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The Senior Advisor to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, has called on Christians to offer practical support to the government to build a better nation.
He stressed that the government’s commitment to transform the country into a paradise would be a mirage if Christians who constituted majority of the population remained aloof and expected the government to singlehandedly implement development programmes.

35th Synod

Mr Osafo-Maafo made the call at the 35th annual synod meeting of the Akyem Oda Diocese of the Methodist Church Ghana at Oda last Friday.

Dignitaries

The ceremony attracted many dignitaries, including the Member of Parliament (MP) for Oda, Mr Alexander Akwasi Acquah; the Municipal Chief Executive for Birim Central, Ms Victoria Adu; the Krontihene of Akyem Kotoku Traditional Area, Obrempong Gyamfi Saforo Kyereh; and a former Oda Diocesan Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, Rt. Rev. (Col. Rtd.) Paul Adjei Brewu.

The Senior Presidential Advisor commended the Methodist Church Ghana for its commitment to the development of the country, particularly in the fields of education and health.

He, however, urged the church and other religious bodies to use the pulpit to preach against the social ills plaguing the nation.

Oda Methodist Bishop
 
The Oda Methodist Diocesan Bishop, Rt. Rev. Isaac Kwame Boateng, in his address, condemned the rate at which people were being killed for ritual money and by armed robbers, as well as the high incidence of rape and defilement.

He, therefore, urged the government to beef up security and at the same time “cleanse the security agencies of the evil ones” among them.

Rt.Rev. Boateng condemned homosexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer intercourse, describing them as evil and abominable and urged churches to preach against their spread.

He also enjoined all Christians to actively participate in the forthcoming population and housing census to ensure its success as it would help the government to create region districts/ municipalities, as well as the distribution of social amenities.                               

Rt. Rev.Boateng said for the church not to be taken unawares when there was a devastating occurrence that affected the social and financial life of the people, such as the COVID -19 pandemic, the Conference of Methodist Church Ghana, had directed that all societies, circuits and dioceses and the conference office to keep at least two per cent mobilisation retained at their levels plus all other monies that were not affected by the percentage system.

Such monies, he said, were to be kept in different accounts and invested for future use only when there was no emergency.

He said as part of the strategic plan of the Methodist Church Ghana to improve educational institutions, the Oda Diocese had directed all circuits and societies with Methodist basic schools, to raise funds in conjunction with parents of the children of those schools to repair or paint the school buildings every two or three years.

The Bishop noted that the challenge facing the diocese were as result of the very weak financial base as it had to depend solely on the offerings of members for everything financial, as all the communities in the diocese had been incapacitated financially by the collapse of the mining and timber firms in the area.

In that regard, he said the diocese had decided to revamp its sachet water project to generate more income for church activities.

Rt. Rev. Boateng added that the diocese had also envisaged the production of coconut, citrus and oil palm seedlings for sale to individuals and corporate farmers, as well as planting some of the seedlings as a revenue generating venture for the diocese.