ASSEMBLIES OF GOD STUDENTS UNION (AGSU), GHANA NATIONAL SECRETARIAT A.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE UNION The Assemblies of God Students Union (AGSU) is a student based union within the Assemblies of God Church, Ghana. The ministry was birthed thirty (30) years ago at the Lighthouse (Central) Assemblies of God Church, Akwatialine, Kumasi. It is worth saying that after two years of existence, AGSU gave birth to another student based ministry, the Assemblies of God Campus Ministry. (AGCM) The objective of the founding fathers, which includes Rev. Emmanuel Nuamah (National Director, Assemblies of God Campus Ministry-AGCM- Director and Senior Pastor, Assemblies of God International Church-AGIC-Kumasi), Mr. Moses Ehun, Mr. Kusi Obodum (Tutor, Opoku Ware School) was to give the students in the church an opportunity to align themselves to a student based ministry which will be able to meet their peculiar needs. They met on a regular basis to pray, study the word of God and involve themselves in missions and evangelism. In addition, those in the tertiary level taught those in the primary, Junior High as well as Senior High Schools during vacations. The ministry therefore focuses on Prayer, Bible Studies, Missions and Evangelism, Academic Excellence and Leadership Development. Programmes are therefore drawn to meet these needs. B. CURRENT STATE OF AGSU Since 1994, the ministry has been organizing Annual Conferences until 2006, when the then leadership opted for a Biennial Conference and has since organized two (2) Biennial Conferences with the recent one held in Accra in 2009 under the theme For Such a Time as This Esther 4:14b. The decision led to the dissolution of the then Sectoral Executives giving way to the National Executives in 2006. The ministry is now active in four (4) regions which are Ashanti, Central, Greater Accra and recently Brong Ahafo. There are plans to reach out to the other regions, especially Western, which hosted one Annual and one Biennial Conference. C. AGSU UNDER THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD STRUCTURE The ministry has been placed under the Youth Ministry of the church since under the supervision of the National Youth Director and the Regional Youth Director at the National and Regional Levels respectively. D. ACHIEVEMENTS 1. Missions and Evangelism Over the years, AGSU has taken the gospel to the Senior High Schools, towns and villages. The more reason why AGCM has more chapters in the Senior High Schools in Ashanti region than any other region

owes to the fact that AGSU established AGSU chapters in most of the Senior High Schools in Ashanti and had to hand over to AGCM when the EP directed that AGSU should be place under the Youth Ministry and operate in the local churches while AGCM focuses on educational institutions. AGSU has also partner with local churches in establishing churches in some villages. Chief among them is the partnership between AGSU and Living Waters Chapel (Assemblies of God English Church, Kumasi) to establish the Manso Abore Church in 1994. This was as a result of the foresight of Mr. Daniel Afoakwa, who was both a member of AGSU and Living Waters. The Manso Abore (Open Door A/G) Church which was established in 1994 was able to establish three more churches when Mr. Afoakwa was the lay pastor for seven years. Finally, the table below gives an inventory of some of the missions outreaches undertaken by AGSU Year 2000 2001 2003 Venue Date SPEAKER No. of Souls Won Missionaries

2005 2007

2008 2009

2010

Daban, A/R March Tano Odumase July/August Samuel Amoah A/R Poano, A/R 30th July 1st Rev. Benedict Oppong 55 97 August Kwarteng/Ps. Henry Kyei Mensah Bawdie, W/R 25th 31st Rev. Alfred Abaogye 59 203 July McCarthy Awaham23rd 29th Henry Baffour 80 228 Brofoyeduro, Tutu/Vincent Bannerman Nkwankwanua, (AGSU Members) A/R Revival of Awahamu-Brofoyedu and Nkankwannua Churches Bedomase, 27th July 2nd Dominic Kutin/Henry 80 210 Afamanso, A/R August Baffour Tutu (AGSU Members) Currently underway at Anyanso, A/R. (As of the time this report was being prepared)

Source: Missions and Evangelism File 2. Leadership Development In our bid to train leaders for our church and nation, we train both our executives and members through leadership seminars. It is worth noting that almost all AGSU local, regional and national executives become executives when they join AGCM at the tertiary level. This cuts across the Universities, Polytechnics, Collages of Education and Nursing Training Colleges. Again, some local, regional and national executives double as leaders of Youth Ministry both at the local and district levels. Additionally, most of our past leaders now hold responsible positions in their respective places of work while others are deacons in their local churches.

3. Prayer Focus Since AGSU was birth out of prayer, the ministry has instilled prayer in her members. All our programmes (seminars, missions, conferences, etc) are filled with prayers. We also organized prayer summits for our members as well as monthly all night prayer meetings. 4. Academic Excellence Because AGSU is a student based ministry, we stress and encourage our members to pursue academics to the highest level. This has created a healthy academic competition among members. Members who have difficulties in certain subject areas are taught free of charge while those who need financial help are also assisted. The national office this year instituted the Best Student Award for the Junior and Senior High categories and has decided to award students who excel during the next National Conference in 2011. 5. Pastoral Training Ground AGSU has also created a congenial atmosphere for members to develop their gifts, especially regarding pastoral calling. Those who have gone through AGSU and are now ministers of the gospel include Rev. Emmanuel Nuamah, Pastor Henry Kyei Mensah, Pastor Osei KariKari Annor, Pastor James Abokyi, Pastor Matthew Atta, Rev. Ababio, Rev. Richmond Kenin, Pastor Samuel Oduro Dwomoh, Rev. Patrick Agyemang Gyebi, Frank Owusu Amoateng (Student Pastor). E. CHALLENGES 1. Myth about AGSU/Youth Ministry It appears that some of our local Youth Ministry believes that if they allow AGSU to operate in the local churches, AGSU will take over the Youth Ministry. This has created a situation where some churches do not allow the ministry to operate. On the contrary, since AGSU is mandated to operate under the Youth Ministry, AGSU will only compliment what the Youth Ministry is doing by meeting the needs that are peculiar to students. In our local churches, Ys and Joy have not taken over the Women Ministry but compliment the W/M and they live in harmony. That is what AGSU seeks to do. 2. Local Church Leaders The above challenge has also resulted in a situation where some local church leaders (pastors and deacons) have restricted the ministry from functioning in their churches. This might be due to the fact that AGSU has not been given the platform to explain to our leaders what the objectives of the union are. We want to assure our pastors that we hope to create a reliable platform for students to identify themselves within the churches. This will reduce or eliminate the incidence of our students having to leave A/G for Charismatic Churches. 3. Financial Constraints

One of our major challenges has to do with finances. As stated earlier, one of our main areas of operation has to do with missions and evangelism. Though we have been organizing missions, we wish to do more since the bible tells us to go out to all nations Matt 28:18-20 but due to financial constraints, we are unable to reach out to many. 4. Lack of Students Day Celebration There is no day on A/G calendar set aside as students day. This has resulted in the lack of recognition of AGSU in the local churches. We strongly believe that such a day will be crucial to maintaining our students, especially, those graduating from the tertiary level in our local churches. F. THE WAY FORWARD We hope: 1. to continue to work hard and cement our achievements 2. that the Executive Presbytery will reiterate that fact that AGSU is under the Youth Ministry and as such should be encourage to operate in the local churches 3. that the Regional Councils will continue to partner with us in the area of missions and evangelism 4. to structure our programmes to meet current needs of our students and as such attract the necessary sponsorship packages from corporate institutions 5. that the EP will consider setting aside a day on A/G calendar as Students Day which will be observed throughout all local churches G. CONCLUSION We wish to thank the EP, National/Regional Youth Directors, Regional Councils, Local Churches, our Associates, founding fathers and all who have in diverse ways contributed to the growth of AGSU over the years. We also want to use this opportunity to announce that AGSU is 30 years (to God be the Glory). In view of this, we have put in place an anniversary programme (copy attached). We will need support from the EP, National/Regional Youth Directors, Regional Councils and Local Churches for a successful anniversary. Thank you.

Sampson WIreko (NATIONAL PRESIDENT)