The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, has urged churches to use cultural promotion as a tool to deepen national unity and strengthen the country’s social cohesion.
She said religious institutions had a significant role to play in preserving and promoting the country’s diverse cultural heritage, stressing that culture was not separate from Christian faith but a gift that could be used to glorify God.
“When a church or religious group today steps forward to champion cultural promotion, it is not stepping away from its spiritual mission.
Rather, it is fulfilling it,” she said.
Ms Gomashie made the call at the 40th anniversary celebration of the El Shammah Chapel of the Global Evangelical Church at Tesano in Accra last Sunday.
The congregation marked the milestone with a traditional-themed Christian service that blended cultural traditions from across the country, including Ewe, Ashanti, Guan, among others, with worship.
The El Shammah example
Ms Gomashie commended the congregation for using the celebration to showcase the country’s cultural diversity, describing it as an example of how faith and culture could work together to foster unity.
She said the country’s different cultures should not be viewed as competing against one another but as a “beauty in diversity” and a collective national heritage.
Ms Gomashie added that cultural initiatives by churches could also promote the arts, music, local history and creativity while creating spaces for people from different backgrounds to connect.
Social media
The minister also urged the church to use its moral authority and wide communal reach to combat the growing abuse of social media, particularly misinformation, disinformation, hate speech and tribal bigotry.
She said churches should equip congregants with digital media literacy and critical-thinking skills to identify false claims, manipulated videos and politically motivated content.
Ms Gomashie further called for churches to work with civil society organisations, fact-checking bodies and the National Peace Council to counter digital incitement and promote social cohesion.
Spiritual renewal
The Parish Pastor of El-Shammah, Rev. Eric Avah, said the anniversary should not only be a celebration of the church’s physical growth and achievements, but also a period for members to examine their spiritual lives and renew their commitment to Jesus Christ.
“God is not counting how many chairs or how big our chapel is.
He is not counting the many congregations He has planted through us.
What God is interested in is whether you have washed your robes in the blood of Jesus Christ,” he said.
Returning to God
Rev. Avah said Christians could become spiritually “stained” through sin and backsliding, stressing the need for believers to continually return to God.
He urged members who had strayed from their faith to renew their relationship with Christ, saying the 40th anniversary should provide an opportunity for the church to begin a new chapter in its spiritual journey.
Rev. Avah also called for reconciliation among Christians, saying members must resolve misunderstandings and rivalries to strengthen unity in the church.
Drawing on the biblical account of a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before God in white robes, Rev. Avah urged members to remain faithful to Christ and prepare for His second coming.
