BE GUIDED BY RELIGIOUS NORMS (PAGE 51, JUNE 10, 2010)

THE Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana, the Most Rev. Prof. Emmanuel K. Asante, has called on Christians to be guided by their religious norms in all their doings.
He said it was important that their acts and dealings reflect their religious doctrines for others to follow.
Speaking on the theme, “Return to your first love”, at the sixth biennial delegates conference and Silver Jubilee of the Association of Methodist Men’s Fellowships, the Most Rev. Prof. Asante said,” Believers have lost their zeal for the things of God and have been busy paying attention to worldly possessions.”
“Mankind is becoming lovers of themselves, money boasters, blasphemers and unforgiving. This ungodly attitude poses a lot of challenges to men of God in particularly and the church as a whole,” he said.
He urged Christians to have faith and be committed to the beliefs of the religion to which they belong.
The Most Rev. Prof. Asante called on Christians to be a living testimony to the works of Jesus Christ.
The National Chairman of the association, Mr Richard Stanley Quarshie, said in order to win souls for Christ, the church had allocated GH¢5,000 in the church’s 2010 budget to champion evangelism in the church.
He said the association had also put in place a committee that would put together strategic plans for the fellowship by the end of the third quarter of the year.
He said not much had been done by the fellowship to achieve its goals in 2009 and, therefore, urged the members to be involved in the activities of the association.
For his part, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, said it was the responsibility of the church to seek the spiritual and physical needs of its congregation.
He said it was, therefore, imperative that the church partnered the government to eradicate the negative practices that retarded the growth of the nation.
Nii Ashietey said the Methodist Church had contributed enormously towards national development, especially in the field of education.
He said the Men’s Fellowship had produced and continued to produce members who had brought Christian training and love into the affairs of the state.
He advised the members to participate in social and political matters, as well as provide a useful forum for advocacy and exchange of information.
“The fellowship should re-engineer and broaden its scope to embrace research-based advocacy activities in areas like good governance, justice, human rights, economic and social progress,” he added.
Nii Ashietey donated GH¢1,000 to the association.
The Chairman of I.E. Yamson and Associates, Mr Ishmael Evans Yamson, said most people had failed in their businesses because they veered off the core objectives of those businesses.
He, therefore, advised the fellowship to live up to its objectives in order to keep the fire burning.
Mr Yamson also donated $1,000 to the association to carry out its projects.