RAMSEYER TRAINING CENTER
GHANA

In February 2002, an international consultation of the Future of Lay Training in the Church was organized by the Ramseyer Training Center (RTC) in Ghana.  Several local and international participants attended the consultation including members of the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.

After the consultation, the Director of Church Life and Nurture requested that RTC develop a policy plan that was to be presented to the General Assembly Council with a curriculum.  This was done and presented to the Council in 2004.  The approval was given after a committee was set up to review the recommendations and curriculum from RTC that had presented its report.  The policy was introduced and accepted for implementation.

The Presbyterian Church of Ghana has long relied on lay ministers to serve congregations in rural Ghana.  The Ramseyer Training Centre in Abetefi is the place these lay ministers are being trained.  The church is moving to a modular system of training for laity, including lay ministers, throughout the country.  They have developed 21 basic modules and an equal number of intermediate modules.  They are asking for help in preparing manuals for this new approach.