David and Gifty with the District Apostle in 2021
30 September 2022

Youth activities have traditionally provided a platform for the youth to learn about our doctrine. Sometimes also, it has given beautiful life-long treasures. For David and Gifty, it was a lifelong partnership: of shared faith, love and passions; birthed, nurtured and blessed in the New Apostolic doctrine.  

A marriage brewed in the cradles of the Apostles’ ministry

Married for 15 years with three boys, David and Gifty have been actively involved in the Church wherever they have found themselves. How did this beautiful story begin? What inspires David and his family to give so much of themselves to the Church?

David recounts the early days of this lifelong journey of faith and love, spanning over 30 years:

“My wife and I were born into the New Apostolic Church in Ho. Our mothers were pioneers of the Ho congregation who baptised us under the leadership of Apostle Parku. They were also choir members as well, so we joined the choir after confirmation in 1994”.

Looking at them, you cannot help but admire the depth of their union and companionship; they sing together in the choir, work alongside each other in the same firm and almost dovetail each other in many other pastoral and social endeavours. A feat many marriages struggle to achieve.

David explains: “The secret is my wife was and has been my friend long before we got married. So, you can imagine knowing someone from childhood. From Sunday School to the same primary school and later the Youth. We joined the choir together and would walk to choir practice together. We married after university. We have that connection that helps us to understand each other because of the friendship.”

The tradition continues

Unsurprisingly, David and Gifty have inculcated active membership into their children. Selase, the eldest, plays the piano for the East Legon congregation and Accra East district. Their second, Eyram, recently played the violin with the orchestra at the District Apostle divine service. The family’s love for music is inspiring:

“I love singing in the choir but higher education and working abroad kept me away for two decades. When I finally returned home, I re-joined the choir. Same applies to my wife. But because we love singing in the choir it was easy to nurture our kids to love music too, by introducing them to instruments.”

These lovebirds are proud of their children. David continues: “We bought a piano for Selase when he was five and got him a private tutor at home. Selase mastered how to play the organ very well in Church when he was seven. He is now the organist for the East Legon Congregation.

This came naturally for him because I was also taught how to play the piano when I was 14. The NAC Ho-congregation bought its first pianos then and I was privileged to be selected to be trained as one of the first organists.”

Belief & Technology

David, together with Gifty, has worked in the ICT industry for 20 years and currently leads a professional ICT body that has working relations with the Government. When asked how he has resolved conflicts between his faith and career, David’s answer is simple and practical:

“The world is made of different aspects; the physical, spiritual, supernatural and many unknowns to humans. Being born into the doctrine, I can easily differentiate between my profession and my faith.”

“In the presence of God, we put our titles at home. No matter our earthly accomplishments, we must remain humble and treat everyone with respect particularly our blessing bearers. Servant leadership is a virtue I admire and will like to emulate.”

Not only did David and Gifty pass on music to their children, but they also passed on IT skills. Selase, the eldest, showed me a website he developed in 2021 explaining a new technology he included. I could only admire him. But David and Gifty have not kept these talents within the family.

In 2019, they mentored participants at the Volta-Central youth camp where they offered to train 100 youth in coding and other ICT skills. As in the Parable of the Talents, this year at the NYC 2022 at KNUST, they have an even bigger audience to inspire. David shares his thoughts on technology in the Church:

“IT is an enabler that supports every activity. We have been talking to the leadership of the Church in Ghana for collaborations with our organization to promote IT. We received a positive response, and we will be participating in the upcoming Youth Day where we will introduce the youth to coding. The whole of Friday will be Coding day in Kumasi as part of the youth day celebration.”  

Fantastic! 8,000 youth can witness at first-hand a model contemporary couple; born, bred and blessed in New Apostolic. Who knows, we may have more examples of David and Gifty soon. In his parting message, David advised the youth:

“The youth should see NAC as their family. As a family, we need to help each other grow spiritually and physically. No one abandons his family and takes up another. So instead of looking elsewhere, the youth should get involved in the activities of the Church and seek for opportunities to grow.”