Obuasi, April 26, GNA - The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Kofi Opoku-Manu, has called on the Methodist Church to use its Synods and Conferences to find appropriate ways of dealing with the nuisance of false prophets, who were using the pulpit to create social division and tension. He said the activities of some of those "self-professed men of God" were creating a bad image for the Christian Religion.

These were contained in an address read for him at the opening of the 12th Annual Synod of the Obuasi Diocese of the Methodist Church at the Wesley Cathedral at Obuasi on Friday. "Ambassador of Reconciliation" was the theme for the three-day meeting.

Mr Opoku-Manu commended the Methodist Church for its contribution to the socio-economic development of the country through the provision of health and education infrastructure, assistance to farmers, small and medium-scale industries as well as schemes for helping the poor and vulnerable in the society. He also lauded the Obuasi Diocese of the Church for efforts it was making to promote the modernization of agriculture in the area. The Church has established a 42-acre cocoa demonstration farm at Kusa near Fomena to help in the transfer of modern farming technology to farmers.

Touching on the theme, the Regional Minister described it as appropriate, saying it had been chosen at a time "when the very spirit of the nation is yearning for reconciliation." The Right-Reverend Professor Emmanuel Asante, Presiding Bishop-elect of the Methodist Church, reminded the people about the need to forge a united front. He decried the way some Ghanaians had allowed themselves to be divided on the basis of ideology and ethnicity, and said, "We should not let ideologies to break us". Rt. Rev Prof Asante, who is also the Methodist Bishop of Kumasi, called on Christians to unite and live together in the spirit of true reconciliation with Christ.

The Obuasi Circuit Steward of the Church, Mr Z.K.M. Oppong, said it was important that the Church, the nation, families and individuals accepted to re-unite with God for the peace and tranquility of the society.