Conference of Young People’s Guild of Presbyterian Church opens

WA, Aug. 10, GNA – Rev Herbert Anim Oppong, Clerk of the

General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, has appealed to

the political leadership not to hold bitterness against their opponents or

turn deaf ear to the negative things people said against politicians.

“Love your enemies and do good to them that hate you. Let the

opposition push you to strive for a greater level of excellence, it is your

opportunity to become more intimate to God”, he said.

Rev Oppong said this at Wa in a speech read on his behalf at the

opening of the 71st annual national delegates' conference of the Young

People's Guild (YPG) of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana on Friday.

The five-day conference, which is being held at the Wa campus of the

University for Development Studies, is under the theme; “Let us rise up

and build”.
He said since Ghana's independence, the ruling class had always seen

the opposition as enemies to be wiped out or to be silenced but the

activities of opponents should rather propel leaders to turn to God for

blessing.
“Many times people will come into your life to oppose you but those

persons can turn out to be the greatest blessing in your life because

adversity will drive you to run to God”, he said.
He urged the youth of the Church to use the numerous talents, skills

and gifts they had to serve God, the Church and their communities.

As young people, he said, they needed to be passionate and willing to

do what God had made known to them and drew their attention Nehemiah

in the Holy Bible who was passionate and willing to build the wall of

Jerusalem.
Mr. Kale Caesar, the Deputy Upper West Regional Minister,

appealed to the youth to channel their energies into productive ventures,

volunteerism and to hold institutions accountable for the resources

entrusted to them.
He said as the youth, they would inherit any national debt that accrued

so they should be concerned about how loans contracted by state

institutions were utilized.
He said some communities were discreetly endorsing what he

described as ill-gotten wealth regardless of the negative example it was

setting for the country.
Mr. Caesar said society should revisit the values of hard work,

discipline chastity, striving for good reputation and respect for emulation

by the youth.
Mr Samuel Amoah Opare, National President of the Guild, said the

PCG only added 2,281 people to its number last year.

This, he said, represented a growth of 0.37 per cent, which was far

below its projected growth rate of 10 per cent and called for the institution

of radical measures to address that challenge.
GNA