Dr Paul Boafo takes office as Methodist Presiding Bishop

Most Rev Dr Paul Boafo has been inducted into office as the new Presiding Bishop of Methodist Church Ghana. He will lead the Church for the next 6 years.

He takes over from Most Rev Titus Kofi Awotwi Pratt who has retired after attaining age 70.

The Methodist Church Ghana at the 10th Biennial/48th Delegate’s Conference at Sekondi in August 2018 elected Dr Paul Boafo as the new Presiding Bishop.

This was the first time an Administrative Bishop has been elected as The Presiding Bishop of The Church after Episcopacy.

Prior to his elevation into the high office of the Presiding Bishop, The Most Rev. Dr. Paul Kwabena Boafo functioned as the Administrative Bishop of The Methodist Church Ghana after having served the Church in so many capacities.

Historically he is the 12th Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana and the 5th after the Episcopacy system was adopted by the Church.

Dr. Boafo brings in, many years of rich experience from the Methodist Church fraternity, Academia and Administrative settings and Practical leadership acumen from the leadership perspective. He will lead the Church for the next 6 years.

The Presiding Bishop has worked both as a Minister of the Gospel and as a theologian. He has attended a number of local and international conferences at which he has also made presentations.

The Induction Service commenced with a grand parade by the Cape Coast Diocesan Brigade under the Command of the Connexional Brigade executives.

Wesley Cathedral, Cape Coast historically serves as the premier Diocese of the Methodist Church Ghana and its symbolic for the Church for such events.

The service assembled all the rank and file of the Church hierarchy including Past and Present Diocesan Bishops, Lay Presidents, General Directors and Directors, Synod Secretaries, Lay Chairmen, Boards, Chairmen of Advisory teams, affiliates of the Methodists Church Ghana, Foreign Missions, Visitors, Invited Guests, Family and Friends and the Media.

Robbing

The Presiding Bishop was robbed in a very beautiful regalia depicting authority, leadership, humility in service and link of support with his colleague Bishops and the Church community.

He was given a staff, Holy Bible, ring, Constitution of the Methodist Church, a stole all signifying leadership in service.

Administratively, he will serve as the President of Conference and the gateway to the Methodist Heritage, Doctrines, Teachings and directions for growth, Evangelism, development, capacity building and expansion.

The Charge and Call to Service

He responded to the call to leadership with confidence as the chief servant of the Methodist Church.

In joy and enthusiasm, The Presiding Bishop thanked and appreciated the trust, confidence and love given him to serve the Church home and abroad.

With one accord, the whole Church prayed sincerely for him to be strengthen by the Holy Spirit for the work ahead.

The Sermon

In his Sermon, the Immediate Past Presiding Bishop, The Most Rev. Titus Kofi Awotwi Pratt. touched on the theme “Avail yourselves to God” taking this text from “Judges 13:2-7.

The immediate past presiding Bishop of the Methodist church of Ghana, Most Rev. Titus Awotwi Pratt charged Christians to avail themselves for the service in His vineyard.

He asked members to discharge their work with passion, enthusiasm and respect to draw people to God because we are all servant leaders.

As Christians we must strive to learn in order to stand tall in knowledge. He cited Paul as a learned Christian using his knowledge as a lawyer and a Christian to challenge the Pharisees anytime his knowledge about Christ is challenged.

He therefore asked Christians to learn humility and eschew pride and be servant leaders. He further touched on Tolerance. The immediate past Presiding Bishop has asked the Christian and Muslim communities to have a heart of tolerance in order to build a peaceful and vibrant societies devoid of chaos.

The Bishop recounted his cordial relationship with muslim s in the Gambia where he and his Muslim colleagues attended ceremonies together without any difficulties.

He praised the Vice president His Excellency Dr. Mamudu Bawumia for his association with the Methodist church as a “brigader” though he was still a Muslim.

Most Rev. Awotwi Prat praises Boafo

The immediate Past Presiding Bishop reaffirmed his belief in the quality and leadership styles of the new bishop to bring positive changes in the Methodist Ghana.

He went further to recount some of the good work of the new bishop in his short period of working with him.

“In my two years of service with you, you have shown enough knowledge and brought dramatic changes at the Head office.

To him, most of the changes that the church is experiencing in order to bring more people to the saving grace of the Christ. He indicated his confidence in the leadership qualities of the new bishop to improve the teachings on our Methodist doctrines, philosophy in order to bring people to the saving knowledge of Christ.

He prayed for God’s protection, guidance and grace throughout his six years of service as the commander of God’s army of the church called Methodist in Ghana.

Presiding Bishop thanks government

The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist church Ghana, Most Rev. Paul Kwabena Boafo has thanked government for the contentious support to the church activities.

The Presiding Bishop made the comment at a ceremony to induct him into office as the Presiding Bishop of the methodist church at the Cape Coast Methodist Cathedral.

The occasion which was witnessed by the Vice president of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Dr. Mamudu Bawumia also saw other government appointees including the Central Regional Minister all gracing the event. The Bishop pledged the support of the church in all government policies and activities but quickly added the church will continue to make constructive criticism where necessary.

In Attendance

Gracing the service was the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

The Vice President elegizes the Methodist Church and praised the Methodist church for its contributions to the development of the country since its inception some 180 years ago. According him, the contributions of the church in education alone is remarkable and through it leaders in various spheres of life have been produced.

Speaking at the induction of the new presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, the Most Rev. Dr. Paul Kwabena Boafo at the Cape Coast cathedral.

The Vice President also revealed that his mother was a product of a Methodist school, Wesley Girls Senior High school in Cape Coast.

He also thanked the church leadership for the peaceful nature and processes adopted to elect the new leader of the Church. Dr. Bawumia charged the church to continue supporting the government and its programme in order to bring relieve to the poor and build a better society.

He asked for the members to continually pray for the president and his appointees to achieve what they have set to do for the people of Ghana.

The church lead by the Past Presiding Bishop, Most Rev. Robert Aboagye Mensah prayed for the President, Vice President and all government appointees for wisdom, health knowledge to peacefully and successfully implement their agenda for the people of the country.

The church also made a presentation to commemorate and celebrate with the Vice President on the occasion of his birthday which falls same day.

The Induction Service was attended by over 2000 people including special guests and the entire Church Community. The service was also streamed live on all Methodist Media platforms with over 2000 people watching live. We wish to thank all well-wishers, family and friends and the entire Methodist church Community for the support.

credit: Methodistchurch.org.gh