Yes I know I don't normally use so big words, but with a new kingdom hall at hand they are called for. But the dedication is not a long ceremony as you might expect in some churches. Jehovah's Witnesses are not really a candle-burning and incense kind of bunch. That does not mean that a dedication program is not a very festive and even a bit solemn occasion. The procedure is the same everywhere in the world a Kingdom Hall is dedicated, witch is a good thing because the program in Sokode was on Ewe so I didn't understand much. But the sister sitting next to me translated some from time to time.
After the initial song, prayer and opening remarks the story of the Congregation are told by interviewing different brothers. I didn't get much of that part, but that is okay because I already know the story. It is a little interesting because it is actually a mix of the two most normal ways a new congregation is formed. Being the very first village group south of Ho, a town with a very active Ewe congregation in the southern part (Bankoe) the first regular preaching was done by brothers from Ho. Some years ago a service group was form out of the few unbaptized publishers in the village group and a few families from Bankoe going out there every weekend. So far it is simply the story of a congregation becoming two large and then it is split (just as my congregation is in the process of during this year)
But it was also a new group of Jehovah's Witnesses in a village group where there haven't been anyone before (right now we have more than 8.000 such villages and village groups). So a remote group was officially formed and recognized by the Branch Office in Accra. They send a special pioneer couple to support out new friends.
So with both the support of the village model (special pioneers) and the town model (elders and pioneers coming from the mother congregation) the small group soon became an active congregation. Two of the elders from Bankoe that helped start the whole thing are still in Sokode Congregation. So even though it is a very new congregation (3 years old) they actually have several mature publishers to lead them. Asked about his sacrifice one of the elders living in Bankoe said that it was simply a 10 minutes drive on his motorbike to Sokode, so it was not much of an sacrifice. What a fine attitude.
The second part in a dedication program is stories from the construction itself. I didn't understood any of those, but I know that we all had fun, and the food was good.
The third part is the Watchtower Study, witch all congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses are doing every week.
The last part is the dedication talk itself. If possible a brother from the Branch Office is invited to dedicated the hall. It is normal to even wait a month or two with the dedication so such a brother will have time to come. I think the main reason for the popularity of the visiting bethel brother is that he brings many fresh experiences with him. Let me tell you just one from this dedication:
Some years ago in a small village in Togo (just across the border from Ho) a couple got a invalid child. (I didn't really hear what the boys handicap is, but it makes his hand weak and deform) The village elders meet together and decided that for the good of the whole community the boy had to be killed!
The couple, being the only Jehovah's Witnesses in the village, did of course not accept this decision and the mother fled with his handicapped baby. Later the local congregation they fled to paid so the boy could go to the hospital to get treatment and they bought some crutches so he could get around.
In the meantime the elders in the home village seeing how well the little boy was doing regretted their hard decision and asked the family to return. They also gave the boy some money for him to go to the hospital. But since the brothers had already helped him the money was kept in a locked box. (that is possible in Togo since the currency is stable and not loosing 20 to 30 procent of its value each year as in Ghana)
Because of the good example of this family and also because of the preaching work many in the village became Jehovah's Witnesses and soon they formed a congregation. Even though the village is very poor the program: Kingdom Halls in lands with limit resources made it possible for them to get a Kingdom Hall last year.
One of the tasks of the local congregation in this program is to supply the food for the Construction Team, but even this was a problem. The little boy had been raising some chickens and now he asked his father if he could give them to the brothers and sisters working at the construction site. But his father told him that you can not just eat chicken, you have to eat rice or cassava to. And they didn't have the money to buy this food. Then the boy went to the house and fetched his locked box. In it he had kept the money the village elders had given him when the family had returned to the village. Now he used this money to buy rice and he could give the Construction Team chicken and rice to eat.
Among Jehovah's people we are all together in serving him. And next time you give a donation to the program Kingdom Halls in lands with limit resources You are working together with a small handicap boy from Togo.
In 2012 this program had 236 Construction Teams that made 1,615 Kingdom Halls throughout the world. In our congregation we have a contribution box only to this program and we give as much as we can. But we know that the bulk of the money comes from our dear brothers and sisters in North America, Europe and the Far East. So let me end with a deep felt Akpekakaka to all of you.
Before the construction work started
Før byggearbejdet begyndte
The finished Kingdom hall
Den færdige Rigssal
Inside the beautiful Kingdom Hall with all the new benches and even microphones
Indenfor i den smukke nye Rigssal med dens nye bænke og endda mikrofoner.
Rigssalen i Sokode har nu været færdig i flere måneder, men en sidste ting manglede stadig. Den var endnu ikke blevet indviet som en hellig bygning sat til side til tilbedelsen af Jehova og til fremme af det Messianske Rige .
Ja, jeg ved at jeg ikke normalt bruger så store ord, men med en ny rigssal så er det passende. Indvielsen er dog ikke en lang ceremoni, som man ser nogle kirker. Jehovas Vidner er ikke rigtig til messer og røgelse. Det betyder ikke at indvielses program er ikke en meget festlig og endda en smule højtidelig oplevelse. Fremgangsmåden er den samme overalt i verden hvilket var en god ting da programmet i Sokode udelukkende var på Ewe! Men den søster der sad ved siden af mig oversatte lidt fra tid til anden.
Efter den første sang, bøn og indledende bemærkninger bliver Menighedens historien fortalt ved at interviewe forskellige brødre og søstre. Jeg fik ikke fat i meget af det, men jeg kendte jo også historien i forvejen. Den er interessant, for det er faktisk en blanding af de to mest almindelige måder en ny menighed dannes på.
Sokode er den første landsbygruppe syd for Ho, en by med en meget aktiv Ewe menighed i den sydlige del (Bankoe), så de første regelmæssige bibelkurser blev holdt af brødre fra Ho. For nogle år siden blev der dannet en tjenestegruppe ud af de få udøbte forkyndere i landsbygruppen og af et par familier fra Bankoe der tog derud hver weekend. Det lyder jo blot som historien om en menighed der bliver for stor og deler sig i to (som min menighed er i færd med)
Men det var jo også en ny gruppe af Jehovas Vidner i en landsbygruppe hvor der ikke tidligere havde været nogle. (lige nu har vi mere end 8.000 sådanne landsbyer og landsbygrupper) Så en ekstern gruppe blev officielt dannet og anerkendt af afdelingskontoret i Accra. De sendte et specialpioner par for at hjælpe vores nye venner i Sokode.
Med støtte fra både landsbymodellen (specialpionerer) og bymodellen (ældste og pionerer, der kommer fra modermenigheden) voksede den lille gruppe hurtigt op og blev til en aktiv menighed. To af de ældste fra Bankoe der hjalp til i starten er der faktisk stadig. Så selvom det er en meget ny menighed (3 år gammel) så har de har flere modne brødre til at føre an. En af disse ældste blev spurgt om det ikke var hårdt sådan at komme ud til Sokode fra Bankoe. Men som han sagde så er det jo kun 10 minutters kørsel på motorcykel så det kunne vel ikke kaldes et offer. En meget fin holdning.
Anden del af et indvielsesprogram er historier fra byggeperioden. Det var jo på Ewe så jeg forstod ikke så meget af det, men jeg husker da selv at vi havde det sjovt - og at maden var god. Den tredje del af programmet er Vagttårnsstudiet, som jo bliver holdt i alle Jehovas Vidners menigheder hver uge.
Den sidste del af programmet er selve indvielsestalen. Hvis det er muligt at få en gæstetaler fra Afdelingskonteret venter man gerne en måned eller to med indvielsen. Jeg tror at hovedårsagen til en sådan gæstetalers popularitet er at han har friske oplevelser med som han fortæller. Lad mig gengive en enkelt fra dette indvielsesprogram:
For nogle år siden i en lille landsby i Togo (lige over grænsen fra Ho) fik et par et handicappet barn. (Jeg fik ikke fat i hvad drengen helt konkret fejlede, men det gør at hans hænder er svage og deforme) Landsbyrådet mødtes og besluttede at til gavn for hele samfundet så måtte babyen dræbes!
Parret, der var de eneste Jehovas Vidner i landsbyen, accepterede naturligvis ikke beslutningen, og moren flygtede med sin handicappede barn. Senere sørgede den lokale menighed de havde flygtet til at drengen kom på hospitalet for at få behandling, og de købte også nogle krykker til ham.
I mellemtiden ændrede folkene i landsbyen mening og blev skamfulde da de så hvor godt den lille dreng klarede sig. De undskyldte derfor deres adfærd og anmodede familien om at vende tilbage. De gav også drengen nogle penge så han kunne komme på hospitalet. Men da brødrene jo allerede havde hjulpet ham blev pengene anbragt i en aflåst boks. (det er mulig i Togo da valutaen er stabil og ikke miste 20 til 30 procent i værdi hvert år som i Ghana)
På grund af det gode eksempel på denne familie satte og på grund af afholdte bibelkurser blev mange i landsbyen Jehovas Vidner og snart dannede de en menighed. Selvom landsbyen er meget fattig har programmet: Rigssale i lande med begrænsede midler gjort det muligt for dem at få en rigssal sidste år.
En af opgaverne for den lokale menighed i dette program er at levere mad til Byggeholdet, men selv det var et problem for de fattige brødre. Den lille dreng holdt nogle høns og nu spurgte han sin far om ikke han kunne give dem til de brødre og søstre der arbejder på byggepladsen. Men hans far fortalte ham, at man jo ikke bare kan spise kylling, man er nødt til at spise ris til. Og de havde ikke penge til at købe ris. Drengen gik hen til huset og hentede sin låste kasse. I den han havde han stadig pengene landsbyens ældste havde givet ham da familien vendte tilbage til landsbyen. Nu brugte han disse penge til at købe ris og så kunne byggeholdet få kylling og ris at spise.
Blandt Jehovas folk er vi er alle fælles om at tjene ham. Så næste gang du giver et bidrag til programmet Rigssale i lande med grænse midler så kan du tænke på at du arbejder sammen med et lille handicap dreng fra Togo.
I 2012 havde dette program 236 Byggehold der opførte 1.615 rigssale i hele verden. I vores menighed har vi en bidragsbøsse kun til dette program, og vi giver så meget som vi kan. Men vi ved at størstedelen af pengene kommer fra vores kære brødre og søstre i Nordamerika, Europa og Fjernøsten. Så lad mig slutte med at sige et dybtfølt Akpekakaka til jer alle.
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