THE Moderator of the General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPCG), Rt Rev. Dr Lt Col Bliss Divine Kofi Agbeko, has cautioned newly ordained pastors of the church to be wary of predatory and false prophets who are poised to poach members of their congregations.
He said false prophets were on a sheep-stealing mission to have large congregations to operate their ministries with greed and ulterior motives.
Rev. Dr Agbeko said this at the ordination service for 18 new pastors of the church at Adaklu Waya in the Volta Region last Sunday.
The service was on the theme: “Cleanliness is next to Godliness! Keep clean”.
Rev. Dr Agbeko reminded the newly ordained pastors that their duty was essentially to make the congregation feel the presence of God in their midst but not to put up gigantic temples.
“God is everywhere, be it in the open, under a shed or in a building,” he said and added that priests were, therefore, expected to help their congregation to realise the presence of God before they migrated to other sects of dubious origin.
He said pastors were gates to God and not destinations, and entreated them to protect their flock from the false teachings of predatory and self-styled pastors.
“Visit the sick, support the grieving and mourn with those who mourn,” Rev. Dr Agbeko advised.
On sanitation, he urged pastors to constantly spearhead the campaign to keep the surroundings clean all the time.
He said clean communities attracted God’s blessings, for which reason, Christians must be role models of cleanliness.
Unity
The Dufia of Adaklu-Anfoe, Togbe Agbobada IV, who chaired the service, urged the pastors to refrain from preaching divisive messages and unite communities with their sermons.
He said for 175 years, Adaklu had a history of working in harmony with the EPCG, as well as supporting evangelism and community development.
Togbe Agbobada, therefore, pledged the support of the traditional authorities of Adaklu to continue working with the EPCG in various ways to develop the area and preserve the peace and unity.
Present at the service was a delegation from the Eglise Evangelique Presbyterienne du Togo.
