Stop using pulpit to debase political office, Friday, March 30, 2012, pg 19
CHURCH LEADERS have been urged to stop using the pulpit to discourage their members from seeking political office.
A former Vice-President of the Zambia, Rev. Dr Nevers Mumba, who made the call at a National Prayer Breakfast in Accra, noted that it was in politics that decisions that shape the future of a nation were taken hence the need for Christians to play an active role in the country’s politics.
He observed that painting politics as a dirty game, that Christians should be far from it, only hands over the country’s affairs to people who only cared about themselves.
Rev. Dr Mumba, the guest speaker for the event said “We have become commentators on our pulpits and allowing unbelievers to take over our countries.”
The National Prayer Breakfast is designed to be a forum where religious, political, business and security leaders will come together and deepen their spiritual lives.
The programme was on the theme: “Breaking barriers, Building Bridges.”
Among the notable people who patronised the highly attended event organised by the Prayer Summit International founded by His Eminence, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, were Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party; Mr Alex Segbefia, a Deputy Chief of Staff; Dr Emile Short; former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Philip Sowah, the Managing Director of Airtel Ghana and Dr Ekow Spio-Garbrah, the CEO of Action Chapel International.
Rev. Dr Mumba, a Zambia presidential hopeful on the ticket of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), commended the church in Ghana for its instrumental role in ensuring that political transitions were peaceful.
“For many people in Ghana, all they see is that one government has handed over to another but I know a lot go on behind the scene with the churches active involvement,” he said.
The former vice-president lamented Africa’s struggle for economic progress which he stated was as a result of moral deficit in some of the continent’s leaders.
The solution to Africa’s problem, he stated, was not in its minerals but rather for God to permeate all levels of governance on the continent.
To an applauding audience, Rev. Dr Mumba said “ we are told that we are pastors, politics is ungodly.
Yours is to marry couples and bury the dead. Well, we have married enough young couples and buried enough politicians.”
“The biggest challenge and enemy of a politician is a Christian. Not until African Christians take over politics from unbelievers, the continent will not progress,” he declared.
His Eminence Archbishop Duncan-Williams, for his part, cautioned people occupying political office to care about what they say as their actions had implications.
Having power, he stated, was to help build the nation and not destroy it.
He said as part of measures to ensure peaceful elections in the country, the programme and an All Believers Allnight would be replicated in all the regional capitals to engage Ghanaians at all levels to pray for the country.
The Archbishop said politics was not all about power and good governance but also the fulfilment of a nation’s destiny.
He called on all Ghanaians to rise and pray for the country for a peaceful election in December as peace was a necessary ingredient for development.
“There can not be prosperity without peace and there cannot be peace without justice.”
He, therefore, called on all political leaders to maintain decorum in their use of language in the upcoming elections.
While the Archbishop led the gathering to pray for revival and national transformation, Rev.Titi Ofei, the General Overseer of the Sheepfold Ministry did so for the upcoming elections; Bishop Dag Heward Mills, Presiding Bishop of Lighthouse Chapel International prayed for all political parties with Bishop James Saah leading the prayers for the Electoral Commission and civil society organisations in elections.
A former Vice-President of the Zambia, Rev. Dr Nevers Mumba, who made the call at a National Prayer Breakfast in Accra, noted that it was in politics that decisions that shape the future of a nation were taken hence the need for Christians to play an active role in the country’s politics.
He observed that painting politics as a dirty game, that Christians should be far from it, only hands over the country’s affairs to people who only cared about themselves.
Rev. Dr Mumba, the guest speaker for the event said “We have become commentators on our pulpits and allowing unbelievers to take over our countries.”
The National Prayer Breakfast is designed to be a forum where religious, political, business and security leaders will come together and deepen their spiritual lives.
The programme was on the theme: “Breaking barriers, Building Bridges.”
Among the notable people who patronised the highly attended event organised by the Prayer Summit International founded by His Eminence, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, were Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party; Mr Alex Segbefia, a Deputy Chief of Staff; Dr Emile Short; former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Philip Sowah, the Managing Director of Airtel Ghana and Dr Ekow Spio-Garbrah, the CEO of Action Chapel International.
Rev. Dr Mumba, a Zambia presidential hopeful on the ticket of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), commended the church in Ghana for its instrumental role in ensuring that political transitions were peaceful.
“For many people in Ghana, all they see is that one government has handed over to another but I know a lot go on behind the scene with the churches active involvement,” he said.
The former vice-president lamented Africa’s struggle for economic progress which he stated was as a result of moral deficit in some of the continent’s leaders.
The solution to Africa’s problem, he stated, was not in its minerals but rather for God to permeate all levels of governance on the continent.
To an applauding audience, Rev. Dr Mumba said “ we are told that we are pastors, politics is ungodly.
Yours is to marry couples and bury the dead. Well, we have married enough young couples and buried enough politicians.”
“The biggest challenge and enemy of a politician is a Christian. Not until African Christians take over politics from unbelievers, the continent will not progress,” he declared.
His Eminence Archbishop Duncan-Williams, for his part, cautioned people occupying political office to care about what they say as their actions had implications.
Having power, he stated, was to help build the nation and not destroy it.
He said as part of measures to ensure peaceful elections in the country, the programme and an All Believers Allnight would be replicated in all the regional capitals to engage Ghanaians at all levels to pray for the country.
The Archbishop said politics was not all about power and good governance but also the fulfilment of a nation’s destiny.
He called on all Ghanaians to rise and pray for the country for a peaceful election in December as peace was a necessary ingredient for development.
“There can not be prosperity without peace and there cannot be peace without justice.”
He, therefore, called on all political leaders to maintain decorum in their use of language in the upcoming elections.
While the Archbishop led the gathering to pray for revival and national transformation, Rev.Titi Ofei, the General Overseer of the Sheepfold Ministry did so for the upcoming elections; Bishop Dag Heward Mills, Presiding Bishop of Lighthouse Chapel International prayed for all political parties with Bishop James Saah leading the prayers for the Electoral Commission and civil society organisations in elections.
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