By Albert Allotey
Accra, March 31, GNA – The Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) has held its fourth National Symposium in Accra with a call on churches to be instruments of transformation, justice, reconciliation, and unity.
The symposium was on the theme: “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.”
Reverend Dr Setri Nyomi, Senior Lecturer, Trinity Theological Seminary, who made the call said: “The church first and foremost is a movement. We are the called people of God to be on the move. If we lose that nature of a movement, we will begin to die.
“Our churches cannot simply remain where they were at the beginning of the 20th Century. We cannot be maintenance organisations. As Christians and churches, we need to respond to how Christ’s love moves us to be different in our communities and in our nations.”
Rev Dr Nyomi said the antidote to the many conflicts in the world today was reconciliation and the most profound conflict was how the world has positioned itself at odds with God.
“The results of this includes the rampant injustice that we experience today. Human beings who are alienated from God and God’s standards can only work in the contexts of divisions and exertion of power in ways that are destructive of other human beings,” he stated.
He said Ghanaians have become divided along party lines to the point that the political leaders often miss the point of why they were in office, stating that; “The commitment to lead Ghana so that its citizens can experience freedom and justice is lost.
“Instead, we have leaders and their followers placing more value on loyalty to party faithful.”
Rev Dr Nyomi said as churches, they were called not to listen to Christ’s love stories and sit back and doing nothing, adding; “We are called to action. We are moved in a specific way to be God’s instruments for reconciliation.
“Christians should not stay silent when people are suffering. These days we often hear of the question ‘how come we are not hearing the prophetic voice of churches?
“That is a sign that we may not be doing enough in this area of reconciliation as hardships and economic uncertainties as well as charlatans using the name of Christ to threaten to divide us. We cannot compromise in this area,” he stated.
Rev Dr G.K. Fayorse, General Secretary, Christian Council of Ghana asked Churches to engage in some introspection and housecleaning by uniting so they could have the moral courage to lead the nation towards reconciliation.
He urged churches to speak forthrightly about those who were doing all kinds of self-seeking activities in the name of the religion and should work together to bridge tribal and economic divide among the people.
Right Rev Prof J.O.Y. Mante, Moderator of the General Assembly of the PCG said the church has been engaging government behind the scenes by intervening and contributing to national issues.
He mentioned some of the issues that the leadership of the PCG intervened as the E-levy, pension bondholders among others, which were resolved amicably by the government saying, “as a church we need to support government in power to provide good governance.”
RT Rev Prof Mante encouraged the youth to rely on God in their endeavours and avoid entrusting their hopes in humans, especially political parties.
GNA