Aburi (E/R), Aug. 19, GNA- Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama at the weekend called on the Church to partner the State to overcome challenges such as poverty, malnutrition, the digital attitude and unemployment. "To succeed, we must be mature to rise above things like gender, tribe, religion or social status that appear to divide us and rather pull forward as Ghanaians," he said.

Vice President was speaking at the Seventh General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, on the theme: " Let us Go on to Maturity." He urged Ghanaians to use the country's golden jubilee celebrations to nurture the right attitudes that could facilitate development. "At 50 years, we ought to claim that we have finished wondering in the desert of bad governance, corruption, indiscipline, greed, pull-him-down syndrome, intolerance and other such attitudes. Vice President Mahama observed that most Ghanaians excel in the Diaspora but fail to exert the same influence on issues impeding the development of the country.

He called on Christians to encourage attitudinal changes necessary to bring forth a born again Ghanaian, full of confidence, trust, initiative, respect and discipline.

"My vision is to see us work together in unity and tolerance to empower our people to increase the capacity to create wealth and protect the poor. " We must foster an enabling environment for excellence so that Ghanaians will take their destiny into their own hands." Vice President Mahama lauded God for the many blessings he had bestowed on the country, saying: " The Lord has been good to the nation. In the midst of a shortfall in energy, the Lord has seen it fit to enable an oil find in our land. We should be grateful for His mercies." He commended the Presby Church for its immense contribution to the country in the area of health, education and agriculture, among other things.

"The Lord has been good to the people of Ghana through the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Since the establishment of the Church in Ghana about 179 years ago, you have been influential in the development and modernisation of Ghana," he told the cheering congregation. Right Reverend Dr. Yaw Frimpong-Manso, Moderator of the Church observed that many Presbyterians are confused about the elementary doctrines of the religious institution resulting in stunted growth. He cited ethnicity, unforgiving spirit, shift of emphasis from the word of God, prayer and evangelism to music and dancing, which, he said, were Biblical but looked more of merrymaking.

Rt. Rev. Frimpong-Manso said leadership of the Church was also faced with the difficulty in providing a vision and focus to facilitate maturity. He said the Church was losing some of the assets it had acquired such as lands, furniture and buildings due to lack of complete legal documents covering them.

" I have been informed that some agents and their sessions are allocating parcels of the Church land to telecommunication companies and even entering into lease with these companies without the consent of registered trustees.

"I appeal to all agents or the courts that have flouted this decision to report to the Properties Manager before the end of the year to rectify the anomaly otherwise the Council will be forced to take hard decisions on this matter, " he warned.

Touching on the current energy crisis, Rt. Rev. Frimpong-Manso noted that the problem was due to disturbance of the ecosystem and called on Ghanaians to keep the environment clean and plant trees to help reverse the situation.

Rt. Rev. Kwang-Sun Rhee, Moderator of the Church in Korea, who led a delegation to the Council called on Christians to pray to establish the glory of God in the world.