How does the AFCI National Director for Ghana end up distributing bread to refugees in Germany? The story begins many years ago.

The Presbyterian Church of Ghana was founded by the Basel Mission from Switzerland in 1828. Most of the missionaries that were sent to Ghana came from the region of Baden-Württemberg in Southern Germany. A partnership between the churches in Ghana and Germany remains to this day.

Yaw Danso, the AFCI Ghana National Director, was seconded by his church to work as an Ecumenical Co-Worker in the Protestant church of Baden from 1995- 2000 and had to learn German to be able to fulfill his responsibilities. He was a kind of African Cultural Ambassador to the congregations in Baden.

Besides church partnerships at the national level, individual presbyteries in Ghana can also have direct partnerships with churches in Baden. When Yaw was the chairperson heading the Volta Presbytery 2004-2009, he established a partnership with the Wertheim district of the church in Baden and has been in contact with them since then.

The Protestant church in Germany holds a convention every two years in the summer called KIRCHENTAG or, literally, Church Day. It runs from Wednesday to Sunday with about 100,000 people from around the world attending the event. This year (2025) it was held in Hannover.

After attending Kirchentag and being encouraged by the excitement of the younger generation for the church, Yaw went to visit the partner church in Wertheim. The church has a social outreach program called the TAFEL. The word “Tafel” means table or serving at table. The local supermarkets provide food and other essentials which are sorted by volunteers and served to the migrants, asylum seekers, poor, and homeless. This year, Yaw went to work as a volunteer at the bread counter. He said,   

“It was an eye opener for me as I encountered in reality the things I see on the television.”

The migrant crisis in Europe is a topic of heated debate. The search for a new life is often dangerous and difficult, leaving many without hope. Sharing not only physical bread but also the Good News of Christ, the true Bread of Life, opens hearts to the transformation of the Gospel.

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