Five hundred Ghanaian choristers from all around North America will perform this weekend at a three-day music festival hosted by Wesley United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Lisa Bruget-Cass, Wesley’s pastor, said 15 choirs from Toronto, Atlanta and other cities that are home to large Ghanaian populations will compete in the ninth annual Choir Conference of the Association of Ghana Methodist Choirs of North America.

An estimated 15,000 or more Ghanaians live in Worcester, and many are members of Wesley United, at 114 Main St. near the courthouse.

“Our Wesley congregation is a diverse, multicultural church family and we, as a church, will be celebrating this festival with all who come,” the pastor said.

Church officials said the purpose of the conference is to bring people together in worship, as well as offering people an opportunity to learn new music.

The conference kicks off today and the public is invited to a concert and competition that begins at 6:30 p.m. Tomorrow at the Worcester Conference Center, 500 Lincoln St., Wesley’s own Ghanaian Choir will close the day’s events with a performance.

People are also welcome to attend the special Sunday worship service at the church, which begins at 10 a.m.

The service, which is expected to last about three hours, will be organized by the Choir Conference leadership, and the guest preacher will be the Rev. Emmanuel Y. Larty, professor of pastoral theology, care and counseling at Candler School of Theology at Emory University and senior pastor of United Christian Church in Atlanta.

There is no charge for either event, and church officials said people can come and go as they please.

Wesley’s regular worship service will be at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

Ghana, which is about the size of Oregon, is a West African country bordered by Ivory Coast to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the south.