete the Methodist Retreat Centre at Kwadaso Kumasi and the rehabilitation of Freeman Centre for Missions and Leadership development in Kumasi
• The Lay Movement can purchase a 50-seater bus for Evangelism
• Some Circuit and Societies do not have Lay Movement Councils which leads to challenges
• The Councils can be used as centres to initiate change
• The Lay Movement should have a 2 year crash programme (2009-2011) and Societies should establish active La Movement Councils
• In conclusion, the work belongs to God, but the Lay must sacrifice to maintain the faith and sustain the growth of Christianity and Methodism, and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth
• The Lay must not move away from the tradition and the spirit of selflessness and sacrifice
• The Lay must rise up and build