Tema, May 22, GNA – The Most Reverend Dr Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith, Archbishop of the Internal Province of Ghana (IpG) has reminded clergy in the province to commit themselves to evangelism, witnessing and soul-winning.
He said: “this Pentecost I call on all Archbishops, Bishops, Priests and Deacons and our Lay Faithful to commit ourselves more deeply into evangelism, witnessing, soul winning and to prayer.”
He made the call in a Pentecost Message made available to the Ghana News Agency at Tema.
The Day of Pentecost marks 50 days after Easter Day and brings the Easter season to an end and a feast of the Church’s year when Christians recall how God’s Holy Spirit was given to the disciples after Jesus’ ascension empowering them to begin making disciples of all nations.
Archbishop Ben-Smith, who is also the Anglican Bishop of Asante-Mampong, said Pentecost marked the end of the period of prayer between Ascension and Pentecost Sunday-10 days of fervent prayer for the touch of the Spirit of God to open hearts to the abundant life of Jesus Christ.
“We have each been called to pray-let us continue to do so that they may find the reality of this transforming love of God and deepen our relationship with Christ” he said.
According to him, the Holy Spirit was a bearer of the gifts of God as it brought transformation, renewal, life and forgiveness performed during the sacrament of reconciliation.
“Among the principal gifts that the Spirit brings is the gift of unity. One of the great challenges built into the human condition and human life is the challenge of living together,” adding that people were incredibly diverse in thousands different ways, which sometimes made sharing a common planetary home complicated.
He said the early church was diverse and amidst great diversity, there was unity and that was the work of the Holy Spirit, adding that in spite of the diversity among human beings, polarization in society and in the church, God requires humanity to live together.
“Today we experience a lot of polarization, in society and in the Church; conflicting visions of what a healthy society looks like, conflicting visions of the truth, set up camps and battle away; but the Holy Spirit calls us in a different direction,” he emphasized.
“The Church has always struggled to maintain unity; the challenge has faced every generation of Christians; and when we hear the Gospel and become a part of the Church, it doesn’t turn us into uniform people,” he said, adding that while God desired unity, it was important to remember that He was the author of diversity.
The Archbishop said, Pentecost was a clarion call to evangelism, within and without, and the Episcopal Desk for Evangelism was composed to win souls for the Lord just as the Mission and Chaplaincy Desk of the Province was poised to start missions to Burkina Faso, Mali, Cote D’ivoire, Togo and Senegal.
GNA