Christ Apostolic Church International Presents Anim Memorial Lectures. on 23rd of May 2015 at College of Physicians and Surgeons, starts from 9:00 am. Host by the The Chairman of Christ Apostolic Church International Apostle Dr. S. K. Amoani. Guest of honors: Prof. Stephen Adei (Former Rector GIMPA) as Speaker and Apostle Dr. Alfred Kodua ( Former General Sec. Church of Pentecost) as Chairman. Theme for the 2nd Public Anim Memorial Lectures is "The Impact of Christianity in Ghana's Development with Special Reference to the Role of Pentecostalism."
SHORT PROFILE OF THE APOSTLE PETER NEWMAN ANIM (1890 TO 1984)
THE FATHER OF PENTECOSTALISM IN GHANA
The life and works of Apostle Peter Newman Anim is a testimony of what absolute faith and commitment to the word of God can do in the life of a person. Known in family circles as Kwaku Anim Mensa (Kwaku Manasseh), Peter Anim was born on February 4, 1890 to Mr Simon Appiagyei and Madam Hannah Lartebea of Boso. The third of six children, he had his elementary school education at Presbyterian schools at Boso and Anum and completed standard seven in 1908. From 1911, he sampled carpentry, worked as a weighing clerk at the Presbyterian Mission factory at Pakro, but also had a stint as a bricklayer in 1914 before marrying Madam Dora Sakyibea at Boso in 1916. He was a talented musician, a guitarist and played the organ for the Boso Presbyterian Church. Mr Anim was admired by all who knew him.
The early years of Anim’s life were very tragic. Anim suffered from chronic stomach ulcer from his infancy through the first thirty years of his life. By the age of 30 (i.e. 1920) Anim was a widower and childless – having lost his wife and all four of his daughters in succession, with three dying in their infancy. By 1921, his ailing condition had worsened through guinea worm infection. Out of desperation, Anim decided to try the divine healing teachings of Pastor Ambrose Clark of the Faith Tabernacle Church in Philadelphia, USA, editor of a religious magazine-” the Sword of the Spirit” that was circulating in the country. To his delight, he was immediately healed. This marked a turning point in his life.
Anim later linked up with the UK Apostolic church through a former fellow Faith Tabernacle pastor, David Odubanjo of Nigeria. David facilitated an arrangement that made it possible for Pastor George Perfect -a missionary of the Apostolic Church of Bradford UK, to visit Asamankese in 1935 for a two weeks stay. Anim’s group was so impressed with his ministry that a decision was made to affiliate with it, and Anim’s group first adopted the name Apostolic Church. In October 1936, Pastor Vivian Wellings, missionary secretary of the Apostolic Church in Bradford, also visited Anim’s church at Asamankese. He stayed for a fortnight and his visit was found to be valuable. On his recommendation, the missionary headquarters of the Apostolic Church agreed to send a missionary to Ghana. After the affiliation, Anim requested that Bradford send a resident missionary to assist in the work. This led to the dispatch in 1937 of a British missionary in the persons of Pastor James McKeon and his wife Sophia to assist in the work of the Lord at Asamankese. However the cordial partnership between Anim and McKeown lasted for two years,-based on doctrinal issues in divine healing, whiles Anim believed in divine healing without modern medication, McKeown believed in both…
“ McKeown, not wanting to jeopardise the faith of the believers, in June 1938, freely expressed a wish for a change of station and he left Asamankese to Winneba with his wife” later Mckeown asked for a long leave of absence to return to U.K, which was granted by Anim.
When McKeown returned from his leave, Anim visited the Winneba assembly and took the opportunity to see McKeown, to welcome him back to the country, and also to discuss further the issue regarding faith healing. On this occasion McKeown was firm and he is said to have warned Anim that his uncompromising and extreme views on the use of medicine must lead to the expulsion of his group from the Apostolic Church.
Anim conveyed the information about the separation of his movement from McKeown’s organisation to the assemblies and a meeting was called at Pepeade, where Anim’s organisation finally ended its affiliation with the Apostolic Church in June 1939, and “it was prophesied that we should prefix “Christ” to the name Apostolic Church, thus becoming the “Christ Apostolic Church” (CAC).
In spite of the enormous challenges Anim and his movement went through over the years, he nonetheless succeeded in establishing a self-governing, self-financing, self-propagating, and a self-theologising Pentecostal denomination in the country, whose aim was to bring salvation in its dual-dimensional facets to its followers.
Professor Kingsley Kwabena Larbi, founder and president of Regent University writes “ by his indefatigable efforts and dedication in pioneering the first indigenous evangelical Pentecostal movement in Ghana, which later gave birth to three major Pentecostal denominations (the Christ Apostolic Church, the Apostolic Church of Ghana, and the Church of Pentecost), he has won for himself the accolade, “Father of Ghanaian Evangelical Pentecostalism.”
Apostle Anim was posthumously awarded the FATHER OF PENTECOSTALISM IN GHANA and his Special contribution to Evangelism by the NATIONAL CHRISTIAN COMMITTEE in 1995.
Apostle Anim is remembered as the one who brought a GREAT REVIVAL into Christianity in Ghana. Through his movement many churches today have experienced and believe in the Holy Ghost baptism.
Prayer by the Great Leader Apostle Newman Anim in his book “that Christians may seek the direction of the holy spirit who will lead them into the truth and pray for a great manifestation of his power upon the church in Ghana and the world”
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Source: Nanakesse24.com | Nana Kesse
