Cleric proposes registration of churches

Kumasi, Aug 13, GNA - A cleric has proposed to the government to muster courage and come out with a policy that would compel churches to register with the National Commission on Culture (NCC) prior to their operations.

Reverend Joseph K. Gyimah, founder of the True Light of Christ Church, said even though such a decision by the government might be unpopular with some self-seeking groups and individuals, it would be the only guarantee for injecting sanity into the activities of churches. Rev Gyimah made the proposal when he addressed a meeting of pastors of the church at Abrepo in Kumasi on Thursday to review programmes and activities of the church for the past six months.

He attributed the proliferation of churches to the lack of a mechanism by the government for registering them to enable it to monitor their activities.

He said apart from the authority to register churches, the NCC should also be mandated to monitor, supervise and even sanction churches when they go wrong or when their activities were found to be at variance with the laws of the land.

Rev Gyimah noted that even though the Pentecostal Council of Ghana and Christian Council of Ghana could have played the regulatory and supervisory role effectively, they had been rendered impotent since not all churches belong to the two bodies.

He expressed worry about the conduct of some churches that instead of seeking the salvation of the people and the spiritual and physical well being of the down trodden, they rather focused more attention on materialism.

"This attitude of some churches and pastors is further impoverishing the suffering people," Rev Gyimah stressed.