The 19th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) is underway at the Ramseyer Training Centre, Abetifi, Kwahu in the Eastern Region from August 16th to 24th, 2019 under the theme: “Let Christ Be Formed in You”(Galatians 4:19).
Opening the 19th General Assembly on Saturday, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the PCG the Rt Rev Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante touched a catalogue of issues of both the Church and national interest.
The General Assembly, which is the highest decision making body of the PCG, attracted about 300 Commissioners, and Corresponding Members from all the 21 Presbyteries, both home and abroad.
Opening the Assembly on Saturday, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana the Rt Rev Prof Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante touched on a catalogued of issues affecting the universal church and the nation.
The Moderator said that Ghana needs developmental oriented leaders who will help the development agenda of the nation and not those who will come and milk the country of it little resources.
The Moderator therefore commended the government on the introduction of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy and also lauded the government for the introduction of the double track system to provide more opportunities for students to pursue secondary education.
“ I pray that there will be more resources to make it better and that very soon and quickly we will get out of the interventionist double track system so that assimilation hours and extra-curricular hours which are equally important for the educational process of our children will be enhanced” he said.
The Rt Rev Prof Mante said it was unfortunate that the Sub-Sahara Africa is still the home to most of the living conditions in the world and attributed this to bad leadership.
He therefore urged the leadership of the nation both political and church to speed up the development of Ghana and make sure that there are better jobs sand better job opportunities for the youth children.
The Moderator was worried about the current nature of the old international terminal at the Kotoka International airport. “What are we doing about opening the new huge hospital facility and Medical School at the University of Ghana? Why, should those facilities be sitting there just for someone to be scoring political points, when several people are suffering from lack of good medical care in this country?” he quizzed.
The Moderator was also worried about what he described as too much political polarization in the country which makes social cohesion very difficult.
“The polarization between NPP and NDC is very unhealthy and we should do something about it”
The moderator commended the government for quickly taking steps to address the various security threats that the nation experienced few months ago. He however urged government to step up its game when it comes to security matters for their first job is to protect us the citizens.
The Rt Rev Prof Mante who was elected Moderator last year said one of his visions for the PCG was to increase the membership of the Church from the current 910, 732 to 1.5 million in the next four years.
He then challenged the General Assembly to get the whole Church to be serious about Evangelism and Church Growth which is its core business.
He then challenged the General Assembly to get the whole Church to be serious about Evangelism and Church Growth which is its core business.
He said to this end, the General Assembly Council has accepted a document on vision 1.5 which came out of a three-day Evangelism and Church Growth Consultation organized under the auspices of the Mission and Evangelism Department.
He said the idea is for the PCG to reach a membership of not less than 1.5 million in five years from 2018 to 2023. The document puts emphasis on Youth Ministry and suggested that given the demographics of the country and also that of the PCG, we should work towards expecting twice as much growth among young people from the YAF age and below, as compared to the older generation.
One cardinal point of the 19th General Assembly is the election of new Clerk of General Assembly to take over from the current Clerk, Rev Dr Samuel Ayete-Nyampong whose tenure ends on 30th November 2019.
The Assembly will also take decisions that will guide the activities of the Church in the coming years. Ministers retiring from the active service of the Church would also be presented to General Assembly.
The General Assembly will also review activities of the Church in the previous year, plan for the ensuing year, and also serve as a platform for fellowship, interactions and networking among Commissioners and Corresponding Members.
The Assembly will be chaired by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the PCG, The Rt. Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante.
One significant thing about this year’s General Assembly is the election of new Clerk of General Assembly to take over from the current Clerk, whose tenure ends on 30th November, 2019
Members of PCG and the entire Christian community urged to pray for the success of the 19th General Assembly.
