The Church of Pentecost appoints first Fulani pastor into full time ministry

The historic moment took place at a commissioning service for the 2021/22 batch of ministerial students held at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa Fetteh.

Having been commissioned, P/Overseer Diallo and his wife, Mariam Diallo Sulemana, are now set for Nkwanta, where they would be stationed to serve God and the Church as the Home and Urban Missions (HUM) Pastor for the Volta & Oti sector.

This refreshing news adds to the growing list of successes chalked by the Church under the five-year strategic vision of “Possessing the Nations,” dubbed “Vision 2023,” which birthed the Home and Urban Missions, among other ministries.

Through HUM, the Church is seeking to win and disciple the marginalised, unreached and unengaged people groups, such as the Fulani community, with the unadulterated word of God, giving them hope and transforming them into positive change agents for their communities. This venture has since yielded tremendous results in the Fulani community in particular.

Considered one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa, the Fulanis (Fulbes) are a Muslim-dominated community with a population of about 40,000,000 in more than 20 countries.

“In our bid to ‘possess the nations,’ we cannot leave out the Fulani community with such a huge number. Fulanis are marginalised in most countries and seem to have conflicts with most indigenous people across Africa. HUM is, therefore, seeking to intentionally and strategically reach out to them,” Apostle Kwafo, the National HUM Coordinator, shared in an interview.

According to the National Coordinator, HUM has led more than 1,000 Fulanis to Christ in the last three years.

“As we speak, we have many Fulani converts as members of The Church of Pentecost; some of whom are ordained officers of the Church,” he said, adding that: “We keep recording these success stories because God has gone ahead of us in the ‘Possessing the Nations’ agenda,”

P/Overseer Sulemana served as a Field Assistant for the Home and Urban Mission before his call into full-time ministry last year.

Apostle Kwafo said their paths crossed when P/Overseer Diallo, then a Muslim turned Christian, was moving from Ghana to neighbouring Burkina to fellowship with a Fulani Church there.

Through the recommendation and help of a friend, Apostle Kwafo got in touch with Diallo, as he is affectionately called, and decided to bring him on board.

“After our meeting, we encouraged him to join The Church of Pentecost and created a space in the Church for him where he felt a sense of belonging. We also took him through discipleship and training to equip him to be effective in worship and service to God,” he said.

Apostle Agyei Kwafo believes that P/Overseer Diallo’s association with The Church of Pentecost is no coincidence but a divine orchestration since, through him, the Church has made significant inroads in the Muslim-dominated community with the gospel of Christ.

“Diallo joined at the right time when Vision 2023 was categorically intentional to reach out to the Fulani community,” he remarked.

Speaking to PENTECOST NEWS on the sidelines of the commissioning service, P/Overseer Sulemana expressed gratitude to God and the leadership of the Church for the investment made in him since he joined The Church of Pentecost.

He said the ministerial training has made him a better Christian and equipped him for a holistic ministry.

“I used to be more comfortable dealing with my people (Fulbes). However, through this training, I have become more confident and can now engage non-Fulbes. I have also learnt more about the Church from my colleagues. This has been very helpful, especially since I was not born into The Church of Pentecost,” he said.

P/Overseer Diallo is poised for the task ahead and now feels adequately prepared for the work of the ministry.

“I am very grateful that God chose The Church of Pentecost to be the channel through which the gospel would reach my people, and I could not be more honoured to be part of this story,” he said.

The newly-commissioned ministers, 127 in all, comprise 115 Ghanaians and 12 others from nine different countries (Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Gambia, India, Cape Verde and Madagascar).

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The new ministers have successfully completed the first phase of their ministerial formation course at the School of Theology, Mission and Leadership (STML) of Pentecost University.