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The English word, “church” has two meanings among the Akans in Ghana and elsewhere. In this article, we want to understand the different meanings of the two words to help us worship God better.
First, church means a place, an auditorium or a temple, where Christians gather to worship. The Akans call this building, “asore.” This means “asore” is a building; it does not refer to people. It is, therefore, wrong to say, “asoreba.” You will know the correct term as you read on.
The second meaning of Church is the community of Christian believers, the elect of God, or the assembly of called-out ones. It is rendered in Greek as “ecclesia” or “ekklesia.”
The Church which Jesus Christ declared to build in Mathew 16:18 refers to the latter, an appointed people, who would do the will of God, manifest the character and presence of God, the power of God and glory of God on earth.
These chosen people of God through Jesus Christ are referred to as “asafo” among the Akans. The word, “asafo” is a combination of two Akan words, namely, “Sa” meaning war and “fo” meaning people. Asafo, therefore, means a warrior group.
Christian believers are, therefore, considered to be a warrior group or an army or soldiers of Christ Jesus. It is no wonder that a Protestant Christian denomination calls itself The Salvation Army. Christians war by the power and authority of Christ Jesus to save souls from the kingdom of darkness.
Thus, it is appropriate to refer to a member of a church as “asafoba” in Akan, and not asoreba as many say in Ghana and elsewhere.
Now, it is important to stress that both asore and asafo are built. The question, however is, who builds them? Is it God or man, or both? Remember in Matthew 16:18, Jesus boldly stated that He would build His Church. He did not say, “we will build my Church or our Church.”
The answer to the question, then, is that Christ is indirectly the builder of both asore and asafo. He builds them through men and women by His Holy Spirit, strength, wisdom, knowledge, ability among others.
It is He who stirs the hearts of people to give their resources, including money, skills, energy and wisdom for the construction of asore, thereby giving Him all the glory, admiration and appreciation (Ezra 1:1-2; Exodus 31:3).
Thus, it is written, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” Psalm 127:1).
This means without God’s enablement, men and women cannot build the true Church of Christ. And without men and women God will not build His Church on earth.
This implies that God uses people He indwells by His Spirit to execute His plans, agenda and purposes on earth for the glory of His name. These people, therefore, are servants of God, vessels of God or co-workers of God on earth.
It is now the responsibility of Akans, especially Christians to use the terms: asore and asafo appropriately in their daily communications for the glory of God.
By James Quansah
