GHANA – The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana (ELCG) held its Delegates Conference in Bunkpurugu during the second weekend of March 2024, during which time the church elected Rev. Daniel Kofi Akoh to serve as its new President.

The election of officers took place on March 9, with President Elect Akoh receiving 79 votes, compared to 36 for the nearest runner-up. Prior to his election, Rev. Akoh served the ELCG as Regional Pastor for the Volta region. An installation service is scheduled for early July in Accra.

“On behalf of the International Lutheran Council (ILC), I want to congratulate you on your election as president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana,” said ILC General Secretary Klaus Detlev Schulz. “May God bless you with wisdom, knowledge, faithfulness, and every good thing as you prepare to take on this new role. And may He bless the work of your church, so that many more may hear and believe the good news of forgiveness which is theirs in Jesus Christ.”

Rev. Akoh was ordained in 2003. In addition to his work as a pastor, he has served the ELCG on several committees; as a coordinator for online education and a facilitator for theological education by extension; and as a coordinator for Lutheran Media Ministry, among other roles. Rev. Akoh studied for the pastoral ministry at the Lutheran Seminary in Ghana, and further holds a Bachelor’s degree and a Master of Education degree from the University of Education, Winneba. He also holds a certificate from Westfield House in the United Kingdom.

Rev. Akoh is currently pursuing a Master of Sacred Theology degree from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, and is also a student in the International Lutheran Council’s (ILC) Lutheran Leadership Development Program (LLDP).

President Elect Akoh succeeds President John Shadrack Donkoh, who has served two terms as head of the church in Ghana. President Donkoh was first elected in 2018 and then reelected in 2021. In addition to serving the ELCG, President Donkoh has further served the global Lutheran community as the Secretary of the International Lutheran Council (ILC)—a position to which he was elected in 2022.

Also elected during the ELCG’s 2024 Delegates Conference were Alex Lanbon as Second Vice President and Alfred Neneh Ayiku Akotia as Third Vice President. No candidate was elected for the position of First Vice President during the conference; an election for that position is scheduled to take place in the near future.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana is a member church of the International Lutheran Council, a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies.

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