Amponsah, Daniel Kwabena (1915–2002)

Daniel Kwabena Amponsah was an Adventist pastor and administrator from Ghana.

Early Life, Education, and Family

Daniel Kwabena Amponsah was born on March 2, 1915, at Effiduase Dadiase in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, West Africa.¹ His parents were Yaa Tiwaa and Yaw Amponsah. Daniel Amponsah grew up in Effiduase Dadiase and later moved with his family to Kumasi to start his formal education at the Wesley Practice Primary School and then the middle school at Wesley College Practice.² Daniel was the first person to obtain a middle school certificate in his hometown, Effiduase Dadiase.³ Since he was accorded great respect by the people in the community, he was appointed as a personal secretary to a fetish priest called Ankrah.⁴ He served in that capacity until he joined Salvation Army Church in 1925. He was employed by that church as a teacher and a pastor in 1940.

In 1943, an Adventist pastor called Amofa, a native of Asokore-Effiduase, shared the Adventist message with Daniel. As a result of their Bible studies, Daniel was converted and baptized by Pastor Jesse Clifford at Asante Bakwai in 1943.⁵ In 1944, he received seminary training at Bakwai in the Ashanti region.⁶ He completed seminary school in 1945 and then was posted as a pastor to Bobriase-Akrokerri in the Ashanti region.

In 1949, Amponsah married Victoria Akua Asantewaa, a native of Nkoranza-Bunsynaa in the Brong Ahafo region in Ghana.⁷ They had seven children: Seth Kwame Amponsah, David Kwabena Amponsah, Kwadwo Asiamah Amponsah, Esther Tiwaa Amponsah, Ebenezer Kwame Frimpong Amponsah, Nana Kwame Sefah-Atweneboah, and Mary Abena Badu Amoanimaa.⁸ He educated all his seven children, four of them obtaining doctoral degrees. He also helped with the education of three of his extended family members, one of whom became a medical doctor and the remaining two teachers.⁹

Ministry

Pastor D. K. Amponsah had his first ministerial appointment at Bobriase-Akrokerri in the Ashanti region from 1945 to 1947.¹⁰ After working for two years in Bobriase, he worked in various church districts as a pastor, including Jachie (1948-1951), Mampong-Krobo (1952-1953), Wenchi (1953-1954), Accra and Koforidua (1958-1963), Agona (1963-1966), Kumasi (1967-1972), Bekwai (1973-1975), Nsuta (1976-1981), and Techiman (1982-1985).¹¹

Amponsah planted churches in Dadiase, Asekyerewa, Wonoo, Jamasi, Jachie, and Senchi.¹² He also helped in the establishment of Tiemelekro, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in La Cote D’Ivoire.¹³ He helped to set up both basic and tertiary institutions. These schools include Jachie SDA Primary, Nsuta SDA Primary, the Agona SDA Primary and Junior Secondary School, and Seventh-day Adventist College of Education in Asokore- Koforidua.¹⁴ To honor this great achievement, the D. K. Amponsah’s Adventist Preparatory and Junior High School in Dadiase has been named after him.

Kwabena Daniel Amponsah died on April 14, 2002.

Sources

Adama Larmie, Samuel. “President Report 2002 Tribute,’’ 2002, par. 4. Central Ghana Conference archives, Kumasi, Ghana.

Amoah, James K. “President Report in 1980 End of Year Review.” 1980, par. 15. Central Ghana Conference archives, Kumasi, Ghana.

Central Ghana Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church. “President Report in 1981 End of Year Review,” 1981, par. 10. Central Ghana Conference archives, Kumasi, Ghana.

Central Ghana Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church, “Tribute by the Executive Secretary,” April 2002. Central Ghana Conference archives, Kumasi, Ghana.

Ghana Statistical Service, Population and Housing Census. Accra: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010.

Nyarko, Philomena. “Government Statistician.” Wenchi Municipality Analytical Report 23 (2014): 110-117.

Owusu-Mensa, Kofi. Seventh-day Adventists: A History, Valley View University Monograph Series, Vol. 1, Accra: Advent Press, 2005.

Samuel Koranteng-Pipim, Samuel. ed. Here We Stand: Evaluating New Trends in the Church. Berrien Spring, MI: Adventist Affirm, 2005.

Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ashanti New Town Centenary Anniversary Brochure, 2021, par. 4. Central Ghana Conference archives, Kumasi, Ghana.

Seventh-day Adventist Church, Dadease. “Brochure of the late Pastor Daniel Kwabena Amponsah.” 2002, par. 5. Central Ghana Conference archives, Kumasi, Ghana.

Notes

1. Kwame Sefa Atweneboah, elder of Tanoso Seventh-day Adventist Church, interview by the author, Tanoso, August 15, 2017.↩

2. Seventh-day Adventist Church, Dadease, “Brochure of the late Pastor Daniel Kwabena Amponsah,” (2002), par. 5.↩

3. Kofi Owusu-Mensa, Seventh-day Adventists: A History, Valley View University Monograph Series, Vol. 1 (Accra: Advent Press, 2005), 18.↩

4. EstherTiwaah, member of Seventh-day Adventist Church, interview by the author, Tanoso, August 20, 2017.↩

5. Samuel Koranteng-Pipim, ed., Here We Stand: Evaluating New Trends in the Church (Berrien Spring, MI: Adventist Affirm, 2005), 39.↩

6. Ghana Statistical Service, Population and Housing Census (Accra: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010), 6.↩

7. Samuel Adama Larmie, “President Report 2002 Tribute,” (2002), par. 4.↩

8. Emmanuel Acheampong, chaplain of Agona Senior High School of Seventh-day Adventist Church, interview by the author, Agona, August 25, 2017.↩

9. Lydia Antwi, member of Dadease Seventh-day Adventist Church, interview by the author, Dadease, August 20, 2017.↩

10. Daniel Kwabena Amponsah, professor of Business Administration of Sorey Troy University, interview by the author, Alabama, U.S.A., August 18, 2017.↩

11. Philomena Nyarko, “Government Statistician,” Wenchi Municipality Analytical Report 23 (2014): 110-117; Ghana Statistical Service, Population and Housing Census (Accra: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010): 11.↩

12. Central Ghana Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church, “President Report in 1981 End of Year Review,” (1981), par. 10.↩

13. Central Ghana Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church, “Tribute by the Executive Secretary” on April 5, 2002.↩

14. Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ashanti New Town Centenary Anniversary Brochure (2021), par. 4.↩