THE RESPONSE OF GHANA BAPTIST CONVENTION TO POVERTY ALLEVIATION: A STUDYOF GRACE BAPTIST CENTRE FOR COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT

Abstract

The research seeks to discover the contribution of the church towards poverty alleviation in the society, in order to empower the poor in the community to meet their economic and social-political needs. To achieve this purpose for the research, the biblical basis for the church’s support of the poor was examined. Also programmes and activities of the church towards poverty alleviation in the community were investigated. Grace Baptist Church Centre for Community Empowerment (CeFORCE) of the Ghana Baptist Convention was used as a study and examined thoroughly. The research revealed the many contributions of CeFORCE in the area of counseling, business startup support, educational support, health care support, vocational skills acquisition and several advocacy programmes aimed at empowering the poor to meet their economic and socio-political needs. Some beneficiaries of CeFORCE programmes were doing well in their chosen trades and professions.The research further revealed that CeFORCE lacks donor support for many of its projects as the organization is sorely founded by Grace Baptist Church members. This is affecting CeFORCE support for most of its poverty reduction programmes in the community. Laudable projects such as the construction of CeFORCE village for vocational and technical training, the Northern Immigrant Transit training programme designed for street girls have been suspended. It was also discovered that documentation of CeFORCE activities were poorly managed. The dissertation argues that in order for CeFORCE to continue contributing effectively to poverty alleviation in the community, it must seek donor support to fund most of its programmes and projects through collaboration with BREDA and other donor agencies. CeFORCE advocacy programmes should cover advocacy on parental neglects, a primary curse of illiteracy and unemployment resulting in increase poverty in the community.