THE AFRICAN CHRISTIAN MISSION SOCIETY, INC.

(ACMS)

  founded 8/2002

please feel free to contact us at  AfricanChristianMS@yahoo.com. 

What is the ACMS? 

Our Mission Statement:

"To share the Good News of Jesus Christ in Ghana and other African countries."  This is done by collecting Bibles and Christian materials, establishing congregations, and by acts of Christian kindness.

The Scriptural basis for this mission is Isaiah 55, Verses 10 and 11:

"As rain and snow come down from heaven and don’t go back again but water the ground and make it produce and grow and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will My Word be that I speak. It will not return unto me empty but it will accomplish what I want and achieve what I had in mind."

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            I am Dave’s only sister and live in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Dave and I were very close; he was my best friend.  I love him so and miss him so much!  What an awesome man!  I’ve been with him every step of the way growing up, going to school, and as a board member of the ACMS.  God-willing, now I have inherited the ACMS.  I set all Dave’s computer things up and knew his passwords, thank God, so I can stay in contact with the people he personally met in Africa.  Working on the ACMS helps me feel close to Dave; if he were still here, we’d be working on this together.  The ACMS will continue as long as the Lord wills, and we’ve been blessed.

            Right now we are still working on the following projects.  Please pray for us.  If the Lord moves your heart to help His cause, God bless you, and donations can be sent to:

ACMS, P. O. Box 83, Algoma, WI  54201 (you can designate one of the following projects if you like)

If these projects are meant to be, the Lord will provide:

• Building a library/media center in Ghana for the sharing of Christian materials.  The building would also provide a place for Bible study. 

• $1,200 in assistance for the Adullam Orpahange in Ghana.  This is the amount of money it takes to feed all the orphans for a month.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

IN DAVE'S OWN WORDS ....

 

GRACE PEACE AND MERCY FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST AMEN.

 Text:  Isaiah 55:10 and 11

 “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth:  it will not return unto me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Dear Friends in Christ:

      For the past two summers, I have gone to Ghana, West Africa, on mission trips to share God’s Word.  On these trips, I represented an organization called the African Christian Mission Society (ACMS), recognized as a mission agency of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  This has come at a great sacrifice for me both financially and has used up much of my time both of the summers.  As you know, the climate in Africa is very difficult and, of course, being a white man traveling to different cities in Africa does increase the chance that you could be robbed and/or killed because whether you like it or not that criminal element is out there as some look at the white man only for his “money”.  Many, unfortunately, sad to say, even in the church, would ask, “why would you do this?”  But this is not about me at all.  I do not want to win glory for myself or anyone’s applause for doing this.  It is all about Jesus Christ.  It is as John the Baptist said about Christ in John 3:29 and 30:  “He must grow while I must become less.  The One Who comes from above is above all others.”  All I want to do is to allow God to use me and the ACMS to win souls for Christ across Africa.

     Christ tells us in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) to “go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe those things He has commanded.”  He has called me out of my past accounting career into the ministry to share His Word.

     For Isaiah, it was all about Jesus Christ as he was one of God’s greatest prophets.  He spoke seven hundred years before Christ and prophesied many things about Him including His virgin birth and also of His death.  In our text, God the Holy Spirit revealed to Isaiah that

 

GOD SENDS HIS WORD WITH A PURPOSE.

I.

     Ghana, as is any African country, is a long way from the United States.  In flight, it takes about twenty-hours to get there as you have a stopover in Europe along the way.  On this trip, we visited nine cities across five different regions (similar to US states) including:  Tema, Accra, Nsawam, Kumasi, Obuasi, Dunkwa, Tarkwa, Takoradi and Sekondi.  One of the pastors of our sister synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana, accompanied me for this trip and was my interpreter most of the time.  We spoke sixty-four times in public about Jesus Christ to thousands of people.  We spoke in schools, villages, hospitals, and churches both Lutheran and non-Lutheran.  We even helped to start two congregations and have begun to gather people in at least six other areas.  The Lord allowed us to do many wonderful things for Him on this trip.  These things have only just begun and we pray will lead to even greater things being done in His name in the future. 

     As Christians, it is our privilege to get out and tell others about what Christ has done for us with His death on the cross on Good Friday and His physical resurrection on that first Easter Sunday morning.  Whether those people are in Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, France, the USA or wherever they may be, wouldn’t we want them to know of Jesus Christ?  What about our friends, family, neighbors and co-workers wouldn’t we want them to know about Jesus Christ?

     For us, Christ has accomplished it all as He has paid the price for us at the Cross of Calvary.  By nature, we are God’s enemies.  Without Him, we have to stand before a perfect God as sinful, imperfect human beings.  No matter how hard we try, we cannot keep God’s perfect law.  With Christ, we can stand covered in His righteousness before God as kings and queens with a great eternity to look forward to and can even enjoy in this life as we live our lives for Him. 

     God’s Word tells us all about our Savior.  We know that it is through the Word that others come to faith in Jesus Christ as Romans 10:17 says “so then faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the Word of Christ.”  It is all the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word.  Every time a person comes to faith there is great rejoicing in heaven, as in Luke 15:10, “there is rejoicing in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  God sends His Word to accomplish great things as our text in verse eleven tells us, “so is My Word that goes out of My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”  We know from His Word that something great has been accomplished and it will not “return empty.”    So even if God used our efforts in Ghana to bring only one person to faith in Jesus Christ, a great thing has been accomplished where the Angels of God in heaven are rejoicing.  During this trip, we gave over 3,200 New Testaments to people in different cities in Ghana knowing that His Word will not “return empty” but will accomplish “great things.”

 II.

     But there are so many that are out there that do not believe that gospel.  In Ghana, there are many people yet to be reached.  Even though the Christian church has been there in various denominations since at least the 1700’s, only about 40% of the population is Christian; the balance of Ghanaians are roughly 1/6 Muslim, roughly 1/6 African tribal religions, and roughly 30% mixing Christianity with the African tribal religions (so they practice both).  There is much work to be done in Africa; such countries as Mauritania, Somalia, Niger, Chad, and Mali are or are nearly 100% Muslim so the great hope that is ours in Jesus Christ is virtually shut out of these countries.  Others have more Christians but still have many to be reached.  The vision of the African Christian Mission Society is “to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in Ghana and other African countries.”  The ACMS has the desire to share that precious gospel in every single African country. 

     Millions around the world have heard about Jesus Christ and have rejected Him.  Some of them think that they are “good enough” because they haven’t done anything “real bad.”  Others look to religions like Islam to bring peace to their souls where you have to do many things to “appease” an angry, blood-thirsty “god” like Allah.  There are many around the world never hearing about Christ; on average, 66,000 people die every day without ever hearing about Him.  Two-thirds of the World is not Christian which means about 4 billion people.  Many claim that the simple message of the Cross of Jesus Christ is “foolishness” and cannot be trusted. 

     If that was the case, then we are in deep trouble.  We would then have to match our imperfect, sinful selves with God’s perfect law where we would certainly fail and face an eternity in hell.  If that cross of Christ is “just foolishness”, then as St. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 15:17, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”  There would then be no hope for any of us. 

     As Christians, we know how desperately we need our Savior Jesus Christ.  We take God at His Word and trust Him; there has never been anything that has been proven false in His Word.  We know that Word is infallible and without any error simply because He has told us; no one has to prove it.  With that Word, we know of the greatest sacrifice for the greatest deliverance of all time which happened at the Cross of Calvary and three days later as that tomb was found empty that glorious morning of that first Easter which delivered mankind from the bondage of sin as Christ paid that price for us. 

     How certain are we of God and His Word?  As verse ten in our text tells us, “as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater.”  There are things that are certain in this life; two of them are the rain and the snow of which we usually have more than enough of each here in Indiana and with it will come beautiful flowers, plants, and crops in the spring and summer.  The greatest certainty is of the salvation that is ours through Jesus Christ.  Those who know Him can move forward and take chances to tell those who do not know Him yet.  We can go many miles to places such as Ghana, West Africa to do this.  We can also tell about Him to many here in the United States who do not know Him yet.

     To conclude, God sends His Word with a purpose.  He wants all men to be saved through the Cross of Calvary.  We are His messengers.  AMEN.

MAY THE PEACE OF GOD WHICH PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING KEEP YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS IN CHRIST JESUS UNTO LIFE EVERLASTING AMEN.

Sincerely in Christ,

Kathryn Sternitzky

The African Christian Mission Society                                      www.acmsdave.org

History

In 2000, Dave was reading Christian News and came across two letters from two gentlemen from Ghana in West Africa who needed Bibles and other religious writings and periodicals.  Dave decided to write to them and see what he could do to provide assistance.

While most of the contacts have been in Ghana, the ACMS has sent materials to thirteen other African countries including:  Botswana, Cameroon, Congo Democratic Republic, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

 

Visiting Africa in Person

Dave visited Ghana from July 15th to August 18, 2003.  It allowed him the opportunity to speak publicly about Christ twenty different times in churches, schools and villages.  Dave saw a country that was very beautiful but very poor and in definite need of God's Word. 

Dave also visited Ghana from July 1st, 2004 to August 15, 2004 and spoke over sixty times in public about Jesus Christ in nine cities across the country:  Accra, Tema, Nsawam, Kumasi, Obuasi, Dunkwa, Tarkwa, Takoradi and Sekondi.  He worked alongside Emmanuel Adinkrah, the pastor at Calvary Lutheran Church, Ashaiman/Lebanon, near Tema, Ghana.  He served as Dave's interpreter.  The trip also had the blessing of both Dr. Paul Fynn of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana and John Donkoh, manager of Lutheran Media Ministry Ghana.

Dave also visited Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in Summer 2006.

 

Official Status

The ACMS has been a mission agency of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) since October 2002.  It is recognized as a member of the Association of Lutheran Mission Agencies (ALMA).  The society works in partnership with Lutheran Media Ministry Ghana (LMMG) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana. 

It receives many letters from all over Ghana and compiles the names and gives them to LMMG.  The LMMG in turn sorts through the names and contacts those which are legitimately looking for such materials.  Most of the materials sent to Ghana go to the LMMG and they use these materials in evangelism programs including that of the Bible Correspondence Course (BCC) which presently has over 30,000 students enrolled in it.  

The ACMS also works with the Lutheran Media Ministry (Lutheran Hour) offices in Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda.  The society also receives letters from these and other African countries.  In countries without a LMM office, the ACMS itself sees if that person is truly looking for such materials.

 It is open to all individuals who have a desire to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ regardless of denomination.

PRAISE TO JESUS CHRIST!

What are the people of Ghana looking for?

While knowing that God intends on accomplishing great things with His Word (Isaiah 55:10 and 11), how can we possibly go wrong with however many we can get for them?

Many individuals have requested Bibles totaling in the thousands.  The requests are not always for Bibles either.  Many are looking for orthodox Christian material that is easy to read and understand such as writings, periodicals, Sunday school items, devotional books, etc.  Also, cassette tapes and cassette players have been requested.  Other times, the requests are to discuss various doctrines where in these discussions I have turned them right back into the Holy Scriptures at the point where it is being discussed.

How have we been able to send any items?

How have we been able to do send any items (James 2:18)?  Dave personally paid for postage and other items and has received  materials and financial support from family members and other individuals as well as over forty congregations.  Also, organizations such Concordia Gospel Outreach (CGO) of Concordia Publishing House, the Missions Club at Concordia University Wisconsin, the LCFS Thrift Shop in Shawano, Wisconsin and the Bethesda Thrift Shop in Green Bay, Wisconsin have helped in various ways.  One gentleman, who is stationed with the US Air Force in Guam, has sent Bibles directly to Ghana for the ACMS.

In early 2007 the ACMS raised $5,000 to help Trinity Lutheran School in Ghana expand from grades 1-3 to house and teach all 3 grades.  Dave planned to personally deliver the check to Ghana and oversee the project, but the Lord had other plans.  The money has been sent to Ghana, work has begun, and Emmanuel Adinkrah, beloved friend of Dave, is overseeing this project for the ACMS.

Dave wrote a proposal to the LWML (Lutheran Women's Missionary League) Wyoming District for a grant for $2,500 to purchase 500 Bibles for Ghana in their native TWI language. This grant was approved and funded.  Way to go, Dave!!

There are more projects I need to document....

 

 

 

Would you be able to help us??

 

"Why" - (author unknown)

On the street I saw a small girl,

Cold and shivering in a thin dress,

 With little hope of a decent meal.

 I became angry and said to God:

 “Why did You permit this?

 Why don’t You do something about it?”

 For awhile God said nothing.

 That night He replied, quite suddenly:

 “I certainly did something about it.

 I made you.”

Web-redesign under development.  Please check back frequently for updates, including a collection of Dave's sermons.

 

 

   

   

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