The annual peace festival of Musama Disco Christo Church (MDCC) has ended at Mazano in Gomoa West District of Central Region, with an appeal to Gomoa traditional authorities to appreciate the spiritual significance of the retreat.

“The peace festival is a normal church activity of MDCC, during which members pray and fast and witness miracles and has nothing to do with the leadership crises of the church,” Elder Kofi Afful said in an interview with Ghana News Agency at Mazano at the weekend.

He said some chiefs in Gomoa Traditional Area lump the peace festival with the protracted leadership standoff before court, although there is nothing in law that bans a group of Christians to embark on a spiritual retreat to seek the face of the Lord.

Elder Afful said in 1962 the Akaboha (Spiritual Head) of the church travelled outside the country during the peace festival and yet the congregation converged at Mazano the Headquarters of the church for the spiritual retreat.

He said in 1970 the Akaboha was in confinement for nine months praying and fasting but the peace festival was celebrated while in 1972 the illness and death of Prophet Matapoly Moses Jehu-Appiah, Akaboha 11, did not affect the event.

Elder Afful, therefore, asked stakeholders to consider the spiritual dimension of the retreat as well as the socio-economic benefits it brings to the area and Ghana as a whole and encourage the celebration without hindrance in subsequent years.

This year’s celebration that started on August 24 and ended September 3, was on the theme: “Celebrating the goodness of God.”

It attracted a number of Musamans who spent the greater part of the festival attending various church services and other activities and gathering at spiritually designated sites to pray.

A number of businesses used the platform to make money including food vendors, second-hand cloth dealers while the major telecommunication companies capitalised on the huge crowd to promote their various brands.

The children of Prophetess Hannah Selby, also provided eight drums of water and sanitisers placed at vantage points to facilitate efforts by the health facilities to prevent the spread of infectious diseases like cholera.

The 2014 Festival Message read by Reverend Feenakoma Charles Ampofo noted that Musamans encountered so much that was sad and unnerving in the course of the year.

“The leadership was pulled through untold trials and tribulations, but thanks to the goodness of God, we came out in victory,” he said.

MDCC meaning “the Army of the Cross of Christ Church” was founded in 1922 by Prophet Jemisimiham Jehu-Appiah, a former Catechist of Methodist Church.

It was started as a prayer group as the faith society at Gomoa Ogwan in Winneba in 1919 and has now grown with branches throughout Ghana as well as Ivory Coast, Liberia, UK and US.