Symposium on Bible Museum of Africa underway in Accra

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The museum forms part of Ghana's National Cathedral ProjectThe museum forms part of Ghana’s National Cathedral Project

A three-day symposium on the integration of the Bible Museum of Africa, and the Biblical Gardens of Africa, into the National Cathedral Project, and its potential contribution to African Christianity, is underway in Accra.

The gathering made up of the leadership of the National Cathedral project, the clergy and other relevant professionals will review, and institutionally validate the report on the concept development for the Museum and Gardens as an integral part of the project as a key site for national, continental and international tourism, pilgrimage and research.

The occasion also marks the formal launch of the convening platform of the National Cathedral Project, which seeks to develop the National Cathedral as a site for deep national and international conversations on faith.

Madam Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, the Chief of Staff, speaking at the opening, said the two major additions to the National Cathedral project would make it more relevant to the Ghanaian Christian community and transform the country into a major site for religious pilgrimage and tourism, contributing to job creation and economic transformation.

She said the launch of the convening platform would create a safe space, where the nation can be called to deep conversations on the role of our faith in national transformation.

Madam Opare said apart from the Cathedral addressing the missing link in the country’s architecture, would be an inter-denominational house of worship and prayer and serve as the venue for formal state occasions of a religious nature, such as the inauguration of Presidents, State Funerals, National Thanksgiving Services.

“The National Cathedral will be a unifying monument around which to elevate shared conversations on faith and national transformation. It will also serve as a rallying platform to promote deep national conversations on how collectively, we can build the progressive and prosperous Ghana we desire,” she said.

Apostle Professor Opoku Onyinah, Chairman, the National Cathedral of Ghana Board of Trustees, said the Cathedral, incorporating the Bible Museum and Biblical Garden, was one of the best gifts that the Lord had given to the Church in Ghana through the President of the Republic.

He stressed that the establishment of the Cathedral was a blessing to the Church and would serve as a national interdenominational facility for prayer and worship, a centre of learning, and a national point of convergence.

Apostle Prof Onyinah said the Cathedral was a redemptive project that offered African historians and interpreters of Christianity in non-Western contexts an opportunity to retell and symbolise the faith in ways that would feature the African contribution to the history of Christianity in Africa.

The project, he averred, would exhibit the contribution of Africans to the spread of Christianity outside Africa explaining that, “Significance in the retelling of the African story will be the contributions made by some African and Ghanaian Christian scholars, youth gospel music groups, ecumenists, Church leaders and Charismatic figures”.

Apostle Prof. Onyinah said the African Diaspora would feature prominently. A hall of fame to be set up would have statues of key contributors to Christianity including missionaries, Bible translators, pastors, evangelists, theologians, musicians, and divine healers.

He informed that the Bible Museum and the Biblical Gardens would not become only a tourist centre but a place of education that would deepen the understanding of the Bible.

Apostle Prof. Onyinah said the Biblical Garden depicts the biblical landscape, including the trees and shrubs of the Bible and had the potential of bringing the world to Ghana.

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