Lack of succession planning affects many institutions — Mahama
The 2020 presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr John Dramani Mahama, has noted that the greatest difficulty that face many institutions, including the church, is the lack of succession planning.
He has, therefore, advised that like many businesses that want to survive beyond the first generation, the church must also develop a good succession plan to ensure that the work of God is placed in capable hands when the old guards phase out.
Last Sunday, Mr Mahama joined the congregation of the Central Assemblies of God Church, Tema Community Four for the induction of Rev. Samuel Cofie as the District Pastor of the church.
Rev. Cofie was elected on January 12, 2019 as the new District Minister. He succeeds Rev. Nissi Kwadjo Diafo and becomes the fifth District Minister for Tema.
Also inducted into office were Rev. Emmanuel Ofori and Rev. Joseph Kojo Ahunnya, Secretary and Treasurer-elect respectively of the Tema District of the Assemblies of God Church.
The Tema District of the Assemblies of God Church was established in 1995. It consists of 17 local churches, 30 pastors, and 15 tent ministers. It also operates a Cooperative Credit Union for members.
Succession planning
The former President, who was the special guest of honour, said succession planning was a vital process in every institution and that the church could not afford to ignore this important principle.
'I am confident the Assemblies of God Church, Ghana, is in a good place and will continue to develop new generation of leaders at every given time,” he said.
He commended the newly elected officers and urged them to focus on building a church based on God’s word.
He reminded the new leaders of the onerous responsibilities that had been placed on them and encouraged them to focus on the teaching of the word of God.
"We live in interesting times. A lot of Christians are confused about some of the things that are happening around them. People go to church looking for prophecy but the principal duties of the church is what Christ left us, that is to preach the word of God and walk in his ways," he said.
Sermon
The General Treasurer of the Assemblies of God Church, Ghana, Rev. Dr Ato Bentil, who preached the sermon on the theme: "the evolution of leaders" based on the Bible text, 2 Timothy 2: 1-2, said because leadership evolved and must be transferred from one generation to the other, the church must always identify, select and train leaders who would also impact positively on those they led.
Writer’s email: [email protected]