Methodist Church inaugurates board for commercial wing

The Methodist Church Ghana has inaugurated an eight–member board for the Alpharoyal Publications Limited, a commercial wing of the church, with a call on members to critically look at the strategic direction of the company and evaluate its performance to make it more viable.

The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel K. Asante, further charged the board to work diligently to ensure an effective and efficient administration of the company, as well as seek synergies with existing commercial entities of the church. 

He was speaking at the joint launch of the company and inauguration of the board at the Calvary Methodist Church, Adabraka in Accra last Sunday.

 The ceremony which coincided with the second anniversary of the company was attended by various officials of The Methodist Church Ghana.

Alpharoyal Publications

The Alpharoyal Publications Limited was established in July 2012 to cater for the printing needs of the church as well as the Christian community, among others. 

Declaring that “Not Again”, in an apparent reference to a similar enterprise under taken by the church in the past that failed, the Presiding Bishop lamented that it was unfortunate that “we know how to start things but do not know how to maintain them, thereby messing them up.”

He said the company was established to facilitate the awareness of its mission: “To satisfy the church community and other stakeholders with cutting edge print products through a spirit-filled management leadership” and also realise its vision:  “To be a one-stop shop, state-of-the-art printing company serving the Christian community and the general public with excellence”.

The Presiding Bishop encouraged board members to be vigilant, avoid mediocrity and to be focused by maintaining the core values of the company, which included professionalism, teamwork, integrity, excellence, prompt delivery, quality and affordability.

The Most Reverend Prof.  Asante also advised the workers to treat customers with respect and decency and reminded them that in whatever they did, they should remember that “this is a publishing house belonging to The Methodist Church Ghana and, therefore, their activities should reflect the ethical and religious beliefs of the church. 

 “Do not publish any untruth, people publish all sorts of things and I wonder why we spend time and money to engage in mediocrity .This is an enterprise to help. the Methodist church Ghana, we will not tolerate maladministration, non-achievement of targets, wanton dissipation of company’s resources and the non adherence to the value of time in the work processes”. 

Board Members

The board is chaired by Mr John E. Kweku Pratt, Lay President of the church. Others are the immediate past Lay President, Mrs Araba Atta Sam, and the Director for Communication and Publication of The Methodist Church Ghana, Very Reverend Emmanuel K. Aryee, and Mr Albert Sam, Corporate Communications Manager of the Graphic Communications Group Limited. 

The rest are a professional marketer in-charge of Advertisement at the New Times Corporation, Mrs Agatha Nana Ama Osei, Mr Emmanuel Addo Odametey, a retired Publisher and printer, the Chief Executive Officer of Print Support Limited, Mr Samuel Nii Ardey Ankrah, and the Managing Director of Alpharoyal Publications, Mr Emmanuel K. Effah Dennis.

Members were sworn into office by the Most Reverend Professor Asante, who charged the board and management to put in place a professional editorial team that would critique works that would be brought by customers which would eventually bring some wholesomeness in the final product delivery.