Kumasi, Jan. 9, GNA- A five-day conference aimed at assessing the performance of Ministers of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) in the discharge of their duties in the last year has opened in Kumasi. It is being organised under the auspices of the General Assembly of the Church and among others, designed to also enable the participants discuss and make recommendations in respect of the church's total development. It has the theme "But who do you say I am".

Addressing the opening session of the conference on Wednesday, the Reverend Professor Benyamin Abochie Ntreh, lecturer at the Department of Religion and Human Values at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), cautioned clergymen of the PCG to work hard to protect their identity and the image of the church.

He said they should at all times perceive themselves as agents of change and stressed that the clergy should avoid practices that were in contravention with Biblical tenets and the Presbyterian doctrines and principles.

Reverend Professor Ntreh, who is also the Conference Chairperson, charged the leadership of churches in the country to be development-oriented and should continually explore avenues to creating proactive programmes to address the physical needs of their members. The Right Reverend Dr Yaw Frimpong Manso, Moderator of the General Assembly of the PCG, stated that the church's leadership was committed to initiating comprehensive measures to improve upon the welfare of the Ministers after they had ended active service. He said as a result, the leadership was currently liasing with some banks in the country to help in the acquisition of credit facilities by the clergy, to enable them to undertake some investment ventures to support themselves.

The Moderator challenged the participants to take advantage of the conference and renew their commitment to duty for the church's progress.