One year on, we miss Uncle Ben. There was a very meaningful memorial time shared together by the family today led by the Very Rev. Dr. Edem Tettey. 

56 years ago on this day, the Rev. Ben Tettey was ordained a minister of the Gospel by the EP Church in Ho (July 5, 1965). I was but a Middle School boy at the time, but I was present. We remember this day with gratitude as his life and ministry had an impact on many of us. Uncle Ben was called home a little over two months ago, on April 22, 2021. This Saturday, July 10, 2021, there will be a gathering at the Trinity United Church Sanctuary on the Trinity Theological Seminary campus in a Memorial and Thanksgiving S…

Uncle , Rev. Ben Tettey , you served the Lord to the best of your ability in your life time , both at home and abroad . God finds it fit to call you back home at this time . We will forever miss you.
Rest peacefully in the bosom of your Maker .

Tomorrow morning, my dear Uncle, the Rev. Ben Tettey will be laid to rest in Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. I have looked up to Uncle Ben since my childhood. His faith, his wisdom, his ministry, his passion for the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the depth of his theological and spiritual understanding, his prayerfulness, his commitment to being an agent of transformation in society are some of the ways in which he has impacted me. His advice over the last several decades have helped shape my ministry. In our last conversation about two weeks before he died, he was still giving me some insights from St. Paul on God's reckoning of time and history compared with the finite human reckoning of time. 
Uncle Ben, until the very end was always full of ideas of meaningful projects for family, church and society. The latest of his projects which we were working on was to equip the Bethel Congregation of the E P Church, Ghana in Anloga with something that will help the congregation be effective in evangelization. The new Jazz band instruments which he purchased for the congregation in April 2021 represent, just one of his many projects to make a difference.
I will miss him, and I will miss our long regular conversations. Uncle Ben, rest in Peace.

The Revd Ben Tettey took up office as the Ghanaian Chaplain in September, 1974. He served three terms due to the lack of a suitable candidate from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana to take over from him after the first term. He continued with the good work started by his predecessors in providing pastoral care and support to the students and Ghanaian Community in the United Kingdom. He continued to serve as the link between the Ghana High Commission and the Ghanaian groups and associations. Revd Ben Tettey was one of the Chaplains who sought the welfare and social development of all Ghanaians in the United Kingdom. As a Ghanaian Chaplain between 1974 and 1984, Reverend Tettey soon realized that the welfare needs of Ghanaians could not be overlooked in his spiritual work. He, therefore, responded by turning the association of Ghanaian groups into Ghana Union London as we know it today. From its birth up to today, Ghana Union London’s aims have been to relieve hardship and distress among Ghanaians and to advance the education of all in the social and cultural traditions of Ghana in order to preserve the ‘Ghanaian identity’.
Revd Ben Tettey used the Ghana Union as a base to further reach out to African children and their families in London by establishing the Islington African project sponsored by Islington Borough Council and Greater London authority. As a result, he became a member of the United Kingdom Council for Overseas Students’ Affairs (UKCOSA).
With financial support from the Bremen Mission in Germany, Revd Tettey set up the Ghana Union Limited Printing Press Project to offer training to Ghanaian youth and others who wanted to pursue a professional career in printing. This dynamic Chaplain was able to mobilize the support of the London Borough of Islington, the London Boroughs’ Grants Units, the European Social Fund and the London College of Printing. By 1983, before he left office, the Ghana Union had become a leading ethnic minority charity employing 10 staff and benefiting from generous funding and support from Local Authority grants.
He is so grateful to the United Reformed Church for the discovery of P. T Forsyth, the late Revd Prof Colin Gunton and Prof T. F Torrance for deepening his understanding of Reformed Theology.
BY
REVD SYLVANUS TETTEY (URC GHANAIAN CHAPLAIN FOR LONDON- 2007-2011)
MAY HE REST IN PEACE.

I first met Margaret and Ben at Legon in 1969 shortly after their wedding. I was there as a new VSO. After that we met frequently especially if I was travelling near Ho. I vividly remember arriving at their bungalow at Mawuli on my new Honda 50 enroute from Accra to Hohoe.
Once we were all in UK we met up in London, Scotland and latterly in Yorkshire. He spent a lot of time studying the writings of famous theologians and came to Scotland to meet some. Ben was always so caring and interested in what others were doing. A wise counsellor....admired by many.
Thank you Ben

Uncle Ben was a wonderful pilgrim, his faith was firmly anchored in Jesus and he was always 'ready to give an account' of his hope. I'm grateful for his and Auntie Margaret's welcome to their home in London and in Yorkshire in my early years in the UK. I am also deeply thankful for Uncle Ben's encouragement in matters of faith that I received in every meeting and conversation. Uncle Ben - faithful servant of the Lord and a gentleman - rest in perfect peace with your Lord whom you now see face to face.

On a lovely evening in Mawuli School, I was passing in front of the bungalow of Rev Ben Tettey and heard a Group of students ( Mawuli School Christian Fellowship/ SU ) sing in a very melodious way, " What a friend we have in Jesus". So I stopped to listen some more..then someone came out to beckon me join them. That was my first ever SU Meeting. I continued to go to their meetings. And in 1967 , some 54 years ago , I knelt at a meeting, with a few others to pray the remarkable prayer to be fully Christ's and Christ fully mine....my journey of born - again Christian pilgrimage began. I was a changed boy within. I could better sing with meaning and enjoy the carefully selected hymns of Chaplain Rev Ben Tettey. He preached Christ. And O the precious sermons of Guest Preachers like Gottfried Osei Mensah that Rev Ben Tettey had invited to preach to us. I continued on the born again Christian path in the Sixth Form and in the University Christian Fellowship, Legon. In 1990 I would be named the SU Ghana Centenary General Director and CEO! Thank you Rev Ben Tettey.  That became possible because of my first ever SU Meeting in your house, your bungalow, in Mawuli School. ....... Rev Ben Tettey,, absent from the body present with the Lord Jesus....rest in perfect peace ...we will meet again in Heaven ....... together worshipping the Christ who saves!

I stayed with my uncle Rev. Ben Tettey in my first two years in Mawuli School as I was a day student. When I moved to the boarding house, some of the holidays were with him and his wife Margaret.
They took very great care of me and I'm grateful to them for all the support they gave me.

My father died in the UK and had to be buried in about two weeks. I didn't see how I could apply and get a visa to attend the burial within such a short time but my uncle encouraged me to apply and have faith in God. I applied on Wednesday and the burial was to be on that Saturday.
Late Thursday afternoon, I had a call that I should come for my passport. I felt it had been rejected but on Friday morning when I went for it, I was surprised to see a UK visa in it. That afternoon I packed a few things and rushed to the airport for a KLM ticket that night to London.
Thanks to my uncle who appealed to the authorities to approve of my application.

What a caring uncle he was. May his soul rest peacefully in the bosom of the Lord.

Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana shall remain ever grateful for your singular instrumentality in establishing the link with Robert Gordon University for the training of trainers program jn clinical pharmacy. May the God of Grace make room for a blissful rest in His bosom. From David Anim-Addo, Past President.

Osofo and Auntie Maggie, I am thankful to God that He caused our paths to cross whilst I was a teenage girl in Mawuli School (1968 -1975). You opened your home to us and I was one of those privileged ones (like Esther, Alice and Alberta) who got to spend some holidays in your home. I remember we often looked forward to the special meat pie casserole and steamed cabbage that featured at dinner on Tuesdays. Though the memories are far away, yet I can confidently say that your lives rubbed off on ours unto eternity. Osofo, you were the hand that God used, as it were, to turn on in my life "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". Thank you. You had a great passion for the Word of God and you painstakingly took time to explain some valuable truths to us from the Bible. I know your labour of love and sacrifice has not been in vain.  
Dear Auntie Maggie, be encouraged and be strengthened for the onward journey. 
In His Love,

Ewoenam Puplampu (nee Kokuma) 

Thanks be to God for the life of Uncle Ben! Osofo as Mawulians called him in the late 60s when we entered Mawuli School up to this day had a deep love for God and fought hard to instill such love into the hearts of students.
Both genders - girls and boys - benefitted from his zeal for us to lead the true christian life.
Ewoenam, Alice, Albertha, and I (Esther) spent some holidays with Osofo & his wife, Mrs Margaret Tettey.
Not a single day ended without getting together, studying God's Word and praying... And then I became his niece through marriage and continued to benefit from his love and care, and the hearing of his voice regularly through telephone conversations.
May his soul find a rest in the very bosom of the Lord. In the Resurrection we shall all be gathered in the clouds.

*“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”*
2 Timothy 4:7
This scripture sums up your life, really. You indeed fought many things and for many causes and people.
You persevered through many personal challenges and through those you displayed an indefatigable level of empathy and compassion.
Your compassion for the lost, your care and concern for family and friends, your selfless devotion to the affairs of country defined your time on earth.
Brother Ben, you were our spiritual father, mentor, friend, comforter, counselor and “CAPTAIN”
Thank you for your encouraging sermons. You are gone, but your memory will linger with us. We shall surely meet on the resurrection day.
You departed still holding on to that old rugged cross… congratulations, you have finished the race you started from Ghana and kept the faith.
*Bravo*

It saddens me to hear of the home going of Rev Ben Tettey but I am comforted because I know where he has gone.
I have a lot to personally thank Rev Tettey for. He was the Chaplain at Mawuli School while I was there in the 60s. He was the one who encouraged me to go into medicine and he arranged the sponsorship through the E.P Church that enabled me to attend University of Ibadan Medical School from 1969 to 1974. He therefore has a share in all that God has accomplished through me over the years. He will undoubtedly receive his reward from our Lord on the great day.
I pray for God's comfort and peace for the family at this time.
Rest in peace Osofo Tettey and thank you once again for all the help you gave me.

Sad to hear the passing away of Osofo. My first year in Mawuli from September 16th 1970 was net with the loving care of Osofo Tettey, who was then the School Chaplain and also taught me the subject Bible Knowledge and was also the Chief Patron of Mawuli School Christian Fellowship (Scripture Union) . It was one Sunday in November 1970 (in my first year), through Osofo Tettey's discussion at the SU meeting that I fully surrendered my life to the Lord Jesus. It was then that I understood the reality of Christianity, gave myself to the the Lord Jesus Christ and then believed the salvation message and then became a born again Christian from that day. Previously I was a serious churchgoer and an ordinary good boy! I was very sad when he and his wife Madam Maggie, who taught me Mathematics, had to leave for the UK.
I often visited their bungalow in Mawuli. I remember one day Osofo had a severe flu and I visited. His wife took me right to their bed room to see her husband lying in bed. Even though he was quite sick he could speak and seriously encouraged me to keep up the faith in Christ. With some friends who joined us, including his nephew Brother Setri Nyomi we prayed for Osofo's quick recovery. Indeed, he recoverd and resumed his work in a couple of days. I was very happy!
After Mawuli, while studying in the Ukraine, Osofo and I exchanged letters. I planned to visit them in London. During some summer vacations while in London I made the attempts but we could only speak on the telephone. This was several years ago. But I had been hoping that I would visit them one day on any future visits to the UK and sometimes checked on him from his nephew Brother Edem Tettey. But alas, all is over! I deeply regret that for the nearly 47 years I did not succeed in meeting this family again but prayed for them especially when I heard of Osofo's ill health.
Now to to us the living, including Osofo's family, the Tettey and Allied Families, my wife and I send you our condolences. To Mrs Maggie Tettey and the children we ask for God's special grace for you at this time to bear this heart breaking moment. May the Lord keep you and bless you.... this was how Osofo would often end his sermons in Mawuli! And indeed the Lord has done that and He is still doing that for me over the years!
Osofo, Rev Ben Tettey, may you rest in perfect peace until the resurrection day when your body will be raised. Indeed you fought a good fight in changing and modeling my life and that of many, many others!
Again, rest in perfect peace, Osofo!

From:
Professor Pius Agbenorku, Premier Ghanaian Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon (Mawuli 1970 - 77) and my wife Mrs Margaret Agbenorku, Chief Health Educator.

Uncle Ben rest in perfect peace. You will always remain in the memory of the family. We will miss you.Maggie take heart.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH) is grateful to you for the immense role you played in getting scholarships for the first batches of pharmacists to train as Clinical Pharmacists at Robert Gordon University in Scotland. This is what paved way for the developments we have seen in the Pharmacy profession today.

May your soul rest in perfect peace.

Uncle Ben rest in the bosom of the Lord,we love you but God loves you best

Uncle Ben was strategically placed in our family to be a trailblazer, a shepherd of our souls, a counsellor, a benefactor and much more. I will never forget the holiday I spent with Aunty Maggie and Uncle Ben in Ho in 1971. We have lost a special gift to the family. But we thank God for a life well lived.