Our Story

I never wanted to start a church and I didn’t want to be a pastor. However, the Lord had different plans, and I had to come to the point of surrender and say to the Lord, not my will but Yours be done. 2 Tim 4:1-5 was one of the Scriptures I felt the Lord gave me when He first called us to Ghana. It says “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” In the earlier years of our ministry in Ghana we did a lot of evangelism. Showing the Jesus film and the book of John were very effective. I was not called to the cities but to the remote villages, so we went to the remote villages. In some villages there was no electricity, so we used car batteries to run our system. The rest of the village had no light and usually no other activity, so it was easy to get the whole village to come for the film. We would use the film to draw the people and also as the Lord would lead, we would preach in between or pray and minister. Many people responded to the gospel. We saw some healings and deliverance also, but they were not so many. We are still doing evangelism now, but most of it is in the north of Ghana now, where the fields are ready for harvest. And we are seeing the power of God in a greater level. As people respond, we are seeing salvations, deliverance and healings, and people being filled with the Holy Spirit. Adaklu Dorkpo The very first village we went to for evangelism in the beginning was Adaklu Dorkpo where there was no church. Some people responded and we kept going back. Along with the help of a couple of local people, and short-term volunteers from abroad, we did much discipleship in that village. Looking back, although unplanned and unorganized, it became a group of believers which became the church. While we had traveled home one year, our local personnel had stopped going there for discipleship. However, some of the people continued to believe in Jesus and tried to live for Him. Over time, another church group came in and started an official church there. Today, there are two churches in this village, and a government school. I need a picture of the first village people Better picture of the first church building Kpodoave Better picture of MFH Helekpe Picture of evangelism and church in Togo Adaklu Kpodoave In 2010, we went to almost every village in the Adaklu district for evangelism. At this time, we again came across a village that had no church, the village of Kpodave. We were asked by the village people to come and start a church for them. At this time, pastor Ward Taylor from Simcoe Ontario Canada was with us. We all felt it was the right thing to do. So we committed to starting a church there, along with a local pastor, who would be the main leader. Over time, Living Gospel Church sponsored a building for this church. This was a big blessing for this remote village. Katharine, along with other ministry partners, spent quite a bit of time in this village teaching the woman and children. At one point, while going to minister in a Sunday morning meeting, I realize there were issues among the church leaders, and also that another church group had come in. This church was part of one of the largest denominations in Ghana. I personally did not think it was needed to have two churches in such a small village, and our leadership was not strong, we prayed about what to do and felt it would be best to hand over the building to that church, so the two would gather as one church. So that is what we did, trusting it was the best for all the believers in the community. Kpodoave Church My Father’s House Church In 2015, three different visitors, one from Nigeria, one from Russia, and one from Ghana north, each separately asked me, “What are you doing here?” They were referring to our home base where we had our house, a guesthouse, and a large chapel for ministry. I answered each one the same way. We do children ministry, seminars for church leaders, and prayer ministry. Each one of them asked me, “Why not church?” I would tell them that, there are enough churches in the village, like fifteen of them. Each one of them said I should do a church here. I did not agree. I did not want to have a church and I did not want to be a pastor. Later that year we were invited to a leadership prayer and ministry meeting at Agape House New Testament in Accra, where Apostle Dale Mass had come from the USA to minister. While he prayed for me, he said, “Jake, you say you do one, two, and three, but you don’t do number four. The Lord does not agree with you on number four, but He agrees with you on the other three.” Katharine said, that is church. The Lord wants us to start a church. Well, I didn’t look for this. And I wasn’t really happy about that either. We connected with a prayer group from CMM in the USA, and had an hour of prayer from them. Well, one of them said that they saw buildings. Another one said he believed that those were to be church buildings, and we were given scriptures that were about pastoring churches. If the Lord was really telling us that we were to start a church, then I didn’t want to fight against that. So through much prayer and seeking the Lord’s will, believing that He was indeed asking us to start the church, we started on Passover in 2016. That was the beginning of My Father’s House Church Ghana. The reason for My Father’s House name is that the Lord had led my wife to Isaiah 56:7, about God’s house being a house of prayer for all nations. Later Jesus would quote that Scripture at the temple where the Jews had made the place of worship a marketplace saying, “is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have made it a robbers den.” Mark 11:17-18. So we consider it a high honor to have a place of worship, a place of His presence where people can come to hear His word, to personally encounter Him, and a place of intercession and prayer. One year in December we had people from twelve different nations. We had all gathered in this place for one purpose. To worship the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Lord Jesus Christ. MFH Building. Sponsored by PJ Trailers, Peter Thiessen and Family This building is now being used for church meetings, for daily morning devotion with our school children of 200+, for prayer, and for conferences. Children camp 2024 Children camp 2024 Children camp 2024. Many couples, especially in the rural villages, don’t properly get married, but just end up living together. Some go through some traditional rites, but the biblical agreement of a holy, sacred, matrimony of a binding covenant is missing. So we had a repenting and wedding celebration. My Father’s House Church. Adaklu Davanya I was asked many times by people from Davanya to come and help them with a church. We did go for evangelism a few times, started with more serious bible studies, and eventually built a building for them. At this time Dorchester Christian Family Center started funding church buildings in rural villages. This was such a huge blessing for our church building projects here and in the north. By this time we had started My Father’s House Church where we live, so this was now a sister church to My Father’s House Church, about a forty-five minute drive from the main church. My Father’s House Church Mampala. North of Ghana The Lord had answered our prayers in providing water for the community of Mampala after two dry boreholes. At the dedication of the project, with Light to the World, I noticed that the people were interested in the gospel. As at this time, there was only one man who said he was a Christian. All the others claimed to be Muslims. When I came back for more serious evangelism and preaching of the word, including deliverance, over twenty people wanted to get baptized. And some of the woman said that they did not want this to be in secret but they wanted to be baptized in public. They wanted the whole community to know about their decision. So the next day we went back, hired a local tricycle, filled our pick-up and went off to a dam to baptize them. There was no church here in this village. Two other denominations had previously been in this village. But they weren’t coming back. So we joined with a pastor we knew and started bible studies and some Sunday morning meetings. Then the other two denominations came back to cause trouble. Now those two denominations were fighting over that one man who had told us he was a Christian. Each of the denominations was saying he is their member! And they told the pastor we were working with that they were going to call us to a meeting and report us because we had started a church there. Well, in simple terms, I hate church politics. If it is about church politics, I want nothing to do with it. If it is about the kingdom of God, then I am all in. We built a church building for them so they have a place to gather for worship, and we have a local pastor leading this church. Pastor Yidana Jacob from near Walewale was a big part in helping us start this church, to do bible studies and help the people to get more firm in the Lord. Thank you pastor Jacob. Pastor Nuhu and pastor Ebenezer have been instrumental in keeping this church going. And pastor Daniel, who is a young man who went through some bible school, he is now the main leader there. Tuna. Up North While we did boreholes in another area up north, a place called Tuna, about an hour drive from the city of Wa, we again came across a village that seemed to be ready for the gospel and needed discipleship. I believe they had a catholic church that was not actually doing well. And pastor Emmanuel, who we were working with, had been here before. But when we came to dedicate the water project with Light to the World, it was very clear to me that this place needed ongoing spiritual help, the teaching of the word and discipleship. Pastor Emmanuel committed to the work of ministry there, and Light to the World bought him a new motorcycle to get to that village and other villages easier. So a church was again started. However, pastor Emmanuel seemed stable and was already part of another ministry, we did not take that as one of our churches, but helped them get started. We helped them build a building up to a certain level, in hopes that they will move forward on their own, along with pastor Emmanuel’s leadership. My Father’s House Church Basakuraa. Up North We have come across many villages in the North of Ghana, from Yendi heading north up to the Burkina Faso border, and near the borders of Togo, that are ready for the gospel. There are churches doing ministry in the area, but it seems that the true gospel that has the power to truly change the people is more rare. Many of the villages do not have much support or no support at all. Basakuraa did not have any church or help from any other ministry as far as we know. But the people responded to the gospel. Here again, we saw the need for a building for a meeting place. Praise the Lord for provision. This is just the building. Here are the people who are the church who meet in the building that is a huge blessing. I get to minister to these beautiful people More open doors and needs We now have three villages in that area up north that need a church building. With the financial support from Dorchester Christian Family Center we are starting to help two of these villages as I write this. My Father’s House church. Togo Then, across the river going into Togo, we have a church there, that was started by pastor James. I have been there several times for ministry. It is a place of fertile soil where the people have responded to the gospel, and when we come to hold meetings, people start coming from villages around the area. Last year (2024) we had over 700 people including children. After three days when we left, we saw people coming again from other villages, hoping to receive ministry. What had happened was, the Lord had healed some people and these people went testifying of what God was doing, so people kept coming. This village is also in need of a building. They do have a small mud building. But they need a bigger one because of the people that are coming. So we hope to help them also. It is another good place to sow financially. This church was locked down, and pastor James along with a couple of the church leaders were arrested because of having church illegally. Pastor James had tried to get help before this already but had not received any help. After the arrest, the Lord used us with connections we had in Togo to reopen this church. This is also a church that has become part of our ministry. My Father’s House Church, Togo. Preaching at My Father’s House Church Togo Children in My Father’s House Church Togo Evangelism, Discipleship, and Church Buildings The doors are open and the need is great. I see the need for evangelism on a larger scale. We want to work with local churches on the district level, work together with the church leaders to reach more of the rural villages. We need a P. A. System that can reach up to five thousand people outdoors, and a generator to run the system. Or, if it could be a chargeable system that can run for at least five hours strong with one charge. I would be very glad to receive advice and help on this. There is also help needed to build small churches in rural villages. We do not build a church building fully on our own. If we have done evangelism and the people respond to the gospel, that is the first step. Then, if we see they are interested in the ongoing teaching of the word and walking in the ways of the Lord, and they are taking initiative to start the building project in at least getting the land secured, and get some cement and start molding blocks, then we feel we can come in and help. We are also praying for people who would be willing and able to help disciple these young churches. Maybe come for three to six months at a time and take responsibility for two or three village churches in one area.