Desist from using pulpit for partisan politics

The Moderator of PCG, Professor Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, has advised ministers of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) to desist from using their pulpit to promote partisan politics, but rather preach peace and unity.

He said any minister who flouts the directive would be sanctioned.

“The PCG pulpit is under no circumstances to be used to preach or promote partisan politics. Every agent of the church must submerge personal political preferences to the message of peace on our pulpit. Any minister or agent who uses a PCG Pulpit or premises to do partisan politics will be sanctioned,” he said.

The Moderator was speaking during a ceremony to appoint 10-member peace ambassadors to spearhead the church’s commitment to promoting peace before, during and after the 2020 election in Accra on Wednesday, August 27.

Ambassadors

The ambassadors have been charged to use their societal influence and reputation to engage all stakeholders to ensure peace and sanity in the country.

In addition, the team also has the task to lead sensitisation activities in the church and also hold workshops and symposia to disseminate messages on peace across the country.

Promoting peace 

At a ceremony outdoors the team in Accra yesterday (Wednesday, August 27), the Moderator of PCG, Professor Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, said although politics was supposed to be practiced as a competition of ideas, that had not been the case in the country.

He noted that elections had always been characterised by trepidation and anxiety with attendant insults, name calling, and rancour. 

The Moderator said it had therefore become crucial for the church to play its prophetic role as the voice of conscience and reason in the country to propagate peace.

“Politics is only a form of governance that leads to the common good. The church is duty bound to seek the common good of all. The Presbyterian Church of Ghana has, as part of its mission statement, to pursue a holistic mission so as to bring all creation to glorify God”, Prof. Mante added.

The church’s contribution 

Prof. Mante said the 2010 Housing and Population Census revealed that the number of citizens who professed the Christian faith were about 70 per cent of the country’s population.

That, he said, indicated that various churches in the country also had a role to play in ensuring that the culture of tolerance, inclusivity, co-existence, love, and peacemaking were not compromised, especially in time of national elections.

He said it was in that regard that the church had taken the step to constitute the team to embark on mass mobilisation to promote “uncompromising messages of peace”.

“According to our last count, the church had over one million members in almost 5,000 congregations and preaching points. We intend to mobilise this latent power to preach and lead in the message of peace across the country. We have the Christian responsibility as stewards to be salt and light in the country we are blessed to be part of,” Prof. Mante stated.

Other peace activities 

As part of the mission to ensure a peaceful election, he said, the church had come up with some activities to promote national unity.

That would include a national level event as a climax of the peaceful election campaign, the Moderator said. 

He said the church was also going to encourage its ministers to make a conscious effort to preach peace in a completely non-partisan manner.