By: Seli Baisie
President and Founder of the Worldwide Miracle Outreach, Reverend Dr. Lawrence Tetteh has disclosed that all-night services have no ‘spiritual connotation’.
According to him, most people do not know the genesis of all-night.
Speaking on GTV’s Breakfast Show, Dr Tetteh revealed that the reason why Ghanaian Pastors started holding all-night services in the early days is because of the unavailability of worship spaces.
“A lot of people don’t even understand why we do all-night here today. All-night has no spirituality. The reason why all-night started was the early days of charismaticism. Pastor Mensah Otabil was using Baden Powell Hall. They rented it, Issac Quaye was using Social Advanced Hall. Almost everybody actually were renting houses and things.”
“You don’t have the space to be able to do church service. The only place you can do it is a school church building after they’ve closed. And it’s only on a Friday night that you have availability. If you are fortunate to have a church, a Methodist church, Anglican church building to use. The only time you can use it is on Friday evening. And that is how all-nights began.”
Dr. Lawrence Tetteh mentioned that he has stopped holding all-night services because it makes him tired and due to that he tends to miss other social gatherings the next day.
“People think that all-night is spirituality. In fact, the witches in the day are more dangerous than the witches in the night. Trust me, I have stopped all-night. Because when you go to the all-night in the morning, I cannot go to the weddings, I cannot go to the funerals, I cannot do anything. You’d be surprised. You’d be in a clerical collar in your seated and you’re dozing. And people are looking up to you. You look so irresponsible because you’ve come from an all-night.”
Commenting on the Consequences of Noise Pollution in Accra, the Worldwide Miracle Outreach President said sometimes religious institutions become a nuisance in the community as a result of playing loud music and preaching so loud at all-night services.
“So there are a lot of things that we need to just get the mindset to change so we understand the reason why we do certain things. So, today if truly you have your own church building, then nothing prevents you from having a late evening program, close late, and go home instead of the all-night.”
He added: “And then also, I’m the first to admit, like Sheikh did that, sometimes we become a nuisance in the community. If your church is in a close community and you’re having an all-night and you are binding the people.”
In Ghana, under Section 9 of the AMA Abatement of Noise Bye-Law, public preachers, churches, and religious institutions are expected to obtain a permit from the AMA which mandates them to go about their activities with adherence to the permissible noise level.
Below is the full interview;
