By Philip Tengzu
Wa, (UW/R), Dec. 27, GNA-Reverend Monica A. Achana, a Reverend Minister of the Methodist Church Ghana in Wa, has observed that Jesus Christ was born to bring peace to the world and ought to be the centre of every human life for peace to reign.
She said the world, and for that matter, Ghana was “full of chaos and confusion” and finding solutions to the myriad of national development challenges such as restoring the economy, creating jobs and employment opportunities and addressing social issues among others could only be achieved through peace.
“Jesus Christ is the peace, if you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have peace because he is the peace”, Rev. Achana, who is also the Upper West Regional Manager of the Methodist Education Unit, said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa to share her Christmas message with the world.
She referenced Biblical Scripture in Colossians 3:15, which enjoined all to allow the peace of God to rule their hearts but added that peace was missing in many lives today because they did not have Christ in them.
Rev. Achana indicated that “the church” was not living its mandate of preaching the gospel to save lives, win souls and for there to be peace as peace transcended beyond the mere absence of conflicts to contentment, happiness and satisfaction.
“We need to have peace with our maker, God, we need to have peace within ourselves individually, peace within our relationships with other people, there should be peace within the family, among the spouse, and the children.
“The leadership of the church is supposed to preach the gospel, and make the gospel known to others, yet it is a different story.
The church is busy with the world not with the business of God that is why you cannot find peace even inside the church”, she explained.
Rev. Achana added that “the church” of today was busy doing politics, and the clergy who were supposed to preach the gospel were busy politicking.
She also observed that “the church” was busy with money-making programmes and campaigning to occupy positions of recognition rather than soul-winning activities.
The Rev minister said, with worry, that the youth were left to their fate without any teaching on the importance of peace and, thus, ready to engage in anything to gain.
She said that had led to many killings, armed robberies, rituals, and scams among others in Ghana and the world in recent times.
Rev. Achana, therefore, encouraged “the church” to revisit its mandate of preaching the gospel of salvation and peace to the world, which was a pre-requisite for personal, social and economic development.
She said 2024 was a special year due to the Presidential and Parliamentary elections, which all Ghanaians must continue to pray for peace to prevail before, during and after the elections.
GNA