Code of ethics for pastors

Deviant pastors put the church in a state of ridicule in the public eye

The Reverend Anyani Boadum, executive member of the Ghana Pentecostal Council, has called on the Christian regulatory bodies to set up Ethics Committees to check the behaviour or guide the conduct of deviant pastors.

He said there must be rules that should make it mandatory for pastors to counsel, particularly the opposite sex, in the open where people could have access to.

Rev. Boadum, founder of Jesus Generation Evangelistic Ministry, made the suggestion in a sermon at a ceremony to inaugurate the Perfect Way Bible Church building at Mataheko in Accra.

He said the situation where some pastors fondle some women and bath them under the guise of counselling was unethical and must be condemned.

He said those deviant pastors who act in contravention of biblical norms, "put the church in a state of ridicule in the public eye.

"When men of God also dupe people financially through the formation of dubious NGOs, Jesus Christ is not enthused," he told the congregation.

He has therefore called for authentic Christian leadership that espouses good Christian values like respect for womanhood and children.

Rev Anyani Boadum said God has always been against the patriarchal practices that abuse vulnerable people like women and children and deplored the re-emergence of abuse of women and children in the church.

"The church should be a sanctuary which should offer security to people, but when they come and experience abuses, it undermines the values that Christ taught us," he said.

Prophet De-Graft Owusu-Ansah, General Overseer of the Perfect Way Bible Church, said the multi-million cedi church edifice was put up through the hard work of men and women devoted to God's work and teachings.