Never use church pulpit to push political agenda - Christian Council

Rev. Dr. Ernest Adu-Gyamfi

The Chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Dr. Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, has cautioned ministers of the Gospel to refrain from using the pulpit to advance any political agenda in the run-up to the December 7 general election.

However, he pointed out that ministers of the Gospel were not barred from educating their congregations and guiding them to appreciate issues and make informed choices.

He made it clear that it was not the duty of ministers of the Gospel to tell the congregation which presidential and parliamentary candidates they should vote for, stressing that that decision was the right and preserve of the voter.

“We only tell them to look at the issues and make informed decisions,” he emphasised.

Rev. Dr. Adu-Gyamfi, who is also the President of the Ghana Baptist Convention, was addressing the Ministers Conference of the Ghana Baptist Convention and the 28th Annual Refresher Course, Retreat and Business at Ejura in the Ejura Sekyeredumase District in the Ashanti Region yesterday.

Politicians

He admonished politicians not to promise what they could not do because it was unethical for them to make pledges that they knew for certain would be unattainable just because they wanted to win votes.

He added that politicians knew what they could do, as well as the resources of the country, hence they needed to take those factors into consideration when making promises.

“You know the limitation of the country; you know as a parliamentarian you don’t have the right or the money and so why do you go around promising things you know you can’t do?” Rev. Dr. Adu-Gyamfi asked.

Leave youth alone

He cautioned politicians to leave young people alone to realise their God-given potential and not use them for violent activities and unnecessary escapades.

He impressed on the youth behind whom politicians hid to carry out such activities to tell political power seekers to use their own children and other relatives to achieve such objectives.

Security check

He said to ensure that people who applied to become and were ordained ministers of the Gospel had no shady character, the church now conducted strict security checks on such applicants.

He said the measure was to debar shady characters from entering the ministry and using same to their advantage, while there had also been instances when people had tried to enter the ministry with false certification.

Rev. Dr. Adu-Gyamfi added that if those already in the ministry were found to have a questionable character or cheated the system, they would be sacked because ministers of the Gospel must be good examples to the flock.