Be cautious of galamsey operators among you : top clergyman advises
The Head of the Asante Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev Dr Kofi Amfo Akonnor, has advised the Coalition Against Galamsey (illegal mining) to be wary of some prominent people in society, especially politicians and security chiefs who engage in it but are pretending to be part of the campaign.
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Rev Dr Akonnor said those people were the brains behind the destruction and cautioned that they might thwart the noble efforts at addressing the issue once and for all so that they would continue to reap from their illegal activities.
He threw the caution in an address, on the theme: “When the Holy Spirit Moves The Church is Sustained”, at a durbar of Presbyterian reverend ministers, church leaders and some politicians as part of the 95th Presbytery of Asante in Kumasi.
Rev Dr Akonnor expressed worry at the careless abandon with which Ghanaians out of greed had destroyed the beautiful environment God had endowed the nation with.
Presbyterian Church joins
Rev Dr Akonnor said the "Presbyterian Church of Ghana wants to associate itself with the call to fight to a logical conclusion the menace of galamsey in our dear country".
He described the destruction of the environment as another high form of “corruption” which had led to the destruction of water bodies meant to provide mankind with water for his needs.
Church growth
Touching on the growth of the church, Rev Dr Akonnor said it was no longer a secret that mainline church attendance was declining in the country, as opposed to the 1960s when those mainline churches were filled to the brim.
He said a 2016 research on the issue revealed that conservative theology with its emphasis on the factual truth of scripture and God's activity in the world was responsible for fuelling church growth.
Quoting from the research findings, he said “without exception, the clergy and congregants of the growing mainline protestant churches held more firmly to traditional Christian beliefs such as Christ rose physically from the grave and that God still answers prayers”, adding that "the findings are clear that churches that teach that God's word is true are more likely to grow than those churches that do not.”
Young people
Rev Dr Akonnor noted that while an authority had established that more than 80 per cent of Christians made a commitment to Christ before they reached age 18, on the contrary a tiny fraction of the churches' annual budget was dedicated to the youth and children.
"We have to work hard at making sure we have an excellent children's ministry in this Presbytery. We must agree that young people need to be purposefully placed into visible leadership roles and provided the monitoring to be successful in those roles,” he added.