Curbing corruption must begin with Christians — Presiding Bishop
The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana, the Most Rev. Dr Paul Kwabena Boafo, has pointed out that addressing the canker of corruption in the Ghanaian society ought to begin from the church and the people within the church.
He said, “I want to point out that if our members in the Methodist Church would live their Christian lives with holiness and be law abiding, we can shape the current and future status of our nation and beyond”.
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He noted that God in his own wisdom raised ministers in the churches, including the Methodist Church, to reform the nation and if the ministers were faithful and discharged such duties well, it would go a long way to correct errors, including corruption in the society which had become the order of the day.
16th Synod
He was addressing the delegates of the 16th Synod of the Somanya Diocese at John Plange Methodist Church at Kpong in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality on the theme: “Go and make disciples of all nations: Intensifying our teaching ministry towards disciple making’’.
For Christians, Most Rev.Boafo said the example of Christ who was humble and faultless even to the point of His death, ought to take away the pride, hatred, selfishness, perversion of truth, injustice, indiscipline and above all, corruption in the society for them to rather live decent and holy lives.
He said if the Methodist Church could get its preachers both iterant and local, uniformly and steadily to insist on preaching what was right, devoid of corrupt practices, at least the members of the church would change for the better which in a way would also affect society positively in general.
He said the Wesley Methodist Church Ghana had a distinctive identity which also gave them a distinctive mission adding “this identity has not changed because living a holy life as a Christian is an absolute”.
Most Rev. Dr Boafo asked for continued support for the church to play its significant role in the Ghanaian society, stressing the need to do away with anything that would corrupt the system either by the Methodist church, the society or the government.
Earlier in an opening remarks, the Bishop of the Somanya Diocese, Rt. Rev. Alfred Nii Okai Aryeetey, who spoke extensively on discipline, urged the members of the church to live above reproach in the society saying “Christians are the eyes of the society”.
Discipline
He said many a time, some Christians were pampered and shielded for evils and the wrong things they did and advised ministers of the Methodist Church not to shield any of their members for wrongdoing but rather expose them adding “we need to be disciplined as Christians to move the church, the society and the country forward”.
The new Lay Chairman of the Somanya Diocese, Mr Reuben Atsu Kugblenu, said the level of indiscipline in some churches and the society in general was very appalling and urged members of the church to take inspiration from the message heard for the day in order to make their calling as Christians sure.
The Accra Diocese of the church, as part of their solidarity, presented a motorbike with three years renewal of license and cash of GH¢1,000 to the Somanya Diocese for evangelism work in some of the remote areas.
The Head Office of the Methodist Church Ghana also donated 200 bags of cement to the diocese towards a pavilion project at Klo-Agogo in the Yilo Krobo Municipality.
Rt Rev. Aryeetey, who received the items on behalf of the diocese, expressed gratitude to both the Accra Diocese and the head office of the church for showing manifestation of God’s work.
