By
Bright Ofori Asiamah /Olivia Ayeh, GNA
Sekondi, Oct. 20, GNA – The First Lady, Mrs
Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has asked the church to continue to partner government to
enhance the development and growth of the nation.
She said the church had been a strong
partner especially in the areas of health and education, adding: “Many of
us are the product of the morals and virtues instilled in us by the
church.”
Mrs Akufo-Addo said this in a speech read on
her behalf at the Third Episcopal Conference of African Bishops, on the theme:
“Positioning Orthodox Anglican Communion for Greatness”.
She said people currently lived in troubling
times, where morality, values and integrity were gradually becoming scarce
commodities and, therefore, tasked the church to rise up to its
responsibilities.
“The time has come for the church to partner
more with the Government and other stakeholders to help shape Ghana in
particular and Africa in general,” she said.
She called on the leaders of the church to
empower women and children, focus on reducing maternal mortality and improve
upon the health of children as well as provide avenues to increase the economic
contributions of women.
The First Lady said as Christian women it
was their responsibility to educate themselves and encourage one another as
they contributed their quota to the national development agenda.
Mrs Akufo-Addo said the responsibility of
leadership was to demonstrate love to all, irrespective of their political,
ethnic, social or religious backgrounds, and called on Anglican Church to lead
a national crusade of love, forgiveness, togetherness, tolerance and hard work.
She later donated 5,000 Ghana cedis towards
the Conference.
Most Reverend Christopher Izegbua Umane, the
Archbishop of the Orthodox Anglican Church of Nigeria and President of the
Episcopal Conference of African Bishops, noted with concern that many members
of the Orthodox Church were not able to make sacrifices as Jesus Christ did
more than 2000 years ago.
He called on Christians to contribute to the
growth of the church and the nation and improve on their ways of doing things.
He urged the leaders to eschew laziness and
rise up to the challenge by organising vigils, evangelistic programmes,
retreats and crusades to win more souls for Christ.
Most Rev. Umane called for unity, love and
tranquility among the leadership of the Church, adding: “We come together to form one body of
Christ so there should be peace among men of God, for that is what Christ stood
for”.
The Primate of the Orthodox Anglican
Communion World Wide, Most Rev. Thomas Edward Gordon, said the Orthodox Church
would continue to respect the ancient land marks and proclaim Christ not just
in word but in sacraments.
Mr Sani Mohammed, in a solidarity message
from the Zongo Chief, said Islam and Christianity were all from the Abrahamic
route and shared so many things in common.
He prayed for continuous cordial
relationship between Muslim and Christian communities to enhance peace and
development.
GNA
