West Volta Presbytery Conference opens

Accra, April 22, GNA - The 31st Annual Conference of the West Volta Presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana opens in Accra with a call on church leaders to re-package their messages and present them in a manner that would draw more people closer to God. The Reverend James K. Afele, Chairman of the Presbytery, said church members had to change their attitudes towards their activities to pave the way for progress of the Presbytery and the church at large. "Doing things the way it used to be in the past will not help us move forward us a church. We should open ourselves up for modernization and try to change our old ways of doing things," he said.

The four days conference on the theme: "Breaking New Grounds" would take stock of their achievements and failures, and plan for the year ahead.

Rev. Afele decried the continuous spread of indiscipline in educational institutions, which caused so much havoc to academic work and other related vices and charged Churches to take the mantle to preach and educate the public about good morals. He said widespread of indiscipline at homes and in the schools was because many parents and guardians seemed to be "rearing" their children instead of "nurturing" them.

He, therefore, called on District Pastors to assist in educating teachers to be disciplined to be able to discipline their pupils. Mr Hayford K. Fiamor, Managing Director of Cocoa Marketing Company, Ghana Limited, and an Elder of the Church, said in the face of stiff competition for growth in church membership, the church needed to adopt practical and "seemingly revolutionary" method to achieve its aims. He said Jesus Christ broke new grounds by presenting himself differently from the leaders that were before him and that was what brought the crowd to listen to him.

"We need to repackage the church and improve communication amongst the membership of the church to bring home Christ's message of hope," he said.