E.P. Church asks members to bury deceased relatives to decongest mortuaries

The Standing Committee of the Evangelical Presbyterian (EP) Church, Ghana has impressed upon its members who have deceased relatives in mortuaries to bury them.

"Now that government has eased the restriction and private burials can be performed with a maximum of 100 people, we impress on our members to bury their dead relatives and hold the funerals later," the Committee advised.

The Committee’s advice was contained in a pastoral letter addressed to all Presbytery Moderators, Pastors, and Sessions of the Church sited by the Ghana News Agency in Ho.

It was signed by the Right Reverend Dr. Seth Senyo Agidi, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church.

The Committee noted that there were reports of mortuaries getting full of corpses, "so we must do something differently in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic." "Although this will not interest you and tradition, you must know that we are not in normal times," it said.

The Standing Committee entreated all congregations of the Church to strictly adhere to the government and the Church's directives to curtail the spread of the virus. The Committee said it would continue to monitor the situation and issue further directives as and when the need be.

The Church at the weekend asked all its 16 Presbyteries to form Task Forces and train them in health promotion, prevention measures, infection prevention, and control and evacuation procedures.

The Task Forces are to assist and supervise the gradual opening of the Church's chapels for communal worship.

The Standing Committee advised congregations not to be in haste to reopen chapels until they met all conditions spelt out by the government.