"I have a need for another dose of your unique brand of black femdom, that's my favorite kink," Cain Kweku said with a smile. The big and tall, dark-skinned Ghanaian man looked at his mentor and awaited her response. Malinda Owusu-Amponsah, Pastor of the mostly Ghanaian Church of Abundant Light smiled and nodded at her mentee. Cain Kweku, a twenty-year-old student at Carleton University has grown up in Ottawa's largest black church. In fact, Cain was once mentored by Pastor Yaphet Amponsah, Malinda's late husband.
"I can help you with that, but after church," Pastor Malinda Amponsah said with a curt nod, and Cain seemed pleased with that. The Pastor and her favorite Deacon went out to meet the members of the Abundant Light Church, located on Merivale Road in the Nepean sector of Ottawa, Ontario. Founded almost three decades ago, the church welcomes all. The membership is mostly West Africans, as in folks from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Congo, along with a few Haitians, Jamaicans, French Canadians and others.
"Welcome to the Abundant Light Church, brothers and sisters, I am blessed and highly favored today, how about you?" Cain said as he stood at the pulpit. The big and tall young black man looked sharp in a dark gray business suit, white silk shirt and red tie. It was nine forty five on that fateful Sunday morning and the church officially began at ten. There were perhaps one hundred and sixty members in attendance. At the height of its popularity, the church had four hundred members. Something must be done about dwindling membership in the church.
Pastor Malinda Amponsah sat back and watched as Cain addressed the flock. For the tall, curvy and sexy, fifty-something black woman, life wasn't easy. Pastor Malinda Amponsah runs a black church at a time when most of the black community of Canada is becoming secular. She heard as much from her good friend Imam Hussein, a black Muslim preacher originally from Somalia. Apparently, attendance was at an all-time low in mosques as well. The Pastor has her work cut out for her.
The black church has undergone many changes in America and Canada. In Ontario, Canada, most black churches are full of Afro-Caribbean or continental African immigrants. Malinda Owusu was but a young woman, a student at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, when she met Yaphet Amponsah. She felt drawn to the tall, enigmatic and handsome young black man from the City of Accra, Ghana. Malinda hailed from the Ghanaian countryside, from a small town called Cape Coast. Ghanaians are fond of their own regardless of where they hailed from, and the two of them bonded over their shared origins.
As luck would have it, Yaphet and Malinda fell in love. The City of Toronto became the site of one of the all-time great African romances. As Yaphet and Malinda walked through the Ryerson University campus, hand in hand, the black couple cut dashing figures. In the summer of 2003, Yaphet graduated from Ryerson University with a degree in theology while Malinda had her business management degree. They went on to create the Abundant Light Church. Along the way, the couple had two daughters, Lilith and Ava. Nowadays, Lilith and Ava live in the City of Calgary, Alberta, with their husbands and families.
Malinda misses her adult daughters Lilith and Ava but life is much better in Alberta than in Ontario when it comes to young families and working professionals. In the long run, Lilith and Ava's choices ought to pay off. Malinda has often thought about relocating to Alberta to be close to her daughters and their families but she has her ministry in Ottawa, Ontario, to think of. The Abundant Life Church is an institution. Last year, the ALC helped build two schools in the Port Harcourt region of Nigeria. Black churches in America and Canada can help their brothers and sisters in Africa. Someone's got to do it and in the twenty-first century, white folks aren't coming to the rescue. Africans must help themselves.
"The prosperity gospel is a cornerstone of the black church," Cain said as he addressed the attendees. These men and women, mostly black or brown, with a few whites here and there, listened with rapt attention as the deacon shared his message. Afterwards, the church's band performed a musical number while the choir, made up of eight young black women and six young black men, sang the Lord's praises. Following the musical number, Pastor Malinda Amponsah, formerly of Ghana, took the pulpit at last.
