The first Ghanaian to become a Seventh-day Adventist pastor in Israel was ordained on Saturday, June 15. Several hundred people, including His Excellency Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence Kpabitey Kodjiku, Ghanaian ambassador to Israel, other embassy and consular staff, and Matthew Bediako, secretary for the Adventist world church and a Ghanaian, witnessed the ordination of Fergus Boateng.

Baptized as a Seventh-day Adventist in Ghana in 1980, Boateng soon became involved in pastoral work. In 1995 he went to Newbold College, England, for further pastoral training. He and his wife Cecilia went to Israel in 2000 when the Adventist Church in Israel invited them to help establish work among thousands of Ghanaian immigrants. They currently care for three congregations in Tel Aviv, Eilat, and Ramat Gan.

Richard Elofer, president of the church in Israel, says that the ordination of Boateng is a wonderful and encouraging sign for Adventists in Israel. “Established in 1948, the State of Israel is still a young country and has welcomed a wide variety of nationalities and cultural groups from all over the world,” says Elofer, who is also director of the World Jewish Friendship Center, run by the Adventist Church’s Global Mission office. “It’s important that we establish Adventist congregations of different cultural styles that will attract people from all these groups. Fergus and Cecilia are an excellent example of people reaching out to their own people. Ghanaians must reach Ghanaians, Romanians must reach Romanians, and Russians must reach Russians.”

Peter Roennfeldt, ministerial director for the trans-European region of the Adventist Church, led out in the ordination service.