Former President Mahama in an embrace with outgoing Pentecost chairman Prof. Opoko Onyinah
The former President, John Dramani Mahama has eulogized the immediate past Chairman of the Church of Pentecost Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah in a glowing tribute at the retirement service held in honour of the latter.
The former President praised Apostle Prof. Opoku for impacting lives through his long years of service in ministry and also serving the nation in various capacities including the National Peace Council.
[ads1]According to Mr Mahama, Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah has lived an exemplary Christian life throughout his 42-years in ministry, and called on Christians in general to emulate his humble character.
He stated that the Former Chairman of the Church of Pentecost is a soft spoken, very peaceful, very friendly and confident and was always a pleasure to hear him preach because he has mastery of the word of God.
“I’ve kept wondering how such a humble and peaceful nurtured person like Apostle Onyinah emerged out of Tamale Technical Institute to so affect the body of Christ in Ghana. His life exemplifies and follows the life of Christ. Today is the first time I’m hearing he did carpentry and joinery at Tamale Technical Institute, which is a noble profession that Christ also learnt. And Christ rose from a humble carpenter to become the saviour of the world. Apostle Onyinah rose from training as a humble carpenter to become the head of one of the biggest Christian congregation in this country and he has continued to study, rising to become a full professor not because those Degrees were given to him as honorary degrees but because he studied for them and earned every degree that he has.
“I want on my behalf and all those who admired him to appreciate him especially in the work he did as a member of the National Peace Council.
“I found him very soft spoken, friendly, peaceful and confident and was always a pleasure to hear him preach because this was a man who has mastery of the word of God. As Christians, we live to emulate the life of Christ and I must say Apostle Onyinah’s life is an emulation of Christ life so all of us hold him as role model to be able to emulate him in the goodness that he has continued to show especially in these times when you look at some Christian congregations and you wonder whether they’re following the word of God. So for people like Apostle Onyinah, they must serve as examples on how Christian lives to be lived. We don’t live to judge anybody but the Bible is there as the word of God which teaches us how we should live our lives.” Mahama said
Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah, the immediate-past Chairman of The Church of Pentecost, on Sunday, August 26, 2018 officially bowed out of active service after 42 years of successful ministry.
The colourful event which took place at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC) at Gomoa Fetteh, near Kasoa in the Central Region, was attended by high profile personalities from all over the world, including former President John Dramani Mahama, ministers of state, parliamentarians, chiefs and heads of churches and para-church organisations.
The ceremony which was greeted with grandeur was officiated by the new Chairman, Apostle Eric Kwabena Nyamekye, who was inducted into office on Saturday, August 25, 2018 in Accra.
The General Council of The Church of Pentecost in a testimony described the outgone Chairman as a man of integrity and contentment whose words match his actions and lives in a way that is true to God, true to self, and true to others.
“Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah displayed tremendous qualities of wisdom, judgement and discretion as a leader. Listening to him, one would easily pick out nuggets of wisdom that could only come from the Lord,” it said.
According to the testimony, Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah is a man of prayer, teacher of the Word and an astute theologian who stays intimately close to the Lord through prayers and a daily devotional life, saying, “…his disciplined devotional lifestyle has helped him to receive great insight from the Lord which has developed him into a great teacher of the Word.”
Under his ten-year leadership, the Church has grown to 3,037,068 members worldwide in 100 nations including two autonomous nations from 1,695,412 members and 70 nations ten years ago.
In Ghana, the membership of the Church now stands at 2,566,818 compared to 1,468,726 when he assumed office. “This means that, there has been a 75% growth in membership during his tenure of office. Currently, the Church membership constitutes about 9.1% of the total population of Ghana and is very visible across the length and breadth of the country,” the General Council stated.
Born 64 years ago, Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah was called into the full-time ministry of The Church of Pentecost at the tender age of 22 in 1976. He rose from Probationary Overseer to Apostle, and held many positions in the Church, including District Minister, Area/Regional Head, the first International Missions Director (1991-1996), pioneer Rector of Pentecost University College (2004-2008), and as Chairman of The Church of Pentecost (2008-2018). He is also the President of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC) from 2011 to date, Chairman of the Ghana Evangelism Committee from 2010 to date, Co-Chairman of Empowered21 Africa from 2013 to date, Advisory Board Member of International Review of Mission from 2013 to date, Member of the Committee of World Pentecostal Theologians in Dialogue with the Catholic Church, since 2011, Member of a Standing Committee of Health and Healing of World Council of Churches/DIFAM, 2005-2010, Member of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism of World Council of Churches from 2007 to date, Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Pentecostal Theology from 2007 to date.
He holds a PhD in Theology from the University of Birmingham and MTh in Applied Theology from the Regents Theological College (offered by the University of Manchester). He has published 18 books and 32 articles in journals and chapters of books on diverse subjects.
Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah is married to Grace and are blessed with six children.
