“I Will Bring You From Death Into Life”
The girl at the centre of this story was, by every earthly measure, running out of time.
She was a teenager in Ghana. She was incredibly ill. And she was, by her own honest account, near death. Where most might have surrendered to despair, the young Pauline did something else entirely: she went to God in prayer and fasting — and not lightly. For three days she abstained completely from food and drink, pleading for divine intervention.
It was during one such afternoon, somewhere in the surrender of her hunger and her hope, that heaven answered.
In a dream, she encountered God. And then — by what she still calls either coincidence or design — she was stirred from sleep by the voice of a man preaching just behind her window. The preacher’s message of salvation aligned so precisely with the message God had spoken in her dream that the two felt like pieces of the same jigsaw puzzle clicking into place.
And then came the words that would mark her forever:
“I will bring you from death into life.”
She has been living inside that promise ever since.
A Life Surrendered in Suame
The preacher behind her window turned out to be a member of Redemption Assembly of God Church in Suame, a suburb of Kumasi. His church was, at the time, running an outreach crusade across the town. The young Pauline, freshly stirred by the encounter, decided to attend.
What she found at her first service was something she had not felt in the long, anxious season of illness: peace. An immense, settling, undeniable peace.
She returned the next day. And the next. Morning, afternoon, and evening, she attended every service the church held. Slowly but unmistakably, her faith was transformed — from anxiety and fear into deep, expectant excitement. She was not the same girl who had collapsed into a three-day fast desperate for healing. She was a young woman who had met the living God.
She became a full member of the church and immersed herself in every part of its life. In time, she would serve as a Sunday School teacher and as a deaconess — early markers of the call that would shape the rest of her life. Long before titles or platforms, she had quietly made the only decision that mattered: to dedicate her whole life to God.
A Marriage Prayed Into Being
Some years later, she met Reverend Alexander Donkor — the young man who would, in time, become her husband and ministry partner.
When he first proposed marriage, Pauline did what she had always done at the great crossroads of her life: she went back to fasting. She asked him for time — time to seek the face of God before giving her answer.
And then she fasted. For days. With such intensity that she lost considerable weight, became thin, and felt her physical strength visibly wane. To outsiders it may have seemed extreme; to her it was the only fitting response to a decision of such consequence. A life partner was not a matter for human reasoning alone. It was a matter for God to lead.
When God spoke, she said yes.
A Quiet Ministry in London
Years later, the Donkors relocated to the United Kingdom — and far from settling into the comforts of a new country, Rev. Mrs. Donkor felt the desire to serve people deepen.
She began visiting hospitals. She visited people in their homes to pray with them and share the Word of God. She organised prayer cells through which countless individuals — wrestling with diverse spiritual, emotional, and physical battles — found deliverance and healing through the power of God.
There was a striking, almost cinematic quality to this season of her life. She recalls moments when, while simply driving through the streets of London, the Holy Spirit would prompt her to pull over and pray for someone she had never met. She would feel the Spirit counselling her about a stranger’s pain or ailment, and urging her to approach.
It was never easy. “I often didn’t know how to approach people in these situations,” she admits. “But praise be to God that He always gave me strength and the guidance.”
Each time she prayed, the testimonies of those strangers confirmed what God had already revealed to her in her spirit. Heaven was speaking. And she was learning to listen — and to obey.
For fourteen years in London, she worshipped and served faithfully under another man of God, a long season of preparation that would later prove indispensable.
The Word Through a Stranger
The call of God on her life — and on her husband’s — grew stronger with each passing year. They prayed. They fasted. They waited.
The breakthrough came in an ordinary moment that turned extraordinary.
The Donkors attended a service hosted by a visiting American Pastor. The hall was so full that they were forced to sit apart, unable to find two adjoining chairs. During the service, the Pastor — who knew neither of them — called them both forward. In front of a room full of strangers, he delivered a prophecy that confirmed every quiet prayer of their hearts:
It was time for them to move on. God was calling them to start a ministry.
It was the green light they had long been waiting for.
The Birth of Miracle Centre
In obedience to that prophecy, Rev. Alexander Donkor and Rev. Mrs. Pauline Donkor founded Miracle Centre Assemblies of God — beginning, as so many great works of God begin, with just a handful of people.
But the seed grew.
Each Sunday, the congregation expanded. So rapid was the growth that the church had to relocate from one place of worship to another in very short intervals. In time, the ministry launched a radio ministry through which the reach of MCAG extended far beyond its physical walls. Listeners from near and far began to make their way to the church.
What followed was a season marked by the unmistakable hand of God. Healings were proclaimed and witnessed. Women who had waited years to conceive were blessed with children. Deliverances took place. The church experienced exponential growth.
It is no small thing to note that the Donkors stand as the pioneers of the Ghanaian community-based Assemblies of God Church in London — opening a door through which thousands would come to hear the Gospel preached, in part, in their own tongue. For many, that single detail was the difference between a sermon they sat through and a message they truly heard.
Bible School, Pastoral Office, and a Mother’s Heart
In 2008, Rev. Mrs. Pauline Donkor enrolled in Bible school — a formal step into the theological grounding her ministry had long demanded. She would go on to become the Head Pastor of the mother church, while her husband served as General Overseer of MCAG (UK).
Under her pastoral leadership at MCAG Edmonton, the church has continued to bear the same marks she has carried since her teenage years: a hunger for the presence of God, an expectation of miracles, a deep care for the wounded, and a willingness to obey when God speaks. Today, that same shepherd’s heart extends to MCAG Bedford, where she currently serves as the overseeing pastor — guiding the newest branch of the MCAG (UK) family in its early seasons of growth.
She remains, by all accounts, what she has always been: a woman in prayer, a teacher of the Word, a mother to the church, and a faithful steward of a call she received as a dying teenager who refused to stop believing.
Still Being Written
If one phrase captures Rev. Mrs. Pauline Donkor, it is the prayer she returns to again and again:
“Here I am, Lord! Use me as you want!”
It is the prayer of a woman whose whole life has been a long, deliberate yes — beginning with a fast in Ghana and continuing into the pulpits, hospital rooms, prayer meetings, and pastoral offices of London.
In her own words:
“My journey has not ended; it has only just begun. God is not done with me yet. My story is still being written…”
Heaven, it seems, agrees.
I find joy by doing almost any outdoor activity, including hiking, running, and exploring with our furbabies. I enjoy spending time with family and friends. I also strive to live mindfully and intentionally.
