By Iddi Yire
Accra, Sept 6, GNA – Apostle Dr Joseph Kwabena Antwi, former Chairman of the Ghana National Council of the Great Commission Church International (GCCI), has urged churches to do more to tackle the issue of poverty in Africa.
The World Bank defines poverty as “the inability to attain a minimal standard of living”.
Apostle Dr Antwi said churches, aside from propagating the gospel of Jesus Christ, also have a significant role to play towards eradicating poverty in Africa.
He made the call in his presentation at the 2024 Ministers and Wives’ Conference of GCCI Ghana at CDM Bible College at Ayi-Mensah near Accra.
The week-long conference on the theme: “The Structured Minister, The Achieving Minister”, is being attended by all GCCI Ghana pastors and their wives.
Speaking on the topic: “Structuring the Local Church for Individual or Several and Joint Financial Success,” Apostle Dr Antwi said the four problems of churches in Africa were discipleship, worldview, relationships and poverty.
“The solutions to the four problems of the Church in Africa are to be found in the context of the church-centred savings groups ministry,” he said.
He said poverty led to illness, humiliation, dependency, unemployment, low self-esteem, crime, sin and hopelessness.
He reiterated that God’s original plan was to prosper man but when man sinned, he was taken out of the Garden of Eden, which brought sin and poverty.
Apostle Dr Antwi said the Church was the answer to poverty because it was the gospel that reconciled humanity back to God.
He said institutions like the Chalmers Centre equipped church leaders to form gospel-driven, church-centred savings groups in their own communities.
He said members of the Savings Groups contributed a small amount of money to the group, which they invested in their businesses and other necessities for their families.
Other types of church-centered Savings Groups he mentioned include ROSCA, ASCA and Straight-savings.
On why promote Savings Groups, Apostle Dr Antwi said they could reach the poorest of the poor who preferred savings to loans and could complement the work of formal financial institutions.
Regarding why the Church should do savings groups, Apostle Dr Antwi said they were a practical tool for the Church to empower and care for the poor and the needy.
He noted that Savings Groups could be used to evangelise and/or build relationships with community members and could be used to disciple Church members as they see how God cares about all of life.
He underscored that Savings Groups belonged to the members and not the Church or the pastor.
Apostle Dr Antwi said leaders of the savings group would be trained in a biblical understanding of leadership so that they would be able to serve the groups by helping with the management, upholding the Group’s policies, bookkeeping and proper monitoring and evaluation of the group
He warned that without discipline one should not think of starting a Savings Group; saying “You start with discipline and continue with discipline, which will lead to success.”
GNA