Isaac Ayitey Oka (Pastor Ike)
Fountain of Love Assembly

Prampram is a beautiful coastal village along the eastern coast of Gulf of Guinea. It is a town that almost all visitors fall in love with on their first visit; its scenery and weather capture the soul. The inhabitants are mainly fishermen and small-scale farmers.

Fountain of Love Chapel is situated about half a kilometer from the beautiful rocky beach and has an adult population of 150. The children come to church in droves every Sunday; they outnumber the adult population at this time by about twenty. The ages of the children range from 3 to 16 years. At present we have no permanent place for the children’s church to meet so they meet under a big nim tree at the end of the church building. They are grouped into three classes according to their ages: Naomi’s class ministers to the children ages 3 to 8 years, Hannah’s class accommodates children between the ages of 9 and 12 years, and Rhoda’s class ministers to the youth between the ages of 13 and 16 years.

My delight is the children; they remind me of all the goodness of God in our lives. I really love them and will not mount the pulpit on Sunday without first checking on them to say “Hello!” The children are my heart! Just looking at them gives me joy and hope: the future of the church and my Country shines brightly in those little eyes. As their little bodies change and develop into adulthood, as their minds are opened and renewed to the Truth, and as their hearts grasp hold of a Risen Christ, the purposes and goodness of God are manifested. They are so vulnerable, so trusting; they believe everything you tell them. So I know we must reach them while they are so receptive to the truth of the Gospel.

My vision, my desire, is to build a permanent meeting place for the children’s ministry. It will house the children’s chapel, a recreational room filled with all the toys and Christian games that will refresh the children and stimulate their imaginations after their classes and a cafeteria where the very needy children who sometimes come to church without any breakfast can have the most basic need for nourishment met. Prampram and its surrounding areas are among the poorest communities in Ghana; some of the children come to church with no footwear.

My goal is to get every single child in Prampram to church and to plant the seed of the Gospel in their little hearts. The Bible admonishes us to train up the child in the way he should go and when he is an adult, he will not depart from the opinions that he has formed from the teachings he received when he was a child. I believe the Bible is telling us to indoctrinate our children with Godly thoughts and ideas so that they will grow up to become what they have been created to be. I also believe the Bible is directing us to the weakest yet strongest link in the development of man where we can plant the seed of the Gospel: our children.

I am of the view that children are the most important and most valuable link in the human developmental chain. This is because a child’s receptivity of the Gospel is the highest in this chain. By the time a child becomes an adult, he has formed opinions and has established a belief system; it takes much prayer and effort to break through opinionated minds. Once I read a survey that reported that only 25% of the total adult population could be won to the Lord as compared to about 90% of the total population of children; the percentage decreases as a child approaches adulthood. I strongly believe that the command of Jesus to preach the Gospel to every soul not only includes the children but is targeted at them: Suffer the little children to come to me, says Jesus, for of such is the kingdom of God. Most missions and churches budget their finances toward the adult population with little or no regard to the most important target group of the human developmental chain—the children! Even at governmental levels, financial aid and grants are directed mostly toward adult benefaction; developmental programs are designed without the child in mind.

It is my prayer that missions and churches will learn to channel their finances into child evangelism.

The majority of our children’s ministry staff is not trained to teach and care for children; they are unable to relate to children at their age levels and to really impact the children with the knowledge of God. This problem is amplified by the lack of interest in most of our local pastors with regard to children’s ministry. They disregard the ministry from lack of knowledge and understanding and also because of the negative opinion that exists toward children. Some opine that children do not contribute financially to the church; others consider children a nuisance that must be contained or kept beyond hearing distance. Most of our Bible Colleges do not have a curriculum for training children’s ministers. Much prayer is needed to prepare the hearts of our people to change their view toward our children; much work is needed in the form of education and training to open the minds of our people to the incalculable value of our children. The true treasure of any kingdom is its children.

It is my prayer that our local pastors and church leaders will hear the call to minister to humanity by recognizing the children for Today’s child is Tomorrow’s future!

Prampram has about 48,000 children; about 7% attend church on Sundays. This is an indication of the task ahead of us in Prampram if all these children are to be saved before they become unreachable adults. If we reach these children now, we will not have a single adult to reach in the next few years.

It does not take much money to win a single child.

It does not take a missionary to win a single child.

It does not take a trained pastor to win a single child.

It does take a wise heart that understands the child’s heart to win a child.

Assemblies of God Church, Ghana

Pastor Isaac Ayitey Oka

Fountain of Love Assembly
P.O. Box 41
Prampram, Ghana
West Africa


If your heart is touched to help Pastor Ike reach the children of Prampram, please contact him at  fountlov@yahoo.com .

Children’s Festival, Ahwiam

On Monday, we went to a village called Ahwiam, located about an hour or so up along the shoreline in an impromptu outreach and had a most wonderful time with the people of the village. The entire village gathered to enjoy our visit, perhaps just over 100 children and their families. The mothers in the village were at times more exuberant than the children as we learned “Ho, Ho, Ho, Hosanna.” It was a great time in the Lord.

After songs, Katrin took over and taught the children The Four Things. It was a surprise and a great blessing for me to see her teach the kids; she did a great job. There is such a pleasure and warm feeling inside when you see the fruit of your service take root in others; it is a blessing for someone to show you how you have touched their life. She made my day wonderful.

After The Four Things, Kate turned the microphone over to Pastor Ike, the village pastor, and he led the kids in a salvation prayer in their own language. Pastor Ike is a joyful man, the smile in his heart always evident on his face, and he is animated and funny with the kids; a rare sight here. Then it was time to bless the kids with a drink and a small packet of biscuits (cookies). It was a joyous afternoon.