Parents urged to face challenges of child upbringing

Accra, Dec. 25, GNA - The Reverend Fitzgerald Odonkor, Head Pastor of Harvest Chapel International on Saturday, urged parents to be above the challenges of modern trends of development to enable them to bring up children who could cope with traditional norms and also meet the requirements of the globalised world.

He said with technological developments children were exposed to a variety of choices of behaviour and it would be an understanding parent to make the child regard the dangers such as crime, pornography and adulteration of cultures, which have become daily occurrences through films and the Internet.

"It is the responsibility of parents to teach their children the right way to go in accordance with biblical principles, traditional norms and customs, and modern developmental trends to ensure that they do not fall to vices.

"If parents fail to adhere to these basic parenting techniques, the child would adopt the wrong approach to life, and since nature abhors vacuum, they will learn all the wrong things of life from their peers and through other sources of information gathering, Rev Odonkor stated at Christmas Day Service in Accra.

The service, dedicated to Children offered them the opportunity to interact with adults and recital of poems, enactment of the biblical story of the birth of Jesus Christ, and choreography display. Rev. Odonkor, who is also a Senior Manager of ECOBank Ghana Limited said the birth of Christ should remind the world of the need for peace, reconciliation and love saying; "these are virtues that should guide us through the 2005."

He exhorted leaders, especially Ministers of the Gospel to exhibit the virtue of humility, "as what ever we have is by the Grace of God, we are called to serve, no matter your position of attainment and one's capabilities, the basic fact of leadership is service to the flocks."

In another development, the Most Reverend Dr Robert Aboagye Mensah, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana, in his Christmas Message reminded Christians of the central theme of Yuletide, which is 'God with us.'

He explained that Jesus Christ was born during a critical period in the history of the world, when a nation was looking for deliverance and at that critical time God made a way with the promise of peace through the birth of Christ.

Rev Aboagye Mensah said today with all the uncertainties of life and instabilities within the sub-region "we need to hear the voice of God proclaiming peace on earth.

"Christmas then reminds us that God himself desires that his people will live in peace, for at the heart of the prophetic message about the birth of Christ, Jesus is a description of him as the Prince of Peace."

"We must shun anything that would lead to the destruction of the peace we enjoy now in the country. We must make ourselves God's instruments of peace."

At Christmas Eve church service, Pastor Seth Agyekum, Youth Minister of Faith Foundation Church called on Christians to confront issues with objectivity to promote love and understanding. "When issues arise we must treat them with love, objectivity and speak the truth to correct what is wrong and build one another other up.

This will save us from magnifying trifles into issues which disturb peace of those who ought to be brothers and sisters", he added.