Ghanaian elected Moderator for New York City Presbyterian Community

Bronx, NY, May 26: History was made at the Emmanuel Presbyterian Reformed Church (EPRC) at Woodlawn Heights in the Bronx with the formal commissioning of Dr. David Nana Ofori as the Moderator of the 97-strong presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of New York.  Dr. Ofori who was formally installed by the New York Presbytery on Tuesday May 21 at the same venue is a physical therapist and preventive medicine practitioner. He holds several qualifications in his chosen field and has been a staunch member of EPRC. He is also the president of CMORS Group, LLC, a professional management consulting corporation that specializes in comprehensive medical practice design and policy and procedures preparation.

The new moderator is an ordained elder of the EPRC and the first African to be elected to the top position in the Church in New York City.

Speaking after his installation on Tuesday, May 21, Dr. Ofori listed as frames of reference the Book of Confessions, the Book of Order and the Holy Bible. He enjoined his church to come together in understanding of their leaders and the diversity of the Presbyterian Church. He stressed that the notion of diversity and multiculturalism is at the core of the Presbyterian community. “Multiculturalism and multi-ethnicity provide a seat at the table for all people regardless of your creed, color, gender, race, straight LGBT, religion, or country of origin” he emphasized. He said that multiculturalism  gives voice to the voiceless in the church.

Dr. Ofori also spoke about the future that awaits the Presbyterian Church and said that there is the need to make room for the youth as future leaders. He said that it will require “ a change, a reformation of or vision, and transformation of our views on immigration and non-geographic communities that are now our source of growth, and we must make the effort to celebrate them.”

The new moderator bemoaned the systemic lack of growth, and the gradual incapacitation of minority churches that are failing to thrive without pastors together with fiscal insufficiency and the over-dependence on dwindling endowments without replenishing plans or income resources. He urged the church to honor the struggles of those leaders who built their families in communities around the churches, and to respect their sacrifices.

He pledged to preside with dignity and respect, to be fair under the polity rules of engagement of the church and asked for the forbearance of the congregation and patience during his term of office.

In his sermon Rev. John Austin tasked the new moderator to reconcile the church and Jesus Christ and the world to himself. He linked the work of the moderator to a coach who never gets away from the basics.  He charged pastors and teachers in the church to deliver the gospel because it changes everything. It provides all things that are new to all those who are in Jesus Christ.  He added that the way of religion is to prove true to oneself to be of God. “The gospel changes everything to make us a blessing to serve Him in a community,” he emphasized.

Rev. Austin who recalled his several years in Ghana said the gospel is for everybody. Everyone is a minister of the gospel and not just the pastor, teachers and elders. “They are the ones God has called to prepare us all,” he said.

The new moderator, the son of Presbyterians has been an active member of the EPRC and has been instrumental in the church’s current status as a chartered unit of the Presbytery of New York City. With the support of the Presbytery of New York City, Dr. Ofori was able to forge a linkage with the Presbyterian Church of Ghana then under new EPRC pastor Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong Manso. As a result, PCG supplies pastors to the Woodlawn church. Elder Ofori went further, with the support of the session at EPRC to enroll the church in the Classis of the Reformed Church of New York. He has also been instrumental for EPRC’s joint management and maintenance of the Ogden outpost sanctuary, the original site of the church where about 60 percent of the members who reside in the South Bronx area worship under the same pastoral care.

In a short interview with Amandla, Dr. Ofori pledged to employ the benefit of technology as a tool to attract the youth to the church and to ensure a brighter future for the church. He regards the youth as a major tool for the church’s sustainability. He believes that the youth have a tremendous impact on the future of the church. “Their exposure to technology and the digital world makes them a powerful tool for the future of the church,” he added. When asked if he intends to import his medical background to his new position, the new moderator said that  the caring, serving, the appreciation of mankind, the prevention of diseases, among others as well as his own experience in the church are all a valuable management assets for his new position.

As an African and a Presbyterian, Dr. Ofori regards himself as a reverse missionary. “There was a time when Christian missionary activity was directed from one way only: the West to Africa. But now we Africans who used to receive missionaries have become missionaries ourselves,” he said.  

Posted by admin on Jun 15 2013. Filed under top stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry