Churches Must Help Eradicate Rural Poverty In Ghana

Picture Credit: facebook.

The true face of Christianity in Ghana is fading away as people who are believe to replicate the good deeds of Christ through whom they had the name have twisted to do things they consider complimentary than God commands. The modern phizog of Christianity in Ghana is business making than soul winning and doing well to humanity. However the original countenance of Christianity from the arrival of the missionaries was through donations and helping develop the social well-being of the people of Gold Coast. With the help of the Missionary work a lot of schools, hospitals, and several projects were built in the Gold Coast of which some of these facilities still do exist among us. This might not seem astonishing to any sound enlighten Christian since it was the command of the Lord Jesus in John 8:31 “Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples in indeed”. Jesus was seen doing well to the poor all the time in the Holy Bible and this is what one would have expected to see in His disciples today. The question we will have to ask today is “is the new face of Christianity in Ghana that of a true disciples of Christ?

The issue of poverty have been a menace among the Ghanaian communities over the years, with majority of these people being part of the various religious groups in the country especially Christianity. A report by UNICEF shows that poverty is still high in Ghana in that “ the report which covers 2006 to 2013 revealed that despite the eradication of extreme poverty in Ghana, rural poverty is now almost four times high as urban poverty, making it two times higher than it was in 1990’s. (Source: GhanaWeb General news of Monday 17 July, 2017). Moreover, Global Findex 2014 report shown that “34.5 % of Ghanaian adults lived in the rural areas where poverty is rated higher than the urban cities”. If poverty is stated to be higher than in the 90s in this 21^st century; are we moving forward or backward as a country?

The huge discrepancy of the issue is that, instead of churches contributing to poverty eradication in the country they have, and are still contributing to the deeper side of the issue. Churches have established branches in all rural areas. Rural churches are obliged to send contributions to the head office in the cities instead of the head offices sending help to the rural areas. Members of various churches are force to pay monthly dues, annual harvest dues, tithes, membership dues, association dues etc. End of year crusade and miracle sessions are held at the rural areas to dupe the people from their annual harvested income as most of these people are farmers. Things such as anointing oil, sachet water, lemon, stickers etc are being sold at expensive prices by these pastors of the various churches in the country. Consultation fees paid by church members to see these pastors are higher than that being charged at government and private hospitals to see a medical doctor. Issues that have come about as a result of our carelessness, irresponsible behaviour, ignorance, laziness etc are all connected with spiritual findings by these pastors. The most facilitating side is how lazy and unproductive these pastors have turned their members into by offering church service throughout the week and with all night services. Most productive hours are used by members for prayers and fasting without engaging in any productive work. These actually affect the individual and the national productivity and poverty levels continues to rise among the people.

As a matter of fact, the media, and the Christian council have failed us in tackling issues like this among the Ghanaian communities. The issue of poverty is not given maximum attention on our political platforms, social media, and General public attention is very low. Our political and social airwaves have been filled with issues that do not directly contribute to the socio-economic well-being of Ghanaians. The recent news regarding two teachers teaching ICT without computers in our Junior High Schools must awaken our senses as Ghanaians. Religious leaders must feel for these children who might be the future leaders of the country. Nevertheless none of these churches who are reaping huge amount of money from the ordinary Ghanaians could offer help to these schools until “Microsoft Africa promised to come into the aid of these students” (The telegraph March 1, 2018 by Mark Molloy). The attention of the media is however filled with news of prophecies of death and doom from these pastors concerning the nation.

The fight for poverty must not be for the government alone. Today among the highest fee paying institutions and schools in Ghana are headed by churches in the country. They charge higher school fees than the government who is seen by the ordinary Ghanaian as being wicked. Hardly do we see them offering any social responsibility to the community.

The years ahead, we want to see churches that will help contribute directly to the development of the country by offering support such as drilling of boreholes, building of class rooms, provision of ITC needed services etc. We want to see churches that will provide capital for rural women in entrepreneurships and offering other training needed for economic growth of members. We want to see message that encourages members to work hard and invest in ventures. The Christian council of Ghana must sit up and tackle the misconducts of some of these so called pastors and prophets. Some activities of the church must be under regulation or laws. The government must initiate policies with churches and institutions that will help promote the formal education of the ordinary Ghanaian through scholarships, research etc. We want to see social responsible churches who give back to the society and not those who have turned into prophets of doom.

Finally, we want to see the media exhibiting maturity in what to promote and what to dismiss from the airwaves. The media needs to be a strong pillar and institution for our development and not a double line way for failure and promotion of the primitive way of church practices.

Note: Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do well to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. (Galatians 6:10)

Arhin Ishmael
Dokuz Eylul University
Izmir Turkey