It was a colourful church service recently at the Riis Congregation of the Presbyterian Church Ghana in Ho, where the church dedicated the day to the promotion of African culture.

Dubbed African Culture Day celebration, the annual event saw the clergy and the whole congregation in traditional attire from the various ethnic groups across the country.

The theme for the day was: ‘Celebrating the Faithfulness of God in the Traditional Way.’

The church permitted traditional drumming and dancing, which revealed the hidden talents of some members.

Variety of local dishes were also served to complement the day’s activities.

Delivering a sermon, the outgoing Minister of the Akosombo congregation, Rev. Kwame Justice Asumeng, observed that a country that did not cherish its culture would lose its identity.

He said there was great prestige in dressing African.

According to him, God was a refiner of customs and cultures and, therefore, “does not hate our culture. Our dressing rather honours Him and makes us unique.”

Rev. Asumeng said it was pathetic the way “our leaders feel comfortable endorsing foreign culture and destroying what our fathers left for us”.

He noted that the church must lead the campaign to preserve the culture of the people because what we inherited from our fathers are genuine and have Biblical foundations.

“If Ghana wants to preserve its culture, it must begin from the church,” Rev. Asumeng noted.

He pointed out that “if Christians organised the Miss Ghana pageant, it would be decent and not make our ladies expose their nakedness in public”.

God, he said, was proud of us as Africans and would only be angry with us if our culture enslaved, suppressed, or intimidated people.

“Let’s live like Ghanaian Christians so that God would be glorified in ourselves and culture because He has refined it,” Rev. Asumeng stressed.