Use The Pulpit To Preach Peace – Rt. Rev. Bediako

Rt Rev Asare Bediako (with staff) poses with the clergy and invited guests

THE METHODIST Bishop of the Sunyani Diocese, Rt. Rev. Kofi Asare Bediako, has appealed to the clergy to pray for Ghana and use the pulpit to educate their church members on the need to ensure peaceful elections.

Rt. Rev Asare Bediako also called for an immediate a ceasefire to politics of insults, asking everyone to avoid fanning the flame of political violence during and after the December elections.

'We should know that we are one people and Ghana is our only home, so let's all do our best to ensure its peace and development,' he stressed.

Rt. Rev Asare Bediako gave this advice when he addressed the opening session of the 33 rd  Annual Synod of the Sunyani Diocese of the Methodist Church on Friday at the Wesley Cathedral in Sunyani.

The three-day synod, which was under the theme 'Harnessing Our Gifts and Resources for the Development of the Diocese', was attended by members of the clergy, evangelists, stewards, class leaders of various circuits and societies and other church office holders in the diocese.

The bishop noted that the church was endowed with a lot of talents and gifts, which he stated could only operate when there was harmony and synergy in the church. He therefore asked the clergy to evolve practical means in their deliberations in order to harness the gifts and resources for the common good of the membership of the church.

 Rt. Rev Asare Bediako, who has just assumed office, disclosed that he would make the welfare of church personnel, ministers, caretakers, stewards and staff a key priority in his six-year term as bishop of the diocese.

He also indicated his plans to encourage the various circuits under the diocese to draw up comprehensive evangelism programmes to win more lost souls for Christ.

Touching on the various projects he had earmarked to revamp the church and develop the human resource base, Rt. Rev Asare Bediako stated that the diocese would from this year start the construction of a youth centre in Sunyani which had been on the drawing board for many years now.

The Methodist Youth Centre, he mentioned, would have guest rooms, conference hall, a bakery and water project meant to train the youth of the church with vocational and employable skills.

The bishop also proposed the creation of a Methodist Village in Sunyani which would consist of conference rooms, guest rooms, a library and a recreational park.

'This initiative is being put in place to address the trend where synod, organizations, societies etc strive to hire venues and rooms when hosting programmes,' he said, adding, 'Our children will have a place to play and learn during weekends and holidays.'

He announced that a Methodist Technical Institute had been established in Sunyani to replace the erstwhile Sunyani Technical Institute which was upgraded to a polytechnic. The institute, which he said had come to fill a huge vacuum, had now been absorbed by the government and efforts were underway to provide a permanent site and building for it.

The bishop stated that he had proposed the setting up of formal and tuition-free evening classes for all church members who would want to pursue secondary education but did not have the means to do so.

The chairman of the Ghana Education Service Council and Paramount Chief of Acherensua, Nana Professor Agyewodin Adu-Gyamfi Ampem, commended the new bishop for his foresight of developing the human resource base of the church.

The Member of Parliament for Sunyani East, Akwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, indicated that the various projects and programmes that the Methodist Church had embarked upon in the region, such as health, water and education, had inured to the benefits of the people, saying, 'The church has become a true partner of development and we need to appreciate that.'

On the elections, the MP appealed to the clergy to confront foulmouthed politicians by openly reprimanding them in order to end the politics of insults.

  FROM Fred Tettey Alarti-Amoako, Sunyani