In 2008, the Chairman of the Estate Committee (Surv. Emmanuel Martey) drafted me to assist in the supervision of maintenance works in the church’s Mission House in Mamprobi Banana. As a result of the decisions of the General Council Meeting in May 2004, our Resident Minister (Rev. Steve Millar) was transferred. Pastor Michael Collins Asiedu was transferred from South Africa to take up his place. We had our work cut out to undertake a good fit-out to make reasonably comfortable our incoming minister. As a key Youth Ministry Executive, this included mobilizing young people to assist in offloading the personal effects of the Asiedu family when the transfer truck arrived. Fortunately, the family arrived as arranged and we got everything out and sorted after which Pastor Asiedu and his wife, Mama Lizzy thanked us profusely.
A week after his welcome service, Pastor M.C. Asiedu dropped off his son (Enoch) at the evening Youth Ministry Service, promising to pick him up after the meeting. I however offered to do so. After the service, I dropped off Kwasi at our Banana Inn Mission House. When the new Resident Minister got to know of it, he came out and insisted that I come in for a drink. I had three other youth members with me in the car and he got us all in the living room and treated us to a good refreshment, while he tried to get to know each of us directly. That was the beginning of a very exciting relationship with Pastor M.C. Asiedu.
Over the next four years, Pastor Asiedu will call me anytime he had an assignment he felt I could undertake for him and the ministry of the a church. Anytime he called and needed me, he spoke his Akwapim Twi and went like, “Atta, how are you today? Where are you? Is it possible for me to see you?” I always considered it a privilege to work for the minister of God and would quickly alter my itinerary to accommodate the minister’s request. He loved young people and once a while will ask me to accompany him to one place or the other. Indeed, Pastor Asiedu had a way of making you feel so much at home around him that one will go every length to serve the church.
Anytime, I went to the Church Office and he got to know of my presence in the office, he’d request that I come over to the Mission House located next door where we’d have long chats over virtually every topic. This continued even after the Mission House had moved to Dansoman SSNIT area. Anytime he called you home, he’d first ensure that you had eaten before any discussion and this was irrespective of whether one was in a hurry or not. After the discussions, Ps M.C. will find out about the personal life goals and spend a good time praying with his visitors before allowing them to leave.
Ps. Asiedu was a man of young people and soon upon assumption, he had MPs meeting with the Youth Ministry leadership in the Mission House. He encouraged open and Frank discussions about what roles we could collectively play to make the Youth Ministry extremely effective. He promised his full cooperation in this. This was subsequently displayed anytime we took our programmes to him for approval. He’d ensure that the activities had been properly detailed and ask for all lose ends to be tidied before he assents to it.
Over time as we continued our interactions, we noticed that Pastor Asiedu was not just interested in the big things also very passionate about the very little things. For example sometime in 2006, he requested me to minister during our Friday Evening Prayer Service. As someone who loves African wear, I showed up for service in a long-sleeved African print shirt. Immediately Ps Asiedu arrived and saw me, he beckoned me to come over where he asked in his usual ascent, “Atta, are you aware you are ministering today”, to which I responded in the affirmative. In my Pastor’s view, a preacher had to turn up in suit. Later in 2006, when I introduced my fiancée to Pastor MC, I was amazed at how warmly he received yesterday wife and the way he kept calling her ‘Glooooria’. She felt so much at home thereafter and quickly settled into the church after our wedding during which he ministered so powerfully from his heart.
In 2007, the Youth Executive commissioned a survey on the perceptions of the many up young people in the centre and what we needed to do to fully engage them in fulfilling the work of ministry. The survey report was received and we spent time praying over the recommendations. After further prayerful considerations, we came to the conclusion that with PIWC-Accra was a largely youthful church that required avenues to be opened for the young people to effectively function. Unfortunately the traditional structures had little room for this so we proposed the setting up of a Youth Church. Upon discussion with Ps. Asiedu, he discussed the proposal with the Presbytery which approved it. The Youth Church was inaugurated by him to run concurrently with the Adult Celebration and to say that it a great success is an understatement. All of a sudden, many idle youths had been reinvigorated and they started enjoying ministry in church, thanks to an initiative pushed through by Ps. Asiedu even though not too popular among the Presbytery at the time. The young people of PIWC-Accra were ‘over the moon’ with the Youth Church as almost everyone kept contributing all manner of support to make the service a fulfilling one. We bought a full set of instruments and equipment from individual contributions, enjoyed beverage after each service provided by a member or another as we embarked on evangelistic outreaches on our own almost every Sunday.
Sometime in 2007, Ps Asiedu had been invited to minister at a PENSA-Legon Sunday Service. He called and requested that I mobilise the Youth Executive to join him to the service. We agreed to honour our pastor by not just attending but do so in a very dignified manner – We’d go fully dressed in suit. We (Kwadwo Adjabeng, Benjamin Larbi, Nelson Amo, Bernice Gefli, Fiifi Enchill and myself) drove there together, met with Ps. Asiedu and were ushered into the service. He got Bernice to sing a song before the word ministration, me to pray after the sermon and Kwadwo to do the closing prayer. We had a meeting with PIWC-Accra members on campus thereafter before he requested that we drive to ‘On-the-Run’ across the University Gate where we ate breakfast sponsored by Ps. Asiedu.
Pastor Asiedu believed in the people he worked with and ensured that they were encouraged for higher heights in ministry. He recommended me to the Evangelism Ministry which subsequently appointed me as Member/Secretary to the ministry’s Editorial Board for four years.
Even after his sojourn in PIWC-Accra, Rev. M.C. Asiedu (now Apostle) will ask of the family anytime we met and pray with me among others. My love for the things of God moved notches higher in my relationship with Aps. M.C. Asiedu and his wife, Mama Elizabeth.
As Apostle Michael Collins Asiedu and his wife, Mama Lizzy retire from active full-time ministry in a few weeks, I pray for God’s abundant grace and many blessings upon their lives. You have raised and impacted thousands of lives and God will use them to honour you and glorify His name!
My dear friend,