Mission in Ghana
In 1993, the congregation began its connection
with pastor Bennett Wilson of Ghana. Through his position on the
Board of the Global Health Ministries, Dr. Dennis Radefeld learned
about the plight of
Pastor Wilson who had served as a Lutheran teacher in
Liberia
until civil war forced him to leave the country.
He and his wife barely escaped with their lives by walking
all the way to
Ghana.
This arduous trip exacerbated the pastor’s congenital hip
problem and left him unable to work.
Because of the networks of physicians created by the Free
Clinic in Lorain,
Dr. Radefeld was confident that arrangements could be made for free
surgery for him.
A
congregation in Iowa paid transportation costs from Ghana to Lorain,
and First Lutheran paid the expenses of his five month stay
for surgery and recuperation in Lorain which began in November of 1993.
When he returned to Africa
in 1994, the congregation established a working arrangement with
Pastor Wilson to serve as its missionary in
Ghana.
