Pallbearers carry Bernice Offei's casket out of the Legon Interdenominational Church after the burial service on Saturday, November 14, 2026.
Gospel singer Bernice Offei was laid to rest in a private burial on Saturday, November 14, after a burial service at the Legon Interdenominational Church at the University of Ghana.
The award-winning songwriter, Bernice Ofeibea Offei, died in September at the age of 63. She is survived by her husband, Professor Samuel Kwame Offei, their sons Kevin and Daniel, her mother, three sisters and the daughters she raised.
After the opening hymns, mourners began filing past her casket. Recordings of her songs played between tributes as the line moved on.
The funeral service of Bernice Offei at the Legon Interdenominational Church (Times & Seasons livestream)
Saturday’s service followed a remembrance night at the church on Wednesday, November 11. Old students of Achimota School opened the tributes, singing their school hymn and school song for their former girls’ senior prefect.
Standard Chartered Bank Ghana and its ex-staff association remembered a colleague who ran the bank’s card services for more than 11 years. “Today, we remember not simply the positions she held, but the person who occupied them,” their tribute said.
Women in Gospel Music saluted her as a founding member: “You laughed so deeply and you gave your all to the gospel.” Her sisters and the daughters she raised read tributes before the casket was closed.
The daughters Bernice Offei raised read their tribute at the burial service. — Credit: Screengrab: Times & Seasons livestream
A video profile and a read biography traced her path from Achimota School and the University of Ghana to University College London and full-time gospel ministry.
Tributes followed from her mother, her two sons and her husband before the Legon Interdenominational Church honoured its former deputy music leader: “Auntie Bernice had a solo ministry that spanned nearly 40 years.”
After the choir sang her worship song You Are Worthy, Apostle JFK Mensah preached a simple message: life is short, eternity is long, and everyone should ask how prepared they are.
“You can bring the depth of your knowledge of God onto the stage,” Mensah told the congregation.
Apostle JFK Mensah preaches at the burial service. — Credit: Screengrab: Times & Seasons livestream
He said her songs would outlive her: “Her songs live forever because they are built on the Bible words which live forever.”
An offering was taken for the family. Ministers from several churches were acknowledged, among them Bishop Dag Heward-Mills of Lighthouse Chapel and Apostle Jude Hama, a former director general of Scripture Union.
Speaking for her father’s Djoleto family and her mother’s family, the head of family thanked mourners. He announced a private burial, a reception at the church afterwards and a thanksgiving service there on Sunday at 10:30am.
The service closed with the recessional hymn Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah. The family released doves before pallbearers carried the casket out.
White doves on the church roof after the family’s dove release at the close of the service. — Credit: Screengrab: Times & Seasons livestream
A small family team went on to the burial while guests moved to the funeral grounds.
