A conscientious servant-leader of high integrity and moral uprightness, Professor Adei has dedicated his entire life to championing Christian values and principles in the many roles
Biography
“But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself… Now God allowed Daniel to receive favor and compassion from the palace master… In every matter of wisdom and understanding concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.” (Daniel 1:8-20)
The Biblical Daniel is one of three persons, along with Joseph and John, who has none of his wrongdoings recorded. Not to suggest that he was sinless, but it remains an everlasting testimony to the integrity of the man.
Today, when there appears to be universal apathy, even an aversion for honesty and uprightness, holding these virtues puts one in a very stressful corner. Like the Biblical Daniel, who was taken captive from his native Judah as a young man, Emeritus Professor Stephen Adei had the odds stacked unfavorably against him.
Again, as it was with the Daniel of old, who rose to the highest rank of office in a foreign land, Prof. Adei was elevated to the pinnacle of global policy and decision-making by dint of hard work, perseverance, and as he is always quick to add, the Grace of God. A conscientious servant-leader of high integrity and moral uprightness, Professor Adei has dedicated his entire life to championing Christian values and principles in the many roles he plays in the Ghanaian and global environments.
Shortly, we peer into the extraordinary life of a man of many parts; one who has excelled as an economist, advisor, administrator, policy strategist, educationist, mentor, preacher, motivational speaker, consultant, philanthropist, disciplinarian, writer, marriage, and family life counsellor and above all a caring husband and a family man.
At Birth
Emeritus Professor Stephen Adei was born in ‘the middle’ of December 1948 in Hwiremoase (also spelled Hweremuasi), a village about 20 kilometers from the popular gold mining town of Obuasi in the Ashanti Region, named after a big thorn bush, to Kwaku Aboagye – who was called Adei, as he was born at the end of the Lunar month – and Abena Pomaa. Of his birthday, Prof. Adei says, as was prevalent at the time, the lack of properly written record-keeping resulted in his initially adopting December 16 as his birthday. “I was told that I was born in the middle of December, and since there were 31 days in the month, I went with the ‘bigger’ day: the 16th of the month instead of the 14th. It was not until I went to the training college that I saw a hundred-year calendar, and realized that in 1948 14th was a Tuesday, so I changed my birthday,” he recalls.
And contrary to the tradition where male children were named after male forebears, he was named after his aunt — Obiriwaa and called Kwabena Obiri. In many ways, this, coupled with being one of his mother’s seven sons led him to challenge gender stereotypes as he would aid his mother with cooking and other chores often relegated to girls.
Prof. Adei recalls with fondness his earliest years, saying despite the absence of material prosperity, the sense of community and belonging more than made up for it. “Perhaps, because we were all poor, we did not have any sense of being poor. We would go to the farm, go hunting, eat ampesi for breakfast and lunch and fufu for supper, play under the moon and walk barefooted but there was no shortage of love and joy,” he notes, adding that he enjoyed every bit of his formative years.
Being A Strong Christian and the roles in Honour of Christ
Prof. Adei has always said he is a Christian, first and foremost, who also happens to be an economist secondarily, among other things. His life bears testimony as one coloured by Christian service.
In his final year at the University of Ghana, he served as the Legon Hall Rep of the Campus Christian Fellowship at the University of Ghana. He spent his weekends visiting secondary schools and providing leadership within the greater Accra Scripture Union groups.
Whilst studying for his master’s degree, he was a youth leader at a Baptist church in the Centre of Glasgow. Upon his return, he served for five years as the General Secretary for the Christian Outreach Fellowship (COF), the first marginal missionary society. Later, he became a Council Member of the Scripture Union for many years. During that time, he was the editor of the Daily Guide from 1981 to 1986.
During his time at the Commonwealth Secretariat, he served as a deacon at Edmonton Baptist Church and later, in the U.S he continued as a deacon, then an elder and then eventually Chairman of Teenic Evangelical Free Church.
He also served the Lord in leadership capacities in Namibia and has been an elder at the Abeka Presbyterian Church. In the 2000s, at GIMPA, he joined the Accra Ridge Church for some time and eventually became a member of the Council for two years.
He currently worships at Pentecost International Worship Centre (PIWC)-Atomic and Accra Ridge Church serving as a freelance evangelist and preacher. Together with his wife, he founded and served as the first directors of Family Life Mission of Ghana.