Sakumono, Dec 5, GNA - Reverend Joseph Ocran, District Superintendent of the Wesleyan Standard Church (WSC) at Sakumono, has underscored the need for Ghanaians to endeavour to uproot indiscipline and moral decadence from the society.

Rev Ocran, who made the call at the closing session of the Church's Second Bi-Annual District Conference at Sakumono, said by so doing, "we will be upholding human dignity and respect." The two-day Conference, which was attended by delegates from all over the country, with special guests from Canada and the United States, evaluated the church's performances in the last couple of years. Rev Ocran said "we need to build a church whose members are alive to their responsibilities, and will make the right sacrifices to see our church move forward in the right direction."

He urged Christians to render services to their neighbours, reminding them that "that was the only way they could define their faith in God. "We cannot love God and refuse to engage with the people God loves." He said the Wesleyan Church in Ghana should work hard to break the unhealthy dependence on donor support, pointing out that, "it stifles initiative and rapid accelerated growth." On the Church's plans for the next five years, the District Superintendent said, they hope to establish branches of the Church in each regional capital, starting with the expansion of the Tema Community Nine Church, and the building of a church in Ashaiman in 2010. The south of Ghana, he said, "needs to catch up with our Northern zone, in terms of planting new churches," adding, "our plan of establishing two districts in Ghana and becoming a truly national church by 2010 will not be achieved, unless we accelerate our pace of evangelism and new church branches in the south."

"As a strong holiness church, we need to rise to the challenge of building a church that takes seriously the responsibility of being the 'salt and light' of our world."

Rev Ocran cautioned members not to compromise their moral and ethical values and lifestyles. He intimated that WSC would soon start a new mission work in the Moslem French-speaking country of Burkina Faso. Pastor Isaac Quayson, Assistant District Superintendent, emphasized the need for pastoral training in order to have "more labourers to work in the Lord's vineyard."