Kumasi, Feb 1, GNA - The Reverend Dr Frank Adams, General Secretary of the All African Baptist Fellowship, Ghana, has called on religious ministers to resist exaggeration and to "seek God's commendation".

He also called on them to utilise their talents and gifts for the work of God and the spiritual development of people and the society. Rev Dr Adams was speaking at the graduation service for 11 advance and 30 basic students of the Ghana Baptist Convention in Kumasi on Saturday.

He asked the new pastors to explore their experiences, improve on their knowledge and let Christ be their role model and mentor since they have a divine role to play in the development of the Church. Rev Dr Kojo Osei-Wusu, President of the Ghana Baptist Convention, thanked God for the successful completion of the programme and commended Pastor Gabriel Niyi, Associate Pastor in-charge of New Tafo Baptist Church and Co-ordinator of the Ministry and Education Committee. He said the Convention had a seminary but decided to engage people outside the Church to be trained to help in its development programme. Rev Dr Osei-Wusu asked the new pastors to abide by the ethics of ministerial work and to extend their activities to all parts of the country to win more souls for Christ.

The President charged them to be humble and co-operate with the church leaders and senior pastors.

Rev Joseph Agyei-Mensah, Chairman of the Informal Theological Education Committee, Ghana Baptist Convention, expressed the hope that they would go out as good ambassadors of Christ.

He urged them to live above reproach to attract more people to be trained to spread the word of God.