Mountain View Ghana Conference

Mountain View Ghana Conference was organized in 2015. It was formerly part of Central Ghana Conference. Mountain View Ghana Conference occupies the following territories: the municipalities of Ejura Sekyeredumasi, Kwabre East, and Mapong; and the Sekyere Central, Sekyere South, and Tafo Pankrono districts. As of June 30, 2018, it had 95 churches, membership of 29,483, and total population of 744,645. Mountain View Ghana Conference headquarters are in Agona, Ashanti region, Ghana.¹

History of the Mountain View Ghana Conference

During the 2012 delegates’ conference at Adventist Girls’ Senior High School, Ntonso, it was discussed and voted to reorganize Central Ghana Conference into two conferences due to: territorial expansion, tremendous membership growth, large size of the workforce, and financial capability, among other reasons.²

A committee was set up to look into the details of transition. In January 2014, an 11-member subcommittee including Pastors Bobie Danso, Abankwah Amoakohene, Seth Asiedu, Elder Norman Kusi, and Elder Gyasi Animhene, were tasked to further consider demarcation and location of temporary and permanent offices. The committee further recommended to the executive committee that the conference territory was so vast that three territories would best achieve the needed result of enhancing effective administrative and evangelistic goals in the conference. This recommendation was approved by the executive committee which voted to amend the earlier decision to create two territories.³ So, the Mountain View Ghana Conference became one of the fields created from the Central Ghana Conference.⁴

The Mountain View Ghana Conference was finally located at Agona for the following reasons:

• Its central position in Agona serves all the districts.

• Agona was once the headquarters of the entire church in Ghana before moving to Bekwai in 1935 and finally to Kwadaso in Kumasi.

• Agona is the fertile land in whose soil the church sprung up in Ghana.⁵

Through the work of the Northern Ghana Union President (Pastor Kwame Kwaning Boakye), a temporary place was secured at Agona Seventh-day Adventist Senior High School (AGASS) which originally was the school’s newly constructed “Sick Bay” which had three rooms and a hall. This facility was acquired at the right time because the division had given notice of their preparedness to come to the field for an assessment in order for the field to be considered for conference status.

At the same time the administration, through the directorship of Pastor Eric Ossei Yeboah, Pastor Abankwah Amoakohene, and Elder Collins Oppong Adjare, solicited funds in the form of loans from churches and members to purchase land to be used for the construction of a permanent office. The use of the “Sick Bay” posed a problem to the Senior High School since the PTA that built the place for them did not support the diversion of its use. The conference packed its furniture and equipment and moved to the school’s uncompleted auditorium to begin work there. The headmaster, M. K. Addai, and his associates prepared five small rooms at the back of the auditorium for the field’s use. The nature of this temporary space became a big challenge to the field.⁶

The West-Central Africa Division and the Northern Ghana Union Mission arrived in November 2014 to conduct a thorough assessment by looking at the size of the territory, financial strength, and strength of the workforce. By the grace of God, the field passed the assessment and conference status was recommended to the division executive committee, which organized the field as a conference in 2015.⁷

First Quadrennial Session

About a month after the union and division approved conference status for the field, a date was set and announced for delegates to assemble at the Adventist Girls’ Senior High School for the first quadrennial session. Key issues that were voted during the session included renaming the North-Central Ghana Field, acceptance of the conference bylaws, and election of officers, departmental directors, executive committee members, and trustees of the conference. The session which took place January 26, 2015 voted Mountain View Ghana as the permanent name for the conference. Additionally, the delegates elected as the first conference officers Pastor Abankwah Amoakohene, Pastor Rockson Kwadwo Amoah, and Elder Collins Oppong Adjare, as the president, executive secretary, and treasurer, respectively. Five other pastors were elected for the departmental directors’ positions, and a woman was elected as Women’s Ministries director. The delegates also elected Pastor Kwame Adiyia, Pastor Abankwah Amoakohene, and Elder Collins Oppong Adjare as the trustees for the conference.

A 21-member executive committee was elected to oversee the affairs of the conference as follows: Abankwah Amoakohene (chair), Rockson Kwadwo Amoah (secretary), Collins Oppong Adjare (treasurer), I. K. Konadu, Solomon Osei Kwadwo, Stephen Owusu-Ansah Gyamfi, Seth Anokye, A. B. A. Prempeh, Felicia Boatemaa, E. Y. B. Barfi, Peprah Joseph, Osei Amo-Mensah, Emmanuel Twum Manu, Philip Oti Agyen, Francis Frimppong, Omane Agyekum, Paulina Agyekum, Takyi-Mensah, Lowell Lawrence, Mercy Kporku, and Owusu Yeboah.⁸

Inauguration of Mountain View Ghana Conference

The conference administration, in consultation with the church leaders’ council, arrived on April 4, 2015, to inaugurate the conference with a membership of 22,000. The majority of church members enthusiastically assembled at the Agona Seventh-day Adventist soccer field to attend the historic event. Apart from the many church members who thronged the venue, important dignitaries such as chiefs, political figures, and institutional heads graced the occasion. There was goodwill from church members and the invitees who made a financial contribution towards the construction of a permanent office complex.⁹

Amidst the joy was a tragedy that marred the successful inauguration of the conference. A car that carried Medoma North church members to the inauguration was involved in a fatal accident upon their return home, which claimed nine lives. It was a big blow to the conference and became headline news nationwide. A befitting mass burial was conducted for all these departed souls at Ahwia Roman Catholic Park on April 28, 2015.¹⁰

The conference soon realized that occupying a temporary office was not conducive for effective administration, and it made efforts to construct an office. Contributions from church members, and donations from interested individuals both at home and abroad, enabled the conference to construct the befitting office complex that is now in use. By the grace of God, a Ghanaian family in the USA, upon hearing of the work on the office complex, donated a large sum of money to complete and furnish the kitchen and dining area of the building. The conference appreciates the contributions from all individuals who showed interest in the construction of the office complex whose dedication event happened on July 15, 2018.¹¹

Institutions

Mountain View Ghana Conference has two major healthcare facilities: Wiamoase Seventh-day Adventist Hospital, Wiamoase, Ashanti region, Ghana; and Apaah Seventh-day Adventist Clinic, Kumasi, Ashanti region, Ghana.¹²

Administration

President: Amoakohene Abankwa (2015-present)

Secretary: Rockson K. Amoah (2015-present)

Treasurer: Agyare Collins Oppong (2015-present)¹³

Sources

First Quadrennial Session Committee Minutes at Adventist Girls’ Senior School, 2012, Mountain View Ghana Conference archives, Agona, Ashanti Region, Ghana.

First Quadrennial Joint Session of Mid/North-Central Ghana Conference minutes, December 30, 2014-January 4, 2015. Mountain View Ghana Conference archives, Agona, Ashanti Region, Ghana.

North Central Ghana Conference Working Committee Meeting Minutes September 30, 2014. Mountain View Ghana Conference archives, Agona, Ashanti Region, Ghana.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2016-2019.

Notes

1. “Mountain View Ghana Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Nampa, ID: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2019), 400.↩

2. First Quadrennial session Committee Minutes at Adventist Girls’ Senior School, 2012, Mountain View Ghana Conference records, Agona, Ashanti Region, Ghana.↩

3. Central Ghana Conference Executive Committee Minutes, July 29, 2014, Mountain View Ghana Conference records, Agona, Ashanti Region, Ghana.↩

4. “Mountain View Ghana Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (2019), 400.↩

5. North Central Ghana Conference Working Committee Meeting Minutes, September 30, 2014, Mountain View Ghana Conference archives, Agona, Ashanti Region, Ghana.↩

6. Pastor Eric Ossei Yeboah (field unit president, 2014), interview by author, Tafo, July 8, 2018.↩

7. Seventh-day Adventist Online Yearbook, “The Mountain View Ghana Conference,” accessed September 29, 2019, https://www.adventistyearbook.og/2018.pdf.↩

8. First Quadrennial Joint Session of Mid/North-Central Ghana Conference Minutes, December 30, 2014-January 4, 2015, Mountain View Ghana Conference archives, Agona, Ashanti Region, Ghana.↩

9. Elder Phillip Oti Agyen (Chair of the Inauguration Committee), interview by author, Ntonso, July 14, 2018.↩

10. Pastor Abankwah Amoahene (president, Mountain View Ghana Conference), interview by author, Agona, July 16, 2018.↩

11. Pastor Abankwah Amoakohene and Pastor Rockson K. Rockson (president and executive secretary, MVGC), interview by author, Agona, July 16, 2018.↩

12. “Mountain View Ghana Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (2019), 400.↩

13. “Mountain View Ghana Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Nampa, ID: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2016-2019).↩